A Two Day Anniversary Celebration

We had a great 2 day celebration of our anniversary capped off by a fabulous dinner.  More on that later.  Yep, 2 days which means this is going to be another long post.

On Friday the 21st, the day before our anniversary, we were docked in Kemi, Finland for an overnight visit.  In doing our research before the cruise, we saw that Kemi was a town that seemed to have nothing to offer.  This is as far north as we are going so, perhaps, Oceania thought that Kemi would be a good place to celebrate the first day of summer.  I found that there was a city, Oulu, an hour train ride away that had much to offer.  So, we decided to start our anniversary celebration by booking a hotel in Oulu for that night.  In the morning,we took the shuttle bus into Kemi to scope out the train station and to buy tickets.  Walking through Kemi confirmed that we had made a good decision.  The place was dead - no people (other than the Mid-summer queen?) and nothing open.  Perhaps it could be attributed to the Mid-summer Eve holiday?

We took the afternoon train to Oulu.

It was about a 15 minute walk from the train station to the Radisson Blu Hotel.  Though the streets were fairly empty, we did pass some interesting buildings, green space, and the cathedral.

Passing the city hall, we saw a fascinating sculpture commemorating Oulu's history.

When we checked into our hotel, we were very pleased with the view - water and green spaces.

Compare that to the view of the Kemi port from our veranda!

After taking a rest, we ventured outside and came to the Market Square where we actually found activity - stalls selling goods and food.  And people.  And the Policeman Statue.

Unfortunately, the Market Hall was closed and would be closed the next day, Sunday.  From there, we walked to Pikisaari Island with its old wooden houses.  These included the Sailor's Home Museum, the oldest house built in 1837.

And then it was time for dinner.  We found a restaurant near the square serving local food and we enjoyed an appetizer of Finnish sweet bread fried in garlic and then salmon soup.  The soup was good but, to be honest, not as good as Norwegian Fish soup.

On the way back to the hotel, we passed another old wooden house that seemed to be sagging in the middle.  It's just another proof that old age is a bitch!

The next morning, our anniversary day, the weather was fantastic - sunny with no wind and almost warm.

We had time for a nice walk before having to catch the train back to Kemi.  We headed over to the Hupisaaret City Park, a park full of islands and bridges.

It is going to take me a bit of time to forgive Linda for taking this photo of me and my shiny head!

We walked up to the fish ladder and dam.

We then worked our way back to the hotel.

Then it was an easy train ride back to Kemi.

When we got back to our room on the ship, this is what we found:

It had been a couple of days (and, in fact, 5 weeks) of highlights, but the highest of the highlights may have been our anniversary dinner.  When we boarded Sirena, GM Yves had given us a bottle of Dom Perignon 2008 which we had been saving for our anniversary dinner.

Chef Paolo had told us that we would be making a special dinner for us and special falls short of describing it.  It was amazing and maybe the best we have ever had on Oceania (which is saying a lot).  Please pardon me for using so many superlatives!  We started with a toast along with Chef Paolo and Restaurant Manager Laurentiu.  Then the food came.  Here are photos of the dishes, none of which are on the menu.

And then it was time for dessert.

It capped off a great 2 days of celebrating our 56 years of marriage.

With all of my superlatives about the past couple of days, I should be conscious of Rule of Civility Number 25:

Superfluous complements and all affectation of ceremony are to be avoided, yet where due they are not to be neglected.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry