jpalbny

Insanity is hereditary; you get it from your kids!

Go to this website: https://silversea.shiptoshoretraveler.com/parkaorder2 and see if your voyage is listed there, in the first drop-down box labeled "departure information" If your cruise is listed, then you get a parka. If not, you don't. Right now they only are listing 2023 voyages so if yours is 2024, see if there is a similar itinerary for 2023. Otherwise, wait until the 2024 voyages are listed on the site and you'll know for sure. As I see it now, the June 25 2023 Silver Cloud voyage departing Reykjavik for Greenland IS included, and DOES provide a parka. So if your cruise is similar, you will probably get a parka. FYI we did get a parka when we did a circumnavigation of Iceland but that was 2019. I don't see that voyage on offer for this year, so not sure whether that still applies now. Back to your regularly scheduled trip report!

What a coincidence! We will embark on Cloud on June 9th. I didn't realize that it was the first voyage of the season. Hope we have a chance to meet up!

I picked up a home PCI kit at Hearts'R'us. And we started our diet yesterday. Your journey home sounded like quite an adventure! And that windstorm was not exactly the kind of welcome home I'd be looking for. Our journey home was relatively easy but not without some minor annoyances. We slept in and went to breakfast only to find that it wasn't included on day #2 (different reservation), even though the person who checked us in had told us it was. No big deal as we weren't crazy about it, so we just had a coffee in the room. The Hamburg airport website had made a point of saying to arrive 3h prior to you flight so we got the S1 train, from the station about 2 blocks from the hotel, which goes directly to the airport. You just have to know that the train splits one stop ahead of the airport and the first half goes to the airport - the second half goes elsewhere. Luckily I had figured that out ahead of time and we were in the right group of cars. So we got to Hamburg airport about 9:30 for our 12:15 flight - and a guy guarding the lines at the KLM/AF counters would not let us get in the check-in line! "Amsterdam? No!! Come back in 45 minutes!" So that was a waste of time. We went up to the 3rd floor and hung out on the open-air deck of the McCafe to catch some fresh air, such as it was. Back down around 10:10 and he let us into the Sky Priority line. Phew! The line was initially moving very slowly and we finally figured out that the AF Paris-bound flight ahead of us was canceled, so the agents were taking a long time to get that straightened out. Once we got to the desk, the agent asked us, "Paris or Amsterdam?" and was very relieved to know that we were going to Amsterdam. We were checked in quickly and headed to security. And @Stumblefoot, we checked our suitcases! Reason being is that we had too many liquids to fit into a 1qt bag. No line at security though they selected Chris's backpack for a random swabbing. To the lounge where initially the food offerings were skimpy but they brought out the sausages and potato salad around 11:00 so we were happy. To the gate around 11:45, boarded quickly, and out a few minutes early. We arrived in AMS early, but had to be bussed to the terminal. That turned out OK since we were let off past security, and close to where we had to go through passport control to exit Schengen. Less than 5 minutes wait there, and we headed to the KLM lounge. It had been a while since we were last at the non-Schengen KLM lounge and it's been totally redone. It was quite nice, with multiple levels, a sky deck where you can sit outdoors, and multiple "zones" that divide up the cavernous space to make it seem smaller and more intimate. Unfortunately the restaurant and bar upstairs serve pretty much everything for an upcharge so we looked at the menu and left. Downstairs, the free food selection was limited but enough to get us by until our flight. We headed to our gate around the time that boarding was supposed to start and as we approached, they put up the signs to guide you to the correct line for your zone. So we were first in line, and first on the plane after pre-boarding. That got us enough time for a glass of Champagne and a refill! We left on time and the flight was uneventful. Meals were nice and I enjoyed the mini-rijsttafel for dinner, though the snack before landing was a weird "hamburger" that wasn't any better than the Silver Wind's version. Landed in Boston, and to the gate on time. Global Entry was absolute chaos though and it took at least 15 minutes to get through. Then we waited another 25 minutes for bags as the "priority" tags came out way later than other bags. This is why I hate checking bags... We got to the bus stop and waited about 15 minutes for the bus to Framingham which wasn't bad, and with minimal traffic on a Sunday night, we were at the parking lot by 8:00. We started out at 8:10 and I drove the whole way somehow. Chris stayed awake most of the way to make sure I didn't fall asleep. We rolled into our driveway at 10:20, exhausted, and went straight to bed. Luckily the 19th was a holiday so we didn't have to go back to work until today! Until next time! (June 2024, The Kimberly) - signing off. And I'm making hamburgers for dinner! The real kind, with ground beef, no fillers, and grilled to medium-rare perfection.

Finally have time to catch up on your thread and I'm really enjoying it! Like RachelG, we too just got off Silver Wind on Friday and we are in full-blown withdrawal (from the cruise, that is). Thanks for helping out with this trip report. Our friends (from the Toronto area) are also on this cruise so if you see Bill and Luisa please say hi! The prize points aren't worth a ton unfortunately. We played trivia every day and accumulated a boatload of points on the Wind. I remember that a T-Shirt was 80 points. There were a bunch of other things that were available for less than that but nothing that really excited us. Anything less than 10 points will just get you a SS pen. Sorry I can't remember more details. RE: Antarctica, we've done once with a veranda and once without. It's one of those things that probably comes down to personal preference. If you're used to having one than it may be difficult to go without. And it's convenient for a quick photo, or a quick burst of fresh air without the trouble of going out on deck. But it's unlikely that you'll spend hours using it. I am encouraged that your burger on Cloud was good. We've always been OK w/ the burgers at the grill on other SS ships, but we agree with Rachel that the one on Wind last week was awful. So thanks for letting us know that it's not a fleet-wide problem. I hope the rest of your cruise continues to be as much fun as you're having so far!

But how are you faring at trivia? 🤣 We miss you, and wish we could have stayed on. We're in Amsterdam now, on the plane, almost ready to go.

Saturday June 17th. Extra day in Hamburg. Turns out that we have done most of what we wanted to do already. But that won't stop us from running ourselves ragged. We were up early and at breakfast by 7:30 since we'd bought entry tickets for Miniature Wunderland for 8:30. We were greeted at the empty breakfast room, by a serious fellow who asked if we'd made a reservation... No (seriously, for breakfast)? Fine... room number? OK we have a table for you... It was OK but glad it's included. Then we went to see the Miniature Wunderland. It was even better than we'd expected! Lots of German, Swiss, and Austrian landscapes. This view of Neuschwanstein is familiar but the background looks different! They had tons of model train stations, and a huge airport where planes landed and took off. Saw the Concorde too! Plenty of other places modeled there as well. The Arctic Cathedral in Tromso was familiar. And Antarctica too! We spent about two hours there, and could have stayed longer. But we had to get to the hotel to change the keys. A little line ahead of us with some former shipmates checking out. Then the desk agent informed us that she can't find our reservation. I showed her the email confirmation and explained that we'd already checked in yesterday with your colleague (at the next desk) so we had to wait for that person to fix it...which she did easily. A few kinks to work out here I guess. We looked for more to do and found a walk out in the hinterlands. So I got Metro tickets on my HVV app, and off we went. We started off along a stream which gradually widened into a canal. We saw other odd sights too. At one point a railroad bridge for the U-Bahn crossed the canal. We walked under and saw a rowdy bunch of shirtless men up to something... Drinking was definitely involved! As we continued onward, I looked back to see what they were up to... And I caught an eyeful. A naked man had scaled the bridge, and as I watched incredulously, he leaped off and did a rather impressive backflip into the water below! No pictures, but it did happen! Instead, as we continued, the canal widened into a lake. We made it to the shore of the Aussenalster. Three men in a (small) boat awaited. And more beautiful views. We walked the shore of Aussenalster until we finally turned inland, looking for lunch. Found a street where every other building was a restaurant, and settled on an Italian wine bar. I had Spargel with a delicious schnitzel, and Chris had asparagus risotto with ham. We tried a white blend from a favorite Alto Adige winery, Hoffstäter, which was very nice. We headed home to rest our feet. Then out to the Rathaus for some distorted pictures. It's just impossible! We'd kicked our list and then some. So we decided to try the Elbtunnel again. As we approached, the weather got a little intense. Through the tunnel - it's a really nice walk. Unfortunately when we exited the other side, it was pouring! We waited a bit but it got even stronger, so we decided to bail. We walked back through the tunnel. Of course, the sun was out again when we got back. Crazy weather! For dinner we went to a place a block away from the hotel. We had a Flammekuchen and a meat & cheese tray. And here we thought that we'd start eating light. One of those containers was pure lard! As if the butter isn't fatty enough. We walked home in the beautiful late summer light. Only 23000 steps today. We are slipping. Good thing we fly home tomorrow!

Friday June 16th, Hamburg part two. We walked to Binnenalster and grabbed a table at a busy place for lunch. The drinks arrived quickly and for a moment I thought we were back on SS. The food was fast too, and tasty. I had currywurst and Chris had a schnitzel. But all comparisons to SS evaporated when they asked us to pay for the food and drink! So we walked around the Binnenalster admiring the views. The Rathaus looks nice from this distance. On the lake, a Greylag Goose. From the far side of the Binnenalster, the spires of Hamburg make a nice reflection. Now it was after 14:00 so in theory our rooms would be ready. So we headed back to check in. We knew it would be complicated because our TA had reserved a second night for us, independently of the SS reservation. But the agent found it and we checked in for both. We just had to come back before 11AM tomorrow to reprogram the keys. It took a while to find our backpacks. We had to look in four different rooms! Finally we found them in the first room. We were taken to the suite and told that our larger bags would be delivered soon. So we waited... After about 45 minutes, we went to the front desk to inquire. "Did you go to the luggage room to identify them?" No, we weren't asked to... So a trip to the basement to yet another room find our bags, which were there. We got the prize for having the smallest bags, so we got to bring them to the suite ourselves. Which was fine with us. Now we headed down to the harbor. We hadn't fully explored this area last time, so we took our time. Beautiful brick buildings! And a nice view of St. Katherine's church. At the far end of Speicherstadt, this view awaited. Worth the walk. Now we turned back towards the Elbe and there were many more photo opportunities. Finally we dragged ourselves back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We'd made a reservation at a tapas restaurant and it didn't disappoint. We had Padron peppers, ham, and a delicious Mallorcan potato salad that we've not seen on menus before. We also had delicious sautéed mushrooms, chorizo roasted with potatoes, and of course gambas al ajillo. All went well with a bottle of Grauburgunder. The proprietor was surprised to find two tourists from New York at his place, as it was a hole in the wall. But it's the #4 restaurant on another site so why not try it? Glad we did! We shuffled back home to sleep but managed to enjoy the view of the spire of St. Nicholas's church. From here you can't really tell that it's a ruin. 27,000 steps later we called it a day. These trips are going to wear me out!

Friday June 16th. Disembarkation in Hamburg. We awoke from one bad dream to another. We had to leave today! I guess that's good in some ways, since I can barely fit into my clothes at this point. Some breakfast in LT then we left the suite to wait in Panorama. At about 8:50 we were politely told that we needed to leave. We were taken to Fraser Suites by bus and as expected, the rooms weren't ready so it was a bit of a cluster. They sent the whole group from downstairs to upstairs and back again for no reason that I could discern. It did seem disorganized. Finally we figured out how to leave our backpacks so we could proceed. We walked to the Botanical Gardens and had a nice stroll. There were water features, And enough pollen to make you sneeze like crazy. But the bees were happy about that I think. There was a rose garden. Many blooms were past their prime but enough pretty ones to merit closer inspection. This was labeled as a "hotel for wild bees." It didn't look as luxurious as a SS ship but then again I didn't get close enough to be certain. More pretty blossoms. Apparently someone lost their glasses. Or the bees stole them? A nice lake in the middle of the park was full of waterfowl, including this pair of tufted ducks. The TV tower looked pretty from this angle. We exited the park and headed towards our next stop at the Binnenalster. Outside the park, there was a lot of nice architecture. I don't know what this building is. Now time for lunch! It's been a few hours since SS left us to fend for ourselves and I have this strange feeling in my gut...could it be hunger?

Great meeting you @daddyo and we agree, this cruise was really special. Some really interesting stops, off the beaten path, and great activities. Hope your next trip is as much fun! We are on our way home from Hamburg now. Our flight from Hamburg to Amsterdam was a few minutes early and we were bussed to a good location for the transfer gates. We were through passport control and lounge hunting within 10 minutes of landing. The new KLM lounge here on the Non-Schengen side is really nice! It's right by the Rijksmuseum. Up one flight and they have self check-in. From there, multiple lounge areas and a nice bar. Up another level and there is a self-seating restaurant and bar where they serve "premium" food and drink. We'll check that out in an hour or so. We board in two hours so that should be about right. Will post some Hamburg pix in a bit.

Thanks! We actually have tickets for tomorrow morning. Looking forward to it.

Thursday June 15th. Kiel Canal transit. A lazy morning but we were up in time to get our last bag of laundry out well before 9AM. Breakfast in Panorama then trivia where we did very well, except for the one 3-point question about Christiansø. Oh well, we've accumulated 150 prize points so we'll take it! We returned from trivia to this rude awakening. Those pesky suitcases! We went out to walk laps outside, then went to lunch instead. We were close to the canal entrance by 13:00 and saw all the pretty sailboats. But a long delay until we could actually enter the locks. So we had time for a nap. Some time later, we are finally approaching... Finally at 15:30, they let us through! Lots to see as we sailed through. The Holtenauer Hochbrücken is just beyond the entrance. Further on, the landscape is a bucolic setting with fields and forests that looked gorgeous in the bright sunshine. We did more laps, which were interrupted with the occasional photo stop. This looked like a fun place. A break in the grain fields for some grape vines. Picnic tables. I don't know what they served but I'd like to find out. Another ferry stop. There are fourteen that cross the canal. The boats are really fast! The distance is short, and they have to dodge all of the canal traffic! We packed most of our stuff then got ready for the captain's farewell. Then the last dinner on board. I had booked Hot Rocks for us and RachelG, and we were joined by LAexNY so it was a really fun meal. The company was fantastic and the scenery was beautiful. We had a great sunset too. It's now after 23:30 and there is still a little light in the sky as we enter the lock at the exit into the North Sea. Good night for now. We have two days in Hamburg before we fly home on Sunday. Will be sad to see this adventure end, but we did book two more.

June 14th, Frederiksø Island. We crossed the little footbridge and hustled to the small tower (Lille Tårn). Of course the pretty landscape slowed us down here and there. Made it in time! As RachelG posted, some torture instruments.... What did they need an "electrical apparatus" for? Old stethoscopes. And this table - what did they use the mezzaluna for? Some things are best left unknown. There was an 1800s diorama of the islands. Christiansø is behind and to the right, and Frederiksø in front and to the left. Now a little more walking around the rest of Frederiksø. Nice summer cottages, some for rent. We did see some people enjoying an outdoor meal at their cottage. I hope our group hasn't ruined the peacefulness of this place for them! More poppies and cottages. We reached the tip of the island and saw a zodiac leaving without us. So back to the footbridge and the dock. A beautiful calm harbor. The footbridge did look like it could be pulled up like a drawbridge. Here at the middle, you could see that it's actually two sections. We got a zodiac back to the ship and passed by some seals on one of the adjacent islands. No close-up views though. Back on board we cleaned up for dinner. Tonight's menu. I started with stuffed calamari. Very tasty. I enjoyed it very much. Chris had lobster bisque (not pictured) then I had gazpacho. Tasty and a bit of spice. Chris had lobster tail which was much better than the lunch offering. And I went with the Wiener Schnitzel which was crispy and delicious. Both went well with the Macon Burgundy. Liar's club after dinner. We tied for first. Then some dancing before bed but we were both too tired to stay up late. We're approaching the Kiel Canal now, so off to see what's on offer at the pub lunch!

Wednesday June 14th. Christiansø and Frederiksø Islands. Our only stop in Denmark this trip. We were called ashore a little after 16:30. A short and relatively calm zodiac ride ashore to a dock in the middle of town. We stopped for a sampler plate of herring first. Three kinds - curried, pickled, and with tomato sauce. I liked the first two best. From here we visited the large defensive tower (Store Tårn) which now holds some historical exhibits and pieces of artwork. SS had bought tickets for us (25 DKK each). You can climb up to the roof level for the views too. The land beyond Silver Wind is Bornholm. I was there 21 years ago for my sister's wedding. In January! It looks much more welcoming today. The two islands are tiny and should be easy to walk around. Onward! But first some art. This piece was a large tree trunk, quartered, and painted blue inside. I liked this perspective. Just outside the tower, some very fluffy herring gull chicks. Weird place for a nest. We had a look at the nearby church and another smal tower. This one was locked up tight. Time to get moving and walk the perimeter of the island. Views like this were everywhere. You couldn't go outside the walls because of the nesting birds. Some pretty flowers, including poppies which added a nice splash of color. Halfway around we started hearing a loud racket. There was a pond full of frogs who were croaking like mad! More views of the coast, and a selfie! Now about 3/4 of the way around the island. Is that a person on the walls? I bet I know him. At the highest point, there is a large defensive bastion with many cannons. Good thing they are in a welcoming mood today. Now we were back at the other end of the city. The Post Office had some nice hours! Main Street At this point we had circumnavigated the entirety of Christiansø Island. Our next goal was to get to the footbridge and cross over to Frederiksø, where there was another tower to climb. If we could get there before it closed!

We said 1887! Why aren't you here to help us?

None here Terry. But it was yummy! They had four ceviches and assorted fried seafood as well as crab legs, lobster, Chilean sea bass, shrimp, huge prawns, and lobster tails.

Wednesday June 14th. Sea morning in the Baltic. Lazy morning. We finally got moving a little before 9AM. We split the morning between the Panorama for coffee, the suite for resting, and a few laps on deck enjoying the beautiful weather. We saw a ferry off in the distance. Just before lunch we had a look out our window. What?! And why is it smoking at the waterline? Is it test firing some torpedoes at us? Lunch on the deck was a very nice seafood buffet. The lobster tails were small and not so good but the Chilean sea bass was delicious. And the crab legs were excellent. Another warplane went by but quite high up so we couldn't see it well. But we sure heard it! Eventually the warship turned away and left us to our own devices. Relaxing with a glass (or several) of Macon white wine while awaiting briefing at 14:00, then we will try to redeem ourselves at trivia. Later this afternoon we make our last (!) stop, at Christiansø Island for a nice walk.

The chili crab is indeed very messy. They gave us bibs and a box of plastic gloves which helped immensely.

Lola, I'm not sure if the ship environment has anything to do with it or not. Certainly possible. The issue with yesterday's bottles was cork taint and not spoilage. Cork taint comes from a fungus that is sometimes present in natural cork, which produces a compound that smells and tastes awful. For wine geeks that substance is 2,4,6-TCA. It's harmless, but makes the wine smell like moldy wet newspapers. Or stinky socks. Definitely not the aromas that one wants! And once you're sensitized to it, you can't ignore it if it's present.

June 13th, dinner at LT Our reservation was at 20:00 so we had time to sip a G&T at the bar. And to have a few salty chips/crisps too. We went up 10 minutes early and there was plenty of room. Tonight's menu. The usual tray of antipasti which is way more than needed. Chris had the cacio e pepe (not nearly enough pepper but easy to fix) and I had the pansotti with walnut sauce. For mains Chris had duck and I had the lamb. Randolph brought us a Northern Italian Pinot noir for the duck, and a Southern Rhône Syrah for the lamb. Nice matches. Chris with our favorite LT waiter. For dessert, just some ice cream as we were stuffed. Then we went to the death by chocolate buffet but didn't eat anything. We did dance a lot so maybe we burned one scoop of the ice cream... Beautiful sunset! After the buffet the party moved inside to the Paranormal where we danced the night away. We gain an hour back so of course we stayed up about 3 hours later than usual. One oddity today. I encountered two bottles with cork taint! The first bottle of the Syrah that Randolph brought had a strong odor of cork taint and he agreed. That was immediately replaced and he felt bad that he hadn't tasted it first. Then at the deck party, one of the bottles of the French white we were sipping on was also badly tainted. The server wasn't quite sure what to do about it but eventually got a new bottle which was much better.

Tuesday June 13th. Kuressaare, Saaremaa, Estonia. Fortunately I've typed these place names a few tines now, so auto-complete remembers how to spell them. That makes one of us. We gave back the hour we'd recently gained, as Estonia is on Finland time. So it was an early morning despite a 10AM start. We still had time for a proper breakfast in LT, which we (well, I) needed, as our tour would last until at least 15:00. Gorgeous weather today! High 60s already so the shorts made another appearance. At 10:00 we were loading onto zodiacs for the short ride to the pier. A Phoenix Reisen ship was docked at the pier today so we were stuck at anchor. But the beautiful weather made up for it. Our group piled on to a small bus for the 45 minute drive to Kuressaare. A good opportunity for napping, perhaps? We arrived in town and parked, then walked to the castle to begin our tour. It was picturesque and surrounded by a moat. Nice of the builders to make it so photogenic! The central keep lay over two bridges, inside a large courtyard. Not large enough to avoid some keystone distortion. Here's a schematic. We entered from the two bridges at the bottom. Inside, many varying exhibits. An old phonograph here but hard to see all of the details because of backlighting. And some antiques here - camera, typewriter, and an old Electrolux vacuum cleaner. No word on whether it is used to keep the castle clean now, or whether they have since retrofitted the place with a central vacuuming system. There were many exhibits from the WW1 and WW2 eras. This is a model of a boat which a family used to escape the communists during WW2. They rowed from Estonia to Scotland! I had visions of Shackleton and the James Caird. We broke away from our group now and headed upward, to the ramparts. The view of the inner courtyard and the moat. We had less than 20 minutes before we had to meet for our next stop, so time for a quick picture before we moved on. An ancient tractor, with iron wheels stuck in the concrete. Was that to keep George from driving it away? We couldn't figure out what this statue was supposed to be, but we liked the glasses. This building just outside of the castle is a nice hotel, according to our guide. We slowly made our way back to town. Here's an Orthodox church. After a good stroll we reached the other end of town and this windmill. Now called Saaremaa Veski, it's a restaurant where we were served a piece of cake and some coffee. After all, it had been about 3 hours since our last food intake. We had more free time so we went looking for a chance to take this picture. Kids were swarming around so we went to a grocery store next door to look around. Finally we got our chance! Back to the main street, and a pretty square with fountains. A little further, a Lutheran church. With a "gentleman's" club right next door. We looked for different street signs to photograph, in order to keep this thread PG-13. Brightly painted wooden houses like we've seen in Finland. Another view of the Orthodox church. It's seemingly in a better neighborhood than the Lutheran church. One last view of Lossi, the Main Street in town, before returning to the bus. We left on time, as everyone showed up before the deadline. Back to the pier about 15:05 and a quick zodiac ride had us on board by 15:15. Luckily LT was open late (15:30) so we had enough time for a late lunch. Trivia was a bomb. First time we didn't place. Oh well. We set sail for Denmark at 17:30 and now it's time for recap, and tomorrow's briefing. Sadly, only 3 more nights on board! Probably a good thing, as I'm running out of clothes that fit.

Jolly, I find that the food on SS is less salty than how I cook at home.

Monday evening on board. Back in time for a drink at the bar. Then we went to dinner at 19:00. Tonight's menu in the MDR: I started with the asparagus and mushroom special while Chris had the mushroom risotto. We switched halfway through. The included wines were an unoaked chardonnay (which we didn't try) and a California Pinot noir which went well. We both had the veal marsala for our main. Yum! We finished the rest of our Burgundy with that and it was delicious. Dessert was cheesecake for me (only ok, tasted like it was made with ricotta, not cream cheese) and crème brûlée (great). After dinner we had Latin night in Panorama where Zaid did his best to teach merengue, bachata, and salsa. Then dancing. And a gorgeous sunset. We were far enough south to see it! And much water drinking, after all the wine with dinner. I hope I had enough salt to avoid hyponatremia!

Monday June 12th, Gotska Sandön. We debated signing up for the long hike but the DIY option won out. So we waited until they had called most of the guided hikes and went to the zodiac launch deck, where we snuck on with the last group of birders. There was a delay at the shore, as disembarkation was complicated. But the view was very nice! And such a smooth ride. This beach landing could have been wet. But our SS expedition crew took excellent care of us. They went to Ikea and bought a DIY dock, assembled it, and had it ready to go. Dry feet all around! We slogged up the sandy beach and into the forest. We had a rough idea of where we wanted to hike from a map I'd downloaded but we double checked against the map they gave out at the landing site. The terrain was more challenging than it looks. Since the whole island is a giant sand dune, there's no good place to get solid footing. Unlike the Finnish forest, no bedrock here. We set off on the green trail. A few setbacks where we got stuck behind the walking groups but eventually we passed by them and broke out on our own. We made it to the opposite coast and this oystercatcher was there to squawk at us. Deserted but beautiful just the same. Not a resort beach for sure! We like it that way. Now our trail turned back inland and climbed mercilessly. In the sand it was one step back for every two steps forward. I didn't sign up for this! After a tough up.amd down slog through 40 meter sand dunes, and an occasional detour to make sure we were on the right route, we found an easier connection back to our beach. This gentle trail was just what we needed. As we approached our destination, a chapel appeared! We got back to our starting point in time to climb the lighthouse. More climbing? Sure, where do I sign up? But you know we wouldn't leave a tower unclimbed. From the top, we could see Silver Wind. And a bonus ladder we could climb, to see the lens of the lighthouse. On the way down, Chris stopped for a photo. I liked the photo opportunity as well. Now a trudge back to the beach for our zodiac ride back. The total was about 4.5 miles. In this deep sand that should count double! We were back on board soon, and had plenty of work to do. So much sand to clean out of our shoes. And we had missed trivia because of our long walk. We found out later that LAexNY had kept up our strong team showing, and won on our behalf while both we and RachelG were ashore. Kudos! Time for dinner! We've earned some, I hope.

Yes our friends were on board at that time. Protest is a national pastime. The Finnish people are indeed lovely and welcoming.