Baltic, Iceland, Norway and the U.K.on a cruise

[MicCanberra]

8 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

Well thank you . We enjoy looking back to pass the time while our next one in 18 days .

What is the itinerary for that one?

[scubacruiserx2]

6 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

What is the itinerary for that one?

 

We'll be going Dutch on the Zuiderdam to Bonaire , Curacao , Aruba , Dominican Republic and Half Moon Cay (Little San Salvador ) . It leaves on the 10th and we return on the 20th in time for Christmas . 

[scubacruiserx2]

Growing up in the 50's and 60's we remember the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall being erected and never thought that we would visit Russia or Germany . My wife's parents met in Germany and her mother's twin brother died there during the war and is buried in Arlington . On our last visit there we were with a group tour with an American guide .

 

Video

 

 

On this trip we had a German driver and met our German guide in Berlin . We will share the best from both trips .

 

 

View on the ship from 2016

 

 

View from the ship 2019

 

 

Instead of the 3 hour bus ride , Frank our driver , got us there in 2-1/2 hours in a comfortable mini van where we met Markus , our guide .

[scubacruiserx2]

Our first stop was a new subway  with some history on the wall

 

 

 

A stop at the Brandenburg Gate 

 

 

A bear in the US Embassy

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_to_the_Murdered_Jews_of_Europe

 

 

 

 

 

 

[greatestvalue]

Sorry if I missed it - what cruise line (s) was this itinerary on? 

 

Thank you

Roberta

[scubacruiserx2]

46 minutes ago, greatestvalue said:

Sorry if I missed it - what cruise line (s) was this itinerary on? 

 

Thank you

Roberta

 

It was on the HAL Zuiderdam . A 10 day Baltic followed by a 14 day Northern Isles cruise .

[scubacruiserx2]

Moving toward the American Embassy

 

 

And the Reichstag Building

 

 

 

[MicCanberra]

7 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

We'll be going Dutch on the Zuiderdam to Bonaire , Curacao , Aruba , Dominican Republic and Half Moon Cay (Little San Salvador ) . It leaves on the 10th and we return on the 20th in time for Christmas . 

Cool, I want to do the ABC islands. it may be September 2021.

[scubacruiserx2]

59 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Cool, I want to do the ABC islands. it may be September 2021.

 

This season is the best time for us to go with very good prices from Ft. Lauderdale . September is our peak hurricane season .

Edited November 23, 2019 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

An unscheduled stop at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof ( the freedom of a private guide to honor our requests for photos )

 

 

 

 

[MicCanberra]

8 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

We'll be going Dutch on the Zuiderdam to Bonaire , Curacao , Aruba , Dominican Republic and Half Moon Cay (Little San Salvador ) . It leaves on the 10th and we return on the 20th in time for Christmas . 

Cool, I want to do the ABC islands. it may be September 2021.

[MicCanberra]

15 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

This season is the best time for us to go very good prices from Ft. Lauderdale . September is our peak hurricane season .

That is why it is only pencilled in, we are looking at possibly moving it back to late October/ early November instead.

[scubacruiserx2]

Just now, MicCanberra said:

That is why it is only pencilled in, we are looking at possibly moving it back to late October/ early November instead.

 

September and October are the peak hurricane season . November things start to cool a bit and the ships migrate back to South Florida . With a lot of ships in town the prices go down and upgrades are offered to fill the ships . I just checked on or cruise and interiors are $600 , oceanview 630 balconies are 850 and a Signature Suite is 1440 USD .

[MicCanberra]

4 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

September and October are the peak hurricane season . November things start to cool a bit and the ships migrate back to South Florida . With a lot of ships in town the prices go down and upgrades are offered to fill the ships . I just checked on or cruise and interiors are $600 , oceanview 630 balconies are 850 and a Signature Suite is 1440 USD .

wow, great prices. One issue I have is I want to do a tour in the central east states , the last one runs in September (for 2020) they do not have 2021 dates out as yet. Plans are still very flexible, we may even go to Africa instead.

[scubacruiserx2]

52 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

wow, great prices. One issue I have is I want to do a tour in the central east states , the last one runs in September (for 2020) they do not have 2021 dates out as yet. Plans are still very flexible, we may even go to Africa instead.

 

Have you considered a Fall foliage tour ? We used to rent condo in the Smokey Mountains or in New Hampshire to beat the Florida heat .

[MicCanberra]

52 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

Have you considered a Fall foliage tour ? We used to rent condo in the Smokey Mountains or in New Hampshire to beat the Florida heat .

We have done that, it was wonderful, we like a tour that is called historic trails and does a lot of civil war stuff along with the blue ridge mountains. We also want to spend more time in Washington (DC) itself

[scubacruiserx2]

4 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

We have done that, it was wonderful, we like a tour that is called historic trails and does a lot of civil war stuff along with the blue ridge mountains.

 

We used to do things like that a lot since we home schooled our kids until high school . They all like to travel and we would always find Museums and other educational things to do where ever we went . 

[scubacruiserx2]

A couple of photo stops

 

 

Charlottenburg Palace

 

 

 

Kaiser Wilheim Memorial Church

 

There are 2 churches here , the old one which was bombed in 1943 , and left intact and a new one .

 

 

 

Edited November 23, 2019 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

First , the old .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inside

 

 

In the old church , there we a number of beautiful mosaics .

 

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

The old and the new

 

 

 

The new church

 

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 A Tombak alloy Jesus .

 

 

 

We were told by Markus to be on the lookout for Spargel  and the Ampelmännchen

 

 

The East Berlin little traffic men

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 

 

I didn't know why they built the Berlin Wall as a kid but I do remember the guy jumping the fence to escape

 

 

The East German government claimed that the Wall was an "anti-fascist protective rampart" (German: "antifaschistischer Schutzwall") intended to dissuade aggression from the West.^[58]   Wikipedia

 

If the wall was to protect and detain people for their own good , why were so many people willing to die to escape ? Should't people be dying to get in instead of dying to get out ? 

 

Checkpoint Charlie seemed ominous when we first visited there in 2006

 

 

But now it's more a place to get a burger or party

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

We had requested a visit to the wall gallery

 

 

 

 

 

 

It seems to be more of a place to have your photo taken

 

 

 

Than to read the writing on the wall

 

 

 

[Host Bonjour]

6 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 A Tombak alloy Jesus .

 

 

 

We were told by Markus to be on the lookout for Spargel  and the Ampelmännchen

 

 

The East Berlin little traffic men

 

 

 

...can't say the little man doesn't have varied taste in hats. I don't remember these from my early aughts visit to Berlin but so much was still being rebuilt or torn down in the eastern side of the city back then. But then I just realized I'm a scofflaw when it comes to paying heed to these signs....if the road is all clear, I just go. 🙄 shhhhh