August 9 - 16, 2018 Disney Northern European Cruise (Completed)

How do I un-attach the two files (pictures) above so I can put them into the report?
 
Is there a way to un-attach files (the two pictures above) so I can place them in the report?
 
Is there a way to un-attach files (the two pictures above) so I can place them in the report?
So this happened to me for a couple posts, and I can't remember how I fixed it, lol. You can try to 'edit' the post, and maybe click 'full size'. Or maybe delete the pics and add them again? I honestly have no idea what I did...I know I tried a couple things...not sure which one worked!

I'm also enjoying your report--it's amazing to see how many things we did NOT see on the same cruise. I especially like your pics of some detail things that I just never saw, even places on the ship I walked by multiple times.
 


So this happened to me for a couple posts, and I can't remember how I fixed it, lol. You can try to 'edit' the post, and maybe click 'full size'. Or maybe delete the pics and add them again? I honestly have no idea what I did...I know I tried a couple things...not sure which one worked!

I'm also enjoying your report--it's amazing to see how many things we did NOT see on the same cruise. I especially like your pics of some detail things that I just never saw, even places on the ship I walked by multiple times.


Glad you're seeing some new things. I still have a couple of days in and outside CPH to do that I think you'll enjoy and want to visit if you ever return. I too, fixed the problem once before, but I can't figure out what I did either. I've tired deleting and cutting pictures in the post to try and get back below 10 pictures so when I click on more options it will let me in to fix the problem. Nothing seems to be working for me yet. It just attaches the pictures I cut or delete and then I can't do anything with them.
 
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After finishing our pizza we crossed the street to get some Gelato for dessert at the little shop named Momma Che. We both had two scoops (different favors) in a dish for 60 DKK/$9.48). It is delicious. I also wandered into the bar/coffee place below, which is on the corner adjacent to the Momma Che to take the picture below.
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We ate our Gelato and then walked back to the large recreational area and headed north and encountered a large indoor/outdoor market. It was a great place to find some good street food and it was packed with locals. I saw few tourists. It's basically located just beyond the west entrance to the Norreport Station. I found the fish market particularly interesting and took a couple of pictures.
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We eventually took the Metro from the Norreport Station back to the hotel.

Friday (August 17, 2018) -- Fredericksborg Slot (Castle) in Hillerod

The weather forecast for today called for rain on and off through the day. We didn't know what to do and decided to sleep in and then have a late breakfast in the Club Lounge. At first, I thought about taking the train to the Central Station where we could catch Bus #42 to the Zoological Museum in Norrebro. But we really wanted to get outside of the city to visit some of the sites in the surrounding countryside. We finally decided to just go to the Central Station where we learned that we could buy two, 24-hour Tourist Passes (300 DKK/$46.04) that would cover the other 95 travel zones in the small country of Denmark. We then decided to travel by train to Hillerod, which is located a little northwest of Copenhagen to tour the huge Frederiksborg Slot (Castle). We caught the next train on Track #10 and it was only about a 30-minute train ride from the central station in CPH.
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Frederiksborg Slot is very impressive and an unrivaled Renaissance castle built in the first decades of the 17th century by the legendary King Christian IV. It's the largest in Scandinavia and holds the Denmark National History Museum. It also contains the coats of arms for the famous Order of the Elephant, is in the middle of Castle Lake and surrounded by the Baroque Garden and romantic landscaped gardens. I went picture crazy here both in and outside the castle. When it began to pour outside we went in and did the tour. It took us about 2 hours, and by the time we came back out it was only sprinkling.
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This guy greets you on your way to the Men's and Women's restrooms, which are located down one level. You have to negotiate a very narrow and steep, circular stairway to get there. The magnificent Castle Chapel is where the absolute Danish kings were anointed, and the shields of the Order of the Elephant and the Order of Danneborg are still hung there.
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This is a small ornate cupola in the chapel.
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Here's a few of the chapel's windows.
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Eisenhower's and Churchill's coat of arms.
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A better view from the back of the chapel.
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Some art and a statue of King Christian IV.
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I wondered what would happen if someone went for his legs with a sword. Seems like that would disable this knight.
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It's too bad it was raining out we really would have liked to explore the gardens after touring the castle.
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More fantastic art!
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This part of a celestial clock.
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This a ceiling shot.
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A little silver setting.
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I think the painting below is depicting Erik the Red?
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The Frederiksborg Castle and grounds is one of the best places we have gone in Denmark. I can't recommend seeing this fabulous castle, museum and beautiful grounds enough. We left under threatening skies, but the rain held off and by the time we got back to Central Station the rain in Copenhagen had already moved east. We were pretty tuckered out and decided to just take advantage of the afternoon layout in the Club Lounge instead of eating out.

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Notice the large wheel of cheese that you can scoop out for a sandwich and the fresh baked bread wrapped in a cloth to the left of it.
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Lots of wine was available and of course there is a full cooler of bottled water, soda and three different selections of local bottled beer. Like I said above in another post, you really wouldn't have to go out to eat while staying here. But what's the fun in that?
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Saturday (August 18,2018) -- Roskilde Cathedral and a Look at the Viking Museum.

Our plan for Saturday morning was to have an early breakfast before taking a train to Central Station. From there we wanted to catch a train to Roskilde, which would be on Track #8. Our 24-hour, tourist tickets were good until 12:45 PM, and we would need to catch a train back to Copenhagen around 11:30 AM. We knew we'd be pressed for time to accomplish our goal to tour the Roskilde Cathedral and possibly the Viking Museum, but we figured we would just see as much as we could considering the time constraint. We had been checked for tickets frequently this year on both the Metro and the various trains. It probably had to do with August being the prime holiday time for most Western Europeans, and the fact that the trains were so packed. The last two years while in the Copenhagen in the month of June we only had to show our tickets once, but there is a stiff fine if you're caught without one.

The train we caught to Roskilde had really plush seats and the ride to the small city was really smooth. Again, it only took us about 30 minutes to get there. We were really impressed with the wide main street through the city leading to the square where the Roskilde is located. We wished we had time to shop around but when we arrived nothing was open and when we left we had to almost run back to the train station to get back to one of the four Copenhagen zones before are tickets expired.
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There was a small market setting up in the square when we arrived. The building in the background is a museum that we didn't have time to visit. The second picture is of some homemade birdfeeders,
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Some flowers to the side of the square.
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Here's an early morning picture of the Roskilde Cathedral.
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It was only 9:00 and the Cathedral doesn't open until 10:00. We went around the back and found a beautiful, wooded sidewalk that leads all the way down to the Viking Museum.
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When we finally reached the museum we realized that if we wanted to tour the Cathedral we only had time to walk over to the museum and take a few pictures of some replica ships that were outside the building. The boats and ships are actually reconstructions of archeological finds using the methods of the day.
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The Cathedral in Roskilde holds the ornate tombs of all of Denmark's past Kings, Queens and some other famous Danes. There has been a church on the spot that the cathedral now stands on for more than a 1000 years. The present brick church was started in the 1170s under Bishop Absalon (biskop from 1158 - 1201). The art of brick-making had just been introduced to Denmark and the construction of the church lasted more than 100 years. The Kings Door below is used as an entrance only for royal guests but as an exit after weddings, funerals and confirmations. The door is made of polished and patinated bronze. The outside of the Kings Door is embellished with symbols of the twelve apostles.
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This is the tomb of Frederick 2 and Sophie.
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Frederick 8 (died 1912) and Louise (died 1926).
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This is the double sarcophagus holding Christian 9 (died 1906) and Louise (died 1898). The three female figures on the plinth (Remembrance, Love, and Grief) are by the sculptor Edvard Eriksen, known chiefly for his statue of the Little Mermaid.
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The organ. The tombs to the right contain Christian 9 and Louise in the black sarcophagus, Christian 10 and Alexandrine are to the right in the rear of the photo and Frederick 8 and Louise are located to the left in the rear of the photo.
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Statue of Christian 4 (died 1648). Christian's chapel is located behind the statue. The painting to the right is on one of the chapel's walls and depicts a scene from the life of Christian 4.
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Christian 6 (1730 - 1746). Wonder if he was a bachelor when he passed?
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Fredrick 5's chapel (He died 1766). The king was the absolute monarch and was considered God's representative on earth. On his death he was defied just like the Roman Emperors.
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The two grieving women at the foot of the monument symbolize Denmark and Norway.
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The Frescoe behind the magnificent Baroque, marble sarcophagus bearing Louise (died 1721) and her portrait is of Harold Bluetooth. The location of his grave is unknown. Louise was queen to Fredrick 4.
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The altarpiece is three-winged and was made in Antwerp around 1560. The bible on the communion table is from the time of Frederick 2.
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Bishop Vilhelm's tomb is walled up behind the Frescoe and the elaborate sarcophagus of Fredrick 4. The prone statue to the right and in the front of Fredrick 4 is a monument to Duke Christopher, brother of Margrete 1, who died in 1363. Below is the sarcophagus of Queen Margrete 1 (died 1412).
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Some seats along the church's wall. The pulpit on the right is made of brick and sandstone, only the entrance is made of wood.
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The reflection from the polished and patinated bronze on the King's Door from the inside catches your eye.
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Barbershop on Kildare's main street. I took this picture as we were almost running back to the train station.
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We arrived back at the hotel around 1:20 PM and went to the Club Lounge for lunch. I had a beer and both DW and I had a bottle of lemon favored, charged water with some snacks. Later after a short nap we took the Metro to the Norreport Station. We planned to go directly to Pizzeria La Florita for dinner, but we left the Metro station through its West Exit and got turned around. Instead of turning left we turned right. When we had walked more than two blocks both DW and I realized we must not be where we wanted to be, but until I saw the Rosenburg Castle through the trees bordering the Kings Garden I didn't turn around.

We quickly re-traced our steps and made our way to the little, Italian-pizza restaurant. Being Saturday, all of the outside tables were taken. But just as we entered the restaurant we were able to snag two stools in front of the shallow wooden counter. One young woman with another couple were seated at the two tables in the corner that would hold eight people. All the woman had to do was move and a table for four would be freed up, but she just sat there until the three of them finished their meal. After having another very good pizza we returned to Momma Che for more Gelato. Then we took another walk through the large market to the north of the restaurant and just west of the Metro Station before we returned to our hotel to finish our packing. I used a rubberized beach bag we were given as one of the gift items for joining DVC, and I used it to wrap around my bottle of Russian Vodka. I then put the whole thing in another shipping bag full of my dirty clothes in the center of my suitcase. I then went down to the Club Lounge for a beer, some nuts, and to print out our boarding passes for our flights home.


Sunday (August 19, 2018)-- Flying Home to Chicago and Then Riding the Bus to Madison.

We checked out of the Crowne Plaza around 6:00 AM, had the "Early-Bird" breakfast, and then caught the shuttle to the CPH airport. Kiosks are provided right inside the entrance to the terminal to self-check your luggage. Early Sunday morning must be the day and time to fly from CPH. After delivering our two mid-sized suitcases to the Swiss Air desk, we found there wasn't a line waiting to pass through security. We were whished through by a smiling and joking man in about five minutes. Once inside the secure area of the terminal we purchased two bottles of water and DW had a large Mocha. That left me with a 0.5 DKK coin and 7.2 Euros. Not bad, since we'll definitely use the Euros on a future trip.

Our flight from CPH left at 9:35 and arrived at ZRH around 11:30. The next leg of our flight to ORD wasn't schedule to leave until 1:45. We used the time to do a little shopping before taking a short tram ride to the international departure gates. Again the security to enter the international terminal went quickly. But our plane left an hour late, because a number of passengers were on a plane from Germany that was delayed. Instead of arriving at ORD at 3:30, we arrived 50 minutes later at 4:20. Customs at ORD as usual was insane. The large room had several lines snaking around and around and scores of people who were catching another flight missed it. We missed the first bus to Madison that we would have made if our flight had been on time, and we barely made the second one. Next time, we go overseas, we'll probably try to fly through Minneapolis instead. We arrived at the bus stop in Madison at 8:45 (15 minutes late according to the bus schedule), and finally got home at 9:30. It took us three days to re-set our biological clocks and to start sleeping our normal six hours a night.

Summary

All in all we had a great time. Such trips are expensive but so worthwhile. And there is just so much to see. We aren't getting any younger and walking all day -- especially on cobblestone streets -- is becoming harder every year. We also still feel rushed in every port. I know, that's what cruising is all about -- you get a taste of a part of the world you generally haven't been to and then you get to go back to your ship and wake up in another interesting port without having to pack and unpack every time. Don't get me wrong, we love cruising with DCL, because you really never become bored and it's a great way to safely be introduced to new places. We've now been to Copenhagen three years in a row, prior to and after DCL cruises (Norway & twice to the Baltic Area), and we've spent a total of 13 nights in Copenhagen. Yet, we still haven't gotten to its Zoological Museum or Geological Museum, the Ny Carlsburg Glyptotek, Denmark's National Gallery, its zoo, aquarium or Kronborg (Hamlet's) Castle at Helsinger.

We, therefore, still want to return to Copenhagen and the Baltic area again someday, but on a land tour. We would especially want to spend more time in Copenhagen. We really love the city, except for the fact that most of the younger people there smoke. Thankfully they can't inside public places like here at home. I couldn't figure why so many of the young Danes, who are so health conscious when it comes to exercise and what they eat, smoke. I even asked the bartender at our hotel why they did, and he replied, "It's partly a protest against the pressure to conform to Danish Society." That's interesting since Denmark usually scores in the top 1 to 3 happiest countries in the world.

Like I stated in my introduction we'd like to fly from CPH to Oslo, Norway to explore that city and take the fabulous train ride to Flam and back. We also want to go back to Tallinn to spend at least a week there. But not in August! I asked our cruise director at the Tallinn Port after we returned from the "Old Town," why DCL changed the timing of the cruise from June to August. She just said it was because of the bad weather (cold & even hail in Helsinki) DCL experienced on the earlier June sailings last year. I'm not sure why they couldn't schedule the Northern European Cruises for July. It will be interesting to see what's offered once the two new and big ships come on-line. We like the Wonder and Magic much more than the Dream mostly due to just less people being aboard and the service and attention by the staff seems better. Also, the cruises we've taken on the two smaller ships have been longer 7- 14 days, instead of just 4 days. Were scheduled to return to the Magic on January 19, 2019 for a 5-day cruise in the Western Caribbean.

Thanks vey much for following along!
 
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We did a 5-day DCL Western Caribbean Cruise in January visiting Grand Cayman and of course Castaway Cay with our family and granddaughters boy friends.

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Next up: MY DW and I are scheduled to take the Eastbound Trans-Atlantic, May 2020.
 

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