The Blind leading the Blind

Between Luther and Juliet, they had two good eyes. By dinner, Juliet had decided that her scratchy eyes also warranted a visit to the ship’s doctor. Both she and Luther showed up at dinner with matching white eye patches. Very photogenic. They put up well with the inconvenience and eye pain but turned in soon after dinner to rest their eyes. Both were better this morning and ready to tour again. Yea!

While they were recovering, Dennis and Rebecca headed out after dinner to meet Jennifer and Kim at Tivoli. After a city bus ride (one of Dennis’ favorite modes of transportation), they got to the park in time to see the pretty lights and ride the Demon, a roller coaster where your feet dangle. Dennis screamed like the girls he was with, who also screamed, naturally. It was a good ride! They figured their screaming was attracting customers to the roller coaster. Always glad to help. Tivoli was sort of like a quaint Epcot with areas for many countries. It looked great in the dark with the lights twinkling. With our heads spinning from the ride, we headed out to the music of a swing band back into Copenhagen. Next stop, the ice bar.

We managed to get there 5 minutes before closing time, and the bartender was kind enough to let us in anyway. The bar is a small space made entirely of ice – walls, glasses, artwork. The whole shebang. They dress you in a large blue cape with a hood and mittens and send you into the cold to order your drink. What a hoot! We had a gas bundled up against the cold as we sipped our drinks before being kicked out. After the deep freeze, Copenhagen’s relative warmth felt balmy! A quick taxi ride back to the ship and a nightcap later, and we were all off to bed. Kudos to Jennifer and Kim for the longest touring day EVER. They never took a break from when we left the ship at 9 am until we got back at midnight.

With the one-eyed wonders back in business, we woke in Helsingborg, Sweden. Paul looked right at home among his people. Dennis and Luther tendered, bused, ferried and bused again back to Denmark to see Elsinore’s Castle (Hamlet’s castle). The rest of the gang walked into the charming town of Helsingborg. For our cultural edification, we visited a castle known as the Keep, a 13th century battle station. There were great views from the top of the tower to the coast below. Then we hit the shopping street for some necessary doodads. Along the way we visited St. Mary’s church, a Lutheran church from the early 14th century. We finally saw a painting of Luther even. Buxtehude (dude!) was organist there in the 17th century. We picked up lunch at an international food fair that’s in town for a few days and headed back to the ship for an onboard picnic of tasty pretzels, pork sandwiches and chocolate waffles. Happiness all around.

Now we are waiting to set sail. A winch is broken so the last of the tender boats can’t be hoisted into place, delaying our departure for over an hour so far. I’m sure they’ll have it all resolved soon! Kim is taking a well-deserved nap and Paul is monitoring the winch situation. Tomorrow, Oslo!

Julie sends a special shout out to Ben and Abby since they couldn’t talk long this afternoon. Enjoy your spaghetti dinner. They will try to reach you tonight if the phones are working or tomorrow if they aren’t.