Shetland Ponies and More!

This last cruise was 14 days and it was cool because I got to add 2 more countries to my list: Denmark and Scotland!

The first port was Copenhagen, which is such a cool city! There are beautiful buildings everywhere you look. The first time I was there I only had an hour to walk through downtown very quickly. However on our new cruise a couple days ago, me and some friends rented bikes from the ship and biked around. It’s a lot easier to get around and to see many things in a short amount of time. One of my friends has a friend that lives in Copenhagen. She met us for drinks and some food at a couple cafes, and it was cool talking to a local about what it’s like living there. Copenhagen also has the most amazing pastries! Obviously danishes come from there, even though they call them a Viennese pastry. And these cinnamon roll-like things with chocolate and marzipan in them. It’s incredible!

Our next port was Oslo. I walked around and saw the famous opera house, some cool looking forts, castles, theaters, buildings, and the Nobel Peace Prize Center. Like most big cities, it’s a great place to people watch on the main walking streets, with tons of fashionable people and characters to see.

Most of the Norway ports we had already been to, and it was a lot of the usual things- hiking, relaxing. In Alesund I took a tour of some neighbouring islands connected by underground tunnel. They are mostly filled with rich summer homes and beautiful views!

Now Scotland! I had such a fun time in Scotland, mainly because of the way it started. We got in early around 6pm to our first port of Lerwick, the capital of the Shetland Islands. I had the night off, so this meant a bunch of us went into town to a local Scottish bar to watch the Euro Cup games. We met some locals, and things got rowdy. They kept buying us drinks, and it was a blast! The night ended with some fish and chips, which was perfect! The next day I took a tour around the island, just looking at the scenery and visiting an old castle and museum. Beautiful countryside, and I got to see Shetland ponies! I ended that day again with fish chips. You get a huge piece of fish, and the best fries I’ve ever had. Now I know why the English love fries so much- because they make them way better than any in the US. It’s unfortunately true.

At our port in Invergordon, I got on a tour bussing us an hour away to see the Dunnrobben Castle. It was this huge castle in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by forest, on the coast. There was a huge beautiful garden with a falconry that put on a show with falcons, owls, and other birds flying around us. There were so many rooms with tons of old artifacts, paintings, and furniture from back in the day when the castle was used. I forget the surname of the family that’s been living there, but it’s pretty cool to see how far they can carry the name.

Our last port was also really fun! We were docked near Edinburgh, the biggest city in Scotland. It took a while to get there (a tender ride to the port from the ship, walk to the train station, and then 20 minute train to the city) but it was well worth it! The coolest architecture, with tons of buildings, a huge castle at the top of a hill overlooking the city. When we looked around we could see green, green grass on top of a cliff of rock, and then right next to it huge stone buildings and castles. It was fun just walking around and looking up! We walked up the famous Royal Mile to the castle and had a beer at a pub there. I also ate a huge steak pie which was DELICIOUS.

I’m now almost halfway through my next cruise and I already have some crazy stories that you won’t wait to hear about. This is the best cruise of the contract- Copenhagen, 2 Germany ports, Tallinn Estonia, Helsinki, and 2 days with an overnight in both Stockholm and St. Petersburg.