When traveling south we docked at many of the same towns that we docked at when we were going north, but at different times, so were were able to see new things. One stop was Vardø, where we went on a little walk to stretch Bob’s sore leg. We found the Vardøhus Fortress which is the world’s northernmost fortress. This present day fortress was built between 1734 and 1738 and it was maintained as an operative facility until around 1950. When we were in Vardø it was a beautif

When we started talking about this trip my first wish was that we’d see reindeer in the wild, so we signed up for the ship’s excursion to The North Cape with a chance of seeing reindeer. Yes! We saw reindeer, but it was hard to take pictures when we were on the bus, and I was excited. We never knew that reindeer turn white in the winter, but we were lucky enough to see some white ones. What fun! The main purpose of this excursion was not to search for reindeeer in the wild

We stopped at Bodø and walked through this small town’s large shopping area. There were fishermen selling dried or smoked cod at every town. Finnsnes was our next stop, and we watched this car disembark before heading under this high bridge (one of many we passed under). We heard about the Tromso Cathedral, which has midnight concerts, and decided to see if we could find it. I was expecting a grand stone cathedral, but I guess when you’re north of the Arctic Circle you do

This is our first view of the ship, which we boarded using the walkway on the left. At all other ports we boarded using the gangplank which you can see below the lifeboats. There is also a large gangplank further to the right for cars and cargo. The ship could hold 10 cars, around 400 passengers, and a bunch of cargo. The first picture is our cabin, which was comfy with a lot of storage space and a nice bathroom. The next pictures show the observation areas and a lecture

Last year we traveled to Denmark, Sweden and Norway and agreed that all three countries are very beautiful, but Norway really called us back. In 2017, while waiting in the airport in Dublin, we talked to a couple who just finished their cruise along the coast of Norway, and they thought it was a lot of fun. They told us that they took a Hurtigruten Cruise, and it stopped at 35 cities, small towns, and villages along the coast. That sounded like fun to us, but there were so

Bergen, on the west coast of Norway, is Norway’s second largest city. We were happy to see that our ferry docked near the center of old...

When I plan our trips I always try to find an out of the way place for us to stay for a few nights, preferably somewhere we could go for...

We always make sure to be at the train station with enough time to find our train and our seats without hurrying. It was easy, as usual,...

We arrived at the train station with enough time to find our train and our seats. Unfortunately there was trouble on the tracks and they...

The train trip from Copenhagen to Stockholm took 5 hours, but it was a high speed train and a very comfortable ride which included...

When Bob and I talked about where we would like to visit we both agreed that Scandinavia sounded like a good place to go. I’ve always...

A few weeks ago, I was invited to Sewickley to babysit our granddaughters while Beth and Andrew played in a paddle tournament. Of course...

We really enjoy spending time at Acadia National Park, which has both mountains and the sea. How can you go wrong there? We take our...

I've been a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture for many years, and when we were visiting our friends Ann and Gerry in Illinois they...

The Cinque Terre was great fun, and by the way it didn't rain a drop our entire visit, but it was time to travel to Rome. Our train...

We really enjoyed Venice and hated to leave, but it was time to board the Bullet Train to Milan and make our next connection. We were...

We headed to Milano Centrale, the main train station in Milan, with our tickets to Venice. Our tickets told us our train number and what...

Since Bob chose our last vacation trip, to Africa in search of lions...again, it was my turn to choose our vacation destination and I...

None of us ever visited Botswana before, and we were all eager to start our safari. Bob planned the trip and was excited to see the...

When we visited Zimbabwe a few years ago it was in the African Spring, and it was a very dry Spring that year. In fact, Cape Town had a...