The gang with Pam Ann

World’s bitchiest flight attendant. :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge_x1U2rYBo

Our intimate 30 person cocktail party with our new friends

Warnemunnd!

Sweet little German seaside town.

Tivoli Gardens at night in Copenhagen

Harry Potter collection

I love the Harry Potter series of books and movies. I have all seven books published in English. On my trips to Europe I started collecting a Harry Potter book in each country I visited. I'm starting to get a pretty good collection. I have books in Latin, Greek, Thai, and Italian. This trip I've already added a Danish translation of H.P and the Sorcerer's Stone and the German translation of H.P. and the Deathly Hallows.

You can view the books and others in my literary collection at LibraryThing.com.

Day 2: Wamemünde, Germany

It's Sunday and a beautiful 23 degrees Celsius here in Warnemünde, Germany. I'm on the terrace of our stateroom getting caught up on my posts. Many of the cruisers took a three-hour train ride to tour Berlin. Others toured nearby Rostock. Adam and I went into town for a few hours in the afternoon. We were shaking off a long night of booze and men.

As soon as we saw the ship in Copenhagen we were so excited to get the cruise started. We found our room and of course the first thing we had to do was get everything unpacked and put away. I was happy to see that the bottles of rum and vodka we put in our luggage was not taken out by the cruiseline. They tend to frown upon people bringing their own alcohol onboard. Our party will be tomorrow night, the night at sea.

We went to the Sailaway Celebration Party on the pool deck. Nobody was waving goodbye to the people below. We were too busy downing the complimentary wine and vodka Red Bulls. The other important place to be was the Spa. Everyone had to schedule their massages, haircuts, yoga classes and personal training sessions. The line was out the door.

Then all the meet and greet parties. The International Guest party was fun. We had England, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Australia among others represented. The Singles Cocktail party was packed! One of the guys there asked me if I went to the Singles party just to pick up on guys.
"No, I'm just going to create drama."
It's like changing your Facebook relationship status just to create drama.

Fun Begins: Adam found the Russian vodka tasting on the way to see Pam Ann. A little thimble-sized tasting is not good enough for Adam. Three or four is a good start. The woman offering the vodka didn't know a lot about the vodkas. She was there to sell, so Adam, being the wonderful kibbitzer that he is, took it upon himself to educate the others about the Absoluts and Stolis and such. I personally liked the Absolut Peach, though I'm not a big vodka person.

The Bears and Cub party was next in the martini bar. Not a big party but still met all the guys there. I found my new favorite martini. It's called a Banana Split. It's banana rum, muddled strawberries, a little chocolate and cream. It's heavenly. The fifth one was wonderful too. Adam had moved on to Knob Creek bourbon.

One drink led to another which of course leads to the dance party with DJ Joe Gauthreaux. That's okay. I don't know who he is either. So between dancing and sucking face, (that means chatting, Mom) it was 3 am when I got to bed. Adam had been out all night too and was awake when I got back to the room. He had been making love to the vodka tasting table again.

Next Day: Up at 7:30 to get ready for my 8 am Swedish Massage. Why I scheduled an 8 am massage is beyond me. I don't even like 9 am classes. I loved it. I hadn't had a Swedish Massage before. I was sooo relaxed at the end but I also had a lot of energy afterwards. The therapist said I had a lot of tension in my calf and thigh muscles. He gave me some lotion and oil so I can continue to massage out the tension. Adam was still asleep so I got breakfast and explored the ship. About 12:30 Adam finally gets his butt out of bed. We get lunch and then head to Warnemünde.

Warnemünde is a small fishing village and popular coastal resort. Visitors use the town as a gateway to discover the treasures of the former East Germany. Berlin is a three-hour train ride away. There's not really any important place of interest in the town. Many people take ferries from Sweden or Finland, then continue into Germany. There is a rather nice beach to relax on. We went up to the top of a working lighthouse to see the whole town and take some pictures. Then we had a later lunch before heading back to the ship. Adam had a pan-seared fish of some kind in a mustard side. I, of course, had to have some sausage, sauerkraut and potatoes. And beer! Rostock in a tall pilsner.

Our wonderful guide showed us all the secrets

We loved our guide: Janne Ejboel Lauridsen <guidebooking@gmail.com>.  She was so passionate and kept us on a fast paced hour walking tour.  Here she is showing us the secret organ pipe “telephone” on rosenborg.

Dennis window shopping for jewelry

You know the C’s of any relationship: Carat, Cut and Crown jewels...

Adam and Dennis house hunting in Copenhagen

How about Rosenborg Castle?

Almost Ready

It's T-minus 1 hour until the car picks up to whisk us off to Newark International. From there we fly to Copenhagen for our week long cruise of the Baltic Sea.
We start in Copenhagen, then to Warnemunde, Germany, Tallinn, Estonia, 2 days in St. Petersburg, Russia, Helsinki, Finland, then finish in Stockholm, Sweden.

We cruised the Mediterranean last year with Atlantis and had such a great time that we reserved this cruise. We traveled with a group of friends and also met many new friends along the way. We had awesome experiences and excited about the new ones we're about to have.

So along the way we're going to be posting our pictures and blurbs about our experiences. Feel free to leave comments or questions. We'll be able to check them.

Dennis