June 19th – We left today for our long-awaited Baltic cruise. I say long-awaited because it was planned for our 25th anniversary in 2002, but 9/11 happened and the following summer there were only two cruises to choose from and neither fit within our respective work schedules. We decided to wait for better timing, which I guess has finally come.

Our tour is arranged through Go Next and sponsored by the University of Toronto alumni association. It’s the first time we have travelled on such an organized tour and I must say, it was a bit strange not booking hotels or checking flights….and not being able to tell people where exactly we are going.

Our flights were through Iceland which was a new experience for us. The two legs of the flight were 4.5 hours and 3 hours with about a 2 hour layover. I think we’d both prefer a direct flight…for the small difference in price, although for this trip we weren’t given an option. Neither leg was long enough for a good sleep – or what passes for sleep on an airplane – and then there’s the boarding and deboarding routines.

It was nice arriving in Copenhagen airport and having our transfer to the hotel waiting for us on the other side of the arrivals lounge. There are about 90 people on the pre-cruise tour which meant Go Next was back and forth between the hotel and the airport many times yesterday. After finding our room and thanking the porter for delivering our luggage, we crashed for a wee rest.

Copenhagen is a very clean and safe city. At this time of year sun rise is about 4 a.m. and sunset is about 12:00 a.m. After our rest we headed out for a walk along Nygade Street which is a pedestrian only street. We found a lovely Danish restaurant, called Eros, at the top end of a square full of restaurants and dined on Danish smoked salmon and Danish beef…a lovely meal, friendly servers and nice ambiance. It was a bit windy and we were glad we chose to eat indoors despite the host suggesting we should eat outdoors on a nice summer evening!

Despite our best intentions, neither of us made it through The National tonight. I guess we were a bit tired.