Yesterday, we arrived in Portree, Scotland in tender boats, tossing in the North Sea like fishing floats. There was a question about whether we would be able to visit this port due to the wind and rough seas. Before the day was over, I suspect Captain Jonathan wished we had not. When we were all… Continue reading Isle of Skye, Scotland

Flam is correctly written with a little o over the a, but I don’t know how to make my keyboard do it, nor am I sure how to say it. What I do know is that it is a beautiful little town at about 61 degrees N latitude, among the fiords on the west coast… Continue reading Flam, Norway

On Sunday, April 28, we arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark, home of Hans Christian Anderson. Our first photo stop on the city tour was the famous statue of The Little Mermaid. She looks very beautiful and sad. A winged monument to the Danes lost in World War I sits near the mermaid. From there we visited… Continue reading Copenhagen, Denmark

Yesterday in Oslo, we docked within a short walk of the Nobel Center, shown in the first photo, the yellow building beyond the park statue. Inside, the first floor exhibitions are still in progress, but they are meant to inspire everyone of us to do our part for conserving the world’s resources. The second floor… Continue reading Oslo, Norway

I confess, I was not looking forward to Amsterdam, but I tried to suppress my bad attitude and view the city anew. I am so glad I did. My expectation the first time I came to Amsterdam was to see windmills and dykes. Yesterday, I saw them as the first photo shows. Amsterdam was settled… Continue reading Amsterdam, The Netherlands

After arriving at the seaport, Zeebrugge, Belgium, we boarded a bus for an hour trip to Ghent, a settlement present at the confluence of the Schelde and Leie Rivers since the Middle Ages. In 1300, Ghent had 50,000 people and was one of the richest cities in northern Europe. The first photo shows the old… Continue reading Ghent, Belgium

After arriving in Cherbourg this morning, we set off in a coach for Utah Beach and Bayeaux. The coach stopped at a stop light and I mean stopped. A technician came and said we needed a new coach. Half of us went to a nearby pub and had coffees, Irish and otherwise. On a new… Continue reading Normandy, France

Reports claim that Porto, Portugal is one of Europe’s most beautiful cities. Located on the Douro River just before it opens into the Atlantic Ocean, the earliest settlement here is believed to date back to 500 BC. The Romans built walls that still mark the old town which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The… Continue reading Earth Day in Porto, Portugal

Without being in my home church and with my family, this was about as perfect as an Easter Sunday could be. We started with sunrise service at 6:30 AM on Lido Deck by the pool, which sounded like ocean. The choir sang He Arose and during the singing of He is Lord, the sun came… Continue reading Easter in Lisbon, Portugal

Today, we visited Seville. Wow, what a beautiful city. The first photo is the Plaza de Espana, the pavilion Spain built for the Iberian-American Exhibition of 1929, a world’s fair. On the way into the city from the port in Cadiz, we passed a number of buildings that American countries had built for the fair… Continue reading Seville, Spain