Copenhagen Departure and Lübeck

 

Thursday, May 26, 2022

Copenhagen Departure and Lübeck

 On Wednesday, we met our group in the morning and had our final COVID antigen tests.  Denmark has been remarkable—no indication that COVID even exists.  No masks anywhere, even at Don Giovanni at the opera Tuesday night.  But we are re-entering the jurisdiction of the USA and will be in Germany, so we go back to the usual precautions.

 We are about 35 passengers on a ship which holds 140.  It will be almost like a private cruise, as the ship is fully staffed.  Many people have cancelled due to COVID and also due to the changes in the itinerary.  We took a bus to our ship and found our cabin which is lovely.  It’s quite roomy for a ship’s cabin:

 


The desk has a glass top and under it is a shelf with an atlas opened to Scandinavia:

 


We have a great balcony:

 


 We had lunch aboard the ship during which time there was great excitement as the royal yacht passed us by:

 


We then walked to an adjacent pier as a heavy rain began and took a canal boat tour of Copenhagen.  We were able to see almost nothing because of the very heavy rain, which ended as we returned to the ship.  We have a resident musicologist aboard who had arranged a performance to greet us by a local, very well-known band which fuses historic Danish tunes with modern arrangements (click on the arrow):

 UNABLE TO UPLOAD VIDEO DUE TO VERY SLOW INTERNET

 We had our mandatory briefings and lifeboat drill, and then departed for northern Germany.  Thursday morning found us cruising about 20 miles up the River Trave to the city of Lübeck, former capitol of the Hanseatic League and a World Heritage City.  Breakfast was at 7:00 and at 8:00 we departed by Zodiacs for a dock where we broke into small groups, each with a guide, for a walking tour of the city.  Our group was 8 people, and our guide was wonderful.  The tour took 3 ½ hours; some highlights:  Here is the Museum Harbor with ships dating back to the Middle Ages:

 

The City Gate:

 


 Salt warehouses dating to the Middle Ages:

 


 The Town Hall:

 


 We stopped at a famous shop, where marzipan was invented.  The shop still sells a huge variety of kinds of marzipan.  A note about churches: There are glorious old Roman Catholic cathedrals and churches here, all of which have been transformed into Lutheran churches since the Reformation.  Intriguingly, the names have been kept, but the insides have been painted over in white, covering the Catholic iconography and the saints.  Here is St. Mary’s church:

 


 The interior, said to be the tallest of all the Gothic churches in northern Europe:

 


 And a remarkable portable altar in one of the niches:

 


 After the walking tour, we went back to the ship for lunch and collapsed for an afternoon nap.  We then had a lovely dinner and there was entertainment in the evening—a singing duo from Copenhagen.  We will sail overnight and tomorrow will visit the small islands of Christianso and Bornholm.

Comments

  1. Ralph P. LockeMay 27, 2022 at 3:12 AM

    Thanks for the tour of your boat and Lu"beck. I was there for a day ca. 1974 and didn't see half of what you did (or else don't remember it). There was a very memorable historical museum nestled in some rooms within that sturdy city gate. Perhaps it's been moved elsewhere. It included items of daily life from the lower and middle classes. Wow, marzipan is a local specialty or even invention! That beats a Philly cheesesteak in my book.--Great that there's so much music being incorporated into the touring and on-ship activities. And I loved that an atlas was there under glass for y'all to keep track of the route, etc. Everything so thoughtfully done! (Except: why aren't they taking Covid more seriously?)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Victor PoleshuckMay 27, 2022 at 4:23 AM

      National Geographic/Lindblad is taking COVID very seriously. We had to be vaccinated, boosted, PCR tested before boarding, masked all the time on board, and will all have antigen tests on day four of the trip. It's very reassuring. It's Denmark which is acting as if the disease does not exist, and I wonder if they're doing any worse than anywhere else?

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