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Green

Green

by | Jun 22, 2025 | Blog

We finished up our time in Switzerland and now we are in another very green, very beautiful country…Ireland! We were lucky enough to visit here in 2019 for several days and we’ve wanted to come back ever since.
We had a final day of touring through Switzerland and it was a bit wet to follow through with our plans for a big hike. So we had a drive from Kandersteg to Zurich through the rain and the mist. The rain cleared up a bit, so we stopped and had a little hike along the shore of the Walensee to the Seerenbachfälle. We spent the night in Zurich so we could have a quick trip to the airport the next day.
After flying to Dublin, we picked up a car (shout out to Nathan and his driving on the left for the first time!) and drove to our first stop, the Hill of Tara. This is an ancient site just to the north of Dublin in the Boone Valley and has been used for 5000 years. The Irish have used it for burials, gatherings, and coronations over the millennia. We walked around on the different mounds and saw the Rock of Destiny and a passage tomb. Not a flashy site, but still cool! We found a bistro along our route for a late lunch, and after a few wrong turns, we made it to Belfast and checked into our place near the River Lagan.The evening ended at the Lyric Theatre at a performance of Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest”. It was a delightful production and, of course, so funny.
We spent the next day walking around the city’s sights. We drove through on a tour six years ago, so we were acquainted with the town, but it was nice to spend more time there. We enjoyed walking along the river to the Titanic quarter to see the shipyards and how they are revitalizing that area with museums, entertainment, and apartments. We wandered all over the downtown area and stopped into a war memorial museum and the city library. Since we visited the sectarian neighborhoods and all the Republican and Unionist murals the last time we were here, we skipped that and just enjoyed being with the Northern Irish people. Our evening was capped with some comedy. We love Irish humor because they are so good at keeping things light and making fun of themselves. Of course, we don’t get half of the references and if they talk too fast, the accent makes it a challenge, but it was great fun.
Although we had plans to visit the cities of Ireland, our plan for this trip was to focus more on the countryside and landscapes of Ireland. We didn’t want to let the northeastern corner of the island to get away from us, so the next day we took a drive south to the coast and to the Mourne mountains for a hike. We climbed to the top of windy Slievemartin and enjoyed seeing the Cloughmore Stone. The Rostrevor forest that we hiked through is said to have been an inspiration for C.S. Lewis’s Narnia, so there is a bench there that is dedicated to him. We stopped in Newcastle for a bite to eat and then it was back to Belfast for some music at a pub. It was a great visit to a vibrant city.
We started the day with a trip to St. George’s market for a few treats, then we drove out of town toward the west. This was another part of the island that we had already seen, but we decided to just enjoy the nice weather and the scenery anyway. The northern coastline is gorgeous and we had the advantage of not feeling like we had to stop and do all the tourist spots (Giant’s Casuseway and various castles) with the crowds, since we have done those before. We just soaked up the sunshine and stopped when we felt like it. We ended up in Derry to spend the night. We enjoyed a lovely walk into town along the River Foyle. We did two walking tours: one along the top of the fortification walls around the old town and one through the Republican neighborhood to see the murals painted there. We also walked the Peace Bridge. Derry/Londonderry was a real hotspot during the Troubles, so there is some serious history to learn about. I’m sure there are still tensions not far beneath the surface, but it seems like most people are more interested in peace and living life than rehashing old disagreements. One highlight for us was the mural of the “Derry Girls”, since we are fans of that show. We had a good dinner, but we ate way too much! We stopped into a pub for a bit of traditional music, but Nathan wasn’t feeling well, so we walked back to our AirBnB.
We said goodbye to Northern Ireland and drove west into the republic. Saturday was spent on a leisurely drive along the northwest coast through the county Donegal. I wish photos could do it justice, but they just can’t capture the subtle beauties and dramatic landscapes. We stopped at a ring fort called Grianan of Aileach. Again, the site has been in use since the Neolithic age. One thing about travel is that you never know what you will encounter. We were driving through one of the bigger towns when we discovered that they were hosting one leg of a road rally, with hot rods all over the place! Crazy! We stopped at a museum set up at the former Dunfanaghy workhouse. They exhibit did a good job of relating the experience of the poor in the 19th century, especially during the potato famine. There were 160 workhouses in Ireland and they were places of last resort for people who were in dire straits. Families had to live divided into separate facilities and once they were in the system, it was hard to get out again. We continued around the coast, stopping at Horn Head (two lookout towers: one Napoleonic, one WW2) and Bloody Foreland (dramatic cliffs and white stone beaches). We ended up at our charming place right in the center of Donegal, where we enjoyed dinner on a terrace.

It’s been a great trip here in Ireland so far and we are looking forward to more! With the solstice, we have about 18 hours of daylight to pack in all the scenery and outdoor fun. Have a great week!

Fringe Frenzy

Fringe Frenzy

by | Aug 17, 2025 |

Hello from Edinburgh! We had a couple of very steamy days in London, then hopped on a train bound for Scotland. We are here to immerse ourselves in the craziness that is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and enjoy this magical city.

Seagulls and the West End

Seagulls and the West End

by | Aug 10, 2025 |

It’s been a lovely week in England. We finished up our road trip in the south and returned to London for a few days to rest and regroup.

Land Lubbers Again

Land Lubbers Again

by | Aug 3, 2025 |

Hello! It’s been a great week for us and we hope you are all doing well! We would really love to hear from you all – we miss you. So please feel free to us a message or write a comment and let us know what you’re up to! We finished up our cruise with a stop in Scotland and now we are road-tripping around the south of England.

We Are Family

We Are Family

by | Jun 15, 2025 | Blog

If we were done with our travels, I would take the next two weeks to relate our adventures in Romania and Switzerland. But we have more things coming up, so this is going to be a longer post. I’ll give you the highlights first, and then you can read on if you want more details.

Highlights:
  • Getting to meet up with family for a trip that we’ve been trying to pull off for quite a while was so satisfying. We met Nathan’s sister, Liz (Guertler), and four other members of her family (husband, Christian, son, Jared, daughter, Sarah, and Sarah’s youngest, Poppy).
    Spending time in Romania with Jared, who just finished up his mission there in April for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was a treat. He was a great tour guide and it was great to hear him speaking Romanian!
  • Gathering with the Swiss branch of the Müller family never disappoints. We got to do some outings, have some delicious meals together, and just enjoy being on the same continent. We were missing Nathan’s Uncle Kuno, who was at his house in Spain and didn’t feel up to traveling back to Switzerland. We also didn’t get to cross paths this time with cousin Iris and her family as they were on vacation. But the time spent with the rest of the family felt very precious.
  • Showing the Guertler/Bauserman clan some of our favorite things about Switzerland. Liz lived and worked in Switzerland in the late 80s and Nathan lived with her for a summer while he was working. She hasn’t been back since, and it was the first time for the rest of the group. Taking them to see beautiful cities, stand atop amazing mountains, and taste all the delicious things that our whole family enjoys was great fun.
  • We were worried that our little friend Poppy (15 months old) would have a hard time with all the travel, but not only was she a traveling pro, she was a shining star and made friends wherever she went. Having her along was a bonus.
  • The rest of our party had to get home, but Nathan and I stayed on for a few extra days in Switzerland to do some more hiking, soak in the mountain vistas, and smell the herb-scented Alpine air.
The Details:
Romania

We flew from London to Bucharest to meet up with our travel companions (who I will collectively refer to henceforth as “the Guertlers” for simplicity’s sake). They had flown from Salt Lake and from Ohio. We missed them at the airport, so we checked into our accommodation and walked a bit to get a feel for the city and to find some dinner. The Guertlers visited the mission president and some other people that Jared had worked with and had dinner with them.
The next morning, we packed up and headed to church. We had translation for part of the meeting, but honestly it was just fun to hear the beautiful language. We knew we weren’t going to spend much time in the capital city, so we took a couple hours in the afternoon to walk around. Due to the “Children’s Day” holiday. The entrance to the massive parliament building was free, so we decided to walk over and check it out. The building is somewhat controversial, as 5% of Bucharest, including churches, homes, and hospitals had to be demolished to accommodate the structure. It is a symbol of the communist regime and its wasteful extravagance. But the residents decided to keep it after the revolution and use it for cultural purposes and it is the most-visited site in the city. It is truly massive and we only just scratched the surface in the time we had. It was certainly impressive. We drove from Bucharest to our next base, Sibiu, and checked into our AirBnB.
On Monday, we went to explore the charming city of Sighişoara. We walked up the hill to see the old medieval part of town. We then stopped for some lunch (döner kebab, of course) and went back to meet up with another missionary couple and they took us to a beautiful restaurant serving very traditional Romanian food. We tried a lot of pork and cheese dishes and Nathan ordered a very tasty soup. Sibiu was my favorite part of our time in Romania. The old town was lovely and quite charming.
We wanted to see the city of Brasov, so we detoured that way as we journeyed back toward Bucharest. Again, we walked around the city center, but this time we stopped in the famous Black Church. We were lucky to be there in time to hear the organ concert. It was excellent, and Poppy liked it, too! Unfortunately, the lot where we parked was less than ideal and when there was a problem with scanning one of the timed tickets, the attendant was unwilling to help us. We ended up paying the penalty for a “lost ticket”, despite it being obvious that we had the ticket right there. Scam. We continued toward the capital, stopping on the way to see the even more famous Bran Castle. We were in Transylvania, after all. Bran was the seat of Vlad the Impaler, Bram Stoker’s inspiration for Count Dracula. We checked out the castle from the outside. Maybe we were cursed for this, since Nathan got pulled over for speeding shortly after that, but then again he was only issued a warning, so maybe not a curse? We wanted to drive by and see Peleş castle, but we couldn’t find a good place to see it from the road, so we threw in the towel and drove to our final Romanian accommodation. This AirBnB was near the airport and definitely in an area indicative of how the people are living in the city there. It was pretty close quarters and a little less affluent than what we have seen in other parts of Europe.

Switzerland

We finalized our Romanian portion of the trip with a very early morning flight from Bucharest to Zurich. Thankfully, returning rental cars, checking bags, and getting all seven of us onto the plane went without a hitch. We landed in Switzerland ready for a big day. But first, we did one of the best things you can do. We visited a grocery store and had brunch in their cafe there. The food is high quality and fresh and they had all kinds of things that we already love, since our family regularly eats Swiss dishes. We had Bircher müsli and basler leckerli, chäschüechli and good rye bread with mountain cheese. Everyone said it was one of the highlights of the trip! After our feast and picking up some groceries, we drove across the country to Bern. But first things first, we stopped at a cheese factory for a tour. The presentation was really cute and it had Poppy absolutely captivated. We had an appointment at the temple, and visiting there was really moving. We even met a lady who knew Nathan’s grandfather! That evening we visited a friend of Liz from when she lived in Switzerland many years ago. She and her family were so kind and made us a bite to eat that was so yummy! We went back to our hotel near Bern and enjoyed a good night’s sleep in a plush bed.
The capital city of Bern is so charming, we didn’t want to leave the next day without a little stroll. We saw the famous bears, walked up the main street, saw the old Zytglogge (clock) strike the hour, and ducked into the main church, the Berger Munster. And we never miss a chance for a stop at a bäckerei for bread and treats! But we had to run, because we had a date with what the Swiss call the “real mountains” in the Lauterbrunnen Valley. This was one of the most memorable parts of the trip that Nathan and I took with our children in 2006, so we thought the Guertlers would enjoy it, too. We started at Trümmelbach Falls, where the glacier and snowmelt rushes down through the cliffs and cuts a spectacular path through the granite. The Swiss, being all Swissy about things, built a funicular railway that you take up into the mountain and then walk in and around the rushing water. We had to split up into two groups to find accommodations, but both of the places were great. The Guertlers were in a family room at Camping Jungfrau and we were just down the road in the middle of Lauterbrunnen at Hotel Jungfrau. We had a room on the second floor that had a window opening onto the famous Staubbachfall. We listened to the sound of the flowing water all night. I’ll pause here to say that we have had a threat of rain and thunderstorms every day since we arrived in Switzerland. We just made plans day by day and we didn’t let the weather forecast get us down. This strategy worked for our days in Lauterbrunnen. We got up early the next day to catch an earlyish cable car up to Gimmelwald, then a walk to Mürren. It was rainy when we pulled into the parking lot, but by the time we caught our high wire ride, the weather was clearing up. We really enjoyed our walk through the cows and wildflowers. In Mürren, we caught the next cable car to the Schilthorn and the restaurant Piz Gloria, which was a major part of the James Bond movie “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”. The views from the top were awesome! You can see the three stunning peaks of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau. We rode down to the next station, Birg, where we walked the “Thrill Walk” out beyond the cliff face and on a suspended cable (all very safe and not too scary). Our final cable car took us down the steep incline from Birg to the valley floor, which was actually a thrill. Since we were having good luck with the weather, we decided to try out the train from Lauterbrunnen to Kleine Scheidegg. The ride was very scenic and we got even better views of the three peaks from the other side. What a great day!
Saturday, we drove north to meet up with cousins. We started out with Cousin Maja and her husband Bastian. They had great plans for us at the Bodensee (Lake Konstanz), but our luck ran out with the weather and it was threatening rain. We opted to just drive across the border to Konstanz, Germany and have a walk around town. The traffic was bad at the border, so we parked to walk over the border and the rain let loose! We had a soggy but fun walk into town, hiked up the bell tower of the church, and went back to our cars. We checked into our AirBnB in a little town called Hagenbuch in an apartment over a Thai restaurant. Then we went to dinner prepared by Cousin Simon, his wife Christina, and their son Nikolas. Dinner was outstanding and they were such gracious hosts. Simon was immediately smitten by Poppy and she seemed to love her new friend!
We went to the ward in Frauenfeld on Sunday, enjoying the talks in German and Swiss German, singing hymns in German, and being with the family. Then we got to go to dinner at the home of Cousin Ursi and her husband Philip. We had Thai curry made by Maja and Ursi and I’m sure it was every bit as good (or better than) what the restaurant could turn out. We loved visiting with everyone and seeing Nathan’s Aunt Margrit. We enjoyed seeing the beautiful former monastery where Ursi and Philip’s daughter Fiona lives and works. The gardens were gorgeous. We also got to spend more time visiting Aunt Margrit and Cousin Thomas, which was great.
Monday was the holiday of Pfingsten (Pentecost), so most everyone had the day off. We traveled to Philip and Ursi’s mountain cabin and had another lovely day of family, walking in the mountains, and eating great food. The views of the Säntis and other mountains were breathtaking. Everyone had to return to work on Tuesday, except for Simon. He joined us for a favorite hike of Nathan’s grandfather (Grosspapi), the Seealpsee. It was a great day for a hike and we enjoyed the stop at the top for yogurt and milkshakes (really just flavored milk, but it was fresh)! Then we all stopped at a chocolate factory for a tour and, of course, tastings. It was fun to see the bars being turned out onto the conveyor belts and then packaged up – straight out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! We parted ways with Simon there, which was sad. He lived with Nathan’s family for a year in high school and he is such a fun addition to every adventure. When we planned this trip, Sarah requested a trip to a chocolate factory and a castle. So we stopped at Schloss Kyburg to check the other box on her list. It was a really pretty castle with good exhibits and well-preserved structures and a cute garden. If a hike, a chocolate factory, and a castle weren’t enough for one day, we then headed to the Rheinfall to enjoy the setting sun over the falls. But on our way there, we stopped for dinner and we just happened to be across the street from where Nathan’s dad studied engineering in Winterthur.
For our final day with the Guertler gang, we road tripped down to Luzern because it’s such a pretty city. Unfortunately, for a few days we were contending with that Sahara sand in the air, so visibility could have been better, but it was still a great stop. We took a cruise on the lake and had a lunch of raclette and fondue. Our last stop was to drive through some of the family history sites in Zurich. We saw the apartment building where Nathan’s dad, Max, grew up. We tried to find the place where Liz lived and worked, but things were so different it was hard to determine exactly which buildings we were looking for. Lastly, we climbed the Üetliberg, the mountain that hugs Zurich, and a favorite hike of Max’s.
On Thursday, we helped the Guertlers to the airport, then boogied back down to the alps for a few more days of high-altitude happenings. We’ve been staying in the town of Kandersteg. It’s been less crowded and less touristy than Lauterbrunnen. We hiked to the Öeschininsee (after taking the gondola), which was really pretty. One reason we chose this location was to be in striking distance of Zermatt and the Matterhorn. Every time we have visited Switzerland in the past, we haven’t had enough time to make it that far south or the weather has been uncooperative. But since we could be here a few days and we were flexible, we were hoping we could make it work. Friday seemed like it would be the best bet, so we got up early and got our little car on the transport train (just like when we were traveling through to Italy last spring) and made our way to Zermatt. We took the cog railway, the Gornergrat, up to the top and then walked all the way back down to town. We had the most spectacular views of the Matterhorn all the way down to the valley floor! The weather was just about perfect for views, but it was actually quite hot and we were pretty exposed on the mountain. We had a great time, though, and we were happy to have a cold drink at the end of our 5-hour hike! My toe has continued to heal, but I’m still trying to baby it so that I can continue to hike around and walk through all these amazing cities. We also went for some shorter hikes in the area and we went kayaking from Interlaken on the Thünersee and walked through that town as well.

The End

If you read all of that, you really are dedicated! We have just one more day here and it looks like a rainy one, so it’s possible that our outside adventures may be winding down. We’ll be catching another flight on Tuesday to another spot for a 3-week tour. Leave a comment with your guess for which country you think we’ll visit next.

Fringe Frenzy

Fringe Frenzy

by | Aug 17, 2025 |

Hello from Edinburgh! We had a couple of very steamy days in London, then hopped on a train bound for Scotland. We are here to immerse ourselves in the craziness that is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and enjoy this magical city.

Seagulls and the West End

Seagulls and the West End

by | Aug 10, 2025 |

It’s been a lovely week in England. We finished up our road trip in the south and returned to London for a few days to rest and regroup.

Land Lubbers Again

Land Lubbers Again

by | Aug 3, 2025 |

Hello! It’s been a great week for us and we hope you are all doing well! We would really love to hear from you all – we miss you. So please feel free to us a message or write a comment and let us know what you’re up to! We finished up our cruise with a stop in Scotland and now we are road-tripping around the south of England.

Slower, With a British Accent

Slower, With a British Accent

by | May 29, 2025 | Blog

We’ve been in London since we left the cruise ship. This week was a bit slower and a welcome break from the last six weeks of constant movement. We’ve had some fun, eaten some good food, caught up on sleep, and made plans for the summer.

We went back and forth for a long time about what to do during this week we had open in our schedule. Although we had ideas to pack in new destinations, we finally decided on London to simplify things. One thing influencing that decision was actually this specific neighborhood and their library system. Nathan did some research and discovered that the library system in the north Islington area has added electronic pianos with headphones for the use of library patrons. That clinched it and we booked an AirBnB in the Finsbury Park area. It was kind of a last minute decision, but we were happy to just go with the spontaneity.

Although it’s been nice to slow down a little bit, we couldn’t be in one of our favorite cities without taking advantage of the opportunity for a wide variety of food and entertainment. We started right off on our first night with a trip to the Royal Opera House to see the Royal Ballet. It was an all Christopher Wheeldon program, ending with the ballet scene from An American in Paris. We didn’t book our tickets until the same day, so our seats weren’t great (people really need to not lean forward in their seats, you know?) but it was such a great program. We got to see some favorite dancers (Marianela Nuñez and Lauren Cuthbertson) and the orchestra sounded amazing. So fun to finally cross that one off my bucket list!

We went to the Indigo at O2 to see Clearwater Creedence Revival. Wait! Did you catch it? Neither did I until I had already bought the tickets. A CCR tribute band, but we’ve had fun at those kinds of shows before. Again, we were booking last minute, so all the seats were sold out and only standing tickets were available. The music was pretty fun, but we’ve resolved that we no longer have the patience for all the shenanigans and the bad behavior when we’re in the standing crowd. Getting old, I guess!

The next show made up for it though. We knew about this concert before we left Utah, so when we actually committed to being in London this week, we jumped at the chance to see Maxim Vengerov a favorite of Nathan’s dad) with the Royal Philharmonic at the Royal Albert Hall. He performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto, the same thing we had just listened to on our walk through Helsinki just the week before. The orchestra also performed Don Juan by Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird. What an amazing concert and a stunning venue! We loved it! Another box checked on the bucket list. It’s a real testament to how much is going on in this city—the fact that we have visited multiple times and there are iconic experiences we still haven’t had. The Royal Ballet and The Royal Philharmonic were high on our lists, but it’s taken 20 years of traveling here for us to have those experiences.

We caught some comedy at the SoHo Comedy Factory, which was pretty fun and low stakes at just £5. We saw a movie one afternoon (which definitely costs more than £5). We’ve done a lot of walking and planning and, of course, Nathan has practiced the piano some. It was nice to be able to go to church. We have had some good Mexican food, a decent burger, a good bowl of ramen, some tasty salads, and we even ate in a couple of nights. The weather has been pretty nice, too. Overall, it’s been a great week.

Now we’re going to meet Nathan’s sister, Liz, her husband, Christian, their son, Jared, their daughter, Sarah, and their granddaughter, Poppy in Romania! Jared just finished up his mission there in April, so he’s going to show us around a bit, and then we’re all off to Switzerland for alpine thrills and to visit the Swiss side of the family. More on that adventure in two weeks, as I’m going to take a break from writing while we are busy with the family. Take care and talk to you soon!

Fringe Frenzy

Fringe Frenzy

by | Aug 17, 2025 |

Hello from Edinburgh! We had a couple of very steamy days in London, then hopped on a train bound for Scotland. We are here to immerse ourselves in the craziness that is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and enjoy this magical city.

Seagulls and the West End

Seagulls and the West End

by | Aug 10, 2025 |

It’s been a lovely week in England. We finished up our road trip in the south and returned to London for a few days to rest and regroup.

Land Lubbers Again

Land Lubbers Again

by | Aug 3, 2025 |

Hello! It’s been a great week for us and we hope you are all doing well! We would really love to hear from you all – we miss you. So please feel free to us a message or write a comment and let us know what you’re up to! We finished up our cruise with a stop in Scotland and now we are road-tripping around the south of England.

Baltic Beauty

Baltic Beauty

by | May 26, 2025 | Blog

The last post was all about the first half of our cruise and now I’ll tell you about the rest. We stopped in Helsinki, Tallinn, and Kristiansand and there was another unexpected change of plans.

Since we had to shorten our stop in Stockholm, that sent us to Helsinki earlier than planned. We arrived about 12 hours early, so that gave us an extra evening to get off the ship and check things out. But first, we had dinner and attended the special show in the ship’s theater. There were 40+ Finnish dancers and musicians that joined us on the ship to share their culture with us. It was a joyful performance. We had a nice walking tour of town after that. The next morning, we joined a very small tour to the Nooksia National Park. We hiked around through the forest and lakes, ate mushroom soup and licorice and really enjoyed talking to our guide and fellow hikers. Then we took another walk through the city to their beautiful library and the Sibelius monument. Both were worth the walk! Then we listened to Sibelius on our way back to the ship—Finlanda and the Violin Concerto. The weather was pleasant and we really enjoyed the stop.

Tallinn, Estonia is just 50 miles across the Baltic Sea from Helsinki, so it was a quick(ish) trip and we were off the ship early. We opted to just get ourselves around the charming city. Tallinn is a delightful mix of the old and the new, with a well-preserved and lively old town surrounded by a bustling modern city and a busy seaport. As the easternmost member of the Hanseatic league and the subject of many occupations of foreign powers, the city has an interesting history of eastern and western influences. There are two cathedrals—the ornate Russian Orthodox (which was built as an imperial message to the Estonians) and the simpler Lutheran one, where we attended an organ concert. The weather in the morning was pleasant, but the wind was really picking up as we returned to the ship and then departed for Sweden.

We were scheduled to dock the next morning at the town of Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland. We had stopped there for water on our way east, but nobody was allowed to get off the ship. About an hour before our scheduled arrival, the captain announced that the wind was just too powerful and we couldn’t safely make it to port. So that day turned into an extra day at sea. I was so impressed by the crew and how they would happily jump into action to change up food and entertainment and logistics with the new plans. Unfortunately, our change of plans meant that we had back to back sea days, which is not our favorite. But one bonus of the second sea day was that we got the thrill of passing under the Great Belt Bridge that links two Danish islands. It was amazing to be on the top deck as our big ship approached and passed under that huge span. Breathtaking!

Our last stop was Kristiansand, Norway and the weather was perfect! It was a charming little town and we hiked around a lighthouse island and up into the hills above town where the locals were out sunbathing and swimming in the little lakes. We had a good wander, went to another organ concert, and had a bite at a local bakery and at the fish market. The market was a charming gathering place to watch people and boats. It made us excited to return to Norway and see more.

The whole cruise was quite pleasant, even on days that were chilly. We loved each stop and enjoyed trying new foods and seeing some different scenery. The food was generally of very high quality and we ate very well on the ship and off. It was the battle of the pastries all through the trip. Our favorites were in Sweden and Norway. We returned to Southampton and we are now spending some time in London, getting in some culture and making more plans. I’ll tell you all about our “bashing around London” next time!

Fringe Frenzy

Fringe Frenzy

by | Aug 17, 2025 |

Hello from Edinburgh! We had a couple of very steamy days in London, then hopped on a train bound for Scotland. We are here to immerse ourselves in the craziness that is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and enjoy this magical city.

Seagulls and the West End

Seagulls and the West End

by | Aug 10, 2025 |

It’s been a lovely week in England. We finished up our road trip in the south and returned to London for a few days to rest and regroup.

Land Lubbers Again

Land Lubbers Again

by | Aug 3, 2025 |

Hello! It’s been a great week for us and we hope you are all doing well! We would really love to hear from you all – we miss you. So please feel free to us a message or write a comment and let us know what you’re up to! We finished up our cruise with a stop in Scotland and now we are road-tripping around the south of England.

To the North!

To the North!

by | May 16, 2025 | Blog

Here are some highlights from the first half of our Scandinavian cruise. We sailed from Southampton and had stops in Denmark, Germany, and Sweden. We also had an unexpected change of plans.

From Spain, we flew to London. We spent the night—just long enough to stop at one of our favorite restaurants, Dishoom, for excellent Indian food. We also caught a show at the Top Secret Comedy Club from a comedian that we saw at the Edinburgh Fringe six years ago. He’s working up his new show, so admission was free! We stayed near King’s Cross station. We got up the next morning and hauled our big backpacks through rush hour traffic on the Tube to Waterloo station and our train to Southampton. After a very pleasant ride, we tramped right through town to the port and our home for the next two weeks, the Emerald Princess.

After a full day at sea, our first stop was the tiny town of Skagen (pronounced like “skein”), which is situated on a spit of sand that reaches far up into the sea. We walked through town, past old German bunkers on the beach, and up to the northern-most point of Denmark at Grennen. It’s where the North Ses and the Baltic Sea meet and you can actually see the waves from the two bodies of water crashing into each other. There were lighthouses like what you would expect. They also had a replica of a 17th-century “lighthouse” that is basically a torch on a big lever. It looks almost like a trebuchet–it’s called the Vippefyret. The town was very cute, with the houses painted in cheery yellows and reds. 

Our next Danish stop was Copenhagen. I’m not sure how we do it, but this is our second time in the last year where we’ve shown up in a big city on marathon day. We were out early, so we actually got to see the pack of leaders about 30 minutes into the race. There were 18,000 people running that day and the course weaved all over downtown, so we encountered it pretty much everywhere we went. The town was a-buzz with the added energy of the race and it was fun to see finishers walking around with their medals and their cheering squads. We did multiple DIY walking tours, ate some delicious pastries, and spent an exorbitant amount of money on a smørrebrød lunch (open-faced sandwiches). We also shared a hotdog (excellent) and a butter burger (also excellent). We were happy to walk off some of that food at the fortress called Kastellet. We took a nice boat tour through the canals and under bridges. We also saw the original Christus and the Twelve Apostles sculptures in the Vor Fire Kirke.

Next up was like going “home” because it was in Germany. We docked at the small town of Warnemünde, the port for Rostock. We heard a German joke that the Americans think it’s the port for Berlin. He said, “They spend two and a half hours on the train to take a photo at Checkpoint Charlie just to turn around and go back for two and half hours.” He’s not wrong! But we didn’t do that. We wandered around both Warnemünde and Rostock and had our favorite German food—a Thüringer bratwurst and a (huge) Döner Durum. We took a boat down the river back to the port and it was a cool but sunny day. It was great to hear German and to see a part of the country we hadn’t previously visited.

The last stop for the first week was Stockholm. We were scheduled to arrive at the harbor right in the city one afternoon, stay overnight, then have time the next day to explore more before sailing. Well, the night before our scheduled arrival, the captain announced that the expected winds were too high for the ship to safely transit through the archipelago into Stockholm. We were fully prepared to hear that we would have to skip that stop altogether. But instead, we were allowed to anchor outside the port on the Baltic that serves Stockholm, Nynäshamn. It was a wild rush of a day, since we had to be ferried to land, walk a way into town from the ship, catch the commuter train into the city, and then see as much as we could in a few short hours. 

The weather that prevented us from docking in Stockholm was definitely present, making for a brisk and blustery day. But we very much enjoyed the hop-on, hop-off bus and boat and walking around the old town. But the best two things about that day were food and one very unique museum, the Vasa. The pastries in Sweden were awesome (sorry, Denmark) and we had a truly remarkable lunch of goulash and fish & chips at a cafe. The museum was built around an amazing warship that was built for the king of Sweden in the 1620s. It was adorned with dozens of elaborate carvings and had two gun decks. It was made to impress and intimidate. Unfortunately, it was also made quite top heavy so that it sailed for about 30 minutes before it was blown by a gust of wind, it tilted and took on water, and sank not a kilometer from the dock. It was under water for over 300 years before being salvaged in the 1960s. The museum is basically just an enormous warehouse of a space with the ship in dry dock in the middle.

It was a mad frenzy trying to catch the train back to the port and since our train was delayed, we felt like we were cutting it close to the time when we absolutely had to be back to catch the tender (ferry) back to the ship. But when we arrived, the line to board the tenders snaked around the parking lot, so we didn’t have to worry much. We made friends with people in line and waited for our turn. Just as we were crossing the pier, the rain started and then just as we were sitting down inside the boat, it really let loose and the rest of the passengers were soaked as they climbed into the vessel. It was a rocky, wavy ride out to the ship.

We are really enjoying the food and entertainment on board the ship and the comfy bed!  All the people we have met on board and ashore have been so nice and we have seen so many beautiful spots. There are more ports to share with you next week. Have a good one!

Fringe Frenzy

Fringe Frenzy

by | Aug 17, 2025 |

Hello from Edinburgh! We had a couple of very steamy days in London, then hopped on a train bound for Scotland. We are here to immerse ourselves in the craziness that is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and enjoy this magical city.

Seagulls and the West End

Seagulls and the West End

by | Aug 10, 2025 |

It’s been a lovely week in England. We finished up our road trip in the south and returned to London for a few days to rest and regroup.

Land Lubbers Again

Land Lubbers Again

by | Aug 3, 2025 |

Hello! It’s been a great week for us and we hope you are all doing well! We would really love to hear from you all – we miss you. So please feel free to us a message or write a comment and let us know what you’re up to! We finished up our cruise with a stop in Scotland and now we are road-tripping around the south of England.