Regent Cruise - Paris to Oslo

 Looking forward to my first cruise with Regent on August 12th.  Heading to Paris early to spend time with Carol, who I met when I did Cape Town to Mahe two years ago.  Visiting 5 countries that I have not been to.  

8/10

Made it to Paris!  Flight even got in an hour early yesterday! They say to stay awake to get on the new time and stay awake we did.  After a fabulous lunch that Carol made we started out on our day.

We began at a cemetery, the Cimetiere du Pere-Lachaise. It's huge, 70,000 burial plots in 106 acres.  

Graves of Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde

Chopin and Abelard and Heloise (a tragic French love story couple)

Journalist Victor Noir who died at 22 after being shot by Prince Pierre Bonaparte in a newspaper dispute. You notice the spot that has been rubbed.  People go to pray for fertility.

Fernand Arbelot, a French banker or actor depending on the source.  It is believed to be his wife's face he is holding.

A beautiful area and I am not sure who's grave is in the forefront, but in the back is a crematory.

A couple of other unique graves.

From there we took the metro to Montmartre.  We walked up the 280 steps to the Basilica Sacre Coeur.  Beautiful building, beautiful views.  A very long line to get in so we did not see inside.  

Stopped at a little restaurant for dinner where Carol had mussels in blue cheese and I had a warm goat cheese salad.  Delicious!

We attended an outdoor concert on a beautiful evening!

On our walk back to the metro we had a full moon and went by Moulin Rouge.  A wonderful first day!

8/11

Another wonderful day yesterday.  We saw a lot of Paris walking around 12 miles.  We began our walk on the Coulee Verte, which is a former railway and now a footpath.  We stopped at a market.

Went by a Paris Plage, a beach with sand brought in on the Siene and by Notre Dame.  Did not go in yesterday, but may today.  I was in Paris with my family in 2001 so have been inside.

Picked up a savory crepe for lunch in the park at Luxembourg Gardens.

The boats are my favorite part, which I remember from 2001.

The senate building at the gardens and the Statue of Liberty.

  

Saint-Sulpice 

  

Saint-Germain

View of the Grand Palais and Petit Palais, which for some reason closed early so we did not get in.

View of Les Invalides, where Napoleon's tomb is and the Arc de Triomphe

  

Then off to dinner with a view of the Eiffel Tower.  Dinner for me Croque monsieur, and Dim Sum for Carol.  

We stayed for the light show

Still the 11th!  We only did about 8 miles today.  Did a lot, but did not go into Notre Dame.  Out of 20 arrondissments, we walked in 15 of them over the 3 days.

One statue we walked past is Monument a la Republique.  It represents Marianne, an allegory of the republic. Marianne is an emblem of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason as well as the Goddess of Liberty.

Carol planned a wonderful boat tour for us today.  Not the typical Seine tour but starting in the Canal Saint-Martin.  The canal is almost 3 miles and there is an underground part that is about a mile. It was built in 1825 to carry potable water to the Parisians.  A photo of the boat from a bridge before we got on.

They used to control the locks and swing bridges at each location, but now it is located in this one building with 20 cameras.  One of the locks.

         

Some of the tunnel.  There are 37 holes to bring air and light into the canal.  Most are not even noticed by the people of Paris.  Carol is going to look for them now.

/

Leaving the canal and entering the Seine.

The Louve

Our wonderful guide who spoke in both French and English for us. Another Statue of Libery with the Eiffel tower in the back. There are 7 around Paris.  I saw two.

This first photo is from yesterday.  There are lot of things around Paris this summer in collaboration with Brazil.  

We went to L'escargot for dinner.  Carol had frog legs and french fries.  I had escargot 3 ways (classic, truffle and foie gras) and French onion soup. Our waiter was wonderful and the food was fabulous.

A perfect ending to my time in Paris.  Tomorrow morning I take a 2 hour train ride to Le Havre to the ship.  

8/12

An easy train ride.  A walk to the cruise terminal. A nice lunch and in my cabin.  So far I really like how Regent does the check in process and the cabin was ready when they said it would be.  I already like my steward and stewardess, Achmad and Jovie.

My cabin and some of the amenities on the top decks.

8/13

Today we are in Calais, France.  In the evening we get the Passages for the next day, like this.  It gives a short overview of where we are and inside has all the information about what is happening that day.  

I did a short tour of the city.  We began at the town hall which was built between 1911 and 1924.  It was built after Calais and Saint-Pierre-les-Colais merged to one city. One known for fishing, one for industy-making lace.  

The woman in the dark blue, behind our guide, in the photo had on a Football Hall of Fame jacket. I asked if she was from Canton.  Nope, her husband (who has passed) is in the Hall of Fame.  Jim Taylor, fullback for the Packers.  Part of the winning team for Super Bowl 1.  Next year is his 50th year being in the Hall of Fame.  She comes each year to Canton. It's interesting to meet new people.

Dragons are big in Calais.  There is a dragon on top of the belltower.  The statues on the building show the merging of the two cities.  A fisherman and a lacemaker.

Beautiful gardens and the statue is by Rodin.  The Burghers of Calais, commisioned in 1884 by the city of Calais, it celebrates the collective sacrifice of six notables who went to hand over the keys of the city to the victorious King of England at the end of the siege of 1346-47 during the Hundred Years' War. The six characters are individualized, united on the same base, but independent. 

Another monument and a peacock.

Mako Bunker is one of the longest in Europe.  It was built by the German Navy.  It now has 20 rooms and is a museum.  

A monument of Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle and a Herring Gull in the park.

Notre Dame church is the oldest religious buiding in Calais.  It is where de Gaulle got married.  It was bombed and looted.  Our guide said it is very plain inside.  It is a place visited on pilgrimages.

The city center with a market.

The lighthouse.  A dragon exhibit.  I didn't walk far enough to see the actual dragon, but we did drive by it.

Tonight we sail to Belgium.

8/14

Last night we had a wonderful show by Isabel Commandeur.  A singer from Amsterdam who won a Dutch show called My Name Is.  Kind of like American Idol.

Today we docked in Antwerp, Belgium.  My view this morning.

I took a tour called Brussels on Your Own, but we had a guide on the bus and into Brussels.  We drove by this amazing museum - Atomium built for the 1958 Worlds Fair.  There is more than one palace and this is the one where the King lives.  Sorry, but lots of photos!

I then met Chris and Jos Seegers, who I met on part of my Pole to Pole trip.  They live about 20 minutes outside Brussels and were kind enough to meet up with me.  Chris and I had danced in the streets at the mini Carnival in Brazil!  We met in Grand Place.  Absolutely gorgeous!  It is a UNESCO site.  Because of the cobblestones and heat horses are no longer allowed to pull the carriages.

This figurine is Everard t'Serclaes, Lord of Kruikenburg from the town Chris and Jos live in.  He led patriots that drove the Flemings from the city.  Everard was later made schepen (alderman) of the city five times. As an old man he led the successful opposition to the selling of a section of crown land to Sweder of Abcoude, lord of Gaasbeek. A group led by Sweder's illegitimate son ambushed, beat, and mutilated Everard on the road from Lennik to Brussels. He died five days later as a result of the attack. In response, the citizens of Brussels, joined by allies from across Brabant, razed Gaasbeek Castle.  Another statue rubbed for fertility.

A famous statue is Manneken Pis - the little pissing boy.  He is often dressed in clothes, but today we was in the buff.

Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert is a beautiful area of shops and apartments.

The Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula and the Royal Palace.

A museum of musical instruments that used to be a warehouse and a wonderful view of Brussels.

One of Chris and Jos's favorite gardens with statues of the different trades.

Église Notre-Dame des Victoires du Sablon 

We had lunch at Lola.  I had Poultry and sweetbread vol-au-vent, mousseline sauce, French fries and it was delicious!

A lovely walk back to my meeting spot to head back to Antwerp.

Jacques Brel

Beautiful flowers

From the bus.  Liked the dog and biker.  NATO building.

When we got back I decided to explore Antwerp a little.  There is a pedestrian and bicycle tunnel under the river Scheldt and I thought that sounded interesting and it was.  Wooden escalators and an elevator.  Bikes use both.  Great views of the ship and Antwerp from the other side of the river.

  

A lovely walk through Antwerp. Cathedral of Our Lady in many of the photos.

I chose a Belgian waffle for dinner.  Then walking back I ended up in a beautiful square! 

 

The cruise terminal is through this fortress.  When I was taking the photo some young men lit a stink bomb.  The city has old and new.

Tomorrow I am off to Bruges, Belgium which is supposed to be old and quaint.

8/15

Today's bus ride to Bruges has a lot of traffic so we had a little less time there.  It was beautiful, very crowded.  I decided to utilize the option on my iphone to remove people from my photos.  Seemed necessary today.  They still use horses here, but not on very hot days.  

Our cruise director said Belgium is beer, chocolate and waffles.  

Around every turn is more beautiful architecture.

Carriage parking in the Market Square.  For lunch I tried the Flemish beef stew, fries and salad.  More a meat with a gravy.  It was good.

Love the colored buildings with the blue sky.

Today was a Religious holiday.  The Feast of the Assumption.  The parade was very interesting with the very old costumes.  More beauty of Bruges.

The windmills were just some of many along the drive back.  In the north sea there are large windmills and our guide said because of them the fish poplation is increasing.  Boats can't go a certain distance around the windmills so it gives the fish shelter. He also said because of climate change they are getting fish from the south that never used to be in the North Sea.

8/16

This morning we arrived in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Photos coming in and barges that I believe are refueling us.

My tour of windmills is this afternoon and I won't be able to post until tomorrow (we got back early so I'm posting), but this morning I walked to the Anne Frank House and around Amsterdam.  Again, beautiful architecture and canals.  I was here two years ago.

A welcome and stairs with a slat for the bike tire.  

Lots of pics of Amsterdam. 

Found a market.  Cool red shutters.

Anne Frank House. Still didn't get to go in.  

I walked a different way back to the ship and it appears part was through the Red Light District.

This afternoon my tour went to an open air museum, kind of like Greenfield Village, but windmills. Once a year they have a celebration with all sorts of craft vendors and today was that day, so extra crowded, but very nice. Some views on the way.  They do not need to irrigate with the ground water and rainfall. 

At the museum.  We started in a sawmill windmill.  Still in use, but moved from another place.

Some animals. The photo with the dog, there is also a cat in the backpack.  Also met two beautiful cats that were in a stroller.

Wooden shoe store.

  

  

The windmills working.

Tomorrow is a sea day heading to Copenhagen.

8/18

Yesterday was a calm sea day.  Attended a church service.  Played a few games they offered to win points to get Regent swag at the end of the cruise.  Went to a talk by Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman an astronaut that helped repair the Hubble Space Telescope.   Finished the day with a concert by pianist Tim Abel.  I missed his first show, but he joined the solos for dinner a couple of nights ago.  

Sunset at dinner.  Tim doing a medley of Disney tunes.

r

Isabel (from the other show), Kathy, me, Tim, Pat and Kathy's mom Jan.  Some of my other solo buddies.

Today we arrived in Copenhagen.  Views on the way in.  The nuclear towers are in Sweden.

I took a short walk before my tour.

First stop on our tour was the Little Mermaid Statue.  Our guide said it's the 2nd most disappointing landmark in Europe.  I forgot to ask what the 1st was.

We then went to Amalienborg Palace. One of the residences of the King.  It is in a square with 4 residences built for nobles.  The current King is King Frederik X.  All Kings are either named Christian or Frederik. They don't have last names, but 4 or 5 first names.  

Male and female Royal Guards.

One of the Royal vehicles.  Our guide said you can tell by the black license plate.  A bust of FDR, a thanks for helping to world peace.

Photos around New Harbor, which is 350 years old.  Houses didn't have numbers.  They were identified by color.

The theater and square.  The tower is at Tivoli Gardens.

  

  

Have seen many bikes with dogs and kids.  First time seeing an adult male being driven by a female.

Another Royal palace, Rosenborg Castle.  King Christian IV, King for 60 years (1588-1648)

Heading out in a bit for a canal cruise.

A perfect evening for the cruise. This building is an incinerator, climbing wall, hiking trail and ski slope (year round). The Mariner from our canal boat.

 

The Little Mermaid from the water and where the Royal Yacht docks. 

Headquarters for the largest shipping company Maersk and former warehouse buildings.

People sunbathing everywhere on wooden stairs.

Water view of the palace and church I went to earlier.

Canal views and bridges

What's called the Black Diamond, the library.  CPH Living on the water hotel.

Lighthouse boat.  Tight squeeze under a bridge.

Views of Copenhagen

Exercise bikes and residence that used to house torpedoes.

 A one room hotel that sleeps 4, Kaj Hotel.  A long waiting list. Retired military ships.

Trekroner Fortress.  Only accessible by boat.

The Mariner and UNICEF supply distribution center.

I will start a new page to make less scrolling