Amsterdam to Warnemünde

It was a pleasant morning on the day of sailing from Amsterdam, July 19, so I decided to walk from the hotel to the ship, the Celebrity Constellation. I left early and got to the terminal about 10:20 AM, which was still too early to board. But, I did manage to avoid the rain, which began around 11:30. Once on the ship, I had a couple hours to wander around as the staterooms were not yet ready. So I used that time to walk each deck and get acquainted with the layout.

As we left the dock, we had to maneuver through the canal toward the North Sea, taking about two hours to reach the lock that separates the canal from the North Sea. It was interesting to see the lock open and our huge ship go inside. From the upper decks, it didn’t appear that we had much clearance on the sides, but a lower-level look revealed 50 feet on each side. Once we were through the lock, it was cruising North and the weather got a little rough.

We were in fairly rough seas on the first morning, Friday July 20^th. Many people were having motion sickness, and it stayed rough until about 4 PM when we began a “U Turn” to the right into the straits between Norway and Denmark. I gave my first presentation, about Sweden, at 1:00 in the Celebrity Theatre, and the 45 minutes went much faster than I thought it would. I talked with a few people after I was done; some wanted to talk about heritage, and a few wanted my opinion on which tour they should take in Stockholm.

That night was the first formal dinner, and so I suited up for it, and had an enjoyable dinner in the San Marco Restaurant. Our table only had 4 people, and so dinner wasn’t an extremely lengthy affair. I returned to my cabin to find out that I was going to be escorting a tour in Warnemünde the next morning, so it was early to bed for me.

The tour on Saturday the 21^st was “Delightful Warnemünde,” a walking tour of the town. After a stop along the pier for our tour guide to give us an orientation to Warnemünde and the neighboring Rostock, we walked into the small village, and went to the Evangelical Church – the only church in town. It used to be a Catholic Church, but has since become Lutheran. We were entertained with a fifteen minute concert on the pipe organ, and it was very delightful.

We continued our walk to the beach, but the strong winds (ambient temperature around 60 F) put quite a chill in the air. Our xt stop was a lovely little restaurant in the base of a windmill from the 19^th Century. A small sampling of a white and a red wine (not local; no grapes in the area) was offered, and we then boarded a little tram o continue our tour around town and back to the pier. There was still plenty time left in the day to wander around on my own, but the strong wind didn’t make that an inviting thought. The warmth and comfort of the ship seemed a better idea (plus I was able to watch the British Open on TV.

We are at sea tomorrow as we sail toward Sweden; I am giving two talks (one on Finland, and the other on St. Petersburg), so it will be a busy day, followed by five consecutive port days.

Free time? Well, I haven’t done any writing on my Sydney novel, as I appear to be very tired all the time. Yes, I’m taking my vitamins and drinking water – the energy level just isn’t there.

Thanks for following along – feel free to post any comments (including questions) if you’d like. I’ll be back online in a day or two. Until then, auf wiedersehen from Germany.

Stuart