It has been such a busy period since returning home from our cruise that I haven't had time to update these notes of our holiday. During the cruise we eventually managed to speak to Karen and were able to establish that Pete was given an operation on Monday 17 June 2013 in Amsterdam where a pacemaker was fitted. He was unable to fly back to the U.K. at the same time as ourselves on Wednesday 19 June because his insurance company decreed that he was to be accompanied by a paramedic from the U.K. Pete and Karen returned home the following day Thursday 20 June 2013. Pete and the paramedic were put into the business class section of the plane, however Karen had to sit in the economy class. We also found out that Karen had been provided with accommodation in a lodge next to the Hospital but also that it took 4 days for her suitcases to arrive including the charger for her mobile phone.
Back to the highlights of the cruise, the Arctic Circle is at this time of the year termed 'The land of the midnight sun.' this is because the sun remained visible throughout the entire 24 hour period, it is simply in a different part of the sky, the light intensity is as bright at 1am, 2am etc as it is at 12 noon! - During the winter months the opposite is true and it remains night throughout the 24 hour period plus in the absence of cloud you get to see the 'Northern Lights.'
On Saturday 15 June 2013 we arrived at the Geiranger fjord. This in my opinion is the most spectacular scenery I have seen to date. Previously my favourite location was Yosemite National Park in California.
Geiranger has the same granite cliffs/mountains with the greenery of trees, though it also has waterfalls they are narrower in Geiranger, however that is offset but two additional items. Firstly the tops of the mountains are covered with snow, secondly the bottoms of the mountains have a deep blue lake (fjord). These two additional items more than compensate for the smaller waterfalls compared to Yosemite.
On the final day of our holiday all passengers had to disembark the ship just after breakfast. Our flight home was scheduled for 1805 hrs and so this would entail several hours waiting around at the airport. Fortunately we booked a 3 hour coach trip from the ship, touring around Copenhagen finishing at the airport. Despite this we still faced a 6 hour wait. In fact this turned out to be even longer because at about 1700 hours a severe thunderstorm developed. Whilst the fork lightening was a spectacular sight it also prevented planes from taking off or landing. Our flight to Amsterdam was delayed by about 40 minutes (Every silver lining has a cloud!) Our transfer flight to Birmingham was a couple of hours after landing at Amsterdam and so the delay did not create a problem for ourselves, though several other passengers were not so lucky and had to run to catch their next flight. Gail has vowed that our next cruise will start and finish at Southampton!