Last Day of Baltic Cruise- August 17, 2018

The last day is always bittersweet. We said goodbye to Valerie, whom we me on the first day of this cruise. She recently widowed and was traveling alone staying in one of the studio cabins offered to single travelers. Valerie lost her husband last year after a long battle with prostate cancer. I admire her courage in doing her best to live her life fully even if it means traveling alone. We said say goodbye to Terry and Mary and their entourage of friends from Melbourne. We had cocktails with them nearly every evening for the past few days.

We spent the afternoon pleasantly relaxing in lounge chairs, each of us listening to engaging audio books. We are traveling a fairly narrow passage of water between Russian and Scandinavia. Occasionally we could see random islands in the distance, and at one point we sailed past a field of wind turbines mounted off the coast. Saving the best for last, we had an early dinner at a Cirque performance in the tented theatre on ship. How do these young men and women get the strength, balance, flexibility and yet look like they are having fun? And where does one go to school to learn how to masterfully juggle while riding a unicycle on a tight rope????

The real thrill of the day was approaching and passing under the Great Belt Bridge. Before tonight, I never heard of this engineering wonder. It is the world's third longest suspension bridge - and our huge, super-ship sailed under it. And the super-cool thing about the event is that it happened at sunset. I think I got some magnificent photos! I know this; I had a ball trying to do so. The bridge crosses the Great Belt strait and connects the Danish islands of Funen and Zealand. It's over 4 miles long, 8333 feet high and it's beautiful. We shared this great passing under the bridge at twilight moment with our Melbourne friends, Terry and Mary. We took selfies; we hugged and promised to visit each other in the future, and we just very well may.

The past twenty or so days have flown by so quickly . . . maybe it's the fact that cruises invariably include a time-schedule. We have been gone from home 24 days and have about 12 left before we enjoy sleeping in our own beds once again. But, our trip is far from over! We will arrive tomorrow in Copenhagen where we will spend the next three days exploring once again and relaxing before moving on to Spain! And who knows where we might go from there!