Yesterday we were in Copenhagen. It was the end of the Scandinavia & Russia portion of cruise and the start of the transatlantic cruise. Since we had already spent two days in Copenhagen and had seen most of the sights, we decided to stay on the ship and relax. Surprisingly Copenhagen is the least favorite city we have been to on this trip. It is noisy, crowded, dirty and ridiculously expensive. Seven to eight hundred passengers were also doing both cruises so about 2,700 people had to disembark and 2,700 new people had to board. It was nice to have a fairly empty ship to ourselves in the morning.

Today we were in Kristiansand. It is the 4th largest and most southern city in Norway. It is called the Norwegian Riviera, which sounds like an oxymoron. It was quite a delightful town. We did our normal 4 hour walk around town. There was an extensive waterfront along the harbor and a river with several parks and an old fort. We found a park with a path up a hill that gave a great overview of the city and the harbor. People in Scandinavia have been so nice and friendly. Several of them have come up and asked if we needed help or directions. Almost everyone we have met speaks fluent English. We have two days at sea before getting to Reykjavik, Iceland. We like that the tiring, port intensive portion of the trip was at the beginning and now we have a chance to kick back and relax.