Day 3 - At Sea

Day 3 – Tuesday 2^nd September – At Sea

In the early hours of the morning we had passed through into the Skagerrak round the top of Denmark and heading south down the Kattegat. 

In my younger days, I had sailed through these waters many times on the way to the Baltic Sea.  It was a beautiful warm sunny day and with a flat sea, the Captain had gained permission to pass through the narrowest part between Sweden and Denmark, thus saving 120 miles on our journey, in these times, a saving in fuel is sometimes welcome.

A walk around Deck 3, the only part of the ship, where you can go all the way round was very pleasant, three times round, you have covered one statute mile.

Hamlet's Castle

  

Helsinger Ferry

The narrowest part of this passage is between Helsinborg on the Swedish side and Helsinger on the Danish side.

Shakespeare is supposed to have based his play ‘Hamlet’ on the Prince of Denmark, who lived in Helsinger Castle, today there are still numerous ferries crossing to and fro between the two countries.

In the morning, I had been to the theatre to see a lecture given by Robin Oakley a former political editor for the BBC.  A very interesting and enlightened lecture on ‘who rules the World: Politicians or Journalists’.

For lunch went to the Princess Grill for cold soup, a new experience for me, which will not be repeated, followed by haddock and very nice.

Wind Farm

 I spent the rest of the afternoon in the gym and sauna, watching through the windows, as we passed down the Drogden Channel with a wind farm outside the entrance to Copenhagen and a little further to the south, from the balcony, watching planes pass overhead at the end of the main city runway.

Bridge and Tunnel

There is new road bridge linking Malmo, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark, a single span bridge onto an island which then disappears into a tunnel under the Drogden Channel and remerging outside the airport.

For the evening, into the Café Carinthia, which is very reminiscent of the ‘Queen Elizabeth’, where I had spent many hours having before dinner drinks.  Dinner in the Princess Grill of soup, venison (large portion) followed by creme brulee was excellent.  Our dining table guests were getting into telling our numerous and varied stories, making the time pass very quickly.

The night’s entertainment given by Allan Stewart, a singer, comedian and impressionist who was very good and a near full audience fully appreciated his act.

Finished off with the last waltz in the ballroom before retiring after another enjoyable day, passing the bottom end of Sweden and heading north again into the Baltic Sea.