London

Greetings from London,
I am sorry I haven't been able to keep you all up-to-date since leaving Poland, but Internet access aboard the ship was horrible. After wasting the afternoon running all over Copenhagen looking for a suitable WiFi, I decided that I was just going to enjoy the remainder of the trip and not waste anymore time chasing after Internet access.
Unfortunately, the auspicious start to our trip, with the lovely weather in Stockholm, did not bode well for our journey. Although they initially told us that the weather should improve in the next day or two, they abandoned that line fairly early into the cruise. Not only did the weather not improve, it got steadily worse as the cruise progressed. While we did get a sunny day in Tallin, Estonia, the wind was strong and cold(to make matters worse, I was not feeling well that particular day, so the wind really had me concerned and I was not in the best of spirits.) The wind was not as strong in Gdansk and it was not quite as cold, but it was windy and we had no sun and some rain. I liked Copenhagen a lot and actually enjoyed the hunt for the WiFi, but the highlight of the afternoon was the young blond who served me at Café Norden. He exhibited the confident friendliness and ease that only the very young and beautiful do. I gave him a nice tip; five Euros for not doing anything much other than smiling at me and letting me enjoy his baby-blue eyes. Berlin was a long trip by bus and the weather, again, was not good, more wind and rain. The excursion was 12 hours long. It was a three hour ride into Berlin and a three hour return trip. On the return, as we drew nearer to the coast, the wind really started howling. Not long after reboarding, the Captain fired up the engine and we began to push off to begin the next leg of the cruise, a passage through Germany's Kiel Canal. Well, about a half-hour later, we notice that there is a tug boat apparently push the ship's stern against the dock. We were trying to figure out why he was doing this when we shortly received an announcement from the Captain that, due to the bad weather, our departure would be delayed. When I woke up at 6:00am the following morning, we were still at the dock in Warnnemünde. This had me concerned. However, we launched shortly thereafter. Then, a couple of hour later we got the bad news. Due to the storm, there had been an inferno at the mouth of the Kiel Canal. Apparently, they keep large containers of paraffin store near the entry/exit. One or more of those had caught fire and they had to close the canal. Therefore, we were informed, the Captain had no alternative but to sail all the way around Denmark, putting us a day behind schedule.
As a result, we would arrive in Amsterdam a day late and, following our visit there, sail directly for Dover missing Bruges altogether. What luck!
Well, it has been a long strange trip, but it wasn't all bad. It was still fascinating to see all the great places. I DID walk around Amsterdam pretty well stoned all Sunday afternoon. I had not figured I would actually buy any weed or eat any of the baked goods, but there I was Sunday morning eating one of their famous pot muffins. "Space Muffins" they call them. They had "Space Muffins", "Space Brownies", "Space This", "Space That". They even have shops that blatantly advertise that they sell magic mushrooms. I passed on those. If I had had more time ....
I just had the best meal I have had in a long time, too. I had the good sense to ask the concierge for a recommendation for a good place to get curry and he made us a reservation at a place called Tamarai. If you ever come to London and you want curry, you must eat at this place. It was fantastic.