Scottish Isles & Norwegian Fjords: June 4

June 4: Sailing the North Sea to Copenhagen

Another sunny morning greeted us as we continued sailing through the North Sea, most of the time with very little to see out the window except the smooth ocean waters: 

Today was our day at sea, and we started with a presentation on medieval literature by Charlie McQuarrie, our Smithsonian Study Leader. Both Mom and I decided to skip the next lecture in favor of a short snooze in our cabin, and we then attended the pre-lunch lecture on the “Geopark Concept” by Markes Johnson of Williams College. Lunch was in La Licorne on Deck 2, where we managed to snag a table for ourselves towards the back and could just relax and watch the water flowing outside rather than trying to make conversation with other folks.

After lunch, Mom started packing and I started snoozing again – I think the motion sickness medicine I took a few times had a noticeable drowsy effect on me! We then headed up to the Observation Lounge on Deck 6 so that I could use up my Internet minutes, and I had a bit more success with the connection dependency and speed this time, probably because we were closer to land since we were traveling through the sound between Denmark and Sweden.

In the late afternoon, we headed to the Main Lounge on Deck 3 for “Musical Tea Time” (tea, coffee, and snacks accompanied by the ship’s pianist) and then attended the final lecture of the day and the tour, presented by John Meffert of the National Trust on the topic of Viking emigration. Apparently, this gentleman is renowned and has quite a cult following for his study tours, but I was not a big fan of his presentation style and certainly would not want to be in one of his groups!

I had enough time to hit the treadmill for 30 minutes while Mom got ready for the evening, and we attended the Captain’s Farewell Reception in the Theatre on Deck 4 before joining the rest of the Smithsonian group for a gala dinner (i.e. set 5-course menu) in La Licorne. The vegetarian menu was quite lovely, but I don’t think Mom was quite as much of a fan of her animal menu, as it was very rich and a bit too heavy.

Back in the cabin, we finished up our packing and went to sleep. Smooth seas all night!