LIVE from Scandinavia on the Voyager of the Seas July 31-August 10, 2022 with Dragon of the Seas

[flamingos]

Beautiful, I was looking forward to your Visby report!  They have a free tour every day except Sunday at 11 a.m. at the visitor center, so we are going to do that and then wander on our own. I didn't realize it is a walled city - I love those!

 

By the way, those re-enactors were not in 'costume', they were in garb. Usually it's their own money and their own research and they are as close to period-specific as they can manage.  'Costumes' are when they are wearing the polyester outfit they bought at the Halloween store.  🙂   I live in a town full of re-enactors and have learned the difference.  ❤️

[DragonOfTheSeas]

2 hours ago, flamingos said:

Beautiful, I was looking forward to your Visby report!  They have a free tour every day except Sunday at 11 a.m. at the visitor center, so we are going to do that and then wander on our own. I didn't realize it is a walled city - I love those!

 

By the way, those re-enactors were not in 'costume', they were in garb. Usually it's their own money and their own research and they are as close to period-specific as they can manage.  'Costumes' are when they are wearing the polyester outfit they bought at the Halloween store.  🙂   I live in a town full of re-enactors and have learned the difference.  ❤️

Haha, I don’t know the terminology. 
 

it’s not just a wall city, the wall of this city is 3 km long. It’s very complete.

 

you will love it. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

DH and I decided to try a few of the bars tonight. Our first stop was the R-bar. Service was slow and the drink was OK. I had a lemon drop martini and they didn’t put any sugar on my rim. That is a sin.

 

then we moved onto the pig and whistle to people watch. Not that there are many people to watch. I bet in the time that we were there not 10 people past our table on the promenade. and there was one other person at the bar inside. We were there after 6 o’clock and before our 7:15 dinner. We usually go a little early. The tables always ready. 
 

yeah this was a good drink

 

 

The two waitresses here were very fast. And the drink was delicious. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Ok, one more Visby post before dinner. 
 

I moved on to the modern church. Today is a Sunday so services were being held.

 

 

 

near here is the location where you can climb the wall. But look at those steps I decided that was not for me. And I was glad I did because I found another location that was better later.

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

This is the ruins of Saint Nicholas church.

 

 

 

 

 

I think there is a medieval festival event here. That’s the only reason I was able to get in and take a picture they were setting up benches and light and sound. 

 

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

we are in Ronne, Denmark  this morning. But I’m going to post the rest of the things from yesterday before I post about what I see here.
 

 

 

Here is the ruin of the church of Saint George

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It looks like it’s set up for an activity with the medieval festival. But you can see that people haven’t walked in this church for a long time. It’s overgrown with grass.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

After that I reached the city wall.

 

this is where I was able to climb the wall and look out at the sea.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I walked toward the waterfront to find the medieval Festival. I thought it was interesting that one of the residents had set out what I would call a yard sale. There were lots of random things to buy and then a table of items to add to your medieval garb. (see I got it right this time) 😁

 

The two pelts are fox

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Then I came to the medieval festival. I walked up and tried to pay my admission I believe it was 100 SEK which works out to about $10. But they told me I had to walk all the way around to the other side there was no entrance from the back.Ugh! 
 

so I headed in that direction. These are a few of the pictures that I took as I went along with the vendors and people in the festival. 

 

 

 

I took this one from the top of the wall

 

this is trying to be very authentic. When you lay your child down for a nap and a wagon.

this seem to be the center of the action.

here are some of the vendors.

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I finally got around to the other side where they were taking the admission. They should’ve taken my money when they could’ve taken it. Because by the time I got there I realize just how huge it was and that I did not have the energy to walk through that. And there was a huge line.

 

 

 

Here is one of the authentic looking tents that they had in a number of places that they were using to camp out. There’s not nearly enough hotel space for all the participants for the medieval festival.

 

 

So I headed to the botanical card. I knew that would be a relaxing place to rest.

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Botanical garden was very pretty. In fact all the flowers on the entire island were beautiful. What a quaint place.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, you get the general idea I like flowers. Ha ha

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I found this down near the Promenade at the waterfront.I found this down near the Promenade at the waterfront. 
 

 

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I returned to the park and took a shuttle bus back to the shop. But I had to wait about 15 minutes for it to arrive.
 

A couple walked up and saw the sign that said voyage of the sea shuttle bus. And the woman turned to me and asked if there was actually a bus. I told her yes I had written it to this point. She mentioned that the Cruise Planner did not identify a shuttle bus at the stop and that she and her husband had walked into town. The cruise planner said it was a picturesque and He’s a 20 minute walk into town. She said there was nothing easy about it and it took them 45 minutes.

 

She said she was sorry for this one other family of three adult women and there obviously elderly mother who are struggling along the way. The planner said it was a 20 minute walk into town. She said there was nothing easy about it and it took them 45 minutes. She said she was sorry for this one other family of three adult women and they are obviously elderly mother who are struggling along the way.

 

I took a picture of these metal stairs as we wrote back. She said you had to climb the stairs on one side of the road in the court cross the road and then climb them back down. And then of course walk through a neighborhood and then along the waterfront to get to town. 

 

 

 

 

my Fitbit said that I had 13,000 steps when I got back to the ship.  Our dinner partner said hers said over 20,000 . She did the walk also. so that gives you an idea of the difference and she walked to about the same place as I did maybe not quite as far because I don’t think she ever went out to the medieval festival.

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

So after that walking I figure we had earned in a dirt don’t beverage or two. So first we tried the R bar. Which had been very good earlier in the week was terribly slow yesterday. They had three people working I just don’t know what the issue was. So we went to the pig and whistle and I got my lemon drop martini. 
 

 

it was a little heavy on the sugar. But otherwise delicious😛

 

after dinner we decided to make a few more donations to the casino. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

There’s a little bit of controversy. There was a sign that said there was a free shuttle from nature of the sea in this location every half hour give a schedule etc.

 

 

However there was a paid shuttle that was being run by the cruise line for $12 near it.
 

So this other woman asked the employee where the free shuttle was? He said there is no free shuttle and she pointed to the sign. He said that sign is wrong and he picked up the sign and carried it away.
 

She said she’s going to complain about this. You can see from the sign it was obviously meant for our ship today but I guess Royal Caribbean just decided they were not making enough money so they were going to charge.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

The Saint Nikolai church is one of the main attractions. It opens at 9 o’clock.
 

 

 

But you have to go around to the side door to enter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I forgot to add the chandelier before I hit submit. I thought this was really neat. it is the shift hanging from the ceiling.

 

 

The chandelier dates back to 1620

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

The other recognizable item in Ronne is the lighthouse.

 

 

 

 

you can see that there’s not as many things here to do. In fact,  we asked the waitress at Chops Grille this morning about this island. And she told us this is the first time they’ve ever stopped here.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

 

Ronne is to the east of the rest of Denmark in the Baltic sea. During World War II it was a strategic location for Germany. And was occupied by the Germans. Even in April 1945 the Germans would not give up this location. So the Soviets bombed it heavily and destroyed many of the houses in the city.
 

The Swedish and others helped to bring supplies to the island to rapidly rebuild houses. 

 

 

Here are a few random pictures around the city.

 

 

this is a ceramic store. The island is known for its glass and ceramics.

 

 

here is a shot of the interior of the store. I took it through the window because the store hadn’t opened yet.

I liked the ceramic church in the window. These historic round churches are in a couple locations on the island. There are several ships tours that visited the churches.

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Please stop here and apologize for the spelling and grammar and some of today’s posts. I decided to sit in the park on the island and use my phone to post using Voice to text. I better do a better job of editing it. Ha ha

 

i’m not sure why often one picture is repeated at the end of a post. I’m not putting it in there twice. ok, that’s my disclaimer. 🤔

[DragonOfTheSeas]

When we first pulled into port this morning we looked out our balcony and saw these things sitting just opposite of ship. DH and I  were trying to guess what they were. I guessed a hovercraft. DH thought they were some type of boat.

 

I asked the employee that was checking the IDs as we entered the port. He said they are windmills for the sea. That the poles are laying to the side and the other pieces will be put on the top.

 

 

 

 

I have never seen anything like them. It is a totally different design than windmills in the United States. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

DH and I are spending the afternoon at the solarium. This is the first time I’ve had my bathing suit on for the whole cruise. It has been too chilly.
 

Usually all the shady spots go first in the Solarium. Here only the sunny spots are being taken.☀️

 

 

 

 

Even along the first row there are empty seats. 

 

We would’ve stayed at the pool. But they’re showing a children’s movie on the screen and it is so loud that it hurts your ears.

[Sea Dog]

I am really enjoying your review. Thanks to you this cruise is on our to do list.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Someone asked me earlier about ballroom dancing. I had not noticed it on the cruise planner but since then I do see that they have it several times. It is pre-recorded music. The name of the band is the High Notes. Tonight it’s in the Viking Crown lounge from 7 to 9 PM. 

[Broons77]

3 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Please stop here and apologize for the spelling and grammar and some of today’s posts. I decided to sit in the park on the island and use my phone to post using Voice to text. I better do a better job of editing it. Ha ha

 

Don't apologize, we'll figure it out.  Thank you for taking all the time out of your trip to post all of these beautiful pictures and helpful commentary.  Royal should toss you a few bucks for all the folks that now have this cruise on their lists!!!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

5 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Someone asked me earlier about ballroom dancing. I had not noticed it on the cruise planner but since then I do see that they have it several times. It is pre-recorded music. The name of the band is the High Notes. Tonight it’s in the Viking Crown lounge from 7 to 9 PM. 

High Notes is a spot in the Viking Crown lounge. LOL