Wednesday 23 January 2013

The Queen Mary 2, and Denmark

QM2 through Denmark
8/29-9/8

I already said that we really enjoyed our crossing on the QM2, but now I will try to explain why.

Being aboard the QM2 is like traveling Europe, you meet new people, try new foods, go out and dance, relax, enjoy the weather, go to shows and plays and lectures and just hang out. It sounds pretty great, but it gets better. There is always food available, and tons of it. You pay for everything with one card, so you don't have to figure out all the different currencies. Your bed is always made always in the same place and always comfortable. But most importantly, everyone speaks English. This may seem like a small thing, but in the last two days I have learned that I most certainly don't speak Danish.

So if the QM2 was heaven, I guess Denmark is only paradise.

I could list all the different things we did on the cruise ship, but it would be really long. The days sort of blurred together, because we were doing so much, so here was our basic daily schedule:

Wake up
Eat breakfast at the buffet
Satchel goes to bridge class
Morning activity (Table tennis tournament, shuffleboard etc.)
Lunch at the buffet
Darts tournament (Every day at 3:00 pm)
Lecture or movie in the theater
Early dinner at the buffet
Team Quiz (most of the questions were about the UK or UK culture, so we found a diverse team)
Nap, read, etc.
Formal dinner at our assigned table
Late night Quiz (same team as earlier)
Dance party at club G32


So it was truly a great time, and we were shocked when sent back into the real world.


Note: Every day, because of the magic of time zones, the ship lost an hour. At noon, the captain would come on the loudspeaker and announce that "it is just noon, now make it 1".  The days proceeded rather quickly with only 23 hours

As for our short stop in Southampton to drop our massive amounts of stuff off, we sleep most of the time, because we were too busy to sleep on the ship. Ian was extremely kind and hospitable, and packed the four of us into his small apartment. We are grateful for the comfort of his floor and for his tour of the university and helping get us settled in Europe.
Also, thanks to the taxi drivers who gawked as we packed their small cars full of luggage and the quick and efficient people at Sentry Self Storage.

From Southampton we took the bus to London Stansted Airport, staying overnight to be there on time for our 7:30 am flight to Billund, Denmark. By the magic of the English speaking information desks, we made it to the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), where we are currently being hosted and shown around by Chris's sister, Melissa. She has only been here for a few weeks, but is doing an incredible job of showing us the town and making us feel welcome. We are very grateful for her and her kitchen-mate's hospitality. We have toured DTU and Copenhagen, and will be heading to Hamburg tomorrow.

Here come the pictures

Our Deck



Our Hall



Looking Aft from Deck 10



The Wonderful Kings Court Buffet



Our Formal Dining Room Upper Level



Our Formal Dining Room Lower Level 
(Our table was on the upper level, hidden by the pole in the right foreground of this image)



The Queen Mary 2



The Casino Onboard-I promise we did not play



Theater for Concerts and Performances



Theater 



Part of our Quiz Team



We Played Darts- A Lot



My Bed Folded Up



Dawwwwwww....



Our Group of Friends in the Club, Aka Everyone Onboard Younger than 30



 Made it to Southampton!!


London Stansted Airport-Especially Interesting at 4 in the Morning



View From the Bus



Chris and Melissa



Round Tower-Beginning of the Tour of Copenhagen



At the Top of the Round Tower



View from the Top



Walking Back Down, A Ramp the Entire Day



I Really Wanted to Sit on the Anchor



Harbor



Copenhagen Sand Castle Fest



The Danish Royal Yacht



Trees



Crown Jewels are in the Cottage Behind Us

Still doing well, off to Hamburg tomorrow to see Kyle, Nick and Rob and maybe some others.

Love you all,

Satchel



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