Helsinki, Skagen and All the Rest.

First of all let me confess we didn’t get off in Helsinki. It was a public holiday there and we were it in walking distance from the dock so chose to stay on board like the majority of people on the ship. What we did do was go to a free health seminar on how to eliminate pains from your feet, back, hips and knees. We arrived at the gym just before the advertised time only to discover Jimmy had gone walkabout and could not be found anywhere on board! Finally he showed up and he and Thomas, one of the personal trainers began the talk. Thommo was fit, good looking and very engaging. However 15 minutes into the talk we discovered this was not a free seminar at all! We each had our feet imprinted to measure how we were walking. This was the result.

Thommo then demonstrated using an arch insert and it was really like magic. It aligned your body and took away the pain in our backs and feet. We tried them in our shoes and walked around and everyone was really impressed and were seriously considering whether we might like to purchase one of these magic insoles. Then Thomas dropped his bombshell. He informed us that each pair of arch support cost $300 but if we bought two pairs we could have a discount of $50 and then they were $199 each! He tried to convince us that this was a bargain. Len did what every good Yorkshireman does, he came back to the cabin and googled them and found a pair for £11.99 on Amazon! The cruise line must really think we were born yesterday! Everything is upselling but with good self discipline we have managed to have a £0 on board account. So back to our travels. After Helsinki we had a sea day, watched England annihilate Panama and ate too much food as usual. It really is so hard to resist the unlimited buffets at lunch time. The food has been fabulous most of the time, just too much of it really. We have tried to be good and the proof of the pudding will be when we stand on the scales on Thursday when we get home. This morning we arrived in the quaint fishing town of Skagen. It was a real treat. Much like Tallinn. Beautiful coloured houses, friendly people and within walking distance of the pier. We are pretty knackered at the moment so only walked 6.8 miles and didn’t see any of the main sites like the church buried in the sand or get to stand at the very tip of Denmark and place our feet in both the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. This is what we missed. We stopped for some coffee and cakes and were staggered by the price but felt it was worth it just for the atmosphere. It was around £17 so pretty much London prices.

There were flowers galore in the town and you know how much I love flowers so here are a few of my favourites.

The town is notable for its yellow houses with red roofs. Everything was spotlessly clean and tidy. The residents clearly welcomed tourists unlike St Petersburg. Have we mentioned we didn’t enjoy it so much?😂 Here are my favourite photos of the town.

Now Skagen is the main fishing port for Denmark so there were lots of trawlers in the harbour and plenty of yachts and pleasure boats. We were intrigued by the Kings Cross which Len said was from Scotland. Obviously still wanting to Remain in the EU!

After a lovely walk around Skagen we returned to the ship and enjoyed the view and sunshine from the top deck and then the sail away at 5 pm. A day at sea tomorrow then home to Blighty on Wednesday am. We are a little homesick. Silly I know but that’s the way the cookie crumbles!