Travel with Dale & Margaret

Our Baltic Serenade Cruise on the Oceania Marina ship is now complete.  To make it easier for you to peruse our content, complete with stories and pictures, we have put together the following index.  Simply click on the date and a new window will open with that day’s information.  When you are finished, just close that window and select the next day.

Jun 8 – Leave home and fly to LAX, make connection to British Airways non-stop flight to London Heathrow

Jun 9 — Arrive at Heathrow, stay at Coworth Park Hotel in Ascot, about 30 miles East from the center of London.

Jun 10 — Stay at the Coworth Park Hotel, Tour Windsor Castle

Jun 11 — Drive from Ascot, past Stonehenge and board the Oceania Marina in Southampton

Jun 12 — Amsterdam, Netherlands

Jun 13 — Cruising North on the North Sea

Jun 14 — Oslo, Norway

Jun 15 — Copenhagen, Denmark

Jun 16 — Warnemunde, Germany (A coastal access city to Berlin)

Jun 17 — Cruising East on the Baltic Sea

Jun 18 — Riga, Latvia

Jun 19 — Tallinn, Estonia

Jun 20 — St. Petersburg, Russia

Jun 21 — St. Petersburg, Russia, train ride to Moscow

Jun 22 — St. Petersburg, Russia

Jun 23 — Helsinki, Finland

Jun 24 — Stockholm, Sweden

Jun 25 — Stockholm, Sweden, off ship and overnight at The Grand Hotel

Jun 26 — Fly to LAX through Heathrow and overnight in Manhattan Beach, CA

Jun 27 — Fly home from LAX

OK, it’s not quite a marathon but it seemed like one at the time.  This morning, we woke up at the Belamar Hotel in Manhattan Beach, Margaret’s old stomping grounds and the site of the former Barnaby’s hotel where we were going to get married before they closed the hotel for a remodel 6 weeks before our wedding (it all turned out well in the end but that’s another story as we approach our 10th wedding anniversary in July!).

After breakfast at the hotel we decided to go for a walk to see the ocean.  As it turns out, despite the fact that we had lived here and Dale used to run with his running buddies all the time in this area, the circuitous nature of the roads had our little walk turn into a serious trek.  Didn’t help that there was a record heat spell going on and by the time we got back it was in the 80’s and we were all sweaty!  But, we survived, quickly packed and headed to the airport in a cab.  The cab driver was a very nice man from Ethiopia and we got an education about the local cab situation and the politics of Ethiopia.

Our flight home was typical Southwest, on-time, our driver was waiting for us with a sign that even spelled our name properly.  We picked up our puppy Spencer on the way home and relaxed at home on an absolutely delightful, warm evening on our back patio.  Glass of Chardonnay, dinner with a nice Pinot Noir and an early night to bed.  It’s good to be home!

We enjoyed a nice breakfast at the Grand Hotel before catching a cab to the Arlanda Airport, about 25 minutes outside of Stockholm.  On the way there we  were reminded how close Uppsula is to the airport…actually closer than Stockholm.  Both Margaret and I have spent a lot of time there as Dale sold one of his companies to a Swedish company that is headquartered there.  Margaret used to fly there once a month!

The airport was a ghost town, the shared First/Business Class lounge was fantastic and we boarded our A319 British Airways jet plane to Heathrow and arrived 2 1/2 hours later without delay or incident.

The layover in Heathrow was a couple of hours…which turned out to be good because Heathrow is a BIG airport and our connecting terminal was a bit of a jaunt from where we arrived.  We didn’t have to clear the UK Border again (whew) because our bags were checked all the way to LAX.  Margaret even got in a little duty-free shopping, finding some nice Gucci sunglasses at a nice duty free price.  But the best part is that the British Airways lounge was the best one we’ve ever seen.  Incredible wine selection, great food, espressos/lattes, US power outlets, lots of newspapers/magazines, etc.  The boarding area was very confused and crowded but we managed to weed our way through at early boarding and boarded our British Airway 747-400.

Neither of us has been on a 747 in a while, so we were surprised at the configuration of their Business Class seats.  Each of us had a pod of sorts which had protective sides and allowed you to recline into a complete flat position.  Quite nice!  Luckily the woman in the “cubicle” with Margaret was traveling alone and offered to change seats with Dale.  The outside people have some privacy but the inside pair end up sitting/laying next to each other.  Perfect for the two of us.  We watched a movie (This Means War…very funny Reese Witherspoon movie) on Dale’s MacBook (with a nice big 17″ screen) sharing the sound with our Bose noise suppressing headsets.  The flight was nice and smooth, the food and wine was good and we even got some sleep!  Margaret actually slept at least 8 hours of the 12 hour flight.  Not too bad.

We arrived into LAX a little late but still made it to our hotel in Manhattan Beach in time to have a late dinner with our youngest son.  It was a great way to wrap up the trip.  Well, sort of wrapped up.  We still need to fly home tomorrow to our puppy and kitty cat.  We’ll be happy to have our feet on the ground and they’ll be happy to see us we’re sure.

747 Gallery:

We disembarked the Marina at 9:00 am and caught a taxi to the Stockholm Grand Hotel.  Margaret had been to the Grand Hotel for lunch once on a stay over on her way back from Uppsala Sweden, where we both used to do some business.  Since, she had wanted to stay in this Grand Hotel – and Grand it is!

The hotel is located in the main downtown area across from where the day boats take passengers on cruises around the archipelago.  It was too early to get into our room, so we dropped off our bags and found a boat that was doing a 3-hour tour of the islands.

The weather was perfect and we enjoyed floating around looking at all the summer houses.  Most Swedes take off either the month of July or August (some do both) and retreat from the city homes or apartments to a summer cabin in the islands.  Many of the islands are only accessible by boat.  Swedes like to “rough it” so many of the cabins were small with just a room or two.  Others, however, were large and ornate.   It was a beautiful trip.

Returning to the Grand Hotel we laid down for a rest and then showered and made our way to the hotel’s veranda bar for a Martini.  Our server gave us some suggestions on where to dine so we ventured out looking for a proper spot.  After checking out the two places he suggested, both were busy and required a wait, we opted to go to a place Dale had spotted, a patio off the 2^nd floor of the Stockholm Royal Theatre House situated on the waterfront.

Our expectations on the food quality were low (what do they say…food at a theatre is on the same level as art in a restaurant…).  But we were delightfully surprised at the home-cooked fare, reasonable wine prices and a beautiful view on a delightfully warm night.  It doesn’t get any better than this and it ended up being a perfect end to our stay in Stockholm.

Margaret’s Top Picks:

Stockholm Day 2 Full Gallery:

 http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/Baltic-Serenade-Cruise/StockholmDay2-June-25-2013/30610555_9Zn7WG#!i=2642683462&k=QMbDJMx