Great Sailing!

We have had some incredible days sailing on our way south to Denmark.  The wind has been most favorable and the weather gets warmer and warmer each day! It only rains at night!! We promise some wonderful shots of our sailing adventures after dinner tonight......Best to all

Some Pictures

Adding pictures is difficult because the controls are all in Danish and we can't figure out how to get the pictures we want, but these will give you an idea of what we've been up to.
Here we are celebrating Mid Summer's Eve!

 Maneuvering the Swedish Archipelago.......

Ellen at the Helm!

Thea, our 1918 Twelve Meter passing us to windward!

We are in Denmark!

We have been sailing down the coast and made it to Helsingor Copenhagen.
The weather has been beautiful but there has not been Internet access until today.
We are very close to Kronborg Castle and are headed there next. This is the setting for Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Pictures to follow.

Stromstad, Sweden

First boat to sail into the harbor last evening! We made Stromstad after a 6 hour sail.  Marc took the helm and maneuvered our boat to take full advantage so when the winds shifted to the southwest, we made fast time to port. Once all the boats were berthed we were invited to cocktails on the 12 meter, Thea,a beautiful Norweigan 12 meter built in 1918.  The weather was mild and sunny so were all able to sit on top and enjoy great food and company!
Afterwards, our boat split off and we invited our captain, Neils's son, Jacob, to join us for dinner at a restaurant by the pier. We enjoyed caesar salads, fish & chips and shrimp open-faced sandwiches (local delicacy.) We ended the evening teaching Jacob how to play the card game, "99." Though he caught on fast, Helen prevailed!  We turned in around midnight. 
Woke by 7:30 and made our way to the showers.  Once showered, we shared cereal for breakfast and instant coffee.  Tomorrow we hope to buy good coffee to brew!  After the skipper's meeting, we suited up for our next leg.  Should be windy & cold so we have a day of card games ahead!

Tonsberg!

We made it to Tonsberg Norway which is where we pick up our boats. Today we will get provisions, but only for 1 day as Norway is too expensive! I figure everything is about 3x more expensive than in the US.
From here we do a quick sail to get everything shaken out the tomorrow - off to Sweden!

We spent a great day in Oslo and visited a very old fort. Here are a couple of pics.

Inside the Fort

From the fort walls overlooking Oslo Harbor

Some of our boats in Tonsberg Harbor

Oslo!

Travelled all day, arriving in Oslo this evening! Cab ride was 300.00USD to hotel. Ouch!! On registration we were informed that the hotel was booked so they had to give us an upgrade (confirming once again that we were only staying one night) Directions were to take the elevator to the 7th floor and walk up one flight.  Walk up one flight? Servants quarters? Ah, no this would be the Presidential  Suite. Four rooms, living room, dining room, den (with cot for Helen) master bedroom, master bath, 2 powder rooms, and a wrap-a-round porch. View of the Presidential Palace, cathedral etc.... no extra charge!
Met Marc and Ellen and took a dinner cruise of Oslo harbor (froze our butts off, but the scenery was magnificent) Still light out when we arrived back at our hotel at 10:00 pm.  Hope you enjoy the pics!

Eire!

Touched down at Shannon Airport Thursday and made our way to Cork to meet up with our dear friends, The Barrys after 10 years! Visited Kinsale this morning and the weather was beautiful! Hope you enjoy a few pics from Kinsale.....

Kinsale Harbour

Mylie Murphy's

Made it to Heathrow

We arrived in Heathrow at 6:15 AM London time.
Exhausted.

Next Flight at 10

WE ARE OFF!

After running around all day doing last minute errands, we are ready to go.

Now just waiting for the taxi.

Second Entry

In two days we leave. We have been shopping and probably have too much stuff, but we will be ready!
Here we are:

And this is what we are leaving.

First Entry

This will be a Blog for our family and friends to follow us as we travel to Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Hopefully we will be able to update it along the way!