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| Exquisite house on the waterfront in Helsinki. |
Due to the slow internet issues aboard the ship, the details of many photos were impossible to load.
Today is Day 11 of this Royal Caribbean Baltic cruise. Tomorrow, we pack, leaving our bags outside the door to our cabin by 10:00 pm, and they will be whisked away to the luggage area in the port of Amsterdam.
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| Harbor in Helsinki. |
On Friday, the day of disembarkation, we’ll collect our bags early in the morning and head to the airport by taxi, where we’ll wait for a few hours for our short flight to Exeter, England. Once we pick up the rental car in Exeter, we’ll be on our way to the first of four of the holiday homes we’ve rented in England.
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| Another historic building in Helsinki. |
It’s a wonderful feeling, one we’ll always relish, that once one leg of our journey has ended, another begins, offering us a feeling of freedom, expectation, and sheer joy for this life we lead. We can only pray it will continue for years to come.
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| Contemporary statue in Helsinki. |
This has been a good cruise, but not outstanding. The ship, although updated, is clean and well-appointed but isn’t as unique as some other cruise ships we’ve experienced in the past seven years.
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| Market Square – an outdoor market and food fair. |
However, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many wonderful people and seeing several countries we’d never visited in the past. Would we return to any of these countries for an extended stay should the opportunity arise? Probably not.
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| Uspenski Cathedral. |
Although interesting to see via this medium, nothing about the new-to-us countries made us hunger to live there for two or three months. The tours were excellent, and we loved taking in the personality of each of the cities.
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| Uspenski Cathedral. |
Each morning we had free, we spent time in the L’Attitudes Cafe on deck five preparing the day’s post. As you are all well aware, we missed posting for a few days due to the poor WiFi signal and our busy schedule.
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| Helsinki Cathedral. |
From here on, we see no reason why we won’t be able to upload posts unless we run into more severe WiFi issues. We still have hundreds of unseen photos in the file for each country, but over the next few months, on quiet days in England, we can always add them from time to time.
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| Train station entrance. |
We’re looking forward to arriving in Cornwall in the smallish town of Falmouth in only about 48 hours. With ocean views from the cottage, once again, we’ll find the experience highly fulfilling. Also, it is a short walk to the town, which we hope to explore on foot as much as possible.
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| “Temppeliaukio Church is a Lutheran church in the Töölö neighborhood of Helsinki. The church was designed by architects and brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen and opened in 1969. Built directly into solid rock, it is also known as the Church of the Rock and Rock Church.” |
How am I feeling? I’ve concluded and accepted that it will take months to get the awful drugs out of my system. Hopefully, in time, I’ll feel less pain in my legs when walking, less breathlessness, and fewer bouts of erratic pulse and blood pressure, which only occurs once or twice a day.
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| Historical building. |
These are common side effects when weaning off all three of the meds. At this point, I still have 30% of the initial dose of 2.5 mg of bisoprolol left from which to wean myself.
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| WiFi is too slow to find names of sculptures in Helsinki. |
The amiodarone can stay in one’s system for six months to a year. At this point, it’s hard to tell which of the drugs is causing the most discomfort as I wean off of them. The mid-day sleepiness, pain in my legs, and general feelings of weakness and malaise continue to plague me.
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| Government building. |
Hopefully, one day soon, I’ll awaken one morning and be free of this struggle. Thank you to our readers and my dear husband Tom for being so supportive as I get through this period.
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| Shopping mall. |
And, a special thanks to all of you who continue to write to us, offering comfort, motivation, and a wealth of encouragement.
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| SkyWheel Helsinki Ferris wheel near the harbor – 40-m. Observation wheel offering panoramic 360-degree views over the city skyline. |
Tomorrow, we’ll be back with more as we collect the information needed to share the total costs of this cruise with all of you. Please check back.
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| The architectural style of buildings is commonly found in Helsinki. |
Have a peaceful and fulfilling day and night.
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| Tom is right at home while on safari. We’ve learned so much over these years. It’s all the more exciting. For more Chobe photos, please click here. |