Family Fun in Europe, Part 9: Southampton to Skagen

This is my ninth post about our family's 2024 trip to Europe. I recommend reading the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth posts before this one.

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Southampton, UK to Skagen, Denmark

In my last post, I mentioned that on Friday, July 19 we left London to stay at a hotel near Heathrow. Why did we stay at an airport hotel when we weren't flying anywhere for two more weeks? Two reasons. Up to this point, there were nine of us traveling together. Unfortunately, Brian (my brother-in-law) and Timothy (my nephew) needed to return to work and would not be traveling any further with us. They flew home from Heathrow on Saturday, July 20. The other reason is that the rest of us were boarding a cruise and they'd be picking us up from Heathrow to transport us to Southampton, where the ship was docked. 

You can tell I wasn't feeling like myself because I took zero photos that morning at the hotel, the airport, or during the two hour bus ride. I took no photos of our ship as we were boarding. Here's a picture of our ship, the Sky Princess, from the Princess website. 

We are huge fans of Princess Cruises and the Sky Princess is an excellent ship with a great layout. Typically, the first thing we do after boarding is explore and see what's on all the decks. I wasn't up to that this time. 

We had lunch, unpacked, visited the muster station, then hung out in our room in the afternoon. We had a mini-suite, which is worth every penny if: a) you spend a lot of time in your cabin; b) you have more than 2 people in the cabin; and c) you'll be sailing through a particularly scenic place and anticipate spending lots of time on the balcony. 

I spent a lot of time that day resting and icing my incisions. 

In fact, I spent way more time resting on the ship over the course of the cruise than I normally do. I read a lot, watched a bunch of movies with Steve, did puzzles, sat on the balcony, and took naps. Occasionally, I joined Mom, Kari, Allison, and Trevor for trivia. 

I attended port lectures and other presentations. 

I spent a fair amount of time on our balcony, enjoying the views. 

And, of course, I ate really good food. I tried to be very conservative with the amount I ate on the cruise, while still enjoying a little of everything. It worked; I came home 2 pounds lighter than when I started the trip!

We sailed on the afternoon of July 20, then had a sea day on July 21. 

That day, I went to afternoon tea with Kari and Allison. 

On Monday, July 22, we arrived at our first port: Skagen, Denmark. 

Skagen is the northernmost town in Denmark and the country's main fishing port. For centuries, it's been renowned for its herring industry. In the 1800's, it was the home of the impressionist Skagen Painters. Skagen was a favorite summer location for Danish royalty.  

None of us had planned shore excursions in Skagen; instead, we decided to walk to town from the ship. Unfortunately, it was raining. 

Not a big deal. We wouldn't melt. 

    

Downtown Skagen is painted entirely in this golden yellow color. It's really charming. 

I didn't take nearly as many pictures of storefronts, statues, and historic buildings as I would have if it hadn't been raining. I did take photos inside some of the shops we visited. 

It was really fun watching these Danish candy makers at work. 

Bland candies, anyone? (Bland means "mixed" in Danish, not "flavorless." It's related to our word blend.)

I really enjoyed this Danish grocery store. Check out the "frugt and gront." They had a nice selection, but I was disturbed to see how much plastic there was. The individual fruits in that refrigerator case were shrink-wrapped. 

Here were have the canned fish section (many, many choices) and what I would call the cereal aisle at home. Here in Denmark, it's a granola/muesli aisle. If you like other types of cereals, you're out of luck. 

  

This aisle is entirely things to spread your canned fish on. (YOUR canned fish. I will not be having any.)

I could go for some Cheeeese Ostepop! And I'm fascinated by the American Grill Chips. It took me a minute, but I realized they're what we call BBQ chips. I like the name, but Bolge Chips are chicken flavored, so I'm going to pass. I have learned that I do not like meat-flavored chips. 

The toy store was a lot of fun to visit. Steve couldn't resist buying LEGO in Denmark. 

If I'd bought anything, it would have been this diamond art about Skagen. What a fun idea for a souvenir!

Oooh, more personalized stuff! No Cindy, Steve, or Trevor. But little Aksel, Asger, and Cecilie are in luck! There were quite a few names that are common in the US, something I didn't see in Belgium. There was a David, my dad's name, for example. 

We were drenched by the time we got back to the ship. 

I hadn't realized that the waterproofing on the rain jacket I was wearing didn't work, so I was soaked from head to toe. It doesn't rain much around here, and when it does, I tend to carry an umbrella instead of wearing a jacket. Oops! Double oops because I had only brought a single pair of shoes in my limited luggage. I had dry clothes to change into for everything else, but my shoes wouldn't have been more wet if I'd worn them in the swimming pool. Fortunately, my sister had brought two extra pairs and lent me one of hers. 

The best part about the rain is that the outdoor areas of the ship were empty. 

Even this covered area was blissfully free of people. I hung out there and read before dinner. It was really nice to have the place to myself. 

The next day, we visited another Danish port. I'll tell you about it tomorrow.