Charlotte to Copenhagen and On to Norway

As I write this we are sailing from Copenhagen, Denmark, on the Sojourn, a Seabourn ship. Getting here was a bit of a trial, flying from Charlotte Tuesday afternoon to Atlanta, then through the night to land in Copenhagen Wednesday morning. Unfortunately, neither of us slept much, so cranked off the plane at the airport feeling as twisted as pretzels.

We did have one of those felicitous moments in the departure gate at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta that travelers sometimes experience. While lining up to board, we chatted with a woman from the San Francisco area who asked us where we were from. When we replied "Charlotte," she asked if we knew Giverny. That's our neighborhood and we discovered that her family moved to the Bay area about the same time we moved to Charlotte. We seem to be reminded often that this is a small world.

Once in Copenhagen¸ feet on the ground and weary bodies unkinking, we enjoyed a ride through the city with a driver who gave us quite a bit of history on the way to the harbor. It's not a huge city, but it was founded in the 12th century, he said, and has wonderful buildings, including twisted towers, and green parks. The water is never far away, seagulls float overhead and today's weather has been picture perfect. There's a Carolina blue sky (perhaps they would say Danish blue) and the blades of the wind farms offshore are turning steadily. Our driver told us that Denmark generates more than 20 percent of its electricity from wind.

Despite our weariness, we made the obligatory safety muster, learning to put on our life jackets properly. Then there was a party on the pool deck as we prepared to sail. We watched a couple of much larger cruise ships move out ahead of ours, then began making our way toward Flam up Norway's west coast. There are sailboats all around, windmills in the water and a really long bridge in the distance. So much of Scandanavia is made up of islands that bridges and ferries are a part of life.

I am enjoying the throb of the engines under the decks. It feels as if the ship has a beating heart. We both relish the occasional roll of the ship beneath our feet and know that the swaying will rock us to sleep tonight, as if we needed any help as tired as we are now.

As I close, we are passing beautiful farmland, green pastures spread across the lowlands along the coast. Based on the World Atlas provided in our stateroom, what we are seeing must be in Sweden. Our course will take us up through the Kattegat and the Skagerak, relatively narrow waterways that wind up from Copenhagen to the Norwegian Sea where we'll go north in and out of the fjords before coming back to Oslo and Copenhagen for our return home. The captain has warned that we might have some rougher seas ahead, but, for now, it's truly smooth sailing.

We'll be at sea all day Thursday, a perfect time to catch up on our rest, find our way around the ship and just enjoy the cool breezes here. It is heavenly to have 70-degree days ahead and we don't even mind the rain in the forecast. After the early summer heat in the South, the cooler temperatures here are blissful.

The Danish Coast