May 16-22

I always thought that being on a cruise would be restrictive and I would feel antsy and not get enough exercise. I was wrong,

For the past week I have been cruising on the Holland America Ship, Zuiderdam, around the North Sea and U.K. I have been easily able to get in my 10,500 steps a day. In fact my phone tells me that in the past week I have well over 10km a day.

I will post a few photos of where my feet have taken me in the past week. I am posting these from my phone so I may have to adjust the formatting once I get home.

Copenhagen

I headed straight for this picturesque little canal.

Edinburgh

Of course one has to walk the Royal mile and visit St . Giles.

Invergordon, Scotland

Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland.

I found this in Wikipedia about the Church bells at St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall.

“In 1671, when the tower of the church was struck by lightning and burned, the bells fell into the church. It is said that townspeople hurried soft material into the church to catch the bells, should they fall, but despite their efforts, the largest bell did suffer a rift.^[6]

Therefore, in July 1682, the church authorities contracted with Alexander Geddes, merchant in Kirkwall, to deliver the bell to Amsterdam, where it was recast by Claudius Fremy. On arrival in Amsterdam, the bell was weighed and was found to be 1,500 pounds (680 kg). It lost 65 pounds (29 kg) in casting, but 193 pounds (88 kg) pounds of “new metal” was added, resulting in a finished weight of 1,528 pounds (693 kg). The new tongue in the bell weighed 46 pounds (21 kg). Geddes returned the bell to Kirkwall on 23 August of the same year.”

Isle of Lewis, Hebrides Islands