Aalbourg Carnival and Sights

May 29, 2011

We departed Aalborg this evening headed to anchorage to refuel. Our visit to St. Petersburg was cancelled due to logistics, but change and flexibility are part of ship-board life. With a stiff breeze it took two tugs to pull us away from the pier and after a 180-degree turn we headed out the Langerak to the Baltic Sea. Our weather is overcast, but with calm seas the EMPIRE STATE VI is just gliding along headed to anchorage near Skagen in the Albæk Bugt.

I haven't polled the entire crew but I think most of us enjoyed our port call. Early each morning I would walk through town and visit newsstands to get some English newspapers. It’s amazing to me, even after all these years, the similarity of towns in the morning.

For the most part I’m not sure what to make of the Aalborg Carnival. The children's parade was just like you would see back home – all cute and such. And the battle of the (marching) bands was interesting, although they were more like drum and bugle corps without the bugles. Theme teams walked along behind the band for what seemed like miles. Wanting to take a look, Eileen (Deck Yeoman) and I wandered down to the parade route along the Vesterbro. Eileen is more adventitious and soon we were following alongside the parade, but a wrong turn put us in the parade at its current epicenter. It was intense, but I had more to fear wearing a Giant’s jersey at an Eagles home game. It was something like a Halloween that didn’t quite reach a Mardi Gras level of intensity. After the parade there was entertainment in the town park and people would disperse from there to the bus/train station and I think most went home. I saw few (if any) police or security, and absolutely no fights or violence. The people knew what to do and where to go, following some unwritten code of limits.

The festival was ultimately a distraction and not the focus of our visit. We went to many museums and historic areas, along with a few amusement parks. A few people did manage a side trip to Copenhagen. The food was more or less the same international flavor we get back home. The Danish people are very private but are eager to assist, and once they are engaged are friendly with a lively and mischievous sense of humor. Well it was a no-brainer that the Danish pastries were good and while I couldn't always pronounce them they sure went down easy with a cup of coffee. My favorite baker was along Christansgade, near the train station.

Next stop... Latvia!