Legacy Genealogy Cruise – We’re Back! and Day One

We're back from our 9th annual Legacy Genealogy Cruise. I finally made it to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, saw the Queen of England, participated in 21 hours of Legacy and genealogy classes, biked down the mountains of Geiranger, Norway; and ate way too much food. While we had the time of our lives, it's also great to be home. I sure missed my four "descendants."

While gone I wrote about each day and tried so hard to publish it here. I tried on the ship, but the 60-cents-per-minute-Internet was soooo sloooowww, and the free Internet at McDonald's in Liverpool worked but my blog software's Publish button wouldn't work. So in the next few days I'll publish the articles and pictures here. And so it's time to get back to work. But I don't feel like I've worked a day in my life – I love my job!

Saturday, May 12

After a much needed nap I’m finally able to write my first report from our cruise. There’s just been no time in between eating, touring, and visiting with our Legacy guests. The funny thing is that I’m not even exaggerating. During my nap I even heard my room’s telephone ring – I’m certain it was Luc wanting to go play shuffleboard again. But we’ve had such a great first 3-4 days so far!

My Day One got off to a great start. We had a few hours to play with before we boarded the ship so I walked around the city of Oslo. Guess what caught my eye? A cemetery of course. This wasn’t any ordinary cemetery. Situated just behind the city hospital, was the cemetery with all kinds of sizes and shapes of tombstones – calling my name. We found what we thought was the entrance but the gate was locked. After taking a few distant pictures we crossed the road and browsed an old Norwegian bookstore. I found a book of the history of Ole Rasmussen. When we came out, we looked again at the cemetery’s locked gate and noticed just to its left, but around the thick column, was an opening – not even a gate – it was wide open. I think there’s a good metaphor there. Nonetheless, we explored one of the most beautiful cemeteries I’ve seen, both from the ground and its second level.

Later we boarded the Vision of the Seas, ate some lunch, and got set up to meet our Legacy guests and distribute name tags and schedules. Many of them looked very tired – most had been awake for at least 30 hours traveling but were happy to be there.

Luc and I played a little shuffleboard, but it was already time for our first sit-down dinner. Our group had 20 tables reserved for the 170 or so of us. Our travel coordinator, Christy, arranged with the head waiter to let us sit round-robin style throughout the cruise (usually you are assigned a table number and must remain there) so we are able to meet and get to know everyone in our group. After dinner, my wife and I skipped dessert and went to the evening show where we were entertained with music, dancing, and even some acrobatic ballet. At the end of the day, I put the finishing touches on my classes I would give the next day.