“Into the Midnight Sun”
June/July 2018
My brother Doug & sister-in-law
Ann declined our invite to join us on a Fall trip to Croatia. But then made a
counter-offer for me to join them and daughter Katie on a Viking Ocean Cruise. Doug
had booked 2 cabins but there was no option for a single fare, so I would be
the “fill-in” (actually the 2nd choice, but their grandson Aiden was
too young), Doug & I sharing one cabin, Ann & Katie the other. [They
knew Marjorie would be busy then with the Colonie Art League summer Art Camp for
4th-6th graders she organizes (and is one of the
instructors) ̶ I suppose now she’ll want an equivalent trip
with her sister.] Doug & I have enjoyed trips together, and I didn’t want
to miss the opportunity for more time together . . . with Ann & Katie as a
bonus! Marjorie & I have enjoyed several Viking river cruises, so it will
be interesting to sample their ocean cruises. And the itinerary is very
attractive: Shetland Islands and Edinburgh in Scotland, along the Norwegian
coast including 3 ports above the Arctic Circle! (Marjorie thinks maybe I’ll
see Santa!), finishing in Bergen, one of our favorite places from a
Scandinavian tour in 2008. (Sadly, I will be unable to connect with one of our
regular Albany Symphony guests, bassist Tristan, now with the Bergen
Philharmonic. He did e-mail to say, as I suspected, that with the season over
he is not in the city.) Norway is “home” to Viking for obvious reasons,
including the Norwegian founder (in 1997) & Chairman Torstein Hagen.
