We embarked from Southampton port on Saturday 16 July, arriving the next morning in Bruges, Belgium. Bruges is a beautiful medieval town only a few miles from Brussels. We toured the city on foot and spent a little time geocaching (in every city we visited.)A very modern statuary in an ancient city:
Old streets, many cobblestoned, are lined closely with beautiful facades.
Old streets, many cobblestoned, are lined closely with beautiful facades. 
This is the central square of the city. Belgium is roughly half Dutch and half Flemish; Bruges is in the Flemish portion of the country. Its main products are lace and chocolate; you can guess which one interested us the most!
This is the beautiful city square of Bruges.
Ornate facades all around!
We took a fun canal ride in Bruges, known as the "Venice of the North." 
Always time for geocaching!Back on the ship again, we spent that night and the next day at sea. Those "sea days" are fairly relaxing, composed mostly of eating wonderful food, resting, conversation and shows and preparing for the next city. Each morning in a new port we met in the theater and were matched up with our tour guides. Here we are prepping for our visit to Germany.
We wandered narrow streets and alleys.
These were some gorgeous painted wall panels in Saint Jakob's Kirche in Luebeck. 
Moses and King David
Jesus and several of His disciples, as well as ceilings with gorgeous color!
A wonderful painted box window!
This is a "puppet theater" marquis.On to Wismar in the State of Schleswig-Holstein. This is the one remaining city gate of three from medieval times.
As in Luebeck, a canal runs through town.
As in Luebeck, a canal runs through town.
One of the bridges of Wismar, known as the Pig Bridge (Schweinsbruecke) is humorously decorated on four corners with these little porkers.
The port of Warnemuende was sponsoring a sand sculpture contest during our visit; here are some of the entries:
Another sea day and a chance to recoup from lots of walking! The Eclipse has a very nice library and we each read a couple of books while on board. The Art of Racing in the Rain was a fun read!
Our Finnish guide, "Violet", was a delight and her information made the trip very enjoyable.
Our first real stop was Porvoo, a small rural Finnish town. We visited a small church there, tasted some of the local chocolate and spent a few minutes geocaching. 
While searching for a geocache near this church we met this Finn and his daughter from Helsinki, out for a day of cache hunting also.
Then it was on to lunch at a neighboring horse ranch and riding school
The dessert was a torte with caramel sauce, decorated with an edible flower, with sliced rhubarb, cloudberries, blueberries and lingonberries on the side. Wow!
Taking a very necessary stroll on the ranch after lunch!
After the delicious Finnish meal the bus carried us to Helsinki town center and a visit to the Rock Chuch, which has a very interesting history. Apparently the "locals" resisted having a church built above ground which would have obstructed the view. So architects devised and built this church under the rock instead. Now, the locals are more upset because of the markedly increased traffic of the half-million tourists coming to see this church annually!
The ceiling consists of coiled copper wire for the ultimate in acoustics, making it the perfect venue for concerts. 
A last glimpse of beautiful Helsinki before reboarding and prepping for our next stop: St. Petersburg, Russia!
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