We have travelled the Atlantic Ocean many times - always by plane. My first flight over the great grey waters was in spring of 1983 to visit a friend who lived in McLean, Virginia at the time, not knowing that I would move there a little more than a year later (my first US residency). Countless aerial crossings followed over the next three decades, my last one being in January of 2014. It was always the obvious thing to do; to take the plane for a vacation or a short term visit. Only when we moved to the US four years ago (my second US residency) did we contemplate another mode of travel. Why not take the same voyage that our stuff, our furniture and other personal belongings did on a container vessel ? It was a plan we held onto until we received news of our transfer back to home base. What better way to leave the country where you spent the last couple of years, reminisce about the good and bad times (for sure more good times) and then mentally prepare for the new experience that lay ahead? It sure beat the idea of waving bye-bye to Washington, hop on a plane, jet a couple of hours to arrive tired and worn out in Germany for a more or less stressy arrival program. The sea voyage it would be! Not on a container vessel but on a grand ocean liner of a traditional trans atlantic line. The thought of being at sea for ten days and nine nights without the pressure of daily routines, with all the time in the world for reading, eating or simply doing...nothing with only the sea and the sky on the horizon, was just too tempting. Ten days in the 21st century without smartphone, e-mail, skype or facebook. Unthinkable for most, but we accepted the challenge: we booked, we boarded and we voyaged. To board an ocean liner is a good feeling with some anticipation, but to board an ocean liner in New York is a elevated feeling with the knowledge of embarking on a true nautical classic. The North Atlantic crossings are a part of human history that began with Leif Eriksson and culminated in the golden era of sea travel in the first three decades of the 20th century.

Brooklyn docks close to our dock.

Getting ready for it. Discovering the ship and enjoying the New York view at the same time.

River barges travelling up East River. Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges ahead.

Unusual view of Manhattan with Governor´s Island in foreground.

Passing by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi´s masterpiece.

A NYPD helicopter bid us farewell (and made sure none of

us would stay behind illegally by slipping overboard).

Jersey  City                                                    Manhattan                                                        Brooklyn

Passing from Upper Bay underneath the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge into Lower Bay

and eventually into the Atlantic Ocean.

The West Bank Light - the last man made structure we saw on the west side of the Atlantic Ocean.