St Petersburg, Russia – July 25

It was another early morning for our tour of the Hermitage art museum. Getting there early is a very good thing…the museum opens at 10:30 to the public, but we (and many other cruise tours) are in by about 9:15. I don’t know how many other cruises are in St. Petersburg on this particular day, but certainly not just ours. Even before the public is let in the place is PACKED. There are some particular rooms (the Rembrandt one especially) where people were shoulder to shoulder. Most of the guided groups use ear pieces attached to a small receiver. The guide has her own that she speaks quietly into that we can all hear without her shouting.

The Hermitage is enormous! I don’t remember the Louvre in Paris (the Louvre and the Hermitage are frequently compared) being so big. I also don’t remember it being so palatial. Both are former palaces, but this seems more palace-like. There are enormous rooms that are still as they would have been with their ceilings and pillars and chandeliers ready for a party. If I can only say one thing about the Hermitage it would be HUGE. The building itself is vast, but there are some pieces in the museum that are very, very BIG. There are a few pieces were actually installed before the museum was built, so that they would actually fit.

We basically sprinted through the place, seeing as much of it as we could led by the guide. Our guide stopped us every so often at the highlights and to give explanations, but we were on the move most of the time. This is fine with us. Even if we had the whole day, we couldn’t have seen all of the museum’s collection. The highlights were perfect.

St. Petersburg was more crowded than usual today as it was Naval Day. Just as we were leaving the museum a parade on one of the city's 4 rivers was about to start. There were submarines and naval ships in the river along with many sailors either on the ships/submarines or parading.

The afternoon was spent back on the ship – sadly still no ‘beer-in-town’ shots. Very difficult in Russia. We’ll be in Helsinki in a couple of days and we’ll try to catch up.

St. Petersburg, Russia – July 24

This morning was delightful…a late sleep (9:15 – really 8:15 as we lost another hour last night) followed by room service breakfast (shredded wheat and no Champagne although the room service guy apologized profusely and finally found us some), and a huge rain/electrical storm. This storm was CRAZY - a ton of thunder, lightening and a huge amount of rain. I was wonderful to huddle, protected by the overhang of our balcony and watch the pavement and harbour below be just pummelled.

After lunch we braved Russian customs which we are led to believe are ‘not to be fooled with’. I’d like to know which country’s customs are ‘to be fooled with’. I typically shut my mouth, present my documents and hold my breath. I think I am just they type of visitor the Russians are looking for. It is actually just like any other customs area (US or Canadian) we’ve experienced. In Europe we haven’t really had to deal with customs at all. We went through ‘passport control’ or what they call ‘immigration’ in London and Copenhagen, but all they did was look at our passports and stamp them - no where has required us to fill out landing cards or declare anything.

The tour this afternoon is ‘Highlights of St. Petersburg’. WOW, this city is unlike anything we have encountered on this trip or even ever. It is FULL of monuments and huge buildings that are awe-inspiring. The only place I’ve been to that even comes close to comparing is Paris and I think even that pales! We make numerous ‘photo-stops’ preceded by warnings to ‘watch your belongings especially if you have large cameras’. When we get off the bus the warnings seem to have been reasonable, but the same warning would seem appropriate in any other large city – caution is your best friend, not fear.

The one place that we actually spend time visiting is the Cathedral of Peter and Paul. It is a very busy place, but our guide is excellent and makes sure all of us ‘come forward’ to see what she is talking about. This is more than a cathedral. The cathedral is within a fortress on the Neva River. Across the river are the buildings of the Hermitage which we will visit tomorrow. This cathedral is where Catherine the Great is buried along with Peter the Great.

Today being Saturday there are brides everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE. At first I thought ‘what’s the big deal, Saturdays in summer are wedding central’, but NO. Like the city, St. Petersburg does things BIG. We probably saw 50 wedding parties today. Either we were following them or they were following us on their (or our) photo stops.

We actually did have a bit of time for shopping and at every photo stop there were souvenir stalls, but we didn’t commit. We have a tour on Monday that has a shopping focus, so we’re holding off until then – maybe I’ll come home with a set of nesting dolls or a furry Russian hat.

Good point Lori about the beer pics. We tried at one point to get one from a street vendor, but they were only selling water and Coke. Might have a hard time for the next while too being in St. Petersburg. We tried today, but all the street vendors were selling were Cokes, water etc and a malted beverage without alcohol – we’re not looking for an O’Doul’s!

Note...the Russian flag as you probably has 3 colors, the white seems to blend in with the background just like the Estonian did yesterday.

Tallinn, Estonia – July 23

Today we visit a palace called Kadriorg. This palace was founded by Peter the Great in honour of his wife Catherine. The grounds and palace are beautiful, but this stop seems a bit forced - a little like Riga, Tallinn could have been missed. It is a good thing that this tour is in the afternoon and is short. We have a chance to sleep in. We lost an hour of sleep last night and will loose another tonight.

We have no time for shopping today. This cruise has been very light on the shopping stops. Typically there is ‘free time for shopping’, but this time there is very little if any.

Tomorrow we are in St. Petersburg, Russia. There are many tours offered here. Originally, we had 2 booked for each of the 3 days we are here. We have decided that is just a bit too much and have opted for just one each day – it is a vacation after all.

Riga, Latvia – July 22

Before I describe the day's events I should disclose that last night was a loosing one at the casino. Not because of me of course...I filled the holiday coffers a couple of nights before, but 'team Squanceski' came home a bit lighter.

Latvia is definitely a pit-stop on the way to St. Petersburg. Seems like a place you would stop for a bathroom break and to gas up on the way to someplace else. Kind of interesting, but certainly a place that could be missed. Riga’s claim to fame is its art-nouveau architecture. This is actually quite interesting. We’ve never seen a city with architecture like this.

I will say however, that I'm glad when we stop in places like these. It reminds me a bit of when we stopped in Belgrade and Serbia. These are places whose people have experienced war and other atrocities in my lifetime. That is what I always find impactful - terrible things in my lifetime. It is easier to wrap my head around horrible things that happened 'before I was born'. I find it breathtaking to visit places where people I actually know, who are actually 'my age' have experienced the war there in my lifetime.

Today’s tour is a bus tour followed by a walking tour. Riga has some interesting spots making for a few choice photo-ops, but could have been missed. Half way through the tour there is ‘time for shopping or a coffee’ - we make it a ‘time for a beer’. Here prices are better than earlier in the trip, we pay about 13.00 for 2 beers, although we find that a block away from where we stopped would have been a lot less than that.

Of course the beer is followed by my first public restroom experience for this trip and I'm pleasantly surprised. These are coin operated (although I find one that doesn’t actually require a coin – 75 cents.) I’m not sure what I expected from the WC, because in retrospect it wasn’t great – a stainless steel bowl that didn’t flush, no water to wash my hands and no paper, luckily I have learned from experience to always take paper with me! However…I am relieved at the end and able to carry on with the tour. It is amazing how important being able to access a WC really can be.

We forego lunch in town for lunch on the boat followed by a few pool-side cocktails, a nap and pre-dinner reading on the balcony.

Food on the ship is excellent, but it reached new heights with its cheese souffle - WOW. I have actually made a cheese souffle before, but obviously missed the mark. This is beyond delicious! It is cheesy, light, slightly sweet and at the same time salty. I was terribly disappointed today when it was not on offer at the lunch buffet. I suspect I could have asked for some, but didn't. I will certainly in the future!

Visby, Gotland, Sweden – July 21

This morning we entered the land of the Vikings. Visby is a tourist town on the Swedish island of Gotland. We thought it would be a lot like Banff or Dubrovnik, but it is a bit less frantic than those – this is nice. We are anchored today in this smallish port, so getting off of the boat is a bit more of a production. Apparently this ship typically has 3 tenders (the small boats that ferry us back and forth in ports that the ship cannot dock at,) but only 2 are operational currently. The fact that the ship is down one tender makes things a bit slower, but we pass the time happily with Champagne on the pool deck.

Our tour description is a 3 hour long walking tour only appropriate for the very physically fit – needless to say we were fine. The town isn’t very hilly, but as usually has wonderfully cobblestoned streets that can make walking a bit precarious – as I said…we were fine.

I thought today’s tour might be one to skip as we have at least one tour each day and when we get to St. Petersburg have 2 each of the 3 days. We have no ‘days-at-sea’ and are not enjoying the ship as much as we could if we weren’t in port each day. I’m glad we didn’t. A lot of what makes a great tour isn’t so much the content or the location, but the guide – we had a wonderful one with a great, loud voice who could tactfully refocus the discussions when one man from California wanted to give us his own lecture on the differences between Redwood trees.

We started at a Viking museum which was fascinating. We have visited many of these ‘small-town’ history museums and this one is certainly the best. As I said, probably a lot to do with the guide. We saw runes, coins, models, skeletons accompanied by the guide’s commentary.

Next we strolled the town stopping here and there to hear a story about this building or that. We visited a botanical garden (the Redwood story) which was stuffing and a church.

We abandoned the tour just before its end to have lunch of…you guessed it…pizza. We really did try to find an Ikea or meatballs, but it was pizza that called us. We were told in Copenhagen that Swedes go to Denmark to get married because the alcohol prices are lower. This scared us a bit, but we found the prices a bit lower – a surprise in this very touristy town.

Gdansk and Gdynia, Poland – July 20

Out a bit too late last night - luckily today’s tour isn’t until after lunch. We have a Bloody Mary reception for booking through a particular tour group in the morning where I have a Caesar although I could have had a Mexican Mary (tequila), English Mary (gin) or a Bloody Mary. I end up explaining what a Caesar is to a bunch of people who aren’t at all familiar with them but who can’t get enough of them.

We spend our day touring the concentration camp of Stutthof a 2 hour drive from where we are docked where 65 000 people were killed. The tour brochure described this tour as ‘not for the faint of heart’ which concerned me a bit. Of course I knew what a concentration camp was and what happened there, but I thought actually visiting one would be unnerving. It wasn't as emotional as I expected. It was staggering to visit a place where such horrific things happened, but mostly on an intellectual level, not so much emotionally. When Chris visited Dachau in Germany he remembered it as more impactful than this visit. A horrific place full of horrific memories that maybe I’m not so regretful that wasn’t as graphic as it could have been.

The tour ended with a quick walking tour of Gdansk. Unfortunately we didn’t have the time for a beer or shopping that we should have. There was more traffic on the Polish roads than expected so after a quick stroll we were back to the ship. We did stop at an amber shop where we had a brief history and demo of amber but no time for shopping.

Rostock and Warnemunde, Germany – July 19

Great sleep (finally) in a great bed with breakfast (although it is only shredded wheat and a bran muffin - who's old now???) from room service – doesn’t get much better than this!

This morning’s tour today is to Rostock after docking in Warnemunde. This is a relatively typical walking tour stopping at a church, the university and city hall all the while hearing about the history of the area. We end with a visit to a brewery for a beer and a German pretzel. We’ve been on tours in the past to former East German areas where the guide talks about life before and after the wall came down and this is similar but from a much younger person than guides in the past. This guide gives a bit of a different perspactive but still very interesting.

We spend the rest of the afternoon on the ship having lunch, taking a nap, doing a bit of laundry and getting a bit of sun. After dinner we hit the casino where I do a bit of damage at the 3-card-poker table.

Thanks to Penny our travel agent for the lovely anniversary Champagne – it was delicious!!

Copenhagen, Denmark - July 18

We had technical difficulties connecting to the web last night at sea...will post later today.

A couple of notes about our hotel - First of all it was very nice. We got 2 nights for the price of one rate, so that is the one thing about Copenhagen that wasn’t expensive and it came with breakfast. The design was what I’d describe as Scandinavian, but not as chic as I had expected. I know the Danes don’t like clutter, but this was a bit over-kill. Out room didn’t have one drawer – not one. Not a bedside drawer, not a drawer for your skivvies, nothing. The only closing space was the toilet area and the safe. The bathroom had a tub with hand shower, but no curtain. I don’t know if they expect you not to ‘shower’ and just spray down sitting in the tub, but we showered the old-fashioned way. There was a bar to hold the hand shower high enough to shower standing up, so that’s what we did. The bathroom was a bit of a mess when we were done. And…the doors were glass. I hope no one occupying this room was shy as they had no privacy in the shower!

After a quick breakfast in the hotel we packed and were off to the ship. We figured leaving the bags at the ship even though our room wouldn’t be ready until later was better than leaving them at the hotel. Check in was pretty seamless other than watching my backpack which holds my lap top careen off an X-ray machine not once buy TWICE. I was a bit beside myself especially since we PREDICTED the second fall and watched as we were proven right! I thought they was no way I could go back to the old fashioned way of blogging with Chris’ blackberry, just NO WAY! In the end no harm was done (no obvious harm.)

Soon we were off for our last moments in Copenhagen visiting a museum and having another pizza at an outdoor cafe seeing the contemporary Little Mermaid and being again amazed by all of the bikes..

Our ship this year is very much similar to the ship we were on last year. It is the same cruise line, so we are familiar with the procedures it is only a bit bigger. It seems to have a bit more areas to mull around in. The room is exactly the same.

A block party it our first event (second if you consider the life-boat drill an event) where we meet our neighbours in the hall as the staff pour wine. The Captain and a few crew file around and we are off to the lounge for a cocktail as we watch ‘sail-away’.

Dinner is at a table of 8 where we finally have Danish cuisine. Chris and I both have sturgeon which we learn later is apparently somewhat endangered. I tried looking it up, but it seems to depend on the species whether it is endangered. The table of 8 let’s us meet a bunch of people which is nice, but since we are the first seated and wait for the rest we are able to see the look of horror befalling each of the other people’s faces as they realize they will be sitting with the youngsters! Being on cruises like these certainly makes us feel young – nice.

Copenhagen, Denmark - July 17

Jet lag is becoming a thing of the past. Have to say we were up in the middle of the night, but not for nearly as long as the previous 2 nights and got up pretty easily in the morning. Must be getting old...can't remember taking longer than a night in the past.

After breakfast in the hotel we head to the Rosenborg Castle. The day is a whole lot hazier than yesterday, but still warm at about 24 degrees. Rosenborg Castle was originally built as a summer residence for the royal family. The interesting this about this castle is that the large grounds that surround it are a public park. On the sightseeing bus yesterday we were told that this park is where the poor university students with little money for bathing suits come to sun themselves “European” style. We didn’t experience any of this. The park is beautiful with many picnicking and strolling. The castle is relatively far from out hotel so we see a lot of the sights we passed yesterday on our bus and canal tour. We also see a replica of the Little Mermaid although as I mentioned she too is on vacation.

We manage to find a regular grocery store and pick up more water. Sadly this store is just as close as any of the 7-11s we visited, but of course we didn’t know. Things we learned on vacation…ask hotel about the closest piggly-wiggly. Anyway, not a big deal, but Chris thinks Copenhagen isn’t any more expensive than other big European cities and that I should give the Danish a break. I guess he is right…water at the 7-11 was 3 times what it was at the piggly-wiggly, same sort of mark up as at home I guess. Maybe it’s the different currency that makes things seem expensive. The money here is about 5/6 to our 1, so the price for a street beer is 75 and a pizza is around 120. I know how to do the conversion, but it still just strikes me as a lot. This is no Turkey… but what is really??

While it is easy for the Danish to take our money for food and drink, they have a bit more of a challenge in selling us things – just as it is hard for the shop keepers in Turkey, Croatia, Italy Ottawa and anywhere else we’ve been really. We just aren’t shoppers. Well…I don’t love it, but could probably be convinced. When I’m travelling with the world’s worst shopper I get drawn to the dark side of very, very little shopping. I managed to get Chris (can of beer in hand the whole time!) into a jewellery shop where I buy a bead for my charm bracelet. I considered leaving him at the hotel, but I planned no more than 10 minutes for it. That’s all it took and we were off to the next inviting Danish square where we had lunch serenaded by a great bossa nova group. Don’t know what they were doing in Denmark – probably the same thing the South American flute buskers are doing here.

Although it is cool enough to be inside dinner is outside in another square. This time it is Greek food. We’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that Danish food is very much meat and potatoes. Sure there are the open-faced smorgasbord type sandwiches and weird fish that we think of as Danish, but we haven’t found too much of that. We are maybe a little thankful as that could have been frightening.

Copenhagen certainly loves its bikes – a lot like Amsterdam. Bikes are EVERYWHERE and EVERYONE rides them. Simple bikes with no gears and usually a basket parked everywhere.

Copenhagen, Denmark - July 16

Jet-lag isn't yet a thing of the past, but we got up at a reasonable time this morning only due to the alarm. We have a wonderful breakfast as part of our room here at the hotel, but just couldn't make it yearerday. Today we have a city tour on an open-top bus and canal boat, so we have to be up.

It is another hot one (around 26 degrees) especially on the open-top bus and canal boat both of which have no shade. We get a great overview of the city from the road and from the water. I thought Copenhagen would have a lot more canals, somewhat like Amsterdam, but it isn't. There are certainly canals, but bigger ones less often.

The canals are where a lot of people canoe, kayak, swim and just hang out. This is a pic of the bottomless welcoming Danish hospitality.

Of course Copenhagen has it's famous sculpture of the Little Mermaid here to honor its famous past resident Hans Christian Anderson. Well...she is missing. Lent to Bejing for their World's Fair we cannot see her. In her place is this board.

In the evening we check out Tivoli Gardens which is basically a permanent amusement park with restaurants and evening rock concerts. It is PACKED! We have dinner here, listen to the concert for a bit and head home.

Copenhagen, Denmark - July 15

Today was a very slow start due to what I'm calling jet lag. I was asleep by about 8:30 last night, up again by 2:00 am and back asleep again at 4 am until about 2:30 pm. I need to get this under control or I'll miss this vacation all together. I have to say the hotel we are staying at is extreemy quiet. Other than what sounds like a 7 year old running up and down the hall occasionally we can't hear a thing from inside the hotel or from the street.

Once finally out the door, we head to the Carlsberg brewery for a tour. Carlsberg and Tuborg (which have been together since the 70s I learn) run a self-guided tour culminating with a couple of beer tastings. We see the Carlsberg horses (huge) and the elephant scluptures. Not sure why there are 4 enormous elephant sculptures and were not told, but they are very cool flanking the arches into the brewery. This is a bit of a walk from our hotel (about 40 minutes each way.) This 40 minutes takes us out of the tourist area and through China and Turkey town. However much I'd like some Turkish food, I don't think I should. The tour is relatively short. We buy a few souvenirs, have a couple beers and are on our way once again.

It is another hot one today about 26 or so, but the breeze is lovely and the humidity isn't that high. Dinner tonight is at an Italian outdoor cafe. No Danish smorgasbords yet.

Copenhagen, Denmark - July 14

It's been a loooooong day of travelling - Calgary to Vancouver to London to Copenhagen. We left our house about 25 hours ago and are about to call it a day. We did get a fair amount of sleep on the plane from Vancouver to London, but it's not the same as being in a bed. After we checked into the hotel we stepped out for a short stroll and an early dinner of beer, pizza and salad at an outdoor cafe. Copenhagen is not cheap. We knew it wouldn't be, but it's still a bit of a shock to pay 4.00 for a 1.5L of water and the same for a can of beer at a corner store. The corner store happens to be a 7-11, they are all over the place here. It's quite warm -in the high 20s and is still totally light out for 8:30 pm.

Northern Europe 2010

Chris and I have chosen northern Europe for our vacation this summer. I'm also going to Twitter this vacation!! http://twitter.com/leeseas

Thanks to all of you who follow this blog and to those of you who comment. I can't tell you how awesome it is to read your comments!