Baltic Cruise, Day 4, St. Petersburg, Russia

Today, we’re prepared for the bureaucracy of Russian immigration. We’re up at the crack of dawn, but are totally dismayed to find that all of the other passengers on the six cruise ships in dock planned the same strategy. However, we’re earlier so we actually start our Alla Bus Tour on time.

First stop is the St. Petersburg subway. We’re all going—right, a subway is a tourist stop??? But holy moley! You could eat off the subway floors. Clean, full of incredible mosaic art, this subway blows our mind. It’s one of the deepest subway systems in the world and actually goes under the many rivers flowing through the city. The elevators are sooo steep. And it’s not just one elevator, but several to get to the actual platforms. Some shots:

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We exit the subway to take a boat tour. Again, the weather gods are favoring us. It’s sunny, a tad windy, and a perfect day for being outside. Here are some of the sights:

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Next on the itinerary is the St. Peter and Paul Fortress with a visit to the cathedral. The lineups thankfully aren’t too long. More photos:

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We grab lunch at a restaurant famous for its pies—Stolle Pie Shop—yummy.

During our visit to The Faberge Egg Museum, we weren’t allowed to take a single picture. But, only being this upfront and personal can you begin to imagine the astounding detail and magnificent talent that went into creating one of these eggs.

However, the highlight of our St. Petersburg tour is the visit to Catherine the Great’s summer (yes, only summer—ye gads, I can’t even begin to imagine what the winter palace looks lie). Again, the obscenity of the wealth while people starved makes plain why the revolution occurred.

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One note of interest: at both Peter the Great’s Peterhof’s and Catherine the Great’s Summer Palaces, the tour ends with stark, bleak pictures of how the Nazis tried to destroy everything as they left. When I recall the number of historical sites ISIS has destroyed just this year, it makes me believe that as a civilization we’ve learned nothing since World War II. How sad is that?

Baltic Cruise, Day 3, St. Petersburg, Russia!

We arrived at St. Petersburg, Russia well before dawn, which the captain informed us the night before, would be at 3:45. That’s right—the sun hung like a golden globe and the sky was a true azure and cloudless. How do I know this? I set my alarm because until I really saw this with my own eyes, there was no way I’d believe it. So fricking weird.

Everyone had warned us of Russian immigration. Apparently the Russians who work in that department are known for their prolonged, tedious procedures, sour dispositions, and inability to crack a smile. They didn’t exaggerate. It took 3 hours for us to ‘legally’ enter Europe. The birthday group had arranged a two-day bus tour with a company called Alla Tours. Our guide, Alex, aka Sasha, met us, and he wasn’t pleased. We were now an hour and a half behind schedule on a packed day.

Alex hurried us onto the coach and we took off. St. Petersburg traffic rivals LA’s. The streets were snarled with every kind of vehicle imaginable, but since there were six cruise lines in town, huge buses like that were the culprits.

Our first stop was, The Hermitage Museum, founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great, and is comprised of six beautiful buildings. The architecture alone is worth the visit, but the art!!! According to Alex, the Hermitage houses a total of 24 original Rembrandts, while The Rembrandt museum in Holland displays a mere 14 of his paintings.

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From there we went to the Church of the Blooded, which is built upon the spot where Czar Alexander the Second was assassinated. Again, the architecture is incredible, but I found the tombs of the Czars particularly fascinating.

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After the church, we ate lunch—Chicken Kiev no less—at a charming restaurant set in a historic building.

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Then we headed out of the city and into a more rural landscape to visit the palace of Peter the Great, the Czar who founded St. Petersburg on May 10, 1703. I’ll let the pictures we took paint the picture.

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The obscene opulence and elegance astounds us. We begin to understand why the revolution occurred. I’ve visited many palaces in many countries, but this is mind-numbing.

While we’ve made up time, we’re now running late for our scheduled ballet performance. The Viking’s not too thrilled about ballet, but even he enjoyed the wonderful setting and the performance of Giselle.

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It’s now near ten at night, and we’re all exhausted. So, when we discover that you have to go through Russian immigration to get back to the boat, no one’s happy. Needless to say, a copious amount of wine, beer, and margaritas were consumed once we are back on board ship.

 

Baltic Cruise Day 2, Helsinki, Finland!

My apologies for the interruption of my travelogue. Unfortunately, I came down with a flu that robbed me of any rational thought for an entire week! I, literally, couldn’t drag myself out of bed. However, the antibiotics finally kicked in and I’m better. So onwards and upwards with the travelogue.

We woke up this morning in Helsinki, Finland.

OMG! Finland. A country not on my bucket list, but still distant enough to be fascinating.

From all we’ve heard while traveling Norway and Sweden, the Finns drink a ton and are always on edge because of their big brother neighbor—RUSSIA.

According to Wiki, Finland has a population of five and a half million people and the majority of Finns live in the capital, Helsinki (population 1.4 million). While most of our fellow travellers did a Hop On/Hop Off tour of the capital, the Viking and I decided to simply wander around.

It turned out that Helsinki had an amazing Fish market/bazaar right at the core of its downtown. We tasted fish that we’ve never heard of including one tiny thing that was deep fried and melted in our mouths. Talk about yummy!
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We wandered the streets and the Viking was in the mood for something sweet, so we stopped at a pastry and coffee café. We haven’t a clue what berry was in the slice of heaven we ate, but it was delish! As for the coffee—talk about stand up and salute! We’ve discovered that Scandinavians love their java potent! I had one sip and was caffeined to the hilt!

Helsinki proved to be a charming capital city with a small town feel, and, as per norm for this trip, the weather was perfect!

The Baltic Cruise Day 1!

Today, we left Stockholm on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas heading for Helsinki, Finland.

Because I knew we wouldn’t have access to our room on board the ship until after lunch and the morning dawned with a chill, I dressed in layers including a heavy sweater. How wrong could I be? Absolutely, it turns out, as we are once again, blessed with perfect weather! I had to shed garments and ended up wearing Florida summer clothing.

What a way to spend the day. Sailing on the seas, chatting with long-not-seen friends, sipping margaritas, and nibbling on snacks while enjoying spectacular vistas!

The journey to the mouth of the Baltic Ocean took about three hours and the passing scenery was breath-taking. Island upon island with bridges, highways, and cliff-perched houses with boats docked at the base multiplied exponentially. Here’s some of the pictures we managed to snap on the way out:

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That last pic is from our balcony at around midnight. Still not used to the weird twilight. BTW, there were three cruise ships following in our wake. I snagged a shot of them. I anticipate crowded ports…

We met up with our group—a whopping 22 people including us—for drinks during the day and then dinner that night. Now, on my last cruise to Alaska (ten years ago) the food had been fantastic, and I was really looking forward to indulging.

A complete and utter disappointment the food served by the Serenade of the Sea’s kitchen!!! I ordered escargot for an appetizer. It was served stone cold. I sent it back three, yes 3 times!!! Not a single improvement. The main course, which was supposed to be fish, was a gelled glutinous mass with no texture whatsoever. As to the vegetables, soggy would be a kind description.

But, the company was excellent, the conversation titillating, and we all had a fabulous time!

 

Our Last Day in Stockholm!

Last night we walked to the wrong hotel to meet the rest of the group joining us on our Baltic cruise (in honor of my girlfriend’s 60th birthday). While waiting at the reception desk, the male member of the couple ahead of us offered us Hop On Hop Off tickets to tour Stockholm. He and his wife had to cut their trip off unexpectedly and he didn’t want the money to be wasted.

What a lovely thing to do! So, today, we toured Stockholm on the top of a double decker bus under blazing blue skies and sunshine. Here are some shots of the city:

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In addition, we went to the VASA museum. Whoa! This ship blew my mind! According to Wiki, The Vasa Museum (Swedish: Vasamuseet) is a maritime museum in Stockholm, Sweden. Located on the island of Djurgården, the museum displays the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged, the 64-gun warship Vasa that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. This ship is massive and spans six floors. It’s a daunting example of bad engineering. Simply put it wasn’t wide enough to float without tipping over.

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Then we toured the old town, which is located on the island of  Gamla Stan. This is my favorite part of the Sweden visit so far. I love the cobblestone streets, the narrow alleyways, and the bustle and music everywhere.

For dinner that night, we went to The Grand Hotel to experience what’s been called the best smorgasbord in the world! For the first time ever, I had tried snaps. The hotel makes its own brand of snaps, the 1874 Grand Aquavit, spiced with caraway, anise and fennel. The food and drink, the ambiance, the company, and the service proved superb and worthy of our last night in this incredible city!

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Next up – Finland!