finland — Page 3

After St. Petersburg, I expected the last of the two stops on the cruise to be, well, duds. Wrong!!!

Tallinn, Estonia turns out to be absolutely charming and quaint. We spent most of the day exploring the walled ancient medieval city not minutes away from the port. ‘The Old City’, as it’s called, is remarkably preserved. The road leading to the ‘gates’ is lined with rows upon rows of vendors selling fresh flowers. The smell of lilacs, lavender, and roses perfume the air.

As with most medieval ports, the city is set on a ridge for defense purposes. We climbed to the three lookout points overlooking the Baltic and managed to snap some breathtaking views.

We spent the whole day wandering around the hilly village and admiring the beautiful amber jewelry displayed in many of the shops (of course, we ended up buying a beautiful set for the Viking’s mom, who turns 89 this August). Our Russian guide, Alex, recommended a restaurant called The Peppersack, and we ended up having a delicious lunch there.

As usual, the sun’s shining, the temps are in the low 70s, and there’s enough of a breeze to keep the sea’s brine and the ever present flowers filling our noses. On the way out, the Viking remembers an amber set I admired at the beginning of the day, and he insists on purchasing for me. Sigh. He still makes me melt after all these years.

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:

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:

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:

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.

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?