St. Petersburg, Russia

Friday and Saturday, September 5 & 6

We are in Russia for two days


The pictures are:
The back of the Peterof Palace
The Church of Resurrection of the Spilled Blood
The front entrance of the Palace of Catherine
Inside the Hermitage

Friday
It’s St. Petersburg, Russia and would you have every thought that you would get to Russia – we didn’t, but we are here.

The day started out a little cold and cloudy but improved as the day went on. We booked a two-day tour lasting all day, each day, because you could not get off the ship unless you were on a Carnival tour or had a visa. We did not have a visa.

Getting off took a little time, but no problems. The entire two days we have felt like everyone is watching us. This has been a very strange city to visit, unlike any that we had been to in the past. No matter what, this is still a communist country. They only moved to a free market society less than 15 years ago. The first thing that everyone wants is a car and traffic is terrible. This is the first country that we have visited in Europe in the last three years that really wants dollars for payment, or Euros. Even for the price of a magnet, $2.00, they will convert the price to dollars.

Anyway, after we got to on tour bus, we went one hour to Peterof, the most brilliant to all the former summer residences of the Russian Tzars. The gardens, the fountains and then inside was breathtaking.

Then we went to the Yuspov Palace, where the assassination of the monk Rasputin took place. Following that palace, we went to a restaurant which was very quaint with an all brick interior ad lots of arches. Ed ate his first caviar and really liked. Later he found out that he only liked it when it was cold, not hot.

Then we went to the Church of Resurrection of the Spilled Blood, again another beautiful church

Then we had our worst experience on the cruise. We signed up to take a 1 hour bus ride in the evening to see the Palace of Catherine; however, because of traffic, the one hour bus ride there took three hours!!

Built in 1710 on 1400 acres it was beautiful. During the tour of the palace, we drank campaign while we listened to music and watched dancing from the period and then dinner. The ride back was only 45 minutes. It had been a long day, so we went to bed.

Saturday
Saturday was a continuation of the tour from Friday. We started out with a canal boat ride down the canals and river of St. Petersburg. It was a little cool, but fun. After that we went to the museums of the Hermitage. These museums, which some were palaces are bigger than the Louve. We were told that if you stopped at each exhibit for only 1 minute, it would take you 9 years to visit everything in the museum. We were only there for a couple of hours, but our guide gave us the highlight tour and it was fun.

Then we went to the Peter and Paul Fortress and a guided tour inside the main cathedral which served as a burial place for the Tzars.

Back on board at 4:00pm, to get ready for the evening.

Tonight the show was at 7:30pm rather than 10:45pm.

As usual, the show was good, a singer as was the food.

We then went to the casino where Ed did well and Barb didn’t but we had a lot of fun.

We set the clocks back tonight for the first time so maybe we can get some good sleep before we get off on our own in Helsinki, Finland.

Thursday, September 4

Tallinn, Estonia

Well we woke up to a very beautiful old walled city, in the mist. The weather is 55 and misty, but we are here and are going to set out to walk the town. The church with the tallest steeple is St. Olav’s and dates back to year 1000 and in 1500 was at a height of 520 feet, the tallest building in Europe!

The pictures are:
St. Olav’s church
The view from the top
The Russian church
Barb buying one of her many scarves (it is the year of the scarf)

We took the Carnival shuttle bus to the old town and set out on our own with Bob and Sheila from Florida. We spent the next 6 hours walking and climbing around this medieval town and learning about its history. Lots of winding streets and little alleys to visit throughout the city.

We stopped at noon in the city square and had lunch and watched others having lunch. After that, Bob and Sheila shopped and we went back to St. Olav’s church to climb to the top. It was 258 steps to the top in a very winding spiral stairway. In addition, the steps were 12 inches high. We also visited the Cathedral of Saint Mary the Virgin and The Russian Cathedral – all magnificent houses of worship.

Then a little gambling once we got back to the ship and then a wonderful dinner.

Both Ed and Bob qualified 1 and 2 in the blackjack tournament and then in the last round, Barb also qualified as one of the 7 in the finals.

Bob won the tournament and Ed need not to bust in the last hand.

Then Barb hit a nice jackpot in slots to end the evening 'cause tomorrow we are in RUSSIA!!

Night

Wednesday, September 3

A day at sea

Well after a really long day at sea, it was just fun to have a day that we did not have to get up.

Ed slept till 9:30am and Barb till 10:00am and then it was up and out on the ship.

After buying our pictures from the day before, we went and had lunch – the choices that they are so many. Next to us sat another couple and we both realized it was a couple from the Phoenix Corvette Club that we had met on a cruise two years ago in Europe – again, what a small world.

We joined our friends from Florida and went and played bingo. Bob and Barb each won a jackpot. Bob won $110 and Barb won the $150 jackpot, but she had to split it. Not bad for the investment.

Then it was on to the casino for an afternoon session. Everybody there is so nice.

Tonight was formal night and Barb had a beautiful long gown on and Ed had his black tux on. We went out early to watch the people and of course to have photographs taken.

After a wonderful dinner, lobster, prime rib and other great meals, it was on to the show and then to the casino.

It’s 1:00am on Thursday, it is time for bed because we will be in Tallinn, Estonia and we plan to leave the ship by 8am!!

Night for now.

Berlin – Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Berlin

The pictures are:
On the train to Berlin
The Brandenburg Gate
We went to the top of this church
Pedal Cab
2 of 4 boats that escorted us out of the harbor

After 5 hours sleep, we got up and were on the train to Berlin at 7:15am and arrived in Berlin at 10:30am. While the Eurostar train to Paris was first class plus, this train was out of an old movie. An isle down the side of the car with compartments for 6 the entire length of the car. If we would have wanted to, we could have shut the door, pulled the curtains and gone to sleep as there were bunks for all 6 of us.

In our compartment there were 4 others from St. Louis. Barb had met one of the ladies on Sunday when she had complimented Barb on her scarf. After a while on the train, this lady noticed my Bloomington Gold jacket and said she had been to the show last year. We explained to her what we did. On the train back, she said that she remembered Barb at the show because she had asked her directions at the show when she was in the food court and saw Barb cleaning off tables. What a small world.

We arrived in Berlin and showed the 4 from St. Louis how to get around on the subway by going with us to the Brandenburg Gate – what a sight when we saw it for the first time. Barb and I then joined a small group walking tour of the main city for the next 3 ½ hours. We spent most of the time in the former East Germany side, including seeing the small portion of the Berlin Wall still standing and Checkpoint Charlie. It is so hard to imagine what the life might have been like either in the war or after in East Berlin.

After the tour we went to the Berlin Dome which is the largest church in Berlin and walked up the 276 steps to the very top of the dome and saw the city from an outside viewing area – wow.

Then we took a ½ hour pedal cab ride back to the Brandenburg gate area to walk around. Then just before we left, I had a great bratwurst – wow was it good. Interesting enough, our train back was to leave from a different station, so we had to take the tube there and get on the train back to the port and we were on the ship be 9:30pm.

The ship had a local German band playing on the pool deck when we got here; we listened a little and then watched the local fireworks, celebrating 4 cruise ships in port.

We are now sitting out on our deck at 11:00pm and the German band has moved to the pier to play while we start to leave. There are a lot of people from the small port down of Warnemunde, where we are, standing on the dock to see us leave – it is quite a sight.

Tomorrow is a day at sea so we will have a chance to relax and then it is on to formal night tomorrow.

Night for now.

Copenhagen – Monday September 1, 2008

Well we made it to our first port – Copenhagen.

The photos are:
Lunch at a butcher shop
The canal ride
The Rosenborg Castle
The harbor entrance and the windmills as we set sail for Germany

We got off the ship at 8:30am after about 5 hours of sleep. It was clear, crisp and about 50 degrees out so we had to take a jacket.

We shared a cab into the city center with a young couple from Mexico and Venezuela and went to the City Tour office were we joined a 90 minute walking tour of the old city and had a lot of information thrown at us in a short period of time.

Only 20% of the population has a car. There is a 180% tax of the purchase price tacked on as a tax for any car purchased. They really don’t want cars in the city. There is virtually no crime here and the city seemed very safe.

After getting a sandwich from the butcher shop, we walked to the Rosenborg Castle – a castle from the 1600’s and totally furnished and restored.

Then we walked about 15 minutes down to the canals and hopped aboard a canal
for an hour tour of the city.

Back on board at 3:30am – not enough time but we had to be back because we sailed at 4:00 pm to Germany.

We finally took a nice nap to get ready for the evening. Dinner was wonderful and afterwards, we ran into a photographer who was on the Europe cruise that we took last year. She is really good and we can’t wait for her to take our pictures this year.

The show was a magician – comedian who was really funny. After a quick stay in the casino, it is back to the cabin ‘cause we get on the train to Berlin at 7:00 am tomorrow for the 3 hour ride into the city. This city should really be interesting.

See you tomorrow.

Late, late Sunday, August 31

Our first day at sea

August 31 brought us our first day as sea as we travel to Copenhagen.

The pictures are: (the pictures will not upload, will try tomorrow)
Barb and Claudia, our casino host at the slot tournament.
Barb playing video poker for the first time – and probably the last time.
Barb writing in her travel journal
This is what you see from our cabin deck – just the sea, but what a sight.

It is the first time that we have ever been on a cruise where it was too cold to lay out on the deck with sun tan oil on. The day was bright and clear but it was just a little cold to lie out.

So we did the next best thing – we slept, ate and ate and gambled.

Ed was up and ate breakfast while Barb slept in. We joined our friends for lunch and stuffed ourselves. Then it was on to the slot tournament where both Barb and Sheila qualified to be two of nine for the finals. Sheila didn’t place and Barb came in second. First paid $500, while second brought Barb some Carnival “stuff”. Ed didn’t make it to the finals.
We went to ABBA dancing and then played bingo. Talk about relaxing. Then we played a session of gambling and did great.

The evening was eating, going to the show and then gambling till 12:30; but, we have to turn the clocks ahead one hour so we had better say good night because the next stop is Copenhagen.

From somewhere at sea!!!

From somewhere at sea!!!

Wow – doesn’t that sound wonderful?

The pictures are:
The church built in 606
Inside the church
The Borough Market
Departing the Port of Dover
Barb at the pool on the Lideo deck

We started our first day on the cruise by getting up early in London and taking the tube to the London Bridge stop. Just outside that stop was a church that was first built in 606. It is now a Cathedral serving the south half of London. An amazing church to see and read the history on its walls.

Then we went to Borough Market. This is the largest outdoor food market in London and it was huge. Every kind of food you can imangine and also flowers that were very beautiful.

Almost every one of the booths had samples to try and we spent the next hour eating our way around the market.

Following the market, we took the tube back to our hotel area, which was at the corner of Hyde Park and walked down and back on Oxford Street, a very main shopping area.

By that time it was noon and it was time to be picked up and taken to the ship.

After a 2 hour ride with our friends from Florida, we arrived at the Port of Dover and our ship. It is the largest one that Carnival has built and there are 3,200 guests aboard but the ship is so well laid out that it does not seem crowded

Our check-in was slower than normal because their computers were down and everything had to be done by hand, but after a half hour we were in our cabin – a 10th floor balcony cabin.

Our dinner table was perfect, a round table for 8 in the first level of the main dinning room, the Black Pearl. Our table mates are a couple from Vermont and a couple from New Jersey along with our friends, Bob and Sheila from Florida.

Barb and I then went to the casino and met the new casino host, Claudia, and she seems very nice. We had fun in the casino meeting everyone on the staff and finally crashed about 12:30am.

This morning brings clear skies and cool enough that no one is wearing a bathing suit to

day. It is going to be a wonderful day at sea. Bye for now.