100 days

[Pushka]

Our guide this year said that Russians cannot understand why western tourists smile at people they don't even know! They expect you to keep a straight face.

I know after the long wait in the cold for immigration we weren't smiling.

TM - we had a lot of OBC and we do occasionally take the ship excursions especially kayaking where the groups are usually less than 15. I don't like the 45 person bus tour ones. We also took Celebrity's train to Rome one cruise rather than the much cheaper public train which I heard were subject to strikes, crowding and not air conditioned. Plus being a long way from port there were no worries about being late. We found both private and ship excursions very expensive in the Baltics.

 

[turtlemichael]

I know after the long wait in the cold for immigration we weren't smiling.

TM - we had a lot of OBC and we do occasionally take the ship excursions especially kayaking where the groups are usually less than 15. I don't like the 45 person bus tour ones. We also took Celebrity's train to Rome one cruise rather than the much cheaper public train which I heard were subject to strikes, crowding and not air conditioned. Plus being a long way from port there were no worries about being late. We found both private and ship excursions very expensive in the Baltics.

Our three tours so far have been not too busy. All have had less than 20 people in tow. Using wifi is a great plus, when it works properly. I'd describe two of the tours as excellent due to the quality of the guide and one as meh for the same reason.

 

[turtlemichael]

One word of warning about being out and about in St Petersburg. I guess it can happen anywhere but this is from personal experience. We were warned several times about the prevalence of pickpockets and the temptation we as tourists presented with foreign passports and foreign currency.

At one stop (outside a cathedral) a man noticed a hand in his wife's backpack and that hand definitely did not belong to her. He shouted and lunged at the arm which soon disappeared in the crowd. Nothing was taken but we were all super-suspicious of anyone getting too close for the rest of the day.

 

[turtlemichael]

Although it would not be everyone's cup of tea, we did do a tour of St Petersburg's cathedrals. By the numbers of people we ran into some must have been very keen.

Our guide told us a lot about the histrical relationship between Church and State and how they are best buddies today after the demise of the Soviet Union. She also told us the moving story of the Siege of Leningrad , now St Petersburg, where 1.5 million people perished of hunger and bombings at the hands of the German Army just a few kilometres outside the city. They kept the Germans out of the city for 900 days before Hitler retreated having lost on the eastern front. It maybe is not so hard to understand why Russians do not seem to smile a lot!

Here are some pics. The last one in the post is off the tomb where the retrieved ashes of the Romanov royal family were interred in 2007 80 years after their murder by the Bolsheviks. It is in Peter and Paul Cathedral. The history of this city is immense and powerful.

 

[turtlemichael]

Life is tough on board the Silver Whisper tonight.

 

[turtlemichael]

Life is tough on board the Silver Whisper tonight.

View attachment 103961

Obviously I enjoyed it enough to post it twice.

 

[Pushka]

Life is tough on board the Silver Whisper tonight.

View attachment 103961

Obviously I enjoyed it enough to post it twice.

Two bottles maybe?

 

[turtlemichael]

Another trip we did from St Petersburg was to the over-the-top Catherine Palace about 30 kilometres south of the city. It was built for Catherine I and extensively remodeled by subsequent czars and czarinas. It was held in German territory during the Siege of Leningrad from 1941-1944 and plundered and largely destroyed before their retreat. Only a small proportion has so far been recreated.

As a friend of mine said, when you see these amazing buildings and how the Romanovs lived, it is not surprising they had a revolution!



How Catherine Palace was left by the departing German Army.

 

[turtlemichael]

The gardens of Catherine Palace.

 

[turtlemichael]

Sadly it was time to leave St Petersburg. Somehow I have got these photos in the wrong order.




Just getting under a road bridge.




Passing Oceania Nautica.

I

It has to be one of the most amazing cities I've seen. The sail out was in superb weather.

 

[JohnM]

Sadly it was time to leave St Petersburg. Somehow I have got these photos in the wrong order.

I have found recently that I can no longer select five pics as a batch and have them upload in the correct order. For some reason, No 1 gets pushed into spot No 4. I've closed AFF and my browser, even re-started my PC, but the issue persists. Maybe you are getting the same thing happening?

I have taken to selecting pics one-by-one to ensure that they are in the right order.

 

[turtlemichael]

We had a quiet day in Helsinki - just a wander around for a couple of hours in the sunshine.


The trams have almost Melbourne tram colours.


The Helsinki Cathedral.


Peas were obviously in season. They were everywhere and people were eating raw peas in the street, like lollies.


The waterfront where we were docked.


The pool deck near the harbour sauna. It was tempting.
.

 

[turtlemichael]

Dinner tonight in the Restaurant. Portions are generally not large which means that you can avoid feeling guilty if you have more than three courses.






Avocado Cerviche


White Asparagus


Prime Rib

 

[turtlemichael]

We've done a tour to Wismar and Lubeck, old Hanseatic League cities in Northern Germany. It was a long day but there was a lot of walking in the warm sunshine so all good. First, Wismar. It was heavily bombed in WW2 and became part of East Germany after the war. As a consequence most redevelopment and restoration has occurred since reunification of Germany in 1989.








Wismar belonged to Sweden for a long time and now they have an annual Sweden festival, hence the Swedish flags.


An old brewery. Apparently there was once a brewery for every 300 people.

 

[bPeteb]

We drove from Warnemunde to Lubeck when we were on our Baltic cruise.

What a day! Couldn't find the car hire place. Caught the train to the next town then back again to find it around the corner of a building in the carpark beside the ship. Left hand drive manual. I eventually got the hang of it, just about as I drove back into the carpark

Luckily Lubeck was a beautiful little town and it was a hoot driving flat out on the autobahn.

 

[Pushka]

Nicer weather is Wismar than when we were there a few weeks ago.

 

[OZDUCK]

More nice photos, thank you. We spent 3 nights in Wismar and really enjoyed it and visits to Lubeck & Stralsund. Will we see photos of Marzipan from the Niederegger Café in Lubeck?

 

[turtlemichael]

More nice photos, thank you. We spent 3 nights in Wismar and really enjoyed it and visits to Lubeck & Stralsund. Will we see photos of Marzipan from the Niederegger Café in Lubeck?

You will have marzipan!

 

[turtlemichael]

Lubeck was also badly damaged by Allied bombing but, being on the western side of the German dividing line, it developed much quicker after WW2. Our guide told us a story as a child of being smuggled across the border under his parents' car seat as they left his passport at home. He was full of stories Lubeck is a good deal bigger than Wismar and struck me as a nice place to live. Dealing with winters would be a problem however.








Strawberries at 3 euros a punnet.


Inside the Lubeck Town Hall.

 

[turtlemichael]

And some more Lubeck.




Lubeck is apparently the marzipan capital of the world. The restaurant we had lunch at served us pork fillet with fried marzipan on top. I'm not sure it is going to catch on.


The Cathedral bell left where it fell after Allied bombing in WW2. It is an anti-war memorial.

In the Cathedral.


Holstentor Gate.