SATURDAY 18TH - ST PETERSBURG

Congratulations Australia. Great election result. Our input tax credits remain intact.

Some trivia. Our tour guide told us today that St. Petersburg gets 30 fine sunny days per year and we have scored two of them. The temperature today got to 21 degrees and the forecast for tomorrow is the same.

As you might expect, St Petersburg is a city of contrasts, really depressing old blocks of residential units in a poor state of repair and spectacular museums and churches.

This morning was spent at The Hermitage, not quite The Louvre but very close with our very competent guide explaining the enormous number of artworks and other exhibits on display. . We were warned to expect delays getting off the ship because of Russian immigration requirements and long queues at the attractions we visited but neither proved to be a problem.

After a Russian lunch complete with musical accompaniment, we visited the Church of the Spilled Blood

and the Church of St. Peter and Paul – both very spectacular and more recognised as tourism attractions rather than places of worship.

 

They both have very complex histories having regard to the changes which have occurred to the Russian political landscape over recent centuries.

Anyone want a ride on a Russian helicopter. We declined.

Tomorrow we have part two of our city exploration. Unless you have a visa, the only way one can go ashore here is as part of an organised excursion.

FRIDAY 17TH - TALLIN ESTONIA

Yesterday we spent at sea getting from Warnemunde to Tallin, the capital of Estonia so a very quiet day on the ship but today was really interesting. Tallin is a very modern busy city surrounding a very well preserved old city – a city of contrasts.

 

Once again, the cruise terminal was within easy walking distance of the old town so we spent the day walking – very virtuous and necessary after all the food and drink on the ship.

Tallin is a city of walls towers and churches as so many old cities are.

As you would expect, we sampled the local brew. Again the weather was very kind to us.

Tomorrow and Sunday, we are touring St. Petersburg. It looks really interesting and we are spending two full days on organized tours so should see plenty. I don't know what internet access if any I will have (other than ship internet access which I refuse to pay for) so watch this space.

WEDNESDAY 15TH - WARNEMUNDE AND ROSTOCK

Warnemunde is on the German coast. Germany doesn't have much coastline but this is the port which gives access to Berlin, a two and a half hour train trip away. There are multiple excursions available to visit Berlin but, given that the city obviously warrants a visit of more than a few hours, we passed on those. Trish has already visited the city and we will get there for a more comprehensive visit one day.

 

Warnemunde is quite small but a very popular summer resort with an endless number of beach chairs, none of which were occupied on this 17 degree day. It's attractions include an historic lighthouse and a building called the teepot, allegedly because it resembles a teapot – bit obscure for us.

 

Like Amsterdam and Copenhagen, it has a canal system but on a much smaller scale. It is however a very substantial port with a lot of river traffic.

 

As suggested by the tour director, we tried out the local public transport system. After completing our walk around Warnemunde, we paid a total of 16 euros for the four of us to travel by train and tram to Rostock. It was almost completely destroyed in World War II but the old town was faithfully rebuilt after the war in substantially the same form We were glad we took the trouble to go there.

 

On the way back to the ship, we had our customary beer, this time a Krombacher.

 

Last night's sunset at about 10:00pm was pretty impressive.

 

TUESDAY 14TH - COPENHAGEN

A great day. Perfect weather for walking the streets of the old town of Copenhagen and a canal cruise which gave us a broader view of the central city.

 

Communication is a little challenging in that the ship obviously has some way of blocking normal mobile signal when under way. I was able to connect easily to the internet using the phone hotspot while in port (much cheaper than the ship's internet) but, as soon as we got under way, the connection was lost even though I appeared to still have plenty of phone signal.

 

The ship docked within easy walking distance of the old city. We had to walk right past the Little Mermaid and, notwithstanding the crowd, were able to get some photos which did it justice.

 

The focal point from a tourist perspective is Nyhavn, a man made canal bordered by very colourful buildings dating back to the 1700's. We also got to see the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace, not quite Buckingham Palace but not too bad.

 

We finished the day by having a Carlsberg on the way back to the ship. A German port tomorrow.

SUNDAY 12TH - DEPARTING AMSTERDAM

As you will have noticed, the blog has been quiet for a few days. As expected, internet access on the ship is quite expensive so I am limiting the update of the blog to once every few days.

 

Once again, everything went like clockwork in leaving our hotel, transferring to the cruise terminal and getting on to the ship. The only question was when the attendant was looking at our photos of the last time we cruised Holland America. She thought about updating Trish's photo because she looked a little different. Mine hadn't changed a bit.

The local port authority boat gave us an escort, obviously a chance to show off the power of their pumps.

The river/canal we traversed to get to the North Sea gave us excellent exposure to the incredible amount of industrial activity in this part of the world.

We are now very comfortably settled in our cabin. Tomorrow is a sea day before we get to Copenhagen.

SATURDAY 12TH - EXPLORING AMSTERDAM

As anticipated, we spent the day hopping on and off the hop on hop off bus and boat. The weather today was brilliant, a little cool but clear and sunny. Apparently there has been some rain recently so it seems that we have brought the delightful weather with us.

Our first destination on the bus was the Gassan diamond factory where, apart from watching the diamond cutters in action, we were shown a variety of diamonds up to a value of 29 thousand euros. Needless to say, we didn't buy any.

There are two canal boat routes. We did one yesterday afternoon and the other this morning after we finished on the bus. We are quite expert at watching the busy weekend canal traffic all avoid hitting each other but, as on all waterways, there were some sights to be seen.

There are hundreds of canal boats permanently moored on which people live. This family was spending some time in their back yard, albeit a very public one.

 

There are numerous opening bridges to allow those boats not designed to fit under the low bridges to get around – very impressive to watch.

This photo shows a particular straight stretch of canal where there are seven bridges to navigate as a boat goes down it.

 

As you would expect in Amsterdam, there is the obligatory windmill. It was rotating but didn't appear to be serving any useful purpose. We have also seen a few of the modern versions, wind turbines.

 

Apparently there is quite a bike theft problem in Amsterdam. Obviously some of the stolen ones end up in the canals from which these have been retrieved.

Tomorrow the ship.

FRIDAY 10TH - AMSTERDAM

The blog is back, this time from Amsterdam as we prepare for our embarkation on Sunday for the Baltic Cruise.

Our flights from Brisbane to Singapore to Amsterdam were delightfully uneventful.

 

We arrived this morning and spent the morning exploring the old city in the middle of which our hotel is located – a city of bikes and canals. The great challenge is to be aware of the incredible number of bikes which are likely to come at you from any direction.

Another feature is the architecture - 1600's buildings, many leaning at precarious angles.

Our plan is to get a 24 hour ticket on the hop on hop off bus which also includes a hop on hop off canal boat.