Days 13 & 14 September 20th & 21st Stockholm

 



the theatre

We had two days in Stockholm but because 

natural history museum

I was feeling below par on the first day we did not leave the ship.  I have had a cold since Sunday and although it was with me the previous three days, I battled on wanting to see the sights etc of St Petersburg and Helsinki. I did not wake up feeling too good 

king ? outside national opera house

on the Wednesday and we decided to have a quiet day, pick

the Vasa

the brains of those that went ashore and complete the highlights tomorrow.  Over dinner we talked to others and the “must do” things seemed to be a Hop on Hop off bus tour of the city and then visit the “Vasa” 

Vasa along port side

museum.  If time allowed a boat tour round the immediate waterways would be good.  The Vasa was a boat like the Marie Rose in Portsmouth which in 1628 on her maiden trial sunk in 

Vasa from stern

Stockholm harbour.  It was reputed to have a lot of its structure, equipment and possessions of those trapped on board when she went down.  We caught the uncomfortable Hop on Hop off bus at about 0900 and because it was rush hour it took 2 hours to arrive at the museum.  We were able to take photos of important buildings on the way.  The Vasa museum was amazing showing a time capsule of 1628.  It was reclaimed in 1961 and has been treated to preserve it for the future.  There was film about the boat which started in English at 1100 and so we just made that and it was good in setting the scene for the the disaster and recovery.  We spent 2 hours in the museum including a coffee break with the local speciality of a cinnamon bun.  The information was all laid out in English on 4 levels, we were not able to go on the boat but we could see the plans and decks.  After being absorbed by this we had to return to the ship (we missed a harbour boat tour)where we had to board by 1430.  After one or two misgivings we found the bus and arrived back in good time.  The voyage leaving Stockholm was beautiful with thousands of small islands to weave through so the need for a pilot was very apparent.  We sailed through them and off into the sunset!
 

leaving Stockholm

    

leaving Stockholm

Day 12 September 19th Helsinki



president's palace and market

inside Rock Church

Our next destination was Helsinki (they are coming thick and fast

 at the moment) and we had docked by the early morning.  It was not such an early start for us as we had no tour booked. It was overcast with the threat of showers and so we took our 

inside Rock Church

waterproofs with us as we began our own tour.  We had been on a port lecture and both of us agreed that the one place we wanted to visit was the Rock Church.

outside of Rock church

  The ship had docked very close to the city centre and we soon made our way across the presidential palace square where there was a market and then found the Tourism Information centre.  Armed with a street map, tram tickets and instructions we just about made our way to the drop off point and found the said 

the Lutheran Cathedral

church.  It was hewn from solid granite

leaving Helsinki

 and hence our interest even though it was quite a modern church.  Once inside we found a wonderful, calm, plain atmosphere with a pianist playing which was a different to highly decorated cathedrals and churches of St Petersburg.  We spent some time taking internal and external photos.  After this we thought we deserved a coffee break and found the local coffee shop.  We caught the tram back to the centre of town (by this time it was beginning to rain and donned overjackets).  We had a wander and looked at the Lutheran Cathedral from the outside.  We then 

exiting through small islands

went back to the ship as she was

an island lighthouse

 sailing soon and as we left the port we took some photos of the small islands on the approach to the city.  It was a short visit and we did not get to everywhere we would have liked but we had a good taster of its architecture and history.  On discussions over dinner, others had been on a waterways cruise which sounded a very good idea considering the nature of the city layout.

Day 11 September 18th St Petersburg Day 2



Katherine's palace

  Our second day in St Petersburg began early and with us oversleeping!  We were supposed to join the group at 0700 but did not wake 

reception room in Katherine's palace

up until 0630.  It was rush but we made it with me unshaven.  We had booked to view two more palaces today which were situated outside St Petersburg along the gulf of Finland.  It took us about an hour to get to Katherine’s palace.  She was the wife of Peter 

palace dining room

the Great and when he died (fairly young) it was agreed that she would ascend to the throne.  She was very capable and everyone acclaimed the way carried out her duties – how’s that

looking through doors to several rooms

 for girl power!  She then had to decide on a new palace and built another grand palace coloured blue and white.  I did not go to this palace in 1971 and it was very impressive to see the way it had been restored after suffering so much in WW2.  We saw plenty of gold leaf both inside and outside and the whole setup was certainly not to be missed. It was Christine’s favourite palace of the three.

fountains at the Peterhof

 

domes on the Peterhof

It was now about 1100 and we motored towards our next destination the Peterhof palace.  It took about an hour and towards 1200 we stopped for lunch at a restaurant.  The meal was tasty including caviar, vodka and chicken.  Again we had some local folk style singers who entertained us well.

It was soon time to proceed to the Peterhof but by this time it was beginning to drizzle.   As it was Monday the palace was closed for the general public and the two coaches from the cruise ship were the only ones inside which made life a lot more comfortable.  We went through the rooms but were not allowed to take any internal photos.  The rooms were the usual opulent style with lots of gold leaf, paintings and tapestries. It took less time to visit here but the  overall impression was highly favourable with so much attention to detail.  By the time we had to go outside it was raining steadily

a view of the gardens

another of the many fountains

and we had left our waterproof jackets and trousers in the coach which we could not reach!  The gardens were beautiful with hundreds of fountains cascading to the sea, there were even some trick ones which soaked you if trod on the wrong part of the cobbles.  We went across one but did not get drenched.  After a tour of the gardens it was time to board the coach and make our way back to the cruise boat.  An exceptional day which everyone round the dinner table enjoyed.

Day 10 September 17th St Petersburg

St Isaac's Cathedral

We arrived overnight in St Petersburg having sailed to the far end of the Gulf of Finland.

The Hermitage

  We had arranged two full days of tours and for the first one we were required at the meeting point at 0820 so we had an early start (some people had already started at 0700).  This day consisted of a coach tour of the city followed by a visit to St Isaac’s cathedral and then a visit to the Hermitage museum/palace.  We took hundreds of pictures each day in this beautiful city but you will be pleased to see that we have 

Interior of St Isaac's

included a small taster selection here.  I had been here in about 1971 and it was good to see that restoration work is continuing after the extensive damage suffered during WW2.  When the city was established as a summer residence of the czar every other Russian noble wanted to build a palace in the neighbourhood and so we passed several of these beautiful palaces.

hall in the Hermitage

  We also entered the Russian Orthodox cathedral of St Isaac’s which has multi-domes and a lavish interior and is now a museum.  It was not bombed during WW2 because German pilots used it as a marker.  We found the interior very lavish but quite inspirational artwork.  We then had some lunch in a local restaurant who had laid on some

singers in traditional dress.

Hermitage clock

  We were soon on the road again and were dropped off at the Hermitage Palace/Museum .

 

Rembrandt's prodigal son

hallway in the Hermitage

 



grand stairway at the Hermitage

This guided tour was really good, we were taken through reception rooms, throne room,  dining rooms, ballroom, bedrooms and ancilliary rooms.  Decorated with plenty of gold leaf or silk wall coverings.  The museum artefacts included paintings by Da Vinci, Titian, Rembrandt etc.  There were also incredible clocks and some of the china was commissioned from Wedgewood.  Altogether an incredible tour with too much to take in but so, so interesting.  We arrived back at the boat fairly exhausted and were pleased that dinner was informal.  A good end to a fantastic day.  

 

Day 9 September 16th Tallin

We awoke this morning to
find mixed sun and cloud as we approached Tallin and another 

medieval Tallin

"fat Margaret" tower

new country for us - Estonia.  By the time we had breakfasted the boat had berthed and we were off on the ten minute walk to the old town by 0930.  The entrance point we were given was a tower in the old city wall called "fat Margaret".  It was unmistakable and we soon entered the quaint old city.  It was like walking through how the city must have been in medieval times with only the 

Monastery with headstones

occasional disruption of a car/van delivering people and supplies.  The streets were narrow and cobbled with some of


spires and roofs from city walls

them too narrow for vehicles.  We walked through an old monastery area where there were some 14th century headstones.  We continued and found a tower where  we could climb up and walk along some of the original 

Christine meets an old friend

city walls.  We stopped for some coffee and had a look round town hall square.

We wandered on through the squares and streets, visited some 

church at top of the town

of the old churches and carried on round to the higher part of the city from where we had a good view of the whole roofline.   It was so interesting to see both here and in Riga the architecture 
 from centuries ago.  We dropped down to the old town level and followed the city wall back to "fat Margaret".  We 



the city walls

then walked the few minutes it took to get back to the Pacific Princess.
 

Pacific Princess
















Day 8 September 15th Riga and towards Tallin



river with fountain

We had in Riga by the time we surfaced and so we quickly

Orthodox Church

had breakfast and geared ourselves up for what looked like another showery day.  We had been to an introductory lecture and had a town map and so had roughly worked out an itinerary for what looked like an interesting destination.  The boat docked near the centre of the city and we were able to 

freedom monument

walk to the old town.  We initially walked along a path by a river 

cobbled streets on old town

with fountains and eventually came to the freedom monument.  From there we went further inland to see the orthodox church and then crossed the river into the old town.  It began to rain as we walked down the lovely cobbled streets and decided to have a break at a Costa Coffee shop.
We then looked at St Peter's Church, some more interesting streets, a little market and the Blackheads buildings (read about it!) before coming to the 

more cobbled streets

Dome Cathedral which was shut.


the dome cathedral

Our route back to the boat took us past the Riga Castle which is now the official home of the president.
I will now try and post this with the remainder of the day being posted hopefully tomorrow when we are in Tallin.

We are now in Tallin, Estonia and to complete yesterday's post all I have to add is that we were required to be back on the boat by 1330 and sailed from the port at 1400.  We spent some time in the cabin, me updating the blog and Christine reorganising things and finally finding her knitting pattern which she knew she had packed somewhere!  We had afternoon tea and watched out of our window as we left the port and headed into the gulf of Finland.  We relaxed, read and eventually went to dinner.  We meet the same people at our dinner table each evening and friendships develop.  During our Italian themed meal we were offered limoncelli in glasses we were allowed to keep and this we have done.  After the meal we returned to our cabin and read until it was time for lights out. 

Day 7 September 14th At sea

We had quite an active day on board the boat today but it also included some relaxation time.  No photos I'm afraid as we made our way from Copenhagen towards Riga, Estonia. It was a day of looking at the shops (Christine), going to a photography workshop (Chris),  attending future port introductory lectures (both of us),  reading and knitting.  Our meals were leisurely, making new friends across the globe and particularly enjoying other people's travel experiences.  A good day finished off by the boat evening entertainment which was a rock 'n' roll band belting out a lot of 50s and 60s songs so that went down well.

Day 6 September 13th Copenhagen



The little mermaid

the marble church

When we woke up we had turned round the north of Denmark and were approaching Copenhagen.  When we arrived I tried for internet access but it seems that Vodafone do not 



Tivoli Gardens

provide a signal in Copenhagen.  We eventually docked at about 9:30 by which time we had breakfasted and we were ready to disembark by 1000.  It was overcast but the sky looked threatening.  We had a street plan of the city and decided to follow a self-guiding walk of the main 



Christine with guards

highlights.  We found the mermaid statue which was surrounded

Nyhavn

by Japanese tourists and so we didn’t linger. We carried on to the old city and were impressed by the character and buildings to view.  We saw palaces and the multi-coloured houses of Nyhavn where Hans Christian Anderson once lived.  At about this time it began to rain and it rained steadily for the remainder of our walk.  We got lost a bit due to some large roadworks taking place but everyone speaks English and a hotel receptionist soon put us right.  As it was raining heavily we stopped at a Mcdonalds for a coffee but it was still raining when we had to leave.  We walked down the main shopping street and eventually ended up at Tivoli Gardens.

We later went on an evening canal cruise round the city and after that watched some local folk singing in the ship theatre before having supper.  I have found the internet connection for Copenhagen and will post this now with editing/additions of photographs later.



Part of the fort in Churchill Park



the bank of woodcock!



low bridge on canal tour

house where Hans Christian Anderson lived

We now have an internet connection in Riga and I am posting the pictures of the evening canal cruise.  The views from the canal gave a very different perspective of the city.  Our overall impression of Copenhagen was very positive - beautiful, well maintained and clean.  It was a pity that the weather was not drier!  Still there is plenty to consider for a return visit.



Nyhavn from canal

our home for 14 nights

Our time on the boat has so far been good although it has been a bit rocky at times but nowhere near as bad as the Scillonian gets.