Baltic Cruise - Day 14 & 15 St. Petersburg - Day 2 & Helsinki
Because we didn’t get a visa and weren’t on a tour, we weren’t permitted off the ship today. We couldn’t even walk across the street to the souvenir stands. Oh well, we knew this going in and it wasn’t too much of an upset.
As we were getting ready for breakfast, we noticed there was a band on the pier. A bit later, we noticed gentlemen in life vests and an officer… then anther office and then a third. When they all moved out to the pier behind ours (we were enclosed by a very high fence and a guard - anyone trying to leave had to go through immigration).
Eventually, we discovered what all the hoopla was about. A tall ship, proudly displaying a huge Mexican flag sailed up the channel (we were at the very end of the dock, with a low bridge blocking our further passage upstream). On the cross pieces of the masts, men stood (thankfully, hooked in with safety cables). The band was playing and the chorus was singing and all the men on the ship were singing. It would have been nice if they were singing the same song, but it didn’t matter. It was quite the sight. I did take photos, but alas, still without the ability to load photos.
The rest of the day was spent reading, quilting, watching TV (watched a very odd movie called Loopers, although I really enjoyed Hotel Transylvania) and generally lazing about the cabin. At four, I remembered I hadn’t written any postcards, so I spent the next two hours doing that.
Dinner was fine and it was nice to see Ken, Cathy, Mary, and Dennis again. I wondered how Dennis was doing and Ken told me that he stayed in the van for the most part today and after a few hours, they decided to take a cab and come back to the ship as they were bored with the tour - this is the problem with taking an independent tour, you don’t really know what you will see and where you will be going. After a day-long sightseeing tour yesterday, today they did the Hermitage and Mary said it was so crowded, they had a hard time seeing anything at all. Certainly was a change from our day (in total, there were seven tours of about 300 people when we were there on Monday). It was at this point that we realized we had pulled free of our mooring and were headed back down river to the Baltic Sea.
I had a mushroom tart that was to die for, lamb and vegetable soup and duck and (bad habit) I got a Grand Marnier soufflé for dessert.
Chris had: the tart, two entrees (he was very naughty) the steak fajita(I have to confess there was very little that came with the fajita, just about 1/3 cup of beef, two flour tortillas and that was it) and the duck. He also finished with the soufflé.
Funny moment(s) - our waiter brought an empty tequila bottle to the table with a cork and a toothpick stuck in the end of it. He meshed the tines of two forks, put another tooth in one of the spaces and proceeded to balance it on the very tip of the other toothpick (again, no camera). It would even rotate, then the ship rocked and down it went.
On the way out, someone stopped us and wanted to know how long we’d been together. After I told her, she said we looked so much alike that she thought we were brother and sister… okay, then. I think we have hit ‘old married couple’ status.
We invited some friend (the Riga couple) back to the cabin and talked until it was time for them to head for their seating. All this time, we are still moving through this deep water channel with banks on either side of us. We were about 30 miles upstream and we got some great shots as we moved back out to the sea. This had all occurred during the night, so it was great to see how far inland we’d come.
Smooth seas and easy sleeping tonight.
Day 14 - Helsinki
Floating past the small islets on our way into Helsinki with the fog rolling in, I could easily see why there are so many legends and myths surround this place. It was so magical.
We had nothing planned for today except to do a bit of walking about. I can say one thing, walking on cobblestones is very hard on the feet. We discovered that there was a small farmers and crafts market just on the other side of the dock, so we wandered through there and then walked to a lovely park. From there we discovered all sorts of wonderful shops and passed by City Hall, the City Museum (alas, not opened at the time), the Helsinki university and ended up at Senate Square. We poked around in a wonderful candy store, a mall, and some fun souvenir shops.
After wandering two hours, we decided that it was time to head back to the ship and drop stuff off. There was no way except back through the market (oh, darn) and we bought some stuff. Getting back to the ship, we stopped by the cabin to drop off the backpack and our purchases and two hours later woke up. I don’t even remember falling asleep.
After lunch, we headed back into the city and walked over to Uspensky Cathedral and then wandered back by the presidential palace. It really is telling when you don’t have a tour of a city. While we had plenty of time to shop, which was nice for a change, I did miss not having the insight to the land and its people.
We got back to the ship with an hour to spare and got things stashed. It gave us a chance to catch our breath and even watch a great movie, Quartet.
Dinner seems to come with alarming regularity. Dennis didn’t make dinner again and spent much of the afternoon in the cabin, sleeping. He managed a city tour in the morning, but that was it. It was strange, but none of us were very talkative this evening. Thankfully, there was a lot of boat traffic and we entertained ourselves watching them out pace us or us out pace them. You can tell the cruise is getting towards the end.
I had a chef’s salad, gazpacho, and beef stroganoff. No dessert tonight.
Chris had the lychee and watermelon appetizer, the bean soup, and the coq-a-vin. He followed with crème brulee and two scoops of Rocky Road ice cream.
We went back to the cabin to discover we were to lose another of the hours we had so recently gained - my body clock is so messed up by now. I wrote more postcards and then went to bed to read as did Chris. For some reason, I was really tired today and sleep wasn’t far away. Tomorrow - ABBA!
As we were getting ready for breakfast, we noticed there was a band on the pier. A bit later, we noticed gentlemen in life vests and an officer… then anther office and then a third. When they all moved out to the pier behind ours (we were enclosed by a very high fence and a guard - anyone trying to leave had to go through immigration).
Eventually, we discovered what all the hoopla was about. A tall ship, proudly displaying a huge Mexican flag sailed up the channel (we were at the very end of the dock, with a low bridge blocking our further passage upstream). On the cross pieces of the masts, men stood (thankfully, hooked in with safety cables). The band was playing and the chorus was singing and all the men on the ship were singing. It would have been nice if they were singing the same song, but it didn’t matter. It was quite the sight. I did take photos, but alas, still without the ability to load photos.
The rest of the day was spent reading, quilting, watching TV (watched a very odd movie called Loopers, although I really enjoyed Hotel Transylvania) and generally lazing about the cabin. At four, I remembered I hadn’t written any postcards, so I spent the next two hours doing that.
Dinner was fine and it was nice to see Ken, Cathy, Mary, and Dennis again. I wondered how Dennis was doing and Ken told me that he stayed in the van for the most part today and after a few hours, they decided to take a cab and come back to the ship as they were bored with the tour - this is the problem with taking an independent tour, you don’t really know what you will see and where you will be going. After a day-long sightseeing tour yesterday, today they did the Hermitage and Mary said it was so crowded, they had a hard time seeing anything at all. Certainly was a change from our day (in total, there were seven tours of about 300 people when we were there on Monday). It was at this point that we realized we had pulled free of our mooring and were headed back down river to the Baltic Sea.
I had a mushroom tart that was to die for, lamb and vegetable soup and duck and (bad habit) I got a Grand Marnier soufflé for dessert.
Chris had: the tart, two entrees (he was very naughty) the steak fajita(I have to confess there was very little that came with the fajita, just about 1/3 cup of beef, two flour tortillas and that was it) and the duck. He also finished with the soufflé.
Funny moment(s) - our waiter brought an empty tequila bottle to the table with a cork and a toothpick stuck in the end of it. He meshed the tines of two forks, put another tooth in one of the spaces and proceeded to balance it on the very tip of the other toothpick (again, no camera). It would even rotate, then the ship rocked and down it went.
On the way out, someone stopped us and wanted to know how long we’d been together. After I told her, she said we looked so much alike that she thought we were brother and sister… okay, then. I think we have hit ‘old married couple’ status.
We invited some friend (the Riga couple) back to the cabin and talked until it was time for them to head for their seating. All this time, we are still moving through this deep water channel with banks on either side of us. We were about 30 miles upstream and we got some great shots as we moved back out to the sea. This had all occurred during the night, so it was great to see how far inland we’d come.
Smooth seas and easy sleeping tonight.
Day 14 - Helsinki
Floating past the small islets on our way into Helsinki with the fog rolling in, I could easily see why there are so many legends and myths surround this place. It was so magical.
We had nothing planned for today except to do a bit of walking about. I can say one thing, walking on cobblestones is very hard on the feet. We discovered that there was a small farmers and crafts market just on the other side of the dock, so we wandered through there and then walked to a lovely park. From there we discovered all sorts of wonderful shops and passed by City Hall, the City Museum (alas, not opened at the time), the Helsinki university and ended up at Senate Square. We poked around in a wonderful candy store, a mall, and some fun souvenir shops.
After wandering two hours, we decided that it was time to head back to the ship and drop stuff off. There was no way except back through the market (oh, darn) and we bought some stuff. Getting back to the ship, we stopped by the cabin to drop off the backpack and our purchases and two hours later woke up. I don’t even remember falling asleep.
After lunch, we headed back into the city and walked over to Uspensky Cathedral and then wandered back by the presidential palace. It really is telling when you don’t have a tour of a city. While we had plenty of time to shop, which was nice for a change, I did miss not having the insight to the land and its people.
We got back to the ship with an hour to spare and got things stashed. It gave us a chance to catch our breath and even watch a great movie, Quartet.
Dinner seems to come with alarming regularity. Dennis didn’t make dinner again and spent much of the afternoon in the cabin, sleeping. He managed a city tour in the morning, but that was it. It was strange, but none of us were very talkative this evening. Thankfully, there was a lot of boat traffic and we entertained ourselves watching them out pace us or us out pace them. You can tell the cruise is getting towards the end.
I had a chef’s salad, gazpacho, and beef stroganoff. No dessert tonight.
Chris had the lychee and watermelon appetizer, the bean soup, and the coq-a-vin. He followed with crème brulee and two scoops of Rocky Road ice cream.
We went back to the cabin to discover we were to lose another of the hours we had so recently gained - my body clock is so messed up by now. I wrote more postcards and then went to bed to read as did Chris. For some reason, I was really tired today and sleep wasn’t far away. Tomorrow - ABBA!