Wedsday, August 8, 2012

We left the cruise ship by 7:30 AM and walked to the bus stop with all of our luggage.  The bus driver was very helpful and showed us where to exit for our hotel.  When we got to the hotel, we found out that it was the wrong Radisson Blu.  We took a taxi to the correct hotel, which was about a mile away.  The taxi driver charged us a lot more than he should have, and I neglected to get a receipt.  Another expensive lesson in our life !

Copenhagen Hotel

We were unable to check in until 2 PM, so went walking around the neighborhood and found the Metro station.  We were helped by the nicest young concierge with a great sense of humor, which seems to be sorely lacking in this city.

One of the many canals

Canals are everywhere !  Along with the bicicyles,with excellent bike lanes.  Here, everyone lives in apartments.

One of the many apartment buildings

They don't even both with bike locks ....
We then took the Metro (train) into the City and walked about a bit.  Looked for someplace for lunch.  After  all, we got used to depriving ourselves of food, on the ship.
Found danish smørrebrød, but we passed on the herring buffet.  Can't quite get interested in herring prepared 20 different ways ! So we had "open faced" sandwiches.  I had the shrimp and Craig had the roast beef.  We also passed on the schnaps.

Shrimp sandwich

Roast beef with remoulade and gherkins

Then it started raining, so we went into an upscale department store by the Metro station.  After strolling around and using their bathroom, we headed back to the hotel to check in.  Spent the rest of the day resting, as we hadn't slept much the night before.  We then had dinner in a Thai restaurant in the hotel.  The food was good but the wait staff had an attitude.  We don't have a good feeling for the people of this city, overall.  It is also a very, very expensive city !  We will be glad to head home.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

These are just a few of the many islands we saw when we left Stockholm yesterday

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We had a very quiet day at sea today.  We checked out the “sales” of items in the ship’s stores then went to the Pub Lunch, where I had Fish and Chips (and a Guinness) and Craig had Bangers and Mash.  We also shared a bread pudding for dessert.  Then we went to the movies and saw The Descendents, which made us cry !

We just rested after the movie and went to dinner around 7 PM, where we both had New York strip steak.  I also had the curried pumpkin soup which was similar to the curried butternut squash soup I make, but it was served cold.

After dinner we packed and tried to get some sleep.

Monday, August 06, 2012

We sailed into Stockholm under overcast skies …. Just like our “June gloom” at home.  We decided to take the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus tour since we only had 5 hours before sailing again.  Stockholm is built on 14 islands and the architecture is more “minimal” than what we saw in Germany and Russia.  Lots of buildings joined to the one next to it, sharing a common front wall. Everyone lives in apartments in these European cities.

Typical building in Stockholm

 The income tax for the citizens like us is 34%, while the wealthy pay up to 54% !  The entire country became Protestant because the Pope wanted to make a Dane the archbishop and the Swedish King didn’t want a Dane.  The Pope wouldn’t listen to the King, so they converted and confiscated all of the possessions of the Pope.  Not smart of the Pope, huh?

About 800,000 people live in Stockholm and there are about 200,000 boats.  There is ferry service to Tallinn, Estonia and Helsinki, Denmark.  It’s interesting that the only place we have had to show our passport is Russia !

Public employees

Stockholm has a lot of beautiful parks and a lot of water.  We could envision living here, if we could speak the language or stand the cold.  We stayed on the bus and headed back to port but didn’t realize that we had to press the stop button in order to get off.  I had taken my small laptop and was on the free internet on the bus, which was better than we could get on the ship !   

Alandsbaken --- bank

One of the many statues

So, we got off the bus at the next stop.  This was in “Old Town” Stockholm, so we wandered around a bit.  I had to have some of the renowned Swedish coffee, and it was really quite good.  We then stopped at a little café and selected a ham-and-cheese quiche and raspberry cake.   

Cafe Nova

Raspberry cake and shy shop girl

We also had to use their restroom, of course.

Telephone Booth

We then took the bus back to the ship.  The ship sailed at 2 PM and had to exit through 54 miles of the archipelago with many, many small islands.  It was very beautiful and we picked out several islands we could claim as our own …..

Leaving Stockholm

Tonight is the Formal Night and lobster dinner, so we rested a while.  Then we got all dressed up, had our pictures taken, and went in to dinner.  I had lobster and large tiger shrimp while Craig had short ribs, since he had scallops the night before.

We always sit with other people and some of them have been very interesting.  Last night we dined with a couple from Scotland with whom we had dined two night before …. they were delightful !  There are also a lot of people from California on this cruise.

Sunday, August 05, 2012

We sailed from St. Petersburg yesterday evening.  We had a small incident occur while still under control of the pilot from St. Petersburg.  The ship veered sharply starboard then over-corrected to port, causing the ship to “shudder” and caused some alarm. A lot of broken dishes on the 15th deck, and the water sloshed over from the pools.   The ship’s captain made an announcement, reassuring everyone.  Of course, a lot of finger-pointing !  We did not have any further incidents.

We docked in Helsinki this morning to another beautiful, sunny day.  We slept in until almost 8 AM, had a leisurely breakfast, and disembarked.   

Church in Senate Square

We took the shuttle bus into town, and then walked to the Market Place.  This is an open-air market with many stands selling souvenirs, leather goods, jewelry and a lot of food ! 

Food stand in Market Square

 The food stands had grills that look like huge woks, filled with vegetable, rice, potatoes, sausages, fish …. especially the small, salted smoked herring and fillets of salmon.  There was also a lot of fresh produce and berries.  

Berries in Market Square

For some reason, I was still quite tired so we cut our excursion short and returned to the ship.  We had a light lunch and then I took a 2-hour nap !

Thursday, August 2 , 2012

We flew out of Riga, Latvia on a “puddle-jumper” plane and landed in Tallinn, Estonia about an hour later.  It was interesting in that we did not have to go through Customs or show our passports to anyone !  

 However, they did have a security dog who checked every passenger when they disembarked and then the luggage on the carousel.  A very nice young lady sold us a bus ticket (2 Euros apiece) and gave us directions and a map to the port, where our ship was docked.  Then the bus driver went out of his way to drop us off at the entrance to the pier where our ship was.  Everyone has been so helpful and our rendezvous with our ship went like clockwork.  We could have not asked for a better experience !

When we were boarding the ship, Security had to call someone to bring us new boarding cards and one of the ship’s officers said they were wondering when we were going to get here !  It is nice to be back with our “stuff” and setting out for St. Petersburg.  We will be there for 2 days and had to sign up for a couple of tours to be able to go ashore, as we didn’t have VISAs ….. 

Friday, August 3, 2012

I think everyone smokes in Russia and there is no such thing as no smoking areas, either. 

We joined a tour for the Hermitage this morning, which was a 2-hour tour.  There is no way anyone can appreciate the actual size of this museum and collection, until you see it for yourself.  There are  rooms dedicated to different stones, such as malachite and lapis lazuli, with tables and vases carved from the stones.  This does not even begin to describe the long halls dedicated to Italian artists, French artists, tapestries, etc.  There was even a hall copied from a unique hall at the Vatican, with the Pope’s permission.  The only problem with the tour was the hoardes of people in the Hermitage !

After the Hermitage, we had 3 hours on our own to explore the city.  Craig and I immediately looked for a place to eat a Russian lunch, and found one nearby.  We had cold beetroot Borsch, which even Craig enjoyed …. and he doesn’t even like beets !  Then we had Pelmini, a light boiled dumpling filled with meat and served with sour cream.  Looked exactly like a tortellini, just a little bit bigger.  Did some shopping after lunch.  As with any of the places we have visited, there is a wide range of prices for items.  We passed up the hand-painted lacquered boxes that started at $150 for the smallest size of approximately 2 inches x 2 inches !

Headed back to the ship about  4 PM, for a nice relaxing evening.  Another very busy day tomorrow with another tour.  Did I say that we HATE tours? 

Saturday, August 04, 2012

We spent a long day on a tour of 3 palaces today.  Met our group at 7:30 AM after a very quick breakfast.  Rode on a bus for half an hour to the Catherine, Alexander and Paul (Pavlosk) Palaces.  These palaces were extensively damaged during WWII by Hilter’s army.  A lot of items were removed by the Germans and never found again.  Two of the palaces have been, and continue to be, restored.  Luckily there were a lot of photographs taken over the years before the German invasion to be used as reference.  

Catherine Palace

I took a lot of pictures, but will only be able to post a few.  The first palace is the Catherine the Great’s summer Palace, which was restored almost totally.  This is a huge gold-and-white palace and each room has a theme.  Such as the Amber Room, whose walls and decorations are made from Amber.  The rooms had been looted and destroyed by the Germans when they occupied the area during WWII.  The Amber was never found, so it had to be restored using new Amber.  Amber is becoming especially rare …. It is sap of certain trees which has been petrified.

Dutch tile fireplace in every room

From Catherine’s Palace, we walked to Alexander’s Palace, which she had built for her grandson in 1792, who was the future czar.  It was used as a hospital for German SS officers during WWII.  This palace has not yet been restored but will be in the future.  It was much darker and less ostentatious than another of the other palaces.

Room in Alexander Palace

After lunch provided by the tour company, which was unremarkable except for the small glass of vodka and the glass of champagne, we took a 10-minute bus ride to Peter’s Palace.  He was Catherine’s son, but they did not get along at all.  It has been restored and is quite magnificent, of course.  

Bedroom in Paul Palace

 Since the internet connection is so awful on this ship, I am unable to add many pictures.

Thursday, August 2 , 2012

I forgot to mention that we had to try the infamous Currywurst in Berlin!  It is a roasted bratwurst, sliced, smothered in “red sauce”, dusted with curry powder.  Believe it or not, it was really good !  I think Gopal should feature it in his café near USC …

We flew out of Riga, Latvia on a “puddle-jumper” plane and landed in Tallinn, Estonia about an hour later.  It was interesting in that we did not have to go through Customs or show our passports to anyone !  

 However, they did have a security dog who checked every passenger when they disembarked and then the luggage on the carousel.  A very nice young lady sold us a bus ticket (2 Euros apiece) and gave us directions and a map to the port, where our ship was docked.  Then the bus driver went out of his way to drop us off at the entrance to the pier where our ship was.  Everyone has been so helpful and our rendezvous with our ship went like clockwork.  We could have not asked for a better experience !

When we were boarding the ship, Security had to call someone to bring us new boarding cards and one of the ship’s officers said they were wondering when we were going to get here !  It is nice to be back with our “stuff” and setting out for St. Petersburg.  We will be there for 2 days and had to sign up for a couple of tours to be able to go ashore, as we didn’t have VISAs ….. 

Thursday, August 2, 2012
We are currently in the airport in Riga, Latvia !!!  Who even thought we would ever be in this country?  We left Berlin this morning and are on our way to Tallinn, Estonia, to meet up with our cruise ship.

Yesterday in Berlin was fabulous .... we had breakfast in our hotel.  It was an interesting buffet with lots of different cheeses, breads, etc.  I particularly enjoyed the brie cheese,  Then we took the bus into the historical area of Berlin.  It was quite a warm day and we needn't have brought our jackets.
We walked by the Berlin Dom, which is a church built in the 1454 as a Roman Catholic chapel ... only has a small congregation to keep it maintained, so they charge admission to see the interior. It is now a Protestant (Evangelical) church.

Berliner DOM

Walking by the DOM, we bought tickets for the museums.  First,we went to the Neues Museum which had a huge Egyptian collection, including the bust of Nefertidi.

Nefertiti

The collection was unbelievably huge, with first objects brought to Berlin in 1828.  There are many objects dating from 4000 BC, including sarcophagus, jewelry and figures.

 After a couple of hours in the Neues Museum, we walked further along towards the Pergamon Museum.  Stopped for lunch at a quaint Thai restaurant, called the Jolly Restaurant Bar.  I had beef and vegetables and Craig had chicken and pan fried noodles.  It was very comparable to what we get at home, of course.  But, a Coke costs more than beer !
On to the Pergamon Museum, which houses original-sized, reconstructed monumental buildings such as the Pergamon Altar and the Market Gate of Miletus, all consisting of parts transported from Turkey.

Pergamon Altar

Detail of Pergamon Altar

The reconstructed Market Gates ...

The reconstructed Ishtar Gate is also in the Pergamon ....

Closeup of Ishtar Gate

 Well, after a hot, stuffy afternoon in museums .... and walking lots .... we took the bus back to our hotel to rest for about an hour before dinner.  We wanted  to try an "authentic" German meal at a place we read about in our book on Berlin.  We found it on the map, but it wasn't clear about how to get there.  So, about 8 PM, we asked the gal at the desk.  She printed out directions for us and we started our adventure !
We took the hotel shuttle to the airport and got on bus 109 to the U bahn station at Kaufurstendamm, where we got on U9 as directed.  A very nice young man informed us about 10 stops later that we were going in the wrong direction and on the wrong subway !  But, we followed the directions religiously !  So,  back to the Kaufurstendamm station to  look for U1,  Craig noticed the sign for the bus M29, which was the bus we were to take later,  so we just jumped on it right away.  Of course, all the street signs were in a foreign language !  We recognized one of the signs and got off the bus, where we then asked directions from a coffee shop keeper.  He told us that we needed to go down about 5 more stops to Max & Moritz's.  Luckily, the buses run about every 10 - 15 minutes.  We arrived at our destination about 10 PM !!!!!!!!!!
We had a fabulous dinner ... Craig had Very Special Sausages with boiled potatoes and I had Sauerbraten with Red Cabbage.  Yes, it  was well worth the trip !

Sauerbraten, red cabbage and potato dumplings

A very nice young couple from Israel was sitting at a table next to us and started talking to us.  Really enjoyed that.
There is never any rush in Berlin, but we finally got our check and headed back out to the bus stop.  Took the first bus, but missed our second bus by 5 minutes ... and it was the last one for the night for that particular route.  So, had to take a taxi back to our hotel.
What a great adventure, and Craig was such a good sport through out the whole thing !