Category: Travel – Cruise

Finally we have made it to Russia. We had an early morning wake up call at 6.15am (after losing yet another hours sleep). We showered, dressed and dragged the kids from bed and off to breakfast (after they got dressed as well). We had a quick breakfast at Windjammers, then headed off the ship. We passed through immigrations with no lines (we just beat one of the cruise tours) and little fuss and Oksana was there to meet us. We then headed off on our tour, where the girls promptly fell asleep!

We drove out to Catherine’s Palace in Pushkin (which was a beautiful town – full of trees, flowers and cute houses). It was beautiful. It had been destroyed by the Nazi’s and painstakingly rebuilt.

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We had to put on little booties over our shoes to protect the parcay floor.

We left here and had lunch on route to Peterhof. We stopped a Russian restaurant.

I had bourst (cold beetroot soup) for lunch – which Oksana had recommended and was much nicer than I expected. Kevin had dumplings and Amy had beef stroganoff. Christy had bread!

Then it was on to Peterhof  – the lavish Summer home of the Tzars. It was designed mostly by Peter the Great (who it seems is everywhere in St. Petersburg) and he had fun designing trick fountains – which were turned on much to the surprise of well dressed ladies.

We wondererd around admiring the gardens and fountains, and the Gulf of Finland.

We enjoyed an ice-cream as we strolled and the girls had a photo with Peter The Great and his wife.

Next up was a short ride on the metro. These underground stations are amazing. Such beautiful architechure, complete with real chandellers. Just amazing.

We then had a stop at a shop where the girls picked up matruska dolls.

We then headed back to the ship where we changed and had a quick dinner at Windjammers before meeting our driver again, who took us to into town for the Folkloric show.

There was a lot of traffic and the drivers here are quite mad

but we made it in time to get a seat in the front row.

The show was amazing. Wonderful music and singing and amazing Russian dancing.

We loved it and Christy was sad when it was over. During intermission she had been given a CD-Rom with games on it – which we thought was very thoughtful.
After the show our driver met us and returned us to the ship. It was 9.30pm and we were all hungry again so we headed to the Seaview Cafe for a snack.

Tummies once again full we headed to our room and to bed. Tired but very happy.

We didn’t wake until 8am this morning (though it was really only 7am as the clocks went forward one hour). We read for a bit until the girls woke around 9am then we headed to Windjammers for breakfast (just as we arrived in Helsinki). You can now serve yourself at Windjammers again so that makes things much easier, and quicker. We enjoyed breakfast sitting on the back deck watching the boat next to us unload cars, trucks and buses. We couldn’t believe how many fitted into it.

Amy left us to go to kids club as she decided she didn’t want to do todays tour.

At 10.45am we met for our tour to Santa’s Summerhouse. We boarded the bus and headed into the countryside. Christy was excited because Anna and Alyssa were also doing the tour. It looks like a lovely city – modern and very green and lots of cyclists again. Our guide told us a lot about the history, the country and it’s people on the way out. Then we were met by an elf – who was too cute and just wonderful with the girls (it was just the three of them on the trip).

It was such a lovely area.

 

First they had to collect water and carry the tub up to the wood sauna.

Boy, was it smelly (just like a campfire). Don’t think I’d want to sauna in there.

Then it was off to visit Santa. Christy really enjoyed this. Santa told them what he does during his Summer – basically eat and rest, sometimes fishing, and a bit of surfing.

 

We then enjoyed a snack of tea and a cinnamon roll – which was yummy!

I also posed for a photo with Santa :-).

The girls played games, then it was time for a little woodland walk back to the bus.

We had a drive through the main town on the way back to the ship. Then a bit of shopping – I got a few nice crystal pieces to add to my collection. Christy had fun trying on the fur hats but there is no way I would buy one.

Then it was onboard and a late lunch at Windjammers. Another salad for me today. Christy went off the kids club. Kevin and I got changed and went to the thermal suites.

At 4.30pm we collected the girls and took them for a swim and play on the waterslide.

Then it was time to get ready for dinner – another formal night.

It was a little stressful with my girls tonight – Christy’s eating and Amy’s mood. Hoping so much they behave in Russia and don’t spoil our time there.

 

I woke up at 5.30am just we were entering the Archipeligo on the approach into Stockholm. I managed to go back to sleep for a bit and got up around 6.30am to go up on deck. It was just gorgeous. Cute little (and some not so little) houses on the islands.

I enjoyed a cup of tea as I enjoyed the view and later sat and had a donut and another cup of tea.

Around 7.30am I went back to the room. Amy & Kevin were awake. Around 8am we woke up Christy and got out the door. We got breakfast at Windjammers and ate it on the back deck I only just discovered this morning. Today I had a delicious vegetable & cheese omelet.

At 9am we arrived in Stockholm and it was amazing to watch the ship turn before docking. We met for our tour – A Day in Stockholm. First stop was the council building which is where the Noble Prizes are given out every December. It was beautiful and very interesting.

We drove around a bit more, then stopped in the old city center where we visited the Royal Church – which housed a Royal wedding just last weekend. Here is the bride and groom!

It was a beautiful church – nice and bright with a St. George and the Dragon statue that dates back to the 1300s.

We then went to watch the Royal Guards walk by on their way to the Changing of the Guard. It was a bit of a fizzler after waiting 15mins. We should have skipped it or gone to watch the whole ceremony. Oh, well, it gave our feet a break.

We then went off in search in food – stopping to admire the stunning narrow streets and beautiful buildings.
We found a place to have lunch that took VISA and had English on the menu.

Amy and Kevin orders Swedish Meatballs – which they really enjoyed, and I had a cheese & spinach quiche – which was quite nice.

After lunch we wandered the main street and the girls bought soft bunnies – yes, bunnies, from Sweden!!!

We met back up with guide for a tour of the old city center but the girls were tired and grumpy so Kevin waited with them while I went on the tour. A shame really cause I think they would have enjoyed it. We saw the narrowest alleyway in the town and a piece of a Viking Rune which was used to stop a buidling from collapsing and is the only Viking aritfact in the country(???) because a persons belongings were burned with their bodies upon death.

After leaving the old city center we were shown some more sights before heading the Vasa Musuem. This just blew my mind. The Vasa sank on it’s maiden vogage in the 1600s and was only found in the 1960s. It is old complete ship in the world and is incredible. i couldn’t believe how big it was.

Here’s a model of what it looked like. It must have been amazing in real life when it was painted in all it’s colours.

It apparently sank because the King kept ordering them to make it bigger after it was already built which meant it was very unstable. We didn’t have long here but managed to see a bit of a film about the ships recovery which was very interesting. Then it was back on the bus for the trip back to the ship. I really feel like we got a good taste of Stockholm today, though more time at the Vasa would have been great.
Back on board we all all hungry so went to the Seaview Cafe for a snack. We ate all the nachos and both Kevin  & Amy had some fruit tart as well.

We then headed back to our room for showers and to get ready for dinner. Tonight I had delicious breaded mushrooms (which I remembered from our last cruise) and a potato Curry. And a yummy low fat mango mouse.

The girls headed off to the kids club and Kevin & I retired for the night. I typed up todays diary  and then did a bit of reading. When Christy came back from kids club she looked like this…and she wasn’t in a very good mood.