Just as we expected, internet access on the ship is expensive – 75cents US per minute so we will write up our blog on the laptop and post it at an internet café on land at some stage.
Sunday June 14 - Estonia
We went to a church service on board after breakfast then walked into Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Beautiful old city surrounded by formidable city walls. Very easy to get around and very quiet on a Sunday morning. We went into one of the many churches where there was a service in progress. One of the groups that meet there is the Independent Baptist Fellowship and it seemed fairly lively with quite a young congregation.
We walked to the upper town, Toompea and called into the Orthodox Cathedral where there was a christening in progress– very ornate decoration. From the walls of Toompea there are great views down over the rest of the town. Also called into the Lutheran Church – that’s my limit for the day – 3 churches!! And all before lunch.
By then it was about 1pm and some of the cafes and small shops were opening up. In the Town Hall Square there was a very busy craft market with lots of lovely hand made things – jewellery, sweaters, wooden items, lots of amber and lots of linen goods – I think they must grow flax around here. The quality was mostly good and the prices very reasonable – we bought a couple of little wooden Christmas tree ornaments.
Lovely people – very friendly and most of the young people have very good English. Phil chatted to one young woman who had just finished Year 12. She is hoping to study environmental science at University and then ‘wants to save the planet’ - if there are enough like her in the next generation we might just make it.
Then it was back on board for a formal dinner – Phil looked VERY elegant in his dinner suit – and then a concert in the Theatre by a flute player from Northern Ireland. He was a brilliant player and quite a character as well. He reminded me of our lovely Richie.
Monday and Tuesday - June 15, 16
St Petersburg, Russia
Wonderful, wonderful city but lots of frustrations. On the first day we did a 6 hour city tour which included 2 hours walking around on our own without our guide. We had been told ahead of time that we wouldn’t be able to go anywhere unaccompanied without a visa so this was a lovely surprise and we used the time to wander through some parks, along the Neva River and in and out of the shopping area –and of course into a few churches. It is a staggeringly beautiful city – our excellent guide, Irina, told us that at some stage ( can’t remember when) a third of the buildings in St P were palaces and it is easy to believe. Just so many large elegant buildings and most of them in good shape until you get off the main routes where it is sometimes in need of a bit of TLC. Irina told us that during the Soviet period buildings became very shabby but there has been major restoration over the past 15 years and it shows. She also said that many of the churches which were turned to other purposes in Soviet times are now returning to places of worship and there is a resurgence of church attendance with many young people also now choosing to marry in church. Interestingly all 3 of our guides told us about the increased church involvement.
On Monday night we went to the ballet to see Swan Lake – a traditional interpretation – quite a contrast to Graeme Murphy’s version that Luci and I went to see at the Sydney Opera House last year – both were wonderful. Even Phil admitted that he enjoyed it very much – the theatre and stage sets were opulent and the music and dancing were lovely although it was a young company – the Kirov is in recess over the summer. When we left the theatre at 11pm it was still light of course – this far north in mid June we get about 22 hours of daylight each day – fortunately our cabin has good blackout curtains so it doesn’t affect our sleep.
Tuesday morning we had a lazy time on the ship preparing for our 4 hour visit to the Hermitage – the fab art collection of Russia- it contains almost 3 million pieces of art – many collected by Catherine II – although only a fraction are on display at any one time. You don’t often see them lent out to other galleries so it was a great opportunity to see lots of finally got into the gallery 2 hours after leaving the ship which meant less than 2 hours for our guided tour – if ever we go again we will try to go on our own and spend time looking at the things that interest us. It is simply amazing – lots of Old Masters and 19th and 20th works that we had never seen before even in print. We had to just walk through these vast galleries without really stopping to look. It was very frustrating.
Wednesday June 17, Helsinki
Have had a wonderful day here today but will write about it later. Enough to say that it is full of beautiful people, many of whom look like just like Helena Clark. Time for bed now – we have just come back from a superb concert by a 27 year old Scotsman in our ship’s theatre. An amazing flamboyant pianist and singer – after his 1st song I didn’t think I would want to stay but after and hour I didn’t want it to end. He was just amazing – Kyle Esplin.
Tomorrow we are in Stockholm and I will look for an internet café to post this. Photos later – sooooooo many to choose from!!!!!!
Actually, it is now Saturday June 20 and we are in ROstock Germany - Happy Birthday Christy!!!! Can,t believe you are 35!!!! We have now been to Stockholm which was wonderful. Off to Denmark and oslo next. Really enjoying our cruise. Will put photos up when we get better internet access.
