Touring SPB second day

Our second day of the SPB tour started at 0930 and today there were no problems with passport control.

Natalia ( the boss of Guide Guru) met us so we could pay her for our tour and she kept apologizing for emails sent yesterday when we were so late getting through immigration. We hadn't seen them so no problem☆

Our first stop was Pushkin.  Oh Wow!!! It was more palaces and history with the primary part being the very famous "Amber Room" which seemed to mean more to the other people than me. Sure it was beautiful and magnificent but then again the palace was magnificent in its own right.We were shown photos of the damage done in WW2 and quite frankly the work put into restoration is remarkable. I would have liked to hear  how they did all this restoration.

The last part of that area was spent talking about the residence of the last czar and I included a photo in my previous blog post showing about 1/2 of it. The czar and family were sent from this palace to the Ural mountains by the provisional government (which was overthrown by the Bolshevics less than a year later)

We went to a restaurant for a typical Russian meal before carrying on to a couple of photo stops (beautiful churches,statues etc).I caught up on blog posts and emails including the emails sent by Natalia,mentioned above-she was really stressed when she sent them as she thought we had skipped out on her and she was responsible for us in Russia because her company had registered us to be with them as we had a cruise line visa good for two days , not a regular visa.

The last stop of our incredible 2 days here was the Yusupovs' Palace.At first I thought this was "just" another  beautiful palace but as we walked through the ornate rooms and started hearing the stories it became clearer and clearer why we were finishing our tour  here. By the time we walked down a small twisting staircase into a room in the basement I realized that we were  in the actual location where Felix Yusupov and fellow conspirators killed Rasputin.A really interesting story especially when explained by a Russian lady (Ada, our guide).The story came alive as she showed us pictures and paintings of the people involved.What on awesome finish to two great days of touring this incredible city.

Second day in SPB

Have time to upload photos of the Pushkin.Comments later

First day in St Petersburg (SPB)

An absolutely spectacular day which got going after being in lineups to leave the ship and clearing Russian immigration that took 1.5 hours (not an exaggeration).

Our tour company (Guide Guru) and 4 guests off the Royal Princess had waited for almost 2 hours for us. Thank goodness they waited because today was another unbelievable day that started with a drive around the city then a short 2 hour visit to the Hermitage. This museum is everything and more that people say it is. It is worth a trip back to SPB  just to have a couple of days in it.

Our guide is Ada and she is very good. Other people on Trip Advisor have said the same thing. She is full of history and stories and talks about the Soviet system (good and bad). She also knows how to get us past lineups into sites. Super good guide.

After the museum we went to the Church of the Spilled Blood (if anyone is interested ask me the stories about it when we are home) then on to a Russian restaurant for traditional pastry meals.Very tasty.

After a 45 minute drive out of the city we were at Peterhof Park. Here there are wonderful fountains but truthfully I would have skipped that for time in the Hermitage..The trip back to SPB was on a hydrofoil boat which took us  across the Baltic back to the city,and then went up the river to near the Hermitage before docking. Now that was neat.

Because we had been so late getting started in the morning Ada  took us a site she had wanted to take us to in the morning. We went to the Fortress and inside the church there is the  burial of many of the Russian czars including the re internment of the last czar and family all killed in 1918.

We got back to the ship about 1930 hours and have just finished supper in the Versailles restaurant.

This day has so MUCH more to it than I have written. There is so much amazing history here. WOW!!!!!!

Touring Tallinn

Second attempt at this entry. I accidently erased the first one.GRRRRR 

We started our day by seeing that our ship was the last arriving of 5 huge cruiseships and of course  the only thing to see here is the old walled city (a UNESCO site) so naturally Caro and I joined 10,0000 other people enjoying the beautiful streets and sounds of a beautifully preserved medieval city. It is gorgeous.

After three hours of walking around we headed back to the Star for lunch then headed back out for a three hour bicycle tour. The bike tour initially went to the new parts of town (interesting) but ended up back in the old walled city. We walked around a bit more then went to a150 year old cafe mentioned in Trip Advisor  (great pastry!).

It is now after supper and we are sailing to St Petersburg and as we do Caro and I are relaxing on lounge chairs on the promenade deck watching  shipping traffic go by.

We will see the 9:30 show tonight then hit the sack for a super exciting couple of days in SPB!

In Tallinn

Just finished updating the blog.found a hot spot on a side street.

Still touring Tallinn.. old city with lots of people 

At Sea

One great thing about an inside room is that it is dark and quiet.

Today the  cruise director got on the intercom and woke us up at the ungodly hour of 10 AM!!!! 

I think it's fair to say our jet lag is gone. 

The ship was hopping today with everyone at the pools and as it was beautiful out we watched the world go by as we lounged around. There are lots of ships here in the Baltic and at one point I saw 2 cruise liners going the opposite way of us.

Tonight we ate another awesome meal at the Aqua restaurant and are preparing now to go see the ships dancers and singers do their thing.

Tomorrow we arrive at Tallinn Estonia.  I hope I can upload my last few blog entries and catch up on e-mails.

Thursday in port at Warnemunde Germany

Most of the guests on the ship went early to Berlin  so we didn't have to wait to be seated for breakfast in the Versaille restaurant.

We had originally intended to just walk around the town of Warnemunde but after walking out to the Baltic Ocean  BRRRRRR and seeing a few blocks of the town we made our way back to the railway station and caught a train to Rostock.

What  a pleasant and unexpected pleasure. I hadn't read up on the city before we left as I didn't expect  to go there but we thoroughly enjoyed our few hours walking about.

I tried to upload my last few blog entries at a couple of hotspots in Warnemunde but the crew members of the three ships in port were all trying to contact their families ( I assume) so I couldn't connect.

Tonight we ate in the Versailles restaurant again, went to the theatre to watch a local forklore dance group perform and now at 11 PM we are just going to sleep after standing at the rail on the promenade deck watching as  we left port.

A fabulous day .