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Heading home! We arrived in good time from the ship. We had some difficulty getting some of our luggage. However, all was taken care of and here we are. Most of us are checking our list of items we want to bring home. Just knowing we are on our way home is a good feeling. The journey of the Baltic 11/Team USA is coming to a close and since Internet access is free, I pulled out my laptop (i.e. BIG RED) and recorded our last thoughts about our adventure.
The Teague Family flew directly home. Jan and Jack will stay one night with me in Dallas and I will take them to the airport early Monday morning to fly home. Special thanks to Ron, Erwin and Jered for taking care of things at my home. I am blessed to have each of you in my life! My last thought as I complete this blog…Jan W said it best: We carry home the sunshine in our souls! Thank you God for your blessings and God Bless America! P.S. The next adventure is in the works!!! hahaha
The city was founded in 1621 by King Gustavus of Sweden. A fortress was needed to be built and the King hired the Dutch to design a defensive canal system. The influence was so great that there was even talk about making Dutch the official language. The Scottish hired folks that settled in Gothenburg who also left their mark and accent. In the 18th century, the city became a wealthy center for maritime trade, and later went from building ships to manufacturing cars. Volvo is still one of the largest employers in town. Lots of parks and gardens—10% of the city is green. Lisberg Amusement Park attracts visitors of all ages to one of the world’s biggest and most thrilling wooden roller coasters. Jan W and Shirley and Lou and Mona went on the Gothenburg City Highlights Tour. Jan W said she could live here, except for the winters would be too cold. The people of Gothenburg are kind and very helpful to visitors. They love their coffee, chocolate and exercise. Biking is a major source of transportation. They visited the botanical gardens for a photo stop. Overall the highlights of the city were very interesting and beautiful. This was the last city to visit as our cruise came to an end. At 6:00 PM, we all gathered in the formal dining area for our last group meal of the cruise. This was a special occasion as we honored our favorite group leader, Shirley Hudson. Shirley facilitated crossing all of the T's and dotting all of the I’s to ensure our group was taken care of. Karen T presented Shirley with handwritten notes from all of us proclaiming our appreciation for what she had done. We toasted our appreciation to Shirley4Travel with red and white wine. After a wonderful dinner, we had our group picture made with our wonderful staff who made each dinner a dining delight—which made us all of feel like "Royal Kings and Queens". Thank you Shirley for making our dreams of a life time come true with our cruise of The Baltic Sea on The Brilliance of The Seas!
Tallinn, Estonia It is amazing how the medieval fortress wall in the old town of Tallinn is still intact. The shops and restaurants blend in with the old architecture. Jan W and I walked all the way to the top of the city. Many steps and the roads are narrow and made of cobble stone. Not easy even with the best of walking shoes. At the top, we could again view the fortress wall and we discovered the church of Alexander Nevsky. We also found a Greek Orthodox Church. The views are awesome. You just have to come to experience it. The weather was perfect--blue sky, contrasting green trees and sunshine! We were only in port for 8 hours. The time change has got us all confused, both body and mind! It was a wonderful gathering in the formal dining room for all 11 of us this evening. Again, I was blessed with a retirement party at sea. We celebrated with red and white wine, cake, toasts to good health and wonderful fellowship. After dinner, there was a live aerial show of Jack and The Bean Stock. I did video it and also took still pictures. After the show, we went and played cards. This has been a wonderful social gathering to bring us closure each evening. Tonight, they had a special late production in the theater—a singer from the UK. He sang wonderfully including songs from the great old artists including Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, Sammy Davis , Jr., Roy Orbison, and Tony Bennett...just to name a few. Because of the time change it was after midnight before we got to our room. Special thanks to Shirley for organizing this event and to all my friends who made it a special night in my life. I am very blessed! Good night or good morning as we are sailing onto our next port of call. Wednesday, August 28, we will have a free day sailing on the sea and get some rest and caught up on our blogging!
St. Petersburg, Russia (Day 2) Afternoon
Nola, Jan, Jan (Great Mother), Lou, Shirley and Mona toured the rivers and canals of St. Petersburg and Yussupov Palace. On the night of December 16, 1916, Grigori Rasputin was murdered prior to the revolutionary events of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Yussupov family was very rich and close friends of the Romanovs—the Tsar of Russia. Felix Yussupov was believed to be actually richer than the Tsar. The palace décor was very rich and ostentatious using the best of everything at the time. To indicate the opulence, Felix had his own guilded theater built within the palace. In the music room, we were treated to singing by an a cappella men’s ensemble to show the sound acoustics. It was amazing. Several of us bought their CD, which was actually recorded in this room. It is amazing how this type of construction so many years ago could produce this type of sound. We boarded an open deck boat and cruised the Moyka Canal. Moyka is translated from a Russian verb meaning "to wash" and in the early 19th century, women would come here to wash their clothes. From there we continued to cruise into the Neva River. The Neva River it is the longest river in St. Petersburg. The reason there are canals in St. Petersburg is because the the Tsar of Russia wanted St. Petersburg to resemble Venice, Italy. St. Petersburg is also known as the Venice of The North. The weather today was blue sky and lots of clouds and sun! The temperature today was 70. Just to make it very clear...we have been told by several tour guides that there are approximately 60 sunny days in a year in St. Petersburg. We have been blessed with two of the sunny days!!!!
St. Petersburg, Russia (Day 1) This tour allowed us to see the city’s best landmarks. We stopped at St. Isaac’s Square, dominated by the majestic Saint Isaac Cathedral (1818-1858) which has the fourth largest dome in the world. We did not go in—just spent a few minutes taking pictures. We continued our bus tour to the St. Peters and Paul Fortress territory that included several interesting buildings and the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul’s. The location of the fortress was selected by Peter the Great who had the mindset to place an outpost on the island in the Neva River Delta. This in time became the nucleus of the future city of St. Petersburg. Military buildings inside housed the Supreme Criminal Court and held political prisoners. The fortress never served a direct military purpose, since no enemy ever made it as far as its walls. It was used a political prison and torture-chamber. The main building within the fortress is the St. Peter and Paul Cathedral. We did not go inside. I found out that when you do a panoramic tour, it does not include entering the buildings. The cathedral is the imperial burial vault. The tomb of Peter the Great and others are buried there. In 1998, the remains of the last Russian Emperor, Nicholas II, and the various members of his family who were shot to death in Ekaterinburg in 1918 , were buried in the cathedral. Rostral Column: Light House built on the bridge of Neva River (1805-1810). There are four of them built around the fortress territory. You can see the buildings of the Hermitage from the fortress river banks. The weather was wonderful. It was just awesome to see everything glistening in the sunshine and reflecting in the water. We were told that it had rained all week before we came. Also, there are only 60 sunny days in St. Petersburg, and so far we were experiencing one of them. As the morning moved on, we were at The Church of The Spilled Blood. We did not go inside today; however, we do have a tour planned for tomorrow. This church was built by the son of Emperor Alexander II. Alexander II was murdered on the site where the church was built. I look forward to seeing the inside tomorrow as the outside is fantastic. It took 24 years to build the church (1883-1907). We were told the church was closed during the time religion was not allowed in Russia and this church was used to store vegetables. The second tour of the day was a life experience: 3.5 hour metro ride and visit to the Kuznechny Market. Mona, Nola, Lou, Jan W. and Shirley did this tour. We were driven to the underground subway. It is considered one of the best in the world for its efficiency, cleanliness and its architecture. It is also built very deep underground. A very fast moving escalator just kept going deeper and deeper. It must have been at least a 3-5 min. ride. This is because of the marsh land that St. Petersburg is built on. New York needs to come and take a lesson of what has been done here. It is very clean. The interior design is different in each of the stations—simple and impressive. We all were glued to our guide as we did not want to get lost. She did a very good job taking care of us. The trains are fast! We were on the subway for about 15 minutes. Walking through the station was an experience. When we exited the station we walked for about five minutes and entered the Kuznechny Market. It was simple, and clean. We were told most of the produce comes from Southern Russia and local areas surrounding St. Petersburg. It is very expensive for the farmers to bring their produce to sell here. We are blessed to live in America. There were older ladies selling their flowers or produce outside to make extra money. When they retired, they only get around $300.00 a month to live on. It was good to see this side of the city—everyday people trying to make a life for themselves. After the market we walked along the streets and listened to our guide talk about daily life. We were ready to get on our bus. We had to get back to port to catch our 3rd tour. Third tour of the day: 2.5 hour evening river cruise with folkloric show. Everyone did this one! St. Petersburg is often called the Venice of the North. The city is situated on 42 islands and more than 60 small rivers and canals crisscross the city in various directions. The main waterway of St. Petersburg is the Neva Riva. We boarded a large flat bottom boat with an upper (outside) deck and a lower (inside) deck. The first thing they told us—do not stand up when the boat is approaching the bridge, or you will have to have your head carried aboard on the ship!!! That is very true. When we went under the bridges, there was very little clearance. Shirley had an experience with this. She was taking pictures and did not realize the bridge was close and she hit the ground fast when she saw the bridge coming. She was just shocked that it happened so fast. Thankfully she did not get hurt, but she did almost experience incontinence!!!! On our cruise we saw the magnificent waterfront which included Vasilievsky Island, Winter Palace and Hermitage buildings and many more. It was a treat. Downstairs in the boat, a small professional company of folk singers and musicians performed Russian songs. They were in traditional costumes. We were served champagne and vodka. Shirley and I had a vodka shot (after the near encounter with the bridge). The main singer of the show got some of our friends engaged in the Russian songs. It was very relaxing and fun.
Helsinki, Finland The weather here is great! Everyone went their separate ways today. Jan W took a bicycle tour of the city and the coastline. Her favorite thing is riding through the parks and watching people doing water sports. I took a walking tour of the city and special highlights. One of the highlights was seeing and going into the Uspenski Cathedral, also known as The Rock Church. It is carved out of solid rock. The dome spans 70 feet and is covered on the interior by 15 miles of Finnish copper wire. The church is located in a neighborhood and is a working church. It is very popular to get married in this church. As we were waiting to enter the church, we witnessed a wedding party coming out—the groom was in the military and they made an arch of swords as the bride and groom came out of the church. There are sculptures of art as you walk through the parks—it is mandatory by law that when developers build something, they must create a green space and art. Bikes rule in Finland. There are biking paths everywhere. We walked through the central rail station, art/performing arts building and ended up at the Lutheran Church Cathedral. This was supposed to be a 1.5 mile walk. I know it was at least 3 miles. This is what my feet told me! Lou did a walking tour of the city, also. Mona did a day trip to Porvoo. This was a day of adventure and exploring Helsinki as far as our interests and feet could carry us. Shirley took the Helsinki/Porvoo tour with lunch. Highlights were the shipyard, Embassy Park, Market Square, Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral and the Presidential Palace. There was a photo stop at the Lutheran Cathedral to take pictures. It is a beautiful white church with huge columns and hundreds of stairs leading to the entrance. After leaving the city the bus drove to the community of Sipoo to the site of an old church dating back to the 15th century. Lunch was served at Kiala Manor/Distillery in the portion of the building that was formerly used to store kegs of beer. It had beautiful red bricks with low arched ceilings and the ambiance was very old world. The city of Porvoo dates back to 1346 and is the second oldest city in Finland. The cobblestone streets are lined with colored wooden buildings and shops and Sophie J’s cousin was seen walking the streets! There is an old bridge where a couple were having their wedding photos taken. After leaving Porvoo, we drove to the Rock Church in Helsinki. It is carved from solid rock and is topped with a copper dome. The architect/builder wanted to build this church above ground but the surrounding neighbors protested. He decided to build it underground by blasting out the stone and creating a really unique church that has natural light from above. We saw another bride and groom leaving the church after their wedding. This is the time of year when the most weddings take place.
Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm is a beautiful city and is the capital of Sweden. Sweden is made up of 14 islands and was founded by King Eric around 1397. Today there were seven cruise ships docked in the harbor, with about 15,000 tourists who were on tour buses. Tourism is big! It is a very clean city. It is also well noted for the Noble Prize nominations and awards. Larson was our tour guide and Hakan was our driver. Both were wonderful. We started out taking photos of Stockholm from a view point above where we docked. Coming into the harbor, the captain did a U-turn in the harbor and backed in the ship. It looked so simple. Our tour consisted of driving to Sigtuna, the oldest medieval town/settlement in Sweden. At one time, it was also was the capital of Sweden. It is total Christian. The town is the same as it was laid out between 100-200 AD. There are several ruins of buildings and churches within the township. We walked up the narrow streets. Of course, now there are modern buildings with shops and small businesses. It is located on a beautiful lake. Larson was able to share much of Sigtuna’s history, which despite being such a little settlement has made a sufficient impact on the development of Sweden. Near the shore of the lake is what they call a Rune Stone. These stones go back as far as 100-200 AD. They are believed to be grave marker or markers for boundary lines. These stones are found at several places within the town. We were there for about an hour. Then we drove toward Stockholm to view the city. We ate lunch on the front steps of the museum where the selection is made for the Nobel Prize of Literature. We got our lunch at a wonderful bakery across the courtyard. It was just like in the movies, everyone was out walking and sitting eating lunch. Stockholm is also the home of the Swedish writer, Stieg Larsson. He wrote a series of books including, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. We drove by the flat where he used to live. Stockholm is home to many famous and wealthy people. Also, I want to add, bicycles rule the road!!! We also visited the museum which houses the Vasa war ship of 1628. It was a magnificent ship. However, at the time, the king kept changing the design of the ship, and it became overloaded with decorative emblems and 60 brass cannons. When it finally launched, it was only able to sail a short way into the harbor before and it sank—it was too heavy. It remained under the water for over 300 years before being discovered in the early 1960’s, when it was salvaged and brought up from the harbor. Shirley and Jan (Great Mother) toured three islands. Vaxholm, Varmdo island reaches the most distance of the islands in the Baltic Sea. They visited a working farm where lunch was served at an old renovated barn, dating from the later part of the 19th century. They also visited Rindo, and Gustavsberg. Gustavsberg is known for its china factory. They visited the porcelain museum and some antique stores.
Jan and W.R.'s 60th Anniversay!
Copenhagen
Cruising at Sea
Bon Voyage! When we arrived at the port, Brilliance of The Seas was there with all of her majestic ambiance. W.R. made a statement that it was too big to sail or move! We had no problems checking in and boarding the ship. We had our mandatory emergency practice drill—six short whistles and one long whistle is the code to move to our assigned places on deck. I tried on the life vest inside of our cabin. It has a whistle on it and a light. We did not have to wear them to the drill. Finally around 7:00 PM the ship started moving from the dock. Our dinner time for our group of 11 is at 6:00 PM at table 408. The food is fantastic! Everyone seems to be in good spirits and satisfied with their rooms. Our room can sleep three and also has a balcony. We feel like Royal Princesses standing on our balcony looking out over the ocean! We are blessed. Good night from somewhere in the Northern Sea!
Howdy from London! London is very interesting and 48 hours is not enough time. However, we have done and seen lots and most of all have had fun. Our hotel, the Mercure Paddington, is in the Paddington district within the City of Westminster, in central London. We are close to both Hyde Park and Kensington Palace, and I did have fish and chips at St. Stevens Tavern and Pub not far from the Thames River. We will leave the hotel early in the morning to go Victoria Station to catch the shuttle for a 3 hour drive to Harwich, where we will board the ship. Good night from London!
Today is the Day!
The Adventure Begins: History of Putting Together Baltic Cruise Summer 2012 June 2012 August 2012 Coming soon with God's Blessings I will continue to update as our departure time approaches. |
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Fredensborg Castle
Mona and Lou sharing dessert
