Tallinn, St. Petersburg, and Helsinki

He Said

A very much appreciated sea day after Berlin’s marathon before we get to the 2 most anticipated and grueling days of the trip Saint Petersburg.  The day was fairly uneventful and I spent most of it reading a John Grisham book called The Litigators, I think it was on my kindle from last year, not sure, Ami picks a bunch of books and downloads them so I will have something to read that’s fresh.  She’s kind like that!! :) Anyway it’s about two lawyers, one of which has been grinding out a living chasing ambulances for 35 years and one that is trying to get rich quick suing big pharma for a cholesterol drug. A third attorney, that has solid skills and a real law degree ends up having to take this nag of a case through the process or risk being sued for malpractice.  It’s a good story and Grisham does a good job as a page turner, I was at it all day and wrapped it up late before we got into Saint P. Otherwise, just a lovely day on the ship with great, 60 degree, yes 60 degree weather; I know what you’re going through at home, my condolences.

Saint P - Day 1

We took the two day tour of Saint Petersburg and day 1 started VERY early, I want to say 5:15 for a 6:45 excursion rendezvous in the lounge.  Passport control was brutal, it took about an hour to get in to meet our tour guides, two lovely young ladies, Ole and Polle. Great attitudes, nothing was a problem, we’ll get through it, just wait we’ll see it.  And we were off, we initially went to the Yusupov Museum downtown. It was very impressive, but Ole tells us, this is nothing, when the Hermitage was created they pillaged this place and moved it all over there if it was worth anything.  I thought, wow, I can’t wait to see the Hermitage!! Actually it was the only place I truly wanted to see but everything else was just icing from my perspective. We had a fantastic meal, at which I didn’t receive any apple pie and ice cream, I chalked it up to maybe they knew I didn’t want any, Ami gave me bite so I would know if it was worth it, I hadn’t missed anything I thought.  Then it was off to St. Isaacs church, just one word, incredible, but then again words really can’t do any of these places justice, it’s just unbelievable and it has to be witnessed in person to get a true appreciation for the beauty but more importantly the scale. From there it was off to the Hermitage, two big items from my perspective, the Amber room looks fake just because nobody would decorate a room that way, and if you let a crazy person attempt to destroy a Rembrandt it takes a team of people 12 years to restore it and you can’t ever take a bottle of water into a museum again!!!  Where do these people come from, I didn’t hear what they did to him but I hope he’s still in a gulag somewhere.

But that wasn’t enough for my beloved one, she said she had to see the ballet if she was going to be here so we booked a night for the ballet, yea that’s right, 15 hours after I opened my eyes I was at the ballet, accidentally sipping champagne (Ami let me know I couldn’t drink it, otherwise I had totally forgotten) and waiting for Swan Lake.  Thank goodness, I knew how it was going to end so I could catch a few between acts and intermissions; we got back to the ship and in bed at midnight, we had day two in 6 hours. The upside, I finally found a chess set that I have been looking for for 25+ years, I bought it immediately, getting it home should be interesting.

Day 2 of Saint P.

This one, we were told was going to be an easy trek, they lied!!!  We started out with Catherine’s Palace, it was of course, just as opulent and overdone as all of the palaces we saw; I suspect none of them would have been very livable, just so stuffy, but I would have given it a shot truth be told.  The pictures don’t do it justice, but we tried!! From there it was off to my favorite, Peterhof’s gardens, the place reminded me of Versaille but on a budget. Don’t be misled, it is beautiful, but there really is no comparison. I was impressed with the water fountains and the engineering it took to run them with no pumps, gravity was it at the time.  And then it was off to our final stop, the burial location for the royals on Hare Island -- I still have no idea what it was called, some fortress in downtown, Ami called it Peter, Paul and Mary fortress, it stuck and we were glad it was finally over. Next time it’s a small tour only, we waited too long to book through Alla this time, but never again through the cruise ship, I’ll lose my mind.  Fortunately everything else is all on our own!!!

Helsinki for the day

We did our Rick Steves’ research and found we could do Helsinki on our own and that’s what we did.  His book said if you come in from the West cruise terminal you’ll need to shuttle in, there’s only one problem, you don’t know which one you’re coming in from, we walked, THE whole way, about 2 miles each way.  It was beautifully overcast and we chatted about finally being alone and on our own for the rest of the trip and we were enjoying life. The next thing we know we’re hopscotching all of the city streets because of the marathon runners that we were trying to avoid.  I immediately thought of AJ’s exploits as a runner and moved on quietly, but not without a chuckle beforehand.

We got lost a couple of times but eventually found the only place we really cared about, the esplanade and the Cafe Kapelli in Rick’s book.  We enjoyed an espresso and people watched, it’s always interesting and without knowing the language you get to interject your own dialogue into it just to spice things up, or at least I do.  We walked about 6 miles and headed back around 3:30 so we could hit the scones and work on Ami’s swimming skills!! Yep, she can swim now, she doesn’t want to believe it but she can, she just needs to work on her confidence.  

Dinner turned surreal when one at our table for 10 started talking about her funeral arrangements down to the hymns they were going to sing.  My assessment is that her husband passed away 9 years ago and she’s been waiting to die ever since, even after being married to someone else for 4 years and him going as well.  I think she’s still devastated, you can see it in her face when she talks about him, and really is ready to join him. Hopefully we’ve gotten through with that dinner topic once and for all.  Until Stockholm, enjoy the weekend!!

She Said

As I sit in my cabin sipping champagne (yes, I’m that person) and watch the ocean pass by, I feel relaxed and thankful.

Before I get started, I simply cannot be as detailed and worried about posting pictures with this entry as I was with Berlin.  I spent WAY too long with that and if I spent that much time on the last few days, I would get nothing written. If you want more pictures, check them out on Facebook.  You will get some here but not many.

Second Sea Day before St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg - Day 1

Yeah, that was a few days ago.  I do not remember what we did or what I ate any longer.  I do remember spending lots of time on and off working on that damn Berlin blog.  While I enjoyed doing that as it was a process that allowed me to distill everything I saw and experienced, it was a bit longer than I plan on spending moving forward on this blog.  I want the down time to relax too.

This was an extremely busy day.  We signed up for a 2-day tour of St. Petersburg, giving us maximum exposure to St. Petersburg and it’s many sites.  On the first day, we also pushed it and saw the ballet in the evening. We did this all through the cruise ship because to do this all on your own you had to apply for and buy a tourist visa.  This was so much easier and on day 2, we were thankful because the traffic was so bad, our tour bus did not get back to the boat until 20 minutes AFTER the boat was to set sail. Apparently, we were not the only bus to run into this problem though.

This day, we saw the following sights:  Yusupov’s Palace, St. Isaac’s Cathedral, The Hermitage, and the Church of the Spilled Blood.

We made it to The Hermitage!

What I learned the first day:

1. My knowledge of Russian History is woefully inadequate.  I could not keep everyone straight. Catherine the Great, Alexander the Great, Peter the Great (lots of Great people) Alexander I, Alexander II, except that he was assassinated while trying to help a boy who was injured during a bombing meant to assassinate Alexander II . . . Soooo, I guess they were ultimately successful.  I know this last fact because the Church of the Spilled Blood was built around the site of his death - the site is even identified in the Church itself.

Church of the Spilled Blood

2. Russians are not happy nor friendly folk.  Our first indication of this was passport control process.  It took a great deal of time and those people are not happy people.  I might even say they were angry. The lady made me very nervous as she was processing Blaise’s passport.  She kept looking down and then looking up at Blaise as if she didn’t believe he was who he said he was. And it took a long time to stamp his passport.  She did not do this glancing up and then down to the passport thing to me as she did with Blaise. It was an unnerving process.

3. Russian royalty liked to give palaces as gifts to their loved ones (confirmed on day 2 in St. Petersburg.

4. St. Petersburg is like New York - it is a city that never sleeps as evidence by the throngs of people out at 11 PM when we were riding back from the ballet.

It was a rather exhausting day!

By the time we got to the ballet, we were so tired, both of us could hardly keep our eyes open the first act.  But during the intermission and 2 glasses of champagne on the balcony of the theater, I was, surprisingly good to go.

About the ballet:  This was my first ballet ever as well as Blaise and while Blaise was, I believe fairly indifferent, I left thinking this will not be my last ballet.  The venue was incredible. We saw Swan Lake, written by St. Petersburg-educated Tchaikovsky. While, from my novice perspective, the dancers did not seem to be the A-team, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  By the end of the ballet, the dancers lack of synchronicity and precision were a bit distracting. Nevertheless I entirely loved it and I am so thankful we decided to challenge ourselves with such a long day.

We did not get to bed until well after midnight and were up and waiting for the bus by 6:30 the next day for our second day in St. Petersburg.

St. Petersburg - Day 2

This was another packed day that started at 7 AM and ended being late to the cruise ship - 20 minutes after we were to leave St. Petersburg.  Loved every minute of it. Today we started out with Catherine’s Palace including the Amber Room which has been partially reconstructed since the room (the Amber part anyway) was stolen by the Nazis in WWII and has yet to be found.

After our Russian Lunch, we headed to the Peterhof Palace where we spent a couple hours in the most amazing gardens you could imagine.  It really wasn’t the actual flora and fauna that made it amazing; it was the fountains.

What a fountain!

Then we headed to Peter and Paul fortress which I called Peter Paul and Mary fortress.  What we learned there is traditional Russian Orthodox churches have no pews - everybody stood.  And in the church located in this fortress, when royalty would attend services, they too had to stand, but they had a special  area that looked similar, yet smaller than the throne area in The Hermitage.

The place where the royalty would stand for services

What I learned my second day in St. Petersburg:

1.  In Russia, it is fashionable to give palaces as gifts. I am unsure whether Blaise truly loves me since he has never gifted me an opulent palace.

Can I have this palace please? (Peterhof's Palace)

2. Apparently we are well traveled enough that someone felt the need to ask Blaise how much to tip our tour guides for the 2 days we were in St. Petersburg.

3. I was reminded of patience and not to be annoyed with people’s simple, if not irritating ways.  I spent 2 days being particularly annoyed with this one man in our group, but when he asked Blaise how much to tip because he hasn’t really traveled much, I felt like such a bitch.  He just hadn’t traveled much. Some people save all their lives to take a trip like this and what an awful thing for me to not understand that.

Helsinki, Finland

This was a slow and relaxing day.  Blaise and I slept in and got a late start of it.  We used Rick Steves to guide our way even though we were so exhausted from the last several days, we didn’t do the majority of what he recommended.

We took a nice leisurely stroll about town, making our way to the Esplanade and to eat at a place on the Esplanade recommended by Rick.

Where we had lunch

After that, we had a relaxing stroll on the waterfront back to the ship and watched the sail boats in the harbor.

Our ship - the Celebrity Eclipse

The newest UNESCO World Heritage Site

We did have some maneuvering to do since today was the day for the Helsinki marathon.  Lots of streets blocked off for this event.

Marathoners

The big news today was my first swim lesson with Blaise.  I was very nervous. I swam! However pathetic it was. I am a swimmer. I did leave the pool wanting to get better at it.  Blaise is a very kind and patient teacher. I truly think he should teach once he retires. He remains calm and patient and has a knack for teaching.  Of course, I have known this for a while. He taught me a great deal about scripting languages and Oracle when I was first starting to learn how to write code.  I saw him and his extreme patience teaching the kiddos various things when they were younger. Being a second degree black belt, when he was younger he taught children Taekwondo.  I am sure he was great at it. I believe teaching is his gift and he should use it.

Oh, one last thing - I won nearly $200 in the casino after dinner!  And again, Dana, it was because I thought I was betting much less than I actually was.

Tomorrow

We are in Stockholm tomorrow before the next much-needed sea day.

Dana’s Food Watch

At Sea Day (the day before St. Petersburg) - Working backwards at dinner (perhaps that will jog my memory of the main course.  Dessert was chocolate cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Delores, at our table recommended it, and I have to say, it was delicious.  The chocolate cake is one of those items on the menu every night. I had a ceasar salad for my appetizer. And now, I remember my entree - branzino with creamy polenta and lentils.  I skipped the lentils - too much like the texture of beans, but the fish and polenta were tasty. The fish was extremely mild and flavorful - and that’s all I can give you description-wise on that.  Blaise had some sort of lamb that had been braised for 7 hours. I do not normally like lamb bt Blaise gave me a taste and it was delicious! Blaise was trying to eat more because he is concerned he is losing too much weight.  Or maybe that’s my concern.

First Day in St. Petersburg - We had a traditional Russian lunch of something that looked like chicken salad but didn’t have chicken in it.  It had potatoes and carrots, cubed up with other stuff and in some sort of creamy mayo sauce. Our entree was beef stroganoff with creamy mashed potatoes rather than egg noodles, the way my mom would serve it.  Dessert was their version of apple pie a la mode. It more resembled a strudel. We did not have a formal dinner since we went to the ballet so we ate the late night offerings at the Oceanview Cafe’ buffet onboard the ship at about 11:30.  Nothing special there.

Second Day in St. Petersburg - Another traditional Russian lunch consisting of greek salad (yes, traditional Russian lunch), turkey with some sort of cranberry sauce, and crispy fried potatoes.  Dessert was ice cream with strawberry sauce.

Dinner Second Day in St. Petersburg - I had a quinoa salad with raspberry AND lemon dressing, Chicken stuffed with swiss cheese and spinach in some sort of breading (Blaise had the same).  I had the same chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and a strawberry. Blaise had country pate’ for his appetizer and his dessert was his same cheese and cracker plate. Also during the day, Blaise had a couple of peanut butter cookies - sugar free, but I am thankful he is trying to eat a bit more normally so as not to lose more weight.

Dinner Evening of Helsinki - Blaise had the duck confit for appetizer, the same salmon for dinner, and the cheese and cracker plate for dessert.  Blaise said the highlight was the duck; he ate every bit of it. I had a pork spring roll with what they called “barbecue sauce.” While it was delicious, there was nothing barbecuey about it.  For my entree, I had the braised veal in what appeared to be phyllo dough. It was tender and yummy. For dessert I had a strawberry cake, which was to-die-for!