Monday 18th September 2017 – Banchory to Copenhagen

Left at 8am for the 40-minute drive to Aberdeen Airport. Dropped the car off at Hertz and were not as impressed with them this time. They reckon we had damaged one of the alloy wheels – 90 pounds thank you very much. As it was pouring rain when we picked up the car in Cardiff I didn't check things like a small amount of damage to a wheel. Will put in a protest but won't hold my breath.

The flight from Cardiff to Amsterdam was uneventful but was late taking off. Apparently, the plane had to have something done to it before we could take off. This and the fact that we had to take the long way to Amsterdam as there were some military exercises going on meant we arrived in Amsterdam later than we had expected. We had contemplated catching the train into the city and taking at canal cruise but in the end there was no time.

By the time we found somewhere to have lunch and then proceed through security and emigration we hardly had any waiting time at all.

Got a taxi from Copenhagen Airport into the city. Arrived at our Hotel, Zleep, Copenhagen City. It doesn't compare with the character of our Dublin Hotel. Our room needed a little TLC and the ensuite is weird with the shower almost on top of the toilet.  I guess you could say adequate....

Tuesday 19th September – Copenhagen to the Norwegian Getaway

We checked Google for a breakfast spot that opened early this morning and came up with “Common Ground” as Number 2 (Number 1 didn't open until 10am) which was a kilometre walk away. Just what we needed. The walk was great the café not so great. It was obviously a spot where the hip young things hang out. Quite small and quirky but limited menu and no catering for a gluten-free breakfast despite what Trip Adviser had to say. Was an interesting breakfast watching the comings and goings in the café.  

We took the long way back to the hotel, via the Ørstedsparken (Along the line of the old fortifications that protected Copenhagen up until the 1850s, you will now find a row of green parks. All of them have lakes which are remnants of the fortification moat. The Ørstedparken is one of them - named after the Danish physicist who discovered electromagnetism: Hans Christian Oersted.)  Called into a supermarket for some fish oil tablets before heading back to the hotel to pack our bags ready for the transfer to the Norwegian Getaway. 

Called a taxi and ended up with Daniel, a born and bred local who gave us an interesting history lesson on the way to the ship – including a stop off to see the Little Mermaid along the way.

As is always the case boarding the ship took some time, with security check and the like, and when we did get on board around 12:30 our rooms were not ready. This gave us the opportunity for a bit of an explore of the ship and some lunch at the buffet meal spot – the Garden Café.  Nice views from the café over the ocean on three sides but not a lot of garden about it.

The ship is huge. Almost 4,000 guests and over 1,600 crew – 325 metres long. We had decided that we didn't need a balcony room seeing we would be on land most days and have ended up on deck 5. Nice and low ( deck 5 out of 26), so we shouldn't get much side to side movement. The room is well appointed with more than adequate room and quite a large window looking out to sea.

After settling into our room we went up on the upper deck for a dance party “get to know you” event. They even got us up dancing. For dinner, we booked into the Taste Restaurant, one of 27 dining options and very pleasant it was.

7:30 saw us at the Welcome Aboard Show where we were entertained by the various shows that are available on board. It was then a fairly early night as we have an early start this morning.

Wednesday 20th September 2017 – Berlin, Germany

Awake at 6 this morning as we have a day trip to Berlin. As we head for the Garden Café for breakfast the ship is coming into port at Warnemünde, Germany, a sea port on the Baltic near Rostock.

After breakfast we headed to the theatre where 500 of us were organised into bus groups for our tours to Berlin. We're in bus 16 of 17. Talk about an exercise and a half and as you can imagine took some time. Next it was a short walk to the train where all 500 of us have a 3½ trip to Berlin. The trip is mostly through countryside. Lots of farming of crops and sheep with some cattle. At one spot there were lots of little towers every so often. Erik, our tour guide for bus 16 told us they were hunting towers. Apparently, hunters sit in the towers and hope game will come walking by. This created quite a discussion about hunting among the 6 of us in our part of the carriage. 4 Americans, with the two males both hunters (one big game the other only pheasants). At least everyone agreed that the hunting of 'captured' animals was abhorrent.

 There's quite a concentration of alternative energy here – even greater than when we were in Germany in 2011, it would appear. Regular solar 'farms' along the verge of the railway lines and wind turbines everywhere.

On arriving in Berlin we met our guide Tatiana and off we went to Potsdam. She's an excellent guide and very informative on the history of the areas we are travelling through - from the royal history of King Fredericks and Frederick Williams to the cold war years where Berlin was divided into East and West. First stop is the Cecilienhof Palace, constructed from 1914 to 1917 in the layout of an English Tudor manor house. Cecilienhof was the last palace built by the House of Hohenzollern that ruled the Kingdom of Prussia and the German Empire until the end of World War I. It is famous for having been the location of the Potsdam Conference in 1945, in which the leaders of the Soviet Union (Stalin), the United Kingdom (Churchill) and the United States (Truman) made important decisions affecting the shape of post World War II Europe and Asia. Quite an unassuming building with a most interesting history.

Lunch was a little down the road where we were treated to a “typical” German “peasant” lunch of sausage, potato and cabbage – and a beer of course.

After lunch we visited the Palace of Sanssouci, the summer palace of Frederick the Great. Again fascinating history of the interaction between Frederick and his father and the huge impact he had on Germany at the time.

The palace was designed/built by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff between 1745 and 1747 to fulfill King Frederick's need for a private residence where he could relax away from the pomp and ceremony of the Berlin court. The palace's name emphasises this; it is a French phrase (sans souci), which translates as "without concerns", meaning "without worries" or "carefree", symbolising that the palace was a place for relaxation rather than a seat of power. After World War II, the palace became a tourist attraction in East Germany.  Following German reunification in 1990, Frederick's body was returned to the palace and buried in a new tomb overlooking the gardens he had created. Sanssouci and its extensive gardens became a World Heritage Site in 1990.

From Potsdam we headed into Berlin and spent the rest of the afternoon looking at Cold war Germany: Bridge of Glienicke (popular spy exchange spot), the remnants of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie; as well as the Brandenburg Gate; and Reichstag, now the centre of Government in Germany since it's reunification.

 A very full day on site seeing in Potsdam and Berlin before getting back on the train for the long journey back to Warnemünde. Well worth the trip and Erik and Tatiana were both excellent.

Back at the port we had to go through the palaver of security checks, X raying luggage etc. before getting back on the ship. A very late dinner (9:30pm I think) at the Garden Café and then off to bed.

Thursday 21st September 2017 – At Sea

A nice easy day today. A late breakfast. Time to have a look around the ship. A Spanish lunch, coffee, that sort of thing – and a rest in the afternoon.

Dinner at Taste where they ran around ensuring a gluten and dairy free meal for Jill. Even pre-booked dinner for tomorrow night so they can cook specifically for her needs. Also discovered a deal where you buy a bottle of wine and they will keep the half bottle we don’t drink for tomorrow.

An early night tonight as we are catching up on rest ready for the two very busy days in St Petersburg on Saturday and Sunday. Tallinn tomorrow.

Friday 22nd September 2017 – Tallinn, Estonia

Tallinn today but things are not as rushed. We're not on an organised tour and there's no transport needed.

Breakfast this morning is in Moderna – not as crowded as the Garden Café but not the range either. We headed off walking to the Old Town around 9am. It was pretty inclement so raincoats and beanie were the way to go. Considerably colder here too.

It was about a 15-minute walk to the gates of the old town – quite an easy walk despite the fact that it began to rain as we entered the gates of the walled city. Fortunately, the rain didn't last too long. The old town was built in the 13th - 16th Century when Tallinn (or Reval as it was then called) was a thriving member of the Hanseatic trade league. 

Tallinn looks fairly prosperous by the look of the cars parked in the street (including a couple of Porsche Panoramas). Must do a bit of research on how they make money. It wouldn't all be from Cruise ships I'm sure. 

We had a pleasant wander around the streets, past St Olav's – a 14th Century church once considered to be the tallest building in the world and finishing up at Town Hall Square. The Town Hall is the best preserved Gothic Town Hall in Northern Europe – built 1402-1404. Coffee time so we found a coffee shop which also had Wi-Fi which was a bonus. We hadn't bothered with Wi-Fi on the ship after reports that it was hopeless and I couldn't get their app to work at any rate.

 We headed out through to front entrance of the city and then along the wall to St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral – quite a spectacular and imposing building built by the Russian Orthodox church in 1900.

After a little shopping (including a 10 stage Matrioshka doll and a couple of T-shirts and) we ended up at Hellemann's tower. This three-story tower and 200m section of the wall is open to the public (for 3 euro) and gives a pretty good indication of what the wall was like, although I guess it has changed considerably from when it was built in the 14th Century.

The first wall around Tallinn was ordered to be constructed by Margaret Sambiria in 1265 and for that reason, it was known as the Margaret Wall. This wall was less than 5 metres tall and about 1.5 metres thick at its base. Since that time it has been enlarged and strengthened. The walls and the many gates are still largely extant today. This is one of the reasons that Tallinn's old town became a World Heritage Site. The walls were enlarged in the fourteenth century, and citizens of Tallinn were required to turn out for guard duty, which meant to wear their armour and demonstrate their readiness to face off invaders.

It was past one o'clock by this stage so we decided to head back to the ship for a late lunch and a rest. We're pretty impressed with Tallinn's old town!

A show tonight in the theatre – Burn the Floor, a dance session set in a Latin American style. How they managed to keep up the pace for the hour of the program ceases to amaze, particularly when the girls were dancing in high heels. A pretty amazing show.

Saturday 23rd September 2017 – St Petersburg, Russia

We had another early start this morning. Needed to be in the theatre to be organised at 6:45 am so it was a 5:30 start for breakfast.

As was the case with the Berlin tour, there were a lot of us going ashore in organised tours today. An organised tour is the only way we could go ashore as Visas are required in Russia and are not that easy to obtain - there is an exemption for organised tour groups. Going through emigration was a long drawn out process. Each person took forever to process. We had been warned on the ship that this was the case so I guess things were not too bad.

Outside we met our guide for the two days we were to be in St Petersburg, Katya who turned out to be quite a gem. Very clear English and quite a sense of humour. When not involved with tours she spends her time as an interpreter.

Our first appointment for the day was at the Hermitage Museum, the largest museum in Russia and what many consider as the most prestigious museum in the world. As we had a little time up our sleeve we started with a drive around St Petersburg, a photo stop outside the Church of the Savior on Blood (Church of the Spilled Blood)/

The Church of the Savior on Blood without its scaffolding

This church was built on the site where Emperor Alexander II was fatally wounded by political nihilists in 1881. On March 13, as Tsar Alexander's carriage passed along the embankment, a grenade thrown by an anarchist conspirator exploded. The tsar, shaken but unhurt, got out of the carriage and started to remonstrate with the presumed culprit. A second conspirator took the chance to throw another bomb, killing himself and mortally wounding the tsar. The tsar, bleeding heavily, was taken back to the Winter Palace, where he died a few hours later. The construction was funded by the imperial family and began in 1883 during the reign of Alexander III and completed during the reign of Nicholas II in 1907. The church is prominently situated along the Griboedov Canal and is currently being restored so lots of scaffolding etc around it at the moment.

Before heading off to the Hermitage we even had time for a coffee at Starbucks – A$7.20 a cup with soy milk thank you very much.

 At the Hermitage (The second-largest museum in the world) Katya proved to be an excellent guide. What she didn't know about the Hermitage wasn't worth knowing I'm sure. What an amazing place and I know we only just touched the surface in our couple of hours there. The Hermitage was founded in 1764 when Empress Catherine the Great acquired an impressive collection of paintings from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky and has been open to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise over three million items including the largest collection of paintings in the world.

 

 

 

The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors. Apart from them, the Menshikov Palace, Museum of Porcelain, Storage Facility at Staraya Derevnya, and the eastern wing of the General Staff Building are also part of the museum.

Next stop was lunch at a banquet hall in the city – an unusual building in what appeared to be the basement of a building. Along with our shot of Vodka and wine we had a salad starter and then a chicken and potato dish followed by ice cream. Not sure how authentic Russian that might be.

After lunch, it was a stop off at the Spit of Vasilievsky Island for views of the city.  St Petersburg (situated on the Neva River), was founded by Tsar Peter the Great in 1703. On 1 September 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, on 26 January 1924 to Leningrad, and on 7 September 1991 back to Saint Petersburg.  Between 1713 and 1728 and in 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of Imperial Russia. In 1918, the central government bodies moved to Moscow, which is about 625 kilometres to the south-east.

After a little shopping at a souvenir shop, we headed to St Peter and Paul Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox cathedral located inside the Peter and Paul Fortress. It is the first and oldest landmark in St. Petersburg, built between 1712 and 1733 on Hare Island along the Neva River.

Both the cathedral and the fortress were originally built under Peter the Great and designed by Domenico Trezzini. The cathedral's bell tower is the world's tallest Orthodox bell tower. Since the belfry is not standalone, but an integral part of the main building, the cathedral is sometimes considered the highest Orthodox Church in the world.  The cathedral houses the remains of almost all the Russian emperors and empresses from Peter the Great to Nicholas II and his family, who were finally laid to rest in July 1998. Among the emperors and empresses buried here was Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia for 34 years.

As we came out of the Cathedral we were treated to a very loud helicopter landing outside. You could take a ride over St Petersburg if you had a spare US$500 according to Katya. The helicopter looked pretty old to me – probably X military from Cold War days.

We were back to the ship around 4:30 and then had to face the slowness of emigration once again to get out of Russia. To think we have to do that all over again tomorrow!!  A bit of a rest before dinner, tonight in the Buffet, as we did not know what time we might get back. At 9 pm it was off to the Theatre for a night of Russian music and dance. The dancing was pretty impressive but the singing not so. There was one female singer whose voice just grated. Was worth a watch all the same.

Sunday, 24th September 2017 – St Petersburg, Russia Day 2

Another early start. Breakfasted and to the bus by 7:30am. Fortunately, customs was not as officious today. Apparently, once you are in the system it is easier to process. We did have a couple in front of us that they didn't want to let through, however. They had to stand aside and wait for someone else to come and see them. Not sure how they would have got on.

We're in the countryside today, south of St Petersburg. First stop was Catherine Palace about 40 minutes drive out of St Petersburg. Was interesting to see the number of canals (Peter the Great had intended a lot more) and the crisscrossing of roads to accommodate.

Catherine Palace originated in 1717 when Catherine I of Russia hired German architect Johann-Friedrich Braunstein to construct a summer palace for her pleasure. In 1733, Empress Elizabeth commissioned Mikhail Zemtsov and Andrei Kvasov to expand the Catherine Palace. Empress Elizabeth, however, found her mother's residence outdated and incommodious and in May 1752 asked her court architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli to demolish the old structure and replace it with a much grander edifice in a flamboyant Rococo style. Construction lasted for four years, and on 30 July 1756, the architect presented the brand-new 325-meter-long palace to the Empress.  More than 100 kilograms of gold were used to gild the sophisticated stucco façade and numerous statues erected on the roof.  In front of the palace, a great formal garden was laid out.   Upon Catherine's death in 1796, the palace was abandoned in favour of Pavlovsk Palace. Subsequent monarchs preferred to reside in the nearby Alexander Palace. When the German forces retreated after the siege of Leningrad during World War II, they intentionally destroyed the residence leaving only the hollow shell of the palace behind. Prior to World War II, Soviet archivists managed to document a fair amount of the interior, which proved of great importance in reconstructing the palace. Although the largest part of the reconstruction was completed in time for the Tercentenary of St. Petersburg in 2003, much work is still required to restore the palace to its former glory.

Once again, we were the first people into Catherine Palace as they had opened early for the Cruise ships. Even then we had quite a wait to get in. Also once again there was lots of security – no backpacks or coats and we also had to put covers over our shoes.

Of particular interest was Katya's description of how the Palace was damaged during World War II and its restoration – some of it paid for by the German Government. We finished with a walk through the gardens back to our bus and then on to lunch.

Lunch was at another banquet hall with a similar meal to yesterday – a potato salad starter, onion soup then a beef stroganoff and mashed potato – all a bit bland. We did get our glass of wine and shot of vodka as well.

Back on the bus, we headed back to the Bay of Finland to Peterhof and the Grand Palace and Grounds. Same requirements here. No coats or backpacks, shoe covers and in addition – no photos inside. Versailles was the inspiration for Peter the Great's desire to build an imperial palace in the suburbs of his new city.   Peterhof - which means "Peter's Court" in German - became the site for the Tsar's Monplaisir Palace, and then of the original Grand Palace. The estate was equally popular with Peter's daughter, Empress Elizabeth, who ordered the expansion of the Grand Palace and greatly extended the park and the famous system of fountains, including the truly spectacular Grand Cascade. Improvements to the park continued throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Catherine the Great, after leaving her own mark on the park, moved the court to Pushkin, but Peterhof once again became the official Imperial Residence in the reign of Nicholas I, who ordered the building of the modest Cottage Palace in 1826. Like Catherine Palace and almost all St. Petersburg's suburban estates, Peterhof was ravaged by German troops during the Second World War. It was, however, one of the first to be resurrected and, thanks to the work of military engineers as well as over 1,000 volunteers, the Lower Park opened to the public in 1945 and the facades of the Grand Palace were restored in 1952.

After seeing the decadence of the royal family in Russia and the way the Russian people were treated one can understand why the Russian Revolution happened. It's just a shame that they didn't get the same outcome in Russia as they did in France (for example).  Katya was quite open about how things are in Russia today and not too much of it is good. Corruption, in particular, is a huge issue. I guess there is a lesson here about the differentiation between rich and poor, something that is becoming an increasing issue in the western world.

Most of the drive back to the ship was on the expressway. You would have to say that the road system here in St Petersburg is first class and this applies to city streets as well – most are quite wide. I guess this is because St Petersburg is a fairly modern city, with a history only from 1703 and that many of the streets were initially intended to be canals.

Back on the ship for an early tea. We were sitting in the dining room at the back of the ship when we weighed anchor and headed for Helsinki. An early night tonight.

Monday 25th September 2017 – Helsinki, Finland

Today wasn't quite so rushed. No tour, just a Hop On Hop Off bus around Helsinki. We hopped off fairly early into the route and went for a wander through the city to the Market Square and the Harbour area. The first thing we found was an Aussie Bar.  Thought it might be a good coffee spot but not open at this time of day.  We also found a very unusual public toilet along the way. A multi-gender urinal – a large stainless steel basin around ankle height. You learn something every day......

We found our way to the Senate Square. The Senate building, built in 1822 is a pretty impressive building, even without the gold touches we have seen for the last couple of days. A statue of Emperor Alexander II is located in the centre of the square. The statue, erected in 1894, was built to commemorate his re-establishment of the Diet of Finland in 1863 as well as his initiation of several reforms that increased Finland's autonomy from Russia. 

Had a look at the market and the harbour. We were very impressed with the variety of mushrooms on sale as well as the variety of berries.

Although now the capital of Finland, Helsinki was founded in A.D. 1550 by King Gustav Vasa of Sweden as a trading post to compete with Tallinn to the south in Estonia, which was Danish at that time. Its growth was slow until the establishment of Sveaborg (nowadays Suomenlinna) Maritime Fortress in the front of Helsinki in the middle of 18th century. In 1809, Finland was annexed by Russia during a war of that period and the capital of Finland moved from Turku to Helsinki in 1812. The Czar felt the Grand Duchy of Finland needed a capital of grand proportions. The architects Johan Albrecht Ehrenström, a native Finn, and Carl Ludwig Engel, from Germany, were given the task of rebuilding Helsinki in the Empire style. This can be seen today around the Lutheran Cathedral, which was completed in 1852. The same style, and even architects, is also a part of Saint Petersburg's history. Though thoroughly a Nordic capital, Helsinki today reflects the influences gained from the Western and Eastern cultures.

It's interesting that that Russian influence when it was rebuilt by the tsars of Russia along the lines of a miniature St. Petersburg, resulting in it playing that role in many Cold War movies. Today, Helsinki pulls off the trick of being something of an international metropolis while still retaining a small-town feel despite its population of over 604,000.

After a cup of coffee, we jumped back on the HOHO for part of the circuit to the Rock Church (Temppeliaukio Church), a Lutheran church built directly into solid rock.  The church was designed by architects and brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen and opened in 1969.  Apparently, the rough rock walls mean the acoustics are amazing and it often gets used for musical concerts.

Back on the bus to complete the circuit and head back to the ship for a late lunch. An earlier day today and a snooze in the afternoon.

Dinner once again at the Garden Café before heading to the theatre for a show - “Million Dollar Quartet” and what a great show it was. It told the story of the famed recording session that brought together Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins for the first and only time.