The next day we cruised very slowly across a very still North Sea, so calm it looked like bath water. It turns out that the average speed of these ships is about 19 miles per hour but we must have been tootling along at about 10 or maybe five. After our first day at sea we did wonder if we had made a huge mistake going on this trip at all and when asked by others on the cruise we just said that the jury was out. I don't think we will ever go cruising again, certainly not on such a [View Full Entry]

---

---

"Gut Heavening Ladis and Gentumen, It is Me, Your Captain. Today ve vere in Oshlo; a beautiful beautiful city I tink you will hall agree. " It is the capital of the captain's own country and we did. At least those of us who jumped ship at 8.30 this morning and spent the next 8 hours packing in as much as we could: The Scream by Munch, The Kontiki Museum and the Viking Ship, the city itself with more sculptures than I have ever seen in one town, not just of pompous citizens and national heroes but the people of Norway [View Full Entry]

---

---

A large proportion of the passengers on this boat are ancient mariners who yearn for the sea and so spend as many weeks yes weeks of the year at sea as possible on one of the many cruises on offer around the world. For the rest of us, learning to live with life on board ship brings on strange cravings; such as the man I spotted yesterday who had grabbed the vaccum cleaner from one of the crew and was making himself feel better by hoovering the stairs. I have done my washing and our cabin looks as if it celebrating [View Full Entry]

---

---

Yesterday morning the lifeboats were lowered by means of thick steel ropes and other impressive tackle along with a boarding platform and gangplank and we were ferried across to the city of Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland. This exquisite little town remains completely unspoilt and retains many of its 14th and 15th century buildings. No ugly modern buildings have been thrown up within or beside it unlike poor Tallin so thoughtlessly abused by Bolsheviks and other morons. The mediaeval city walls still surround the town and there are literally dozens of ruined churches and cathedrals whose stone has at [View Full Entry]

---

---

Its hard to say that we were in St Petersburg because so much of it was seen through the windows of a bus and as far as I am concerned unless I can mooch into whichever street/restaurant/shop or museum I please and make some sort of connection with the people then it seems fairly pointless to be there at all. I would have got much the same impression from a travel programme on TV. Anyway the guide, a Russian called Vladimir, fixed us all up with headsets and then put his own on " Ladies and Gentlemen, can you hear me?" [View Full Entry]

---

---

Friday -The computer room on board is ajoined by a lounge where those who are not into Bingo and Ballroom dancing can retreat and listen to the trio who play classical music and other light music during the evening. Its great! I was awoken this morning by a lot of crunching from outside and through the porthole saw the scrubby banks of a river. I climbed up on to the broad windowsill and peered out only to find the tug alongside peering back in. St Petersburg. We have been moored up in the Commercial dock for some reason beside all the [View Full Entry]

---

---

As we drew out of the archipelago from Stockholm, our ship was overtaken by a cheeky ferry from the Viking line - which had it had wheels would have been on only two of them as he shot past us. This piece of impudence was like a red rag to our bull on the bridge, our good Captain, who I swear, took up the challenge and sailed to Helsinki as if the devil were after him. The waves were slaming against the sides of the boat all night and the sound of the wind was tremendous! Over and over again I [View Full Entry]

---

---

Sailing to Stockholm was a bit like cruising a supertanker along Coniston Water - for four hours there were hundreds of tiny pine covered islands on either side of the boat, their granite polished thousands of years ago by the glaciers and through which our Captain had to accept the services of a local pilot to navigate his way to the Capital of Sweden; and that trip to and fro was definitely a highlight of our trip so far. We settled down on the deck, wrapped up in ship's blankets and watched the beautiful world go by, looking a bit like [View Full Entry]

---

---

I am beginning to realise how big the world really is, an impression that is lost completely when one flies away on holiday. The journey to Stockholm is a long 36 hour slog up the Baltic sea, with no sight of land which if we could see it would be Sweden on the port side or Russia on the Starboard side. But at least the sea is still calm. Sitting in the Broadway lounge waiting for some amusement or other I turned to the old lady on my right who had just been served with a bright pink cocktail by a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ever since we left the port in Tynemouth the sea has been Mediterrranian blue and as calm as a mill pond so our crossing over the North Sea was perfect. At five this morning I decided to go up on deck in my pyjamas and see what was going on. Hardly anyone was about and our ship was creeping along the sound which leads to Copenhagen and the earlymorning sun was shining on Elsinor, which was Hamlet's castle. A lady appeared in her nighty and dressing gown looking very embarrased until I pointed out that I too was in my nightclothes. [View Full Entry]

---

---