That's it! We are home and reunited with the dogs. A great trip and it's going to be a bit of a shock having to actually do something rather than being continually waited on. A very stress free, relaxing and worthwhile time. Thanks to those of you who followed our trip, and particularly to those that posted us a message. It's been fun. [View Full Entry]

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Doing nothing at all here, ridiculously lazy although the weather is still very warm and sunny. [View Full Entry]

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An extremely early start today, we got up at 4.30am for sunrise and the scenic sail in to Stockholm. It was pretty, but not sure it was worth the early start. It did mean, however that we were ready to jump ashore at 7.30am as soon as the ship docked and we walked into the outskirts of Stockholm. Our first destination of the day was the Vasa museum. The Vasa was an oak ship that sunk on her maiden voyage out of Stockholm harbour in 1628, but was salvaged in 1961. The ship now stands inside the museum (ship in a [View Full Entry]

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Another blue skies day with plenty of sunshine in the Baltics. We roamed around the medieval city of Tallinn, a UNESCO world heritage site. At times it felt as though we were walking around a large open air museum. The cobbled streets, and pastel coloured town houses with a number of churches dotted around. Large wooden doors ornately decorated and decorated shutters are commonplace. Our first stop was The Church of the Virgin Mary built in 1219 by the Danes. This was our favourite church so far plain simple and white, with a colour coordinated interior - the organ, pulpit and [View Full Entry]

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Heading back towards home, we finally claimed back one of the three hours that we have lost so far. After a couple of hectic days touring in Russia we had a relaxing morning on the sun deck making the most of the blue skies and sunshine. After lunch we went off on our cycling tour of Helsinki. The trip was on Finnish design Jopo bikes - single speed and pedal brakes with a basket on the front, and we were all kitted out in regulation helmets and high visibility vests. At least both alex and I managed to avoid the pink [View Full Entry]

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After two days of a Russian guide talking in my ear (radio mike and headsets!), I feel that I may almost know something about the great historic city of St Petersburg. For a city that’s barely 300 years old its undergone more change than could be imagined. Our travels have taken us into two opulent cathedrals. The Church on Spilled Blood whose entire interior (wall, ceiling, pillars) is mosaic - 7000 square metres of scenes from the old testament and plenty of gold. Outside the church has many turrets and orbs also of mosaic. If I understood correctly, the church was [View Full Entry]

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Morning! Following another lazy day at sea yesterday we have arrived in St Petersburg. Guess What? Yep! A band. A six piece russian brass band and drummer madly playing lively tunes as we docked and the first herds of people took off into St Petersburg. This time we are docked in a cargo port, so its not pretty - a tin shed, and hundreds of crates, forklifts and cranes. The city is a 30 minute drive away and we will head in later, followed by a trip back in to the ballet later! Yesterday included photography class number 2 with Matt [View Full Entry]

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Despite it being close to midnight and another early start tomorrow, we can’t possibly go to sleep. Firstly its still light out (white nights), and we have to tell you about our fantastic night at the ballet. Swan Lake. As we entered the exquisite theatre, I heard myself mutter those infamous words “Tell Billy his family are here” !! (Billy Elliott). First off we had amazing seats, front row, well for five minutes before we got ousted. Anyway, our actual seats were better with a great view of the stage. Although the St Petersburg dance company were away on tour, we [View Full Entry]

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The brave explorers today ventured into Rostock, Germany a 40 minute train and tram ride. First stop St Mary’s Church. A 5705 pipe, ornate floor to ceiling organ, renaissance style pulpit and a early astronomical clock (1472) which has calculated Easter dates until the year 2017!! A browse around the remaining town sites city gates, botanical gardens, University Square. Two fantastic shops: a bike shop where Alex could have brought home 4 bikes, and the best shoe shop where if they had my size I’d have spent out!! We took the train back into Warnemunde - the beach town [View Full Entry]

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Tonight’s sail away from Warnemunde had all the razzmatazz of the movies. Well, OK not quite bands and bunting, but we did have music, boats alongside sounding their horns and a quayside crowd cheering, whistling and waving us on our way. Fantastic! I even spotted a young girl waving a white handkerchief, and on one of the boats a man was attempting a Mexican wave all by himself. This was definitely the send off I’d been expecting all along. To top it off we sailed into the sunset. [View Full Entry]

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