STOCKHOLM Jill and Nicholas, Jill’s son who acts as chauffeur, meet us at the pier. Jill’s father and Marion’s mother were childhood friends in the UK. This is the third or fourth time that Marion and Jill have met but they are as close as cousins. We drive to the “Old Town” and wander the medieval lanes. There are few tourists out this early but soon the narrow streets will be impassable. Timing is everything! The buildings are beautifully maintained and the décor is sometimes whimsical. We pass the Academy where the Nobel prizes are awarded except for [View Full Entry]

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THE HERMITAGE The museum complex known as the Hermitage consists of five buildings. The first is the Winter Palace built by Peter the Great but never lived in by him. Empress Elizabeth was it’s first Royal resident. The Palace is in the Baroque style so loved by Elizabeth, with grand staircases and elaborately gilded walls and painted ceilings. Catherine the Great was Elizabeth’s daughter-in-law and a great art collector. She commissioned agents all over Europe to purchase collections as they came to market. Her first acquisition consisted of 250 pieces that had been own [View Full Entry]

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THE BALLET After a quick shower, change of clothes and a snack, it was back on the bus for what was supposed to be a fifteen minute ride to the Musical Comedy Theater to see Swan. Our driver, one of three, took the route with the traffic jams. Moscow was playing St. Petersburg at the soccer stadium and the roads were clogged. Despite going on the sidewalk at points we were late on arrival and the performance had begun. Surprisingly, they sat us. We had received seat assignments on the bus but now the ushers were placing us in any available. [View Full Entry]

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St. Petersburg - Day one. It will be difficult to describe the city of St. Petersburg without the overuse of “awesome”,” beautiful”, “spectacular” and other superlatives. It is a city of contrasts and it is vibrant and busy. As our tour bus leaves the port we see huge apartment blocks built in the Soviet era. Laundry can be seen hanging in front of the windows and some of the windows are covered with newspaper and plywood. The cement is crumbling and it is a depressing welcome, all the more so since the weather is cloudy and threatens rain. Shortly w [View Full Entry]

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Tallinn, Estonia Yippee!!!! Marion and John are onboard. And the luggage is here too. Once they settled in, we left to explore Tallinn. The city has been an important commercial port throughout its long history. It is located fifty miles from Helsinki, Finland and many Finns come across by ferry to party and pick up cheap liquor. Tonight, Madonna will be performing so we expect to see Madonna fans as we tour. We board a Hop-on-Hop off bus, HOHO, and ride through the modern lower town. The weather is sunny and Tallinn sparkles. The real gem is the Upper Town, an [View Full Entry]

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8/1 Awoke early and wrote my blog and enjoyed a breakfast buffet before leaving for the port. The Eurodam is the newest and largest vessel in the fleet. I was checked in and on board by 11:45 and directed to the dinning room for lunch. Met Alison from Toronto who is on CruiseCritic and Madelyn and Gerry from Michigan. All three were exhausted as they flow in last night and just arrived this AM. Just confirmed my decision to come across one day early. Sitting in the Crow’s Nest and enjoying the view of the harbor while all around me passengers [View Full Entry]

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July 30-31 Flying east into morning is a strange experience. Our plane was full and the seats so close together that I was trapped the minute the person in from pushed her seat back. While an eight hour flight should have provided enough time for a good sleep, the fact that I couldn’t move made sleeping impossible and napping an iffy situation. Still, as we flew past Gander and near Iceland, the sky remained light and the remnant colors of sunset were always at the horizon. It seems that lately I have been blessed with flying in the “nursery”. On this [View Full Entry]

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Napier On February 3, 1931 at 10:43 am, the world shifted for the citizens of a sleepy little town on the hills of eastern New Zealand. An earthquake measuring 7.9 leveled the town and the broken gas lines ignited fires that roared across the rubble. More than 250 people were killed, crushed under the rubble or burned to death in the fire. The earth rose up 3 meters and what was once a harbor became in an instant a fertile plain. Once the shock was over the town with the help of the NZ government started to rebuild. Since it was [View Full Entry]

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Picton OK. Enough with the weather! A SE Arctic wind that keeps the temperatures low and the rains coming is haunting us. That didn’t dampen our welcome by the local population where each passenger going ashore was presented with a small boutonniere. Since we carry approximately 1600 passengers, the work that went into this lovely greeting is extraordinary. Today I head to Ships Cove where Captain Cook first landed in 1770 and then returned again and again as it provided everything he needed to reprovision and careen the vessel. A natural spring provided fresh water and the Ma [View Full Entry]

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Christchurch Awoke to another blustery day, and off to the Botanic Gardens. The Flower Festival starts tomorrow. The gardens and the city were well prepared for the event decked out in flags and flowers. I wandered through the garden enjoying the sounds of birds and fragrance of beautiful plants and flowers. The river Avon meanders through the city and the gardens. Tourists were enjoying a “punt ride” on the river, poled by a fellow in suspenders and a boater. Very picturesque. I noticed something flying through the air and discovered the lads at the adjacent Christ Colleg [View Full Entry]

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