Clocks went back an hour as we sail toward Helsinki, Finland. We arrived at port at 8:00, had breakfast in our room.
We left at 9:30 for our Helsinki by Land and Sea Tour. There was a light drizzle as we left but it cleared quickly and the temperature was about 74 degrees. We toured the Helsinki archipelago for 1 1/2 hours. We viewed many highlights included the Suomenlina Fortress. The land portion of the tour included a stop at Market Square. The food smelled delicious and the fruits and vegetables were just beautiful. I bought a flag of Finland at the market and then headed back to the bus. The tour continued around the city with stops at the Senate Square, where we saw a military band playing, and at Sibelius Park to see the sculpture which looked like a pipe organ.
We returned to the ship, had lunch at the Lido, and went to our room for a nap. We got up to see Samantha make a marzipan rose. The rose was not pretty and poor Samantha is not a great demonstrator. We left and went back to napping.
We had drinks in our room and dinner in the dining room. Tonight I had Double Baked Cheese Soufflé, Chilled Coconut Nutmeg Soup, and Lamb Loin with Artichokes and Red Wine Kalamata Olive Sauce. Lois had the Seafood Louis, Roasted Shallot and Butternut Squash Soup, and Quail with Apricot Bread Stuffing. For dessert I had Sacher Torte and Lois had the Master Chef Rudi's "Premiere," a white chocolate chef's "toque" filled with sweetly delicate milk chocolate mousse and decorated with macerated berries.
The evening show was the Moscow Magic Show. It was a husband and wife team that performed very well. After the main stage show, the Filipino Crew performed several folk dances and sang songs from their country. Very nice evening of entertainment.
Friday, July 5, 2013
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Thursday, July 4, 2013
Thursday, July 4th, St. Petersburg
It is another beautiful day, sunny and 79 degrees. We went to the dining room for a late brunch before leaving at 1:00.
As we leave the ship we are required to go through Russian Immigration. The officers do not smile or acknowledge you are even there. It seems to be the thing to talk about, we were told on the ship by Destination Specialist Ian and also by all of our tour guides over the two-day stay in Russia.
Today our excursions was St. Petersburg Waterways and Church of the Spilled Blood. Tania was our tour guide today. The boat had interior and exterior seating, we chose exterior. We travelled the waterways of St Petersburg viewing the beautiful buildings and sites. As we travelled along, a young man was running. He ran from bridge to bridge and would wave to us and do flips now and again. He made the trip very entertaining along the way. We went by the Peter and Paul Fortress which has a beach. Unbelievably there were people swimming in the water which I imagine was very cold.
Our next stop was the Church of the Spilled Blood. This beautiful church has mosaics inside and out. The church was packed with tour groups, but it was spectacular.
We returned to the ship about 5. We left port about 6 and went to the Crows Nest to listen to the "sail away" commentary. Ian was so bad and we couldn't get a drink so we went to our Neptune Lounge for snacks and to our room for drinks. We went down to the Hudson Room (along with everyone else on the ship) for the Grand Russian Bazaar. I bought a Nativity ornament set and Lois won the free prize....a chocolate candy bar!
Dinner was at 9 in the dining room. The waiters talked Lois into two appetizers so I had them also. We had the Smoked Hot Salmon with Lentils and Apple-Horseradish and the Corn Pancakes with Dill-Orange and Cured Salmon. Have to say the waiters recommendation of the Smoked Salmon was the better choice. Lois had the Garden Bounty Salad and I had the Dutch Green Pea Soup. For the entrée Lois had the Grilled Tuna and Haricots Verts and I had the Prime Rib of Beef au Jus. Lois picked the Crème Brulee and I had the Banana and Coconut Cream Trifle.
We headed to the stage show "Dream Park" but it was so terrible we just left and went to bed.
As we leave the ship we are required to go through Russian Immigration. The officers do not smile or acknowledge you are even there. It seems to be the thing to talk about, we were told on the ship by Destination Specialist Ian and also by all of our tour guides over the two-day stay in Russia.
Today our excursions was St. Petersburg Waterways and Church of the Spilled Blood. Tania was our tour guide today. The boat had interior and exterior seating, we chose exterior. We travelled the waterways of St Petersburg viewing the beautiful buildings and sites. As we travelled along, a young man was running. He ran from bridge to bridge and would wave to us and do flips now and again. He made the trip very entertaining along the way. We went by the Peter and Paul Fortress which has a beach. Unbelievably there were people swimming in the water which I imagine was very cold.
Our next stop was the Church of the Spilled Blood. This beautiful church has mosaics inside and out. The church was packed with tour groups, but it was spectacular.
We returned to the ship about 5. We left port about 6 and went to the Crows Nest to listen to the "sail away" commentary. Ian was so bad and we couldn't get a drink so we went to our Neptune Lounge for snacks and to our room for drinks. We went down to the Hudson Room (along with everyone else on the ship) for the Grand Russian Bazaar. I bought a Nativity ornament set and Lois won the free prize....a chocolate candy bar!
Dinner was at 9 in the dining room. The waiters talked Lois into two appetizers so I had them also. We had the Smoked Hot Salmon with Lentils and Apple-Horseradish and the Corn Pancakes with Dill-Orange and Cured Salmon. Have to say the waiters recommendation of the Smoked Salmon was the better choice. Lois had the Garden Bounty Salad and I had the Dutch Green Pea Soup. For the entrée Lois had the Grilled Tuna and Haricots Verts and I had the Prime Rib of Beef au Jus. Lois picked the Crème Brulee and I had the Banana and Coconut Cream Trifle.
We headed to the stage show "Dream Park" but it was so terrible we just left and went to bed.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Wednesday, July 3, Saint Petersburg
During the night we set the clocks forward another hour. It was sunny at about 76 degrees. We docked about 7:00.
We had an early breakfast in room and left for the Glories or St. Petersburg at 7:45 for 9 hour tour which included travel to the czar's village in Pushkin an hour South of St. Petersburg on a bus with Catherine our guide.
We toured 30 restored rooms of Catherine's summer palace. Most of the palace was destroyed by the Nazis as our guide spit out several times, they still have hundreds of rooms to restore, but the architecture was beautiful. We had a short walk through some of the fifty acres of gardens.
Lunch at Hunter's Lodge was Borscht, Chicken, Rice, corn and peas, bad wine and ice cream. It was a typical tourist menu. The borscht was the best part of the meal.
We then headed back to town for a forced march through the Hermitage which is not air-conditioned and wall-to-wall people. Catherine, as well as all the guides mentioned that if you stood by each work of art 8 seconds, 8 hours a day, every day, it would take you 8 years to see them all. The emphasis was certainly on quantity and not quality. It seems that in an attempt to look civilized Catherine would send buyers to Europe and buy whole galleries. They do have an impressive collection of Rembrandts, 25 of them. The collection is so large they lost a Van Gogh for years. However, it was poorly lit and many painting had glass over them, which made for poor viewing because of the glare.
We drug ourselves back to the ship for a quick dinner in the Rembrandt Dining Room. Appetizers were Garden Symphony with Montrachet (fancy name for salad) and Salmon Tartare with Baby Zucchini. Lois had the White Asparagus Soup with Salmon Dill and I had the Chilled Cranberry Soup followed the Seafood Cobb Salad for the Entree. Lois had the Grilled Halibut with Lemon Foam. For dessert Lois had the healthy choice of Dark Chocolate Ring, while I had the Italian Ricotta Cheesecake.
We had to depart the ship at 7pm for an Evening Folkloric Spectacular. A fascinating journey through different regions of Russia. We enjoyed the energetic dances of Don Cossacks, melodic Russian, Ukrainian and Gypsy songs. The costumes were beautiful. Sparkling wine was served during the intermission, however, it was so hot in the theater we all wanted water. The facilities are not air conditioned and the temperatures were unseasonably hot. It was a hot, crowded, and hard seated event.
We arrived back at the ship and quickly went to bed to prepare for another day of site seeing in St. Petersburg.
We had an early breakfast in room and left for the Glories or St. Petersburg at 7:45 for 9 hour tour which included travel to the czar's village in Pushkin an hour South of St. Petersburg on a bus with Catherine our guide.
We toured 30 restored rooms of Catherine's summer palace. Most of the palace was destroyed by the Nazis as our guide spit out several times, they still have hundreds of rooms to restore, but the architecture was beautiful. We had a short walk through some of the fifty acres of gardens.
Lunch at Hunter's Lodge was Borscht, Chicken, Rice, corn and peas, bad wine and ice cream. It was a typical tourist menu. The borscht was the best part of the meal.
We then headed back to town for a forced march through the Hermitage which is not air-conditioned and wall-to-wall people. Catherine, as well as all the guides mentioned that if you stood by each work of art 8 seconds, 8 hours a day, every day, it would take you 8 years to see them all. The emphasis was certainly on quantity and not quality. It seems that in an attempt to look civilized Catherine would send buyers to Europe and buy whole galleries. They do have an impressive collection of Rembrandts, 25 of them. The collection is so large they lost a Van Gogh for years. However, it was poorly lit and many painting had glass over them, which made for poor viewing because of the glare.
We drug ourselves back to the ship for a quick dinner in the Rembrandt Dining Room. Appetizers were Garden Symphony with Montrachet (fancy name for salad) and Salmon Tartare with Baby Zucchini. Lois had the White Asparagus Soup with Salmon Dill and I had the Chilled Cranberry Soup followed the Seafood Cobb Salad for the Entree. Lois had the Grilled Halibut with Lemon Foam. For dessert Lois had the healthy choice of Dark Chocolate Ring, while I had the Italian Ricotta Cheesecake.
We had to depart the ship at 7pm for an Evening Folkloric Spectacular. A fascinating journey through different regions of Russia. We enjoyed the energetic dances of Don Cossacks, melodic Russian, Ukrainian and Gypsy songs. The costumes were beautiful. Sparkling wine was served during the intermission, however, it was so hot in the theater we all wanted water. The facilities are not air conditioned and the temperatures were unseasonably hot. It was a hot, crowded, and hard seated event.
We arrived back at the ship and quickly went to bed to prepare for another day of site seeing in St. Petersburg.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Tuesday, July 2nd, Tallinn, Estonia.
When we woke up, we were already docked in Tallinn, it is a very scenic medieval walled town of hanseatic origins. We had breakfast in the dining room and left for town about 12:00. The lower town is an easy 20 minute walk from the ship following the blue line. The Old Town is divided into two parts, upper town and lower town. The town is surrounded by medieval walls and the two towns are themselves separated by a wall.
We followed Rick Steves walking tour, which was pretty efficient and easy to follow. We entered through the gate called Fat Margaret and continued to city hall. We did visit a church. The town was pretty full with tourists since there were at least four cruise ships at the docks. But it was a beautiful day. Upper town is accessed through a small tunnel between the walls.
Then we were back to the ship by 4:00 in time for the cooking demonstration by Samantha. She tried to demonstrate Pavlova, which is a meringue topped with fresh cream and fruit. She couldn't even get the bowl on the Kitchen Aid. It was so bad we left with just the recipe card.
We went shopping again since Lois' luggage didn't arrive as expected.
After cocktails in our room we went to dinner in the Rembrandt Dining Room. Appetizers at dinner I had the Oysters Rockefeller and Lois had the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail. Lois had the Salad of Arugula and Frisee and I had the Chilled Blackberry Soup. For the Entree we choose King Crab legs. Lois had the Souffle au Grand Marnier for dessert; I had the Amaretto Java Sundae.
We followed Rick Steves walking tour, which was pretty efficient and easy to follow. We entered through the gate called Fat Margaret and continued to city hall. We did visit a church. The town was pretty full with tourists since there were at least four cruise ships at the docks. But it was a beautiful day. Upper town is accessed through a small tunnel between the walls.
Then we were back to the ship by 4:00 in time for the cooking demonstration by Samantha. She tried to demonstrate Pavlova, which is a meringue topped with fresh cream and fruit. She couldn't even get the bowl on the Kitchen Aid. It was so bad we left with just the recipe card.
We went shopping again since Lois' luggage didn't arrive as expected.
After cocktails in our room we went to dinner in the Rembrandt Dining Room. Appetizers at dinner I had the Oysters Rockefeller and Lois had the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail. Lois had the Salad of Arugula and Frisee and I had the Chilled Blackberry Soup. For the Entree we choose King Crab legs. Lois had the Souffle au Grand Marnier for dessert; I had the Amaretto Java Sundae.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Monday, July 1, At Sea
We are sailing to Estonia on Canada Day. We ate early because of the time change. So we had an even longer day at sea than expected.
After breakfast in our room, we went to see Ian talk about port highlights and shore excursions. It was very informative and better than we expected, since the last time we went to one it was all about shopping. This one actually was helpful.
We finally went to our lifeboat safety at the risk of disembarkation. It was really short.
We went to the cooking show with Chef Thomas and Samantha. Samantha is recently arrived to the ship and is just really a host. Chef Thomas is from Toronto and was very good. He prepared Salmon Coulibiac, which is salmon, layered with rice, onions, and mushrooms covered in puff pastry and topped with a buerre blanc sauce...they had samples. It was good.
We then had lunch on the Lido deck.
After lunch, we went to another cooking show with Chef Thomas. He was demonstrating dishes from Le Cirque in New York. He made a lobster salad and creme brulee. They said the lobster salad would cost $69.00 at Le Cirque. It looked good, but was basically a cobb salad with lobster.
We went shopping, since Lois' suitcase hadn't arrived.
For some reason we didn't make reservations at the Rembrandt Dining Room, so we ate at the Lido again.
We did go to the stage show, called, "In Concert." The entertainment is not as good as the food.
After breakfast in our room, we went to see Ian talk about port highlights and shore excursions. It was very informative and better than we expected, since the last time we went to one it was all about shopping. This one actually was helpful.
We finally went to our lifeboat safety at the risk of disembarkation. It was really short.
We went to the cooking show with Chef Thomas and Samantha. Samantha is recently arrived to the ship and is just really a host. Chef Thomas is from Toronto and was very good. He prepared Salmon Coulibiac, which is salmon, layered with rice, onions, and mushrooms covered in puff pastry and topped with a buerre blanc sauce...they had samples. It was good.
We then had lunch on the Lido deck.
After lunch, we went to another cooking show with Chef Thomas. He was demonstrating dishes from Le Cirque in New York. He made a lobster salad and creme brulee. They said the lobster salad would cost $69.00 at Le Cirque. It looked good, but was basically a cobb salad with lobster.
We went shopping, since Lois' suitcase hadn't arrived.
For some reason we didn't make reservations at the Rembrandt Dining Room, so we ate at the Lido again.
We did go to the stage show, called, "In Concert." The entertainment is not as good as the food.
Sunday, June 30, Copenhagen
Immigration at the Copenhagen airport was just a cursory check of our passports, a stamp and a smile and we were off to baggage claim. A representative from Holland America was there with his clipboard and directed us to the baggage carousal. My bag arrived, Lois' did not. The rep was very helpful in filling out the forms, but since the next day was at sea, there is no way it will reach the ship until the next port which is Tallinn, Estonia.
We are lead through a gauntlet of people waiting for arrivals, virtually blocking the exit and unfortunately oblivious to that fact. It made getting to the HAL desk rather difficult. Somehow our names were not on the transfer list, but the lady said it didn't matter. Not an auspicious beginning! By this time we had probably been in the airport about an hour. Danes are tall...or at least those at the airport.
We then deposited our bags, or rather my bag on the double decker bus and waited at least another hour as passengers from other flights joined us. The drive to the ship was about a half hour through the center of Copenhagen. The architecture was interesting, the dock area less so. It certainly is not walkable, well not easily anyway. Check in was easy since we were the last group to board. Departure was at 5:00 and we were nearly at the 4:30 mark.
We found out later we had missed the 4:00 lifeboat drill and we had been re-scheduled for 6:00 pm. I unpacked, Lois read the piles of paperwork left in our suite. We had upgraded twice so there was some confusion on our suite amenities package, which we had cancelled...and unfortunately with that the alcohol that came with it. Our concierge, Jennesa, in the Neptune Lounge solved that problem..."just call room service" and presto, gin and tonic, rum and coke.
Somehow, we never did find our 6:00 lifeboat drill. We were looking for crowds. Sometime after that we realized we had the tardy briefing and the drill had already occurred prior to our boarding. Duh.
We were still listed for open seating in the dining room, hadn't had time to make reservations, and the line was long. We decided to hit the Lido deck buffet. It was steak night. By the time we got there, it wasn't even crowded. There was steak as well as salmon, mussels and clams, and several other entrees. We started with salad and worked our way down the serving line. It was all served as the buffets do not become self-service until after the first 48 hours, when the risk of sickness has lessened.
We returned to our room and although still light, had another glass of wine and went to bed even though it was still light. We are far enough north that it hasn't really gotten dark. The sea is very calm and there are boats everywhere. Several other cruise ships it looks like and lots of container traffic.
Time change tonight.
We are lead through a gauntlet of people waiting for arrivals, virtually blocking the exit and unfortunately oblivious to that fact. It made getting to the HAL desk rather difficult. Somehow our names were not on the transfer list, but the lady said it didn't matter. Not an auspicious beginning! By this time we had probably been in the airport about an hour. Danes are tall...or at least those at the airport.
We then deposited our bags, or rather my bag on the double decker bus and waited at least another hour as passengers from other flights joined us. The drive to the ship was about a half hour through the center of Copenhagen. The architecture was interesting, the dock area less so. It certainly is not walkable, well not easily anyway. Check in was easy since we were the last group to board. Departure was at 5:00 and we were nearly at the 4:30 mark.
We found out later we had missed the 4:00 lifeboat drill and we had been re-scheduled for 6:00 pm. I unpacked, Lois read the piles of paperwork left in our suite. We had upgraded twice so there was some confusion on our suite amenities package, which we had cancelled...and unfortunately with that the alcohol that came with it. Our concierge, Jennesa, in the Neptune Lounge solved that problem..."just call room service" and presto, gin and tonic, rum and coke.
Somehow, we never did find our 6:00 lifeboat drill. We were looking for crowds. Sometime after that we realized we had the tardy briefing and the drill had already occurred prior to our boarding. Duh.
We were still listed for open seating in the dining room, hadn't had time to make reservations, and the line was long. We decided to hit the Lido deck buffet. It was steak night. By the time we got there, it wasn't even crowded. There was steak as well as salmon, mussels and clams, and several other entrees. We started with salad and worked our way down the serving line. It was all served as the buffets do not become self-service until after the first 48 hours, when the risk of sickness has lessened.
We returned to our room and although still light, had another glass of wine and went to bed even though it was still light. We are far enough north that it hasn't really gotten dark. The sea is very calm and there are boats everywhere. Several other cruise ships it looks like and lots of container traffic.
Time change tonight.
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Saturday, June 29th, Kansas City Departure
Lois arrived in Kansas City from Killeen on time. I was at a nearby Walmart getting a couple of last minute items. Luckily her bags were checked through to Copenhagen, which made picking her up easy. We had a several hours to burn so we went to the Zona Rosa for a late lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. After lunch we shopped for a bit, just to walk around before getting on the plane.
Our plane departed 50 minutes late. It was late getting in, but everyone hurried the loading, hoping not to miss too many connecting flights, but air traffic control had other plans. The good news is that the United agent gave us boarding passes for the non-stop SAS flight to Copenhagen. Only two problems...our seats were not together and they were missing first names, both which came back to haunt us at the first security check point. We got from terminal two to terminal five in record time, we only had twenty minutes.
After security said we needed names on our tickets, it was a run back to the SAS ticket counter, then back to security. By the time we got to the gate people were boarding. By the time they figured out our seats we were almost the last people on board. The down side of sitting together is that we gave up better seats for bulkhead in steerage. It is pretty tight back here and that is where Tylenol PM is coming in!
Dinner was served a little after 11:00 pm. We had a nice salad with mixed greens and fave beans, dressed with lemon, cheese and crackers, meatballs with rice and steamed broccoli and carrots, with a tasty cheese cake with a chocolate frosting for dessert.
We were served breakfast about an hour and a half before landing. It was pretty simple: juice, coffee, yogurt with granola and a ciabatta roll with ham and cheese.
We landed at 1:10 local time, now Sunday afternoon. Lois' suitcase didn't make it out of Chicgo, or so they think. Since tomorrow is a day at sea, it will catch up to us in Estonia. There were forms to fill out. We just are taking off in the bus, it is almost 3:45. The airport is not as Rick Steves describes, and certainly not a model of organization. The check- in lines were long because of a baggage sorting issue. I hope they have that resolved before next week.
Our plane departed 50 minutes late. It was late getting in, but everyone hurried the loading, hoping not to miss too many connecting flights, but air traffic control had other plans. The good news is that the United agent gave us boarding passes for the non-stop SAS flight to Copenhagen. Only two problems...our seats were not together and they were missing first names, both which came back to haunt us at the first security check point. We got from terminal two to terminal five in record time, we only had twenty minutes.
After security said we needed names on our tickets, it was a run back to the SAS ticket counter, then back to security. By the time we got to the gate people were boarding. By the time they figured out our seats we were almost the last people on board. The down side of sitting together is that we gave up better seats for bulkhead in steerage. It is pretty tight back here and that is where Tylenol PM is coming in!
Dinner was served a little after 11:00 pm. We had a nice salad with mixed greens and fave beans, dressed with lemon, cheese and crackers, meatballs with rice and steamed broccoli and carrots, with a tasty cheese cake with a chocolate frosting for dessert.
We were served breakfast about an hour and a half before landing. It was pretty simple: juice, coffee, yogurt with granola and a ciabatta roll with ham and cheese.
We landed at 1:10 local time, now Sunday afternoon. Lois' suitcase didn't make it out of Chicgo, or so they think. Since tomorrow is a day at sea, it will catch up to us in Estonia. There were forms to fill out. We just are taking off in the bus, it is almost 3:45. The airport is not as Rick Steves describes, and certainly not a model of organization. The check- in lines were long because of a baggage sorting issue. I hope they have that resolved before next week.
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