And today we are starting with a Hop On bus right from the port. So exciting! Beautiful! Tree lined streets. Sunshine and blue skies.

Major department store Stokmann, it takes up a full city block and up, as well as several layers below the street. They say if you can’t get it there, you don’t need it! Lol

We did a hop on hop off bus around the route and then back to the Rock Church. It is a very unusual structure built deep in stone, however is very bright from natural light. Very peaceful and lovely.

Then walked downtown and through the streets. Stopped for an iced decaf coffee with sugar free vanilla and soy at the local Starbucks in the base of Stockmanns. Onward to look in windows of high fashion shops. One window all decked in black and white, lines and dots dresses and tights. Very fun, and fine style. International European fashions … People sitting round small tables at pubs and cafes on the street, sipping wine and or coffee in the heat of the sun on this warm afternoon in the capital of Finland.

We walked to the large outdoor market … Fish for sale, raw and freshly cooked with side plates of veggies, fries and little round potatoes. Trinkets, silver crafted into lovely jewelry, knitted warm winter sock slippers, mitts and hats …. Leather and fur. Fun to walk and look through the fares.

Back to the bus after picking up some Prosecco and red wine, as well as local peppermint schnapps from the lower floor of the Stockmanns …. And then to the ship. Souvenir and local fabric designers set up outside the ship in the covered area. I stop to check out the wares and then boarding for a day at sea.

Another very find day in port, with our new friends. Jan and Joanne from the Womens Travel Club … And Maggie and Glen from Liverpool who also sit at our table each evening. The six of us hung out together all day.

We enjoy a lovely dinner with them as well in addition to the four sisters from London who also sit at our table for ten. Lovely stories of the last few days of touring.

Good night, my friends

Pamela

Sunny again! We are told by our tour guide that this is very unusual for this warm sun this time of year. 98% humidity. I find it very pleasant here and very much enjoy the sunshine. We are in tour group 10 today, St Petersburg Explorer. A map, an interactive pen, and an hour for the first stop.

St Isaacs Cathedral, Hotel Astoria, monument to Nicholas 1, blue bridge, the Bronze Horseman monument to Peter 1 and the Alexandrovsky building. Total walk 1.8 km in one hour. All accounted for. Sunny and still cool in the morning. Our tour guide gave brief information of the area.

Stop two. 3.3 km, 2 hours to explore on our own. Field of Mars, Marble Palace, and several lovely gardens. Highlights included Spilled Blood Cathedral, museum of fine arts, St Michael castle and gardens. What it must have been like to be a girl and to frolic and play also to be courted in these gardens?

Stop 3′ 4.6 km… Nevsky Prospect includes Alexandrinsky Theater (UNESCO site), monument to Catherine, bridges, Russian museum, Church of Spilled Blood, winter canal. National Library, Catholic Church of St Catherine, chocolate museum …. The Metro, familiar Subway, Burger King, McDonalds, and Starbucks. Instead of crossing some roads there are underground sub bridges through busy corners. Even stores under ground. Big malls in very old buildings.

Presently walking Nevsky Prospect … Large shopping street. Posting from Starbucks in St Petersburg Russia,Love my life!

A one hour water canal boat trip up to and including the major canal, River Neva. This water all freezes in November for winter. We see ice breakers and bridges that draw up during high flood times.

Back to the coach and back to ship. We leave tonight for Helsinki Finland. Will have a great chat with our table mates tonight and compare stories. It was good to see this amazing and beautiful city, full of stories of the past.

Wish you were here,
love Pamela

Day two St Petersburg

Sunny again! We are told by our tour guide that this is very unusual for this warm sun this time of year. 98% humidity. I find it very pleasant here and very much enjoy the sunshine. We are in tour group 10 today, St Petersburg Explorer. A map, an interactive pen, and an hour for the first stop.

St Isaacs Cathedral, Hotel Astoria, monument to Nicholas 1, blue bridge, the Bronze Horseman monument to Peter 1 and the Alexandrovsky building. Total walk 1.8 km in one hour. All accounted for. Sunny and still cool in the morning. Our tour guide gave brief information of the area.

Stop two. 4.6 km, 2 hours to explore on our own. Highlights included Spilled Blood Cathedral, museum of fine arts, St Michael castle and gardens. What it must have been like to be a girl and to frolic and play also to be courted in these gardens?

Third stop, 3 hours to walk along Nevsky Prospect, a long shopping Street.

Alexandrinsky Theater, monument to Catherine, bridges, Russian museum,

Presently walking Nevisky Prospect … Large shopping street. Posting from Starbucks in St Petersburg Russia,Love my life!

Day two St Peteersburg

Sunny again! We are told by our tour guide that this is very unusual for this warm sun this time of year. 98% humidity. I find it very pleasant here and very much enjoy the sunshine. We are in tour group 10 today, St Petersburg Explorer. A map, an interactive pen, and an hour for the first stop.

St Isaacs Cathedral, Hotel Astoria, monument to Nicholas 1, blue bridge, the Bronze Horseman monument to Peter 1 and the Alexandrovsky building. Total walk 1.8 km in one hour. All accounted for. Sunny and still cool in the morning. Our tour guide gave brief information of the area.

Stop two. 4.6 km, 2 hours to explore on our own. Highlights included Spilled Blood Cathedral, museum of fine arts, St Michael castle and gardens. What it must have been like to be a girl and to frolic and play also to be courted in these gardens?

Alexandrinsky Theater, monument to Catherine, bridges, Russian museum, Church of Spilled Blood

Presently walking Nevisky Prospect … Large shopping street. Posting from Starbucks in St Petersburg Russia,Love my life!

On the Bus, in Russia

We are on the same coach as our British dinner mates, the other couple. He is a police person and she a social worker. They are truly beautiful people you would notice if they walked by. They have adult children and still are very much a romantic and affectionate couple. Handsome, fashionably dressed, very polite and great conversation folks for Steve as they are well read and know lots of trivia too! And I recognize several other people that I have seen around the ship. Three busses loaded with us, leaving 15 minutes late. We are off ……. Daria is our tour guide.

We already passed McDonalds and a Wine Store! Not so different from us! Hot sunny day and all local people wearing down jackets and long pants, hats even some of them and hoodies. All in sweaters and or jackets. Not like in Victoria! Daria explained that fall has come here, mornings and evenings have changed to cool and yet they are having Indian Summer.

Neva River is the reason for the city. Along the roadway, horse riding classes for nobility and aristocracy and also Vodka Museum.

3 million pieces of art. We saw so many originals…. Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet, Leonardo da Vinci, Raffael, Rembrandt, Michelangelo and so many more. What an amazing day!

And we are about to be called for our coach ride to the Hermitage. The tour is from 2 pm through to 545 pm today. We could end up back here for our 6 pm dining time ….. Or not. Most of our table mates are on longer full day tours so won’t be joining us for dinner either.

We are milling around in the Queens Room with brown stickers on our clothes indicating the tour bus we will be attached to, once the guides and buses arrive for us.

I am loving the art around the ship. Paintings of days gone by, very large photographs of very famous people adorn the walls. The colours of carpet include very rich reds, navies and golds. Romantic paintings of couples and of course a few of women traveling around the world together … Reminders of this fabulous Womens Travel Club Meetup group that I am part of.

The buzz can be overheard, mostly in British accents and people talk about what they anticipate from the afternoon. Some people have saved a lifetime and had this as their bucket list .. Some, like me, had an opportunity to go on this cruise and then have done research of the pending ports of call. This cruise is rich in cultural history. Several countries invite our ship to stop in at their port, St Petersburg today.

It is kind of exciting really, preparing to see such an historic place and very foreign country. This city that was once also known as Petrograd and Leningrad. Today it is famed all over the world for palaces and riches, history and conflict. It is a huge port city, in the top four largest cities in the world. I expected something different from here …. We see a very large industrial port.

I am open and flexible, anticipation of the cultural explosion before us. Greeting this day with a bit of excitement really, and now it has arrived. Having time to draft a blog entry is an added bonus.

The Hermitage has over a thousand rooms and hallways filled with art and history. What will we see, I wonder? What will attract my attention? What of the journey from here to there? It promises to be busy with all the other cruise ships in port as well! I can see why an overnight in this port is so popular, so there is more opportunity to see many more historic sites.

I am also enjoying the brilliant sunshine and bright blue sky above. The tone is that of happy travellers, optimism and excitement to see what few on our planet get to experience, aside of course from the millions who live here.

There is some kind of sailing ship regatta going on outside. A cluster of white sails in one general area gathering and a few scattered around. So beautiful between the brilliant sea and sky.

Some passengers are just getting back on the ship after taking advantage of the early morning excursions to see the city. And there are a few laying around the ship writing for their evening excursions and or who are not planning to get off the ship today at all. I enjoyed chatting with a a few of my fellow passengers while I laid out by the pool for an hour between meals.

They are calling Brown ten now, and eleven. We are brown 12 …… Soon to be called.

Ciao for now, I will try to keep up
On the bus, wish you were here!

Love Pamela

Greetings from the port at St Petersburg!

Also in port are the Royal Princess, Oceania Nautica, one of the Regent Seven Seas, and a Costa ship. Busy port and number four of the largest by area, cities in the world, after Moscow, London, Paris. Have now been to three of these, perhaps not as likely to venture to Moscow. Today we have a tour to the Hermitage… and tomorrow an all day explore of the city with a guide, and an interactive map.

The weather continues to shine bright sun on the sea, and blue skies surround. I was able to spend some time up on deck yesterday, a sea day. Today a short while as we will head out to see the sights just after lunch.

Wish you were here!

Ciao …

Pamela

The last few nights on the ship we have enjoyed dancing to the three piece bands called Synergy. Great to dance to, sounds and melodies from the ages.

As well singers and musicians have performed during the evening after dinner show. Last evening Jacinta was the songstress. Very emotional and sensitive in her song choices. With tears in her eyes she sang selections such as Danny Boy, and the tune Fontaine sings in Les Mis… “I had a dream” …. And then a tune with a story from the perspective of a woman who gives birth to twins and due to circumstances has to give one a way and raises the other. The youngsters grow up and meet, then end up in the forces, and die in war. The news gets to the mom and this is her song. It was a moving piece.

Tonight the musician played guitar, fiddle and piano as well as a mouth organ. Almost all his songs I knew and enjoyed being played by him. He played Hallelujah with such passion. He played television western themes, he sang the Don McLean song about Vincent, Starry StarryNight and did a fabulous rendition of Thew Devil Went Down to Georgia and a medley of classical tunes.

The Golden Lion Pub is a gathering place after dinner for the women and other couple from our table, for trivia and some bevies and laughs. It really is a fun group, the ten of us.

We have been losing an hour a night, on top of the original loss of time for me, so I am still trying to catch up with sleep. Oh well, the show must go on!

All is well on this ship,

Love and wish you were here,

Pamela
Xoxox

In search for Olde Towne

Stockholm Sweden looks like a metropolis with many old buildings complete with ground floor shops like we have. Zara, Asics, McDonalds. We see train tracks through town and many tourist hop on busses. We find cross walks … And we stop at McDonalds in search of free wifi and a water closet…. It has only the WC which I am grateful for ….. On ward

I picked up some postcards, stamps and a flag for grandchildren. I write and post the cards from all ports along my trips. Also I have started them on a collection of flags.

My eldest daughter on e lived here as a nanny one year about 10 years ago, so I am thrilled to be walking where she once has been. What a treat.

The information visitor shop is well located and has free internet as well as pay washrooms. Interesting difference from other places I have been.

It is beautiful and clean and we spent most of our walking time in Old Town. No other purchases, however some very unique shops!

Back to the ship in plenty of time to get some fries, have a seat listening to music and then we enjoyed the sail away party on deck. Setting sail for St Petersburg.

Sweden, Similar to BC Coastline

Good morning, gluten tag …. Or ? In Swedish? Out walking the deck at very early hour before the sun is entirely up. Sun bright and warm sparkling off the water. I am walking the promenade on the ship. One of the very best common areas to view our passage. Islands of Sweden on each side, as we go down the channel. We seem to be following a large cruiseship of some European origin, as I have never seen this one previously.

People running by, walking, in circles doing their laps to stay fit despite the rich and wonderful never ending buffet that is floating around us. The food has been wonderful and only second to the service, efficient, polite, predicting our every need. We have very attentive wait staff at our table for ten and we are all moving together throughout the evening, last night Karaoke! Earlier it was trivia in the pub and then always followed by chancing in the Queens Room or dance floor at Hemispheres on tenth floor. Four sisters from Liverpool, two gals from Meetup Womens Travel Club, another couple from United Kingdom and us. What laughs we have had. Last night the eldest sister, Ena, and Glenn of the UK couple sang a duet, “I got you babe” in the Golden Lion Pub.

We have slowed as we entered the narrow channel and I found a beautiful wooden bench to enjoy the warmth of the sun and to write to you. I have taken pictures of the homes, cottages and saunas that dot the coastlines. Brightly painted they really shine in the morning rays. Very well manicured lawns that I can see. Places to play and small boats tethered to wooden docks reaching in to the sea.

I love cruising. This is actually the best part of the day, early morning for vista viewing. How fortunate for the bright sun to light the way. The shore is so close I can almost reach out and touch the swans, I offer them a greeting of peace as we sail quietly by.

Now landed and tethered to the dock, we are gathering our local currency, passports and some credit cards for going a shore. My plan is to get postcards and flags for grandsons and maybe other items for their mom, who nannied here once a very long time ago.

More later, wish you were here.

Ciao,
Pamela
Coastline