Another Day .. Another Port

28 June 08
leaving Tallinn, Estonia


Jeesh, I am getting tired! We have had several port days in a row, which is rare for this ship.

Yesterday when Amie and I got back from the city, I went over to Ventura (who was docked next to us) and got onboard to see Jacques (my counterpart on that ship) I was supposed to meet him at 3, but with the taxi debacle it was almost 4.15pm by the time I got on. Oops! I tried to page him, but I think I did it wrong; then I tried to find the Cyb@Study and when I finally found it he wasn't there! Luckily I asked where the reception desk was (it is on Deck 6 .. holy moly!) and I asked one of the PSA's to page him for me. Finally he found me ... YAY!! It was sooo awesome to meet him; we chat EVERY day on Spark .. several times a day in fact. It was like meeting an old friend, even if it was really the first time we met in person.

Anyway so he took me on a quick tour of the ship; I had to be off in an hour as all pax and crew had to be on my ship by 5.30 for the 6pm sail. I took quite a few pictures; the ship is amazing!! So pretty inside! State of the art and very comtemporary. It made me really long for a BIG ship next. :( Still keeping my fingers and toes crossed!

Ventura pictures:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.8qsttqgb&x=0&y=-ea5ouw&localeid=en_US


Today we were in Tallinn, Estonia. It is the capital of this little country, that had been part of Russia at some point. Now only about 30% of the population is Russian Orthodox.

Pierre, Amie, Clare and I went ashore after our normal 11am breakfast time :) We took the shuttle into the city and then a pax told us where the main shopping street was. It was really nice there .. the old city is kind of like Dubrovnik, behind these large stone walls. But the city is not as new as Dubrovnik, as it hadn't been restored recently like Dubrovnik had. As we wandered further into the old city we noticed all the little outdoor pubs had everyone dressed in traditional costume. It was almost mideval in a way; very old world. Of course, as we were thinking that, we passed a McDonalds! LOL I tell you, there has not been one port that we haven't seen one!

We sat at one of the pubs and had a drink; Pierre had some honey beer, Clare and I had a spiced white wine and Amie had a berry currant juice. We just chilled out for a bit, then started walking around some more and eventually headed back towards the shuttle. Had to make our regular stop to McD's for dinner food and to bring some snacks back for the IPM'ers (Gemma and Tanya) Then Amie went to find some liquer for her Dad for his birthday and we all went in the "Alka" store (if that doesn't scream 'alcoholic' in whatever language, I don't know what does!) I ended up getting a bottle of Stoli vodka for $4! Nice deal :) After getting our McD's and booze, we headed back to the shuttle and back to the ship.

Tallinn, Estonia pics:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.7ltycu23&x=0&y=l85ve1&localeid=en_US


The new girl who is taking over from me got on today; her name is Christine. It seems so real now that she is here that I am really going home. I am actually not liking it (sorry to those of you who are looking forward to seeing me) I am not sure what I am going to do with myself when I get home. But I digress. I am still excited to see all of you!! xoxo

Tomorrow we are in Stockholm, Sweden; certainly looking forward to that since I have never been to Sweden (and we missed our first Swedish port of Visby, due to the bad weather)
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