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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Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Amie and Stacy take on St Petersburg
27 June 08
Well today has been a blast! Not without a lot of SNAFU’s, but in the end it all worked out and looking back it was hilarious! :P
Amie had been on IPM all day and night, so she was really itching to get out and see the city. Since I had seen a lot of it yesterday, I felt quite comfortable getting around and all. I told her I had wanted to go to the St Nicholas Cathedral. We had passed it yesterday, but it wasn’t a stop. It is the one of the most beautiful active churches in the city. It is also the Church of the Russian Navy and they still have memorial services there for those lost at sea. I had seen many churches, but we hadn’t been inside any and I wanted to get a few things from a church that had been blessed.
So we got out to the front gate of the port (it is about a 30 min walk from the ship to the front of the port – so we took the shuttle) We had to go through more nonsense just to get out of the port; look at my crew ID, check my seaman’s discharge book etc. They had already checked it at customs right off the ship, but they had to check it again. And no one there spoke any English. Yeah, that was fun. We had a laugh about it though.
When we got out front, a few “cabbies” were waiting there. I don’t know if they are real cab drivers or not; but I felt safe enough since there were a zillion people around. So I had to bargain with him to get a price to take us to the cathedral, then to the Church of the Spilled Blood and then back to the port. Finally we agreed and off we went. There was a little confusion when we got to St Nicholas, but after a while, we straightened it out. (it was the language barrier; I should have brushed up on more of my Russian) Our guy was to wait for us for 30 mins, then he was going to take us to the Church of the Spilled Blood. He came for us on time and we got back in the car. On the way there he asked if I was British and I told him “Nyet, Rusky” he was really pleased so I figured I had a new friend. (or so I thought LOL) On the way there, I told him I needed to stop at a cash machine. Somehow we ended up over at St Isaac’s, but he swore that there was one down the block. Now from what I recalled ~ the Chuch of the Spilled Blood wasn’t all that close. I am sure we could walk it (you could walk between most of the sites if you wanted to; other than the things across the river as they were harder to get to) But then when it came time to pay, he got all cross with us and I think he got confused as to the money (Rubles, Euros, etc) and started getting angry and just kept saying “Maam, taxi ride fare now” I argued that I wasn’t paying for it, if he was leaving us there. So after a little heated argument (he kept saying “Nyet, nyet” and I felt like that coach from The Cutting Edge was going to come out and tell me to do the Pamchanko) I gave him some money and he left. So we figured what the heck, we would walk and then get another cab back. We couldn’t understand why he got so frustrated and it was a bit annoying to us, but we laughed it off after he left.
So we walked around St Isaac’s and then down the street towards the way I thought we had to go. We came across a Pizza Hut (of course!) and since neither Amie nor I had any breakfast, we decided it would be easy and cheap for lunch. (100 Rubles is $4 USD) It was quite a yummy lunch and we asked our waitress if we were heading the right way (I had a map, but it was the one from the ship, so it was VERY basic) She gave us the right direction to head to. We walked along the Moika canal and I said I wished we could do one of the boat tours. They seemed to be everywhere, but I didn’t think we would have time and although they were in the water, I didn’t see any actual docks where they would pick you up.
We sidetracked a block when we spotted a McDonalds and had to go to get a pic of the sign. :P We walked along and up to the Nevsky Prospekt; which is the main shopping street in the city. We walked along and came across a woman who was advertising the boat tours! It was only $16 USD for a one hour ride, so we decided to do it (we thought the trips were longer). It was really great and I was so excited to go under the Hermitage and out onto the River Neva before coming back in to another canal. It is amazing how many canals there are in the city. There is something like over 400 bridges or walkways over canals in the city. It is like a little Venice!
After our tour, it was only a few more blocks to the Church of the Spilled Blood. We got there and took some pictures and then wandered around the Flea Market. I was bargaining with this one guy (cute Russian too!) and I told him if he found me a cab for a good rate back to the port, I would give him the price he wanted. :P So he found us a cab for 400 rubles and off to spending I did. (It wasn’t all that much LOL but to them any money is better than none) Well when he went to take us to the taxi, it was gone. So he tried to get us another one, but the other one didn’t want to take us because there was too much traffic in the city. We only had 500 rubles between the two of us as we spent the rest of it on stuff since we weren’t going to be back here anytime soon! Uh oh. So he tried to call a taxi for us, but they wanted more money. He then offered to give us more, but still no one wanted to drive us through the traffic! We found a P&O tour bus, but it wasn’t going back to the port until 5.30 and Amie needed to be at work by then. So we figured we would keep trying. We were just about to give up and walk back to the Nevsky Prospekt, when a regular cabbie drove into the square and I offered him 400 rubles to take us back. He wanted 500 so we bargained to 450 and he got the address from our new friend (how do you NOT know where the cruise ships come in???) Anyway, that took a while! I was supposed to go over and visit Ventura at 3pm, and it was 5 after 3 when we finally got the cab! OY
I had no way to get in touch with Jacques (the Ventura MTN Manager) but I figured he would know something came up. It took over 45 mins to get back to the port because of all the traffic. But when the cabbie stopped at the port gates, we were like “Wha?!?!” since it was another 1.5km to the ship! He said he wasn’t allowed in L Amie and I just started laughing hysterically ~ I mean, could the transportation get any worse?!?! So we gave him the money and walked up the gates. There was a shuttle bus at the stop, so we went in to get cleared by Customs again; but we were going in all the wrong doors, nothing was marked. (not even in Russian!) So now we have a case of the giggles because this is just ridiculous! We just walk out the door of the Customs bldg and guess what? The bus pulls away!!!
Well now we are in all out hysterics! It is almost 4pm and we can either wait who-knows-how-long or we can walk. Luckily, a man heard us talking about it and said that at 4pm the busses run about every 10 mins since it is a shift change. Ahhh, that is better! Luckily, he was right so we hoped on and got back to the ship around 4.15pm.
St Petersburg ~ Day 2:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.b83aqo0b&x=0&y=z7v1t6&localeid=en_US
Amie went back on board to get ready for work and I jogged over to Ventura (it was next to us on the other berth) and got on board to try to find Jacques. But I will have more on that in my next post.
I enjoyed the city and the sites tremendously! I have been on the go for 2 days but it was so worth it. My feet are screaming at me to rest, so I surely will the next few days. I wasn’t able to speak any Russian other than the very basics, (please, thank you, yes, no, hello, g’bye) but I feel I did pretty good in reading it. I remember my college professor telling me that if you could remember your alphabet, you could pretty much read most things. So I was still lagging on some things, but what I didn’t remember, I picked back up. Not too bad for not having any practice in several years.
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Well today has been a blast! Not without a lot of SNAFU’s, but in the end it all worked out and looking back it was hilarious! :P
Amie had been on IPM all day and night, so she was really itching to get out and see the city. Since I had seen a lot of it yesterday, I felt quite comfortable getting around and all. I told her I had wanted to go to the St Nicholas Cathedral. We had passed it yesterday, but it wasn’t a stop. It is the one of the most beautiful active churches in the city. It is also the Church of the Russian Navy and they still have memorial services there for those lost at sea. I had seen many churches, but we hadn’t been inside any and I wanted to get a few things from a church that had been blessed.
So we got out to the front gate of the port (it is about a 30 min walk from the ship to the front of the port – so we took the shuttle) We had to go through more nonsense just to get out of the port; look at my crew ID, check my seaman’s discharge book etc. They had already checked it at customs right off the ship, but they had to check it again. And no one there spoke any English. Yeah, that was fun. We had a laugh about it though.
When we got out front, a few “cabbies” were waiting there. I don’t know if they are real cab drivers or not; but I felt safe enough since there were a zillion people around. So I had to bargain with him to get a price to take us to the cathedral, then to the Church of the Spilled Blood and then back to the port. Finally we agreed and off we went. There was a little confusion when we got to St Nicholas, but after a while, we straightened it out. (it was the language barrier; I should have brushed up on more of my Russian) Our guy was to wait for us for 30 mins, then he was going to take us to the Church of the Spilled Blood. He came for us on time and we got back in the car. On the way there he asked if I was British and I told him “Nyet, Rusky” he was really pleased so I figured I had a new friend. (or so I thought LOL) On the way there, I told him I needed to stop at a cash machine. Somehow we ended up over at St Isaac’s, but he swore that there was one down the block. Now from what I recalled ~ the Chuch of the Spilled Blood wasn’t all that close. I am sure we could walk it (you could walk between most of the sites if you wanted to; other than the things across the river as they were harder to get to) But then when it came time to pay, he got all cross with us and I think he got confused as to the money (Rubles, Euros, etc) and started getting angry and just kept saying “Maam, taxi ride fare now” I argued that I wasn’t paying for it, if he was leaving us there. So after a little heated argument (he kept saying “Nyet, nyet” and I felt like that coach from The Cutting Edge was going to come out and tell me to do the Pamchanko) I gave him some money and he left. So we figured what the heck, we would walk and then get another cab back. We couldn’t understand why he got so frustrated and it was a bit annoying to us, but we laughed it off after he left.
So we walked around St Isaac’s and then down the street towards the way I thought we had to go. We came across a Pizza Hut (of course!) and since neither Amie nor I had any breakfast, we decided it would be easy and cheap for lunch. (100 Rubles is $4 USD) It was quite a yummy lunch and we asked our waitress if we were heading the right way (I had a map, but it was the one from the ship, so it was VERY basic) She gave us the right direction to head to. We walked along the Moika canal and I said I wished we could do one of the boat tours. They seemed to be everywhere, but I didn’t think we would have time and although they were in the water, I didn’t see any actual docks where they would pick you up.
We sidetracked a block when we spotted a McDonalds and had to go to get a pic of the sign. :P We walked along and up to the Nevsky Prospekt; which is the main shopping street in the city. We walked along and came across a woman who was advertising the boat tours! It was only $16 USD for a one hour ride, so we decided to do it (we thought the trips were longer). It was really great and I was so excited to go under the Hermitage and out onto the River Neva before coming back in to another canal. It is amazing how many canals there are in the city. There is something like over 400 bridges or walkways over canals in the city. It is like a little Venice!
After our tour, it was only a few more blocks to the Church of the Spilled Blood. We got there and took some pictures and then wandered around the Flea Market. I was bargaining with this one guy (cute Russian too!) and I told him if he found me a cab for a good rate back to the port, I would give him the price he wanted. :P So he found us a cab for 400 rubles and off to spending I did. (It wasn’t all that much LOL but to them any money is better than none) Well when he went to take us to the taxi, it was gone. So he tried to get us another one, but the other one didn’t want to take us because there was too much traffic in the city. We only had 500 rubles between the two of us as we spent the rest of it on stuff since we weren’t going to be back here anytime soon! Uh oh. So he tried to call a taxi for us, but they wanted more money. He then offered to give us more, but still no one wanted to drive us through the traffic! We found a P&O tour bus, but it wasn’t going back to the port until 5.30 and Amie needed to be at work by then. So we figured we would keep trying. We were just about to give up and walk back to the Nevsky Prospekt, when a regular cabbie drove into the square and I offered him 400 rubles to take us back. He wanted 500 so we bargained to 450 and he got the address from our new friend (how do you NOT know where the cruise ships come in???) Anyway, that took a while! I was supposed to go over and visit Ventura at 3pm, and it was 5 after 3 when we finally got the cab! OY
I had no way to get in touch with Jacques (the Ventura MTN Manager) but I figured he would know something came up. It took over 45 mins to get back to the port because of all the traffic. But when the cabbie stopped at the port gates, we were like “Wha?!?!” since it was another 1.5km to the ship! He said he wasn’t allowed in L Amie and I just started laughing hysterically ~ I mean, could the transportation get any worse?!?! So we gave him the money and walked up the gates. There was a shuttle bus at the stop, so we went in to get cleared by Customs again; but we were going in all the wrong doors, nothing was marked. (not even in Russian!) So now we have a case of the giggles because this is just ridiculous! We just walk out the door of the Customs bldg and guess what? The bus pulls away!!!
Well now we are in all out hysterics! It is almost 4pm and we can either wait who-knows-how-long or we can walk. Luckily, a man heard us talking about it and said that at 4pm the busses run about every 10 mins since it is a shift change. Ahhh, that is better! Luckily, he was right so we hoped on and got back to the ship around 4.15pm.
St Petersburg ~ Day 2:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.b83aqo0b&x=0&y=z7v1t6&localeid=en_US
Amie went back on board to get ready for work and I jogged over to Ventura (it was next to us on the other berth) and got on board to try to find Jacques. But I will have more on that in my next post.
I enjoyed the city and the sites tremendously! I have been on the go for 2 days but it was so worth it. My feet are screaming at me to rest, so I surely will the next few days. I wasn’t able to speak any Russian other than the very basics, (please, thank you, yes, no, hello, g’bye) but I feel I did pretty good in reading it. I remember my college professor telling me that if you could remember your alphabet, you could pretty much read most things. So I was still lagging on some things, but what I didn’t remember, I picked back up. Not too bad for not having any practice in several years.
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Back to the Land of My Ancestry
27 June 08
Leaving St Petersburg, Russia
I have just had the BEST two days EVER!!! I just can’t believe I have been in RUSSIA!!
Ok, so I will start with yesterday; our first day in St Petersburg. I am probably going to struggle with actually writing my blog. There was so much to see, so much to learn and I am still trying to digest it all. So as they say “A picture is worth 1000 words” and I will leave it mostly to the pictures.
Got up early to “work” for a few before having to meet the tour group at 8am. (ha ha - I needed to make an appearance so I didn't get a bollocking for buggering off all day and night on tours) I got my bus-load all settled and we left a few mins early even. We headed out of the port and our guide said we were going to do the City Tour first. So basically that is consisting of driving around the city, making a few stops at some important “Kodak Spots” and then moving on. The city tour was going to take a few hours before we stopped for lunch.
We passed St Nicholas church, the Maly Theatre (where the ballet will be that evening) the Summer Palace, Peter & Paul Fortress and the Winter Circus. Had a few mins to stop at the Naval Academy, Cruiser Aurora, Resurrection Cathedral and the Church of the Spilled Blood for pictures and to walk around for a bit.
What a morning!! I had taken about over 100 pictures by the time we were done and heading to lunch at 11.45!
Had lunch at Academia; a local restaurant (pectopah) that has live entertainment. The food was excellent; A yummy salad – I think I have had it before; I will have to ask my Mother. (I think my Aunt Julia has made it) Excellent challah bread and the butter I am used to having at my Grandparents house. The main course was a nice beef stroganoff and dessert was a lemon and peach thin sponge cake. It really felt like I was back in the states, visiting my relatives and having dinner there!
After lunch we stopped at the Alexander Monument for some pictures of it as well as St Isaac’s Cathedral and the Senate buildings on the opposite side. When we finished there, we then made our way to the Winter Palace and Hermitage Museum.
The palace was amazing! Completely speechless about it, so I will let the pics do the talking. The Hermitage is attached to the Palace so you can easily go from one to the other. You will tell in some of the pictures that the rooms start to ‘tone down’ on the ornate décor as it transitions. It really reminded me of Versailles in France; with the palace and museum. Although, there was not enough space when it was built to add the gardens like Versailles has. (The Palace is built right along the Neva River)
After a few hours, when we finished that portion of the tour we went out into the Palace Square to take some pictures before going to our next stop. Our next and final stop was the State Academic Capella for a choral performance. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was moved to tears when they sang. First of all, the acoustics in the center is said to be one of the best in all of Russia and now I know why. Secondly, although it was all in Russian it was simply brilliant. I literally had tears and goose bumps! (My mother would have been bawling I am sure) I have to say I was gutted when we left and they didn’t have their gift shop open. I wanted to purchase a CD. But I am going to look online and see if I can find anything about the group.
We headed back to the coach and into rush hour traffic on the way back to the ship. It seems ‘rush hour’ starts after lunch and goes right through to dinner. Doesn’t make any sense to me, but our guide said they don’t have any large roads to go around the city, so if you want to get from one side to another, you have to go right through it. (I will mention Day 2’s debacle with such traffic in my next post) Took us over an hour to get back to the ship. I think it should have only taken about 20 mins if we didn’t have the traffic. OY!
I got back to the ship at 6 and had to rush on and to my cabin to change; I had to be getting my group at 6.30 for the ballet! I was already wiped out, but a change of clothes and a quick bite to eat upstairs would do the trick. I made it to my group on time and off we went to the coach again. Once we were on our way, I actually fell asleep on the way there; I was completely knackered!
The ride was short but we hit some traffic and got to the drop off point at about 7.45 (the show was at 8pm) but we had to hussle it on the walk over (just around the corner really). Once I got my group there, they were on their own to the seats (as everyone was scattered about) and I made my way to my box seat with the other escorts. Not sure how we managed that, but we weren’t complaining!
I didn’t bring my camera as I knew we couldn’t take any pictures and even though I could turn the flash off and be sneaky, the shutter makes that proper clicking sound, so I wouldn’t be able to get away with it. Tanya had hers and snuck a few pics, so I will take a look and see if any of them are any good. We were lucky and got to see the performance of Swan Lake!! It was only that night, so I was glad our itinerary had been changed. (If we had been staying tonight, it was a different show) It is the Rimsky-Korsakov Ballet School. I thought they were amazing; certainly not "students" in my opinion!!
St Petersburg Pictures ~ Day 1:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.3zlrvx3f&x=0&y=c9861u&localeid=en_US
Stay tuned for Day 2 .. it is definitely a little more interesting! LOL :P
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Leaving St Petersburg, Russia
I have just had the BEST two days EVER!!! I just can’t believe I have been in RUSSIA!!
Ok, so I will start with yesterday; our first day in St Petersburg. I am probably going to struggle with actually writing my blog. There was so much to see, so much to learn and I am still trying to digest it all. So as they say “A picture is worth 1000 words” and I will leave it mostly to the pictures.
Got up early to “work” for a few before having to meet the tour group at 8am. (ha ha - I needed to make an appearance so I didn't get a bollocking for buggering off all day and night on tours) I got my bus-load all settled and we left a few mins early even. We headed out of the port and our guide said we were going to do the City Tour first. So basically that is consisting of driving around the city, making a few stops at some important “Kodak Spots” and then moving on. The city tour was going to take a few hours before we stopped for lunch.
We passed St Nicholas church, the Maly Theatre (where the ballet will be that evening) the Summer Palace, Peter & Paul Fortress and the Winter Circus. Had a few mins to stop at the Naval Academy, Cruiser Aurora, Resurrection Cathedral and the Church of the Spilled Blood for pictures and to walk around for a bit.
What a morning!! I had taken about over 100 pictures by the time we were done and heading to lunch at 11.45!
Had lunch at Academia; a local restaurant (pectopah) that has live entertainment. The food was excellent; A yummy salad – I think I have had it before; I will have to ask my Mother. (I think my Aunt Julia has made it) Excellent challah bread and the butter I am used to having at my Grandparents house. The main course was a nice beef stroganoff and dessert was a lemon and peach thin sponge cake. It really felt like I was back in the states, visiting my relatives and having dinner there!
After lunch we stopped at the Alexander Monument for some pictures of it as well as St Isaac’s Cathedral and the Senate buildings on the opposite side. When we finished there, we then made our way to the Winter Palace and Hermitage Museum.
The palace was amazing! Completely speechless about it, so I will let the pics do the talking. The Hermitage is attached to the Palace so you can easily go from one to the other. You will tell in some of the pictures that the rooms start to ‘tone down’ on the ornate décor as it transitions. It really reminded me of Versailles in France; with the palace and museum. Although, there was not enough space when it was built to add the gardens like Versailles has. (The Palace is built right along the Neva River)
After a few hours, when we finished that portion of the tour we went out into the Palace Square to take some pictures before going to our next stop. Our next and final stop was the State Academic Capella for a choral performance. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was moved to tears when they sang. First of all, the acoustics in the center is said to be one of the best in all of Russia and now I know why. Secondly, although it was all in Russian it was simply brilliant. I literally had tears and goose bumps! (My mother would have been bawling I am sure) I have to say I was gutted when we left and they didn’t have their gift shop open. I wanted to purchase a CD. But I am going to look online and see if I can find anything about the group.
We headed back to the coach and into rush hour traffic on the way back to the ship. It seems ‘rush hour’ starts after lunch and goes right through to dinner. Doesn’t make any sense to me, but our guide said they don’t have any large roads to go around the city, so if you want to get from one side to another, you have to go right through it. (I will mention Day 2’s debacle with such traffic in my next post) Took us over an hour to get back to the ship. I think it should have only taken about 20 mins if we didn’t have the traffic. OY!
I got back to the ship at 6 and had to rush on and to my cabin to change; I had to be getting my group at 6.30 for the ballet! I was already wiped out, but a change of clothes and a quick bite to eat upstairs would do the trick. I made it to my group on time and off we went to the coach again. Once we were on our way, I actually fell asleep on the way there; I was completely knackered!
The ride was short but we hit some traffic and got to the drop off point at about 7.45 (the show was at 8pm) but we had to hussle it on the walk over (just around the corner really). Once I got my group there, they were on their own to the seats (as everyone was scattered about) and I made my way to my box seat with the other escorts. Not sure how we managed that, but we weren’t complaining!
I didn’t bring my camera as I knew we couldn’t take any pictures and even though I could turn the flash off and be sneaky, the shutter makes that proper clicking sound, so I wouldn’t be able to get away with it. Tanya had hers and snuck a few pics, so I will take a look and see if any of them are any good. We were lucky and got to see the performance of Swan Lake!! It was only that night, so I was glad our itinerary had been changed. (If we had been staying tonight, it was a different show) It is the Rimsky-Korsakov Ballet School. I thought they were amazing; certainly not "students" in my opinion!!
St Petersburg Pictures ~ Day 1:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.3zlrvx3f&x=0&y=c9861u&localeid=en_US
Stay tuned for Day 2 .. it is definitely a little more interesting! LOL :P
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008
I'm on my way ... my # 1 on the Must See List!
25 June 08
Leaving Helsinki, Finland
Heading to Russia!!
YAY!! We are on our way to the USSR!
Ok, I know it isn’t called that anymore .. but I am sooo excited. This is what I extended my contract for; yes, Athens and Rome were wonderful .. but Russia, this is the icing!
I got notified today that I was able to be an escort on the Grand St Petersburg tour, as well as the Ballet! I am going to be very busy tomorrow .. but that is ok, it will be so worth it.
Ok, so back to today ~ we were in Helsinki, Finland. Really nice city. The weather (thank gawd) was not raining; it was a little overcast but the sun popped out at times and really made things pretty. Pierre, Gemma, Cat, (not my Cat, a guy) Amie and I walked along the Esplanade and I said I wanted to go to the Uspensky Russian Church, which was at the end. Helsinki has a strong Russian influence due to its close proximity. (Its only 4 hours by car) Along the way was a beautiful park; it was not unlike the one in Oslo, only the weather was much nicer, so it looked better. We wandered through the fish market, with all the locals selling crafts, fruits and veggies, fish, handmade hats and gloves, etc. At the end, up on the hill was the church. It was so pretty!
We made our way up the hill and then up the steps to the church. It was a nice view from up there as well. We could see back down into the fish market as well as see the tops of the Cathedral in Senate Square. It was so nice inside and it is great to take my friends who have never been to a Russian church. Cat is Romanian, so he is close enough to Russian and celebrates all the holidays on the Julian calendar as well. So it was neat to go around the church with him and be with someone who appreciates it the way I do. Took quite a few pics in there and then lit 2 candles before I left. Made me that much more excited to get to St Petersburg tomorrow!!!
After we left the church, we walked back through the other side of the fish market and then we seemed to have lost the guys. So Amie, Gemma and I went into a few souvenir shops and then decided to go for a coffee at one of the cafes along the Esplanade. As we were wandering around some of the shops, we realized we were only a block from the Cathedral and headed over there to see it and take pics. We didn’t go in, as we were getting a little tired and “peckish” (brit-speak for hungry) so we took some pictures of it and went on. We stopped at a cute little café facing the park and had some nice hot chocolate. It was strange weather; when the sun was out, it was quite warm. But if it wasn’t, the air was quite chilly. So since the sun wasn’t out, we felt cold and ordered hot chocolates. Of course, half way through them the sun came out and then we were too warm! Go figure.
Anyway, we decided not to have anything to eat as all they had were cakes and we all agreed we didn’t need to be eating more cakes! When we finished up, we wandered down the middle of the park and back towards the shuttle bus, to head back to the ship. Took some nice pictures along the way; one is of a Summer Pole. It is the Finnish celebratory pole for the coming of the summer. It will be up all summer long and into the winter, until next summer comes when they will put up a new one. Different, but interesting.
When we got back to the port we went into the shops that were on the quay and looked around. There was this beautiful red leather jacket and it was cheap! $200 US! But it was a little snug and I didn’t like it that way. Shame too. I would have bought it. Oh well.
Helsinki pics:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.1rvtbwbv&x=0&y=so6817&localeid=en_US
So we got back on board around 4pm and I did a little wash and got my rucksack ready for tomorrow. I have to be ready for 8am, so I have to be up early! I need to stop off in the cyber for at least a few mins to check the connection, etc. before I head off for the day. So I figured I would get my money together, any info I have, charge my camera battery, etc. Then tomorrow all I need to do is get up and get dressed! I tried to nap for a little while, but I think I was too excited as I really didn’t sleep. I will surely have to go to bed early tonight; we have Clocks Forward again! Yuck! (so for those of you counting, I will be 8 hours ahead of the East Coast by the time you get up on Thursday morning)
Off to brush up on my basic Russian!
Leaving Helsinki, Finland
Heading to Russia!!
YAY!! We are on our way to the USSR!
Ok, I know it isn’t called that anymore .. but I am sooo excited. This is what I extended my contract for; yes, Athens and Rome were wonderful .. but Russia, this is the icing!
I got notified today that I was able to be an escort on the Grand St Petersburg tour, as well as the Ballet! I am going to be very busy tomorrow .. but that is ok, it will be so worth it.
Ok, so back to today ~ we were in Helsinki, Finland. Really nice city. The weather (thank gawd) was not raining; it was a little overcast but the sun popped out at times and really made things pretty. Pierre, Gemma, Cat, (not my Cat, a guy) Amie and I walked along the Esplanade and I said I wanted to go to the Uspensky Russian Church, which was at the end. Helsinki has a strong Russian influence due to its close proximity. (Its only 4 hours by car) Along the way was a beautiful park; it was not unlike the one in Oslo, only the weather was much nicer, so it looked better. We wandered through the fish market, with all the locals selling crafts, fruits and veggies, fish, handmade hats and gloves, etc. At the end, up on the hill was the church. It was so pretty!
We made our way up the hill and then up the steps to the church. It was a nice view from up there as well. We could see back down into the fish market as well as see the tops of the Cathedral in Senate Square. It was so nice inside and it is great to take my friends who have never been to a Russian church. Cat is Romanian, so he is close enough to Russian and celebrates all the holidays on the Julian calendar as well. So it was neat to go around the church with him and be with someone who appreciates it the way I do. Took quite a few pics in there and then lit 2 candles before I left. Made me that much more excited to get to St Petersburg tomorrow!!!
After we left the church, we walked back through the other side of the fish market and then we seemed to have lost the guys. So Amie, Gemma and I went into a few souvenir shops and then decided to go for a coffee at one of the cafes along the Esplanade. As we were wandering around some of the shops, we realized we were only a block from the Cathedral and headed over there to see it and take pics. We didn’t go in, as we were getting a little tired and “peckish” (brit-speak for hungry) so we took some pictures of it and went on. We stopped at a cute little café facing the park and had some nice hot chocolate. It was strange weather; when the sun was out, it was quite warm. But if it wasn’t, the air was quite chilly. So since the sun wasn’t out, we felt cold and ordered hot chocolates. Of course, half way through them the sun came out and then we were too warm! Go figure.
Anyway, we decided not to have anything to eat as all they had were cakes and we all agreed we didn’t need to be eating more cakes! When we finished up, we wandered down the middle of the park and back towards the shuttle bus, to head back to the ship. Took some nice pictures along the way; one is of a Summer Pole. It is the Finnish celebratory pole for the coming of the summer. It will be up all summer long and into the winter, until next summer comes when they will put up a new one. Different, but interesting.
When we got back to the port we went into the shops that were on the quay and looked around. There was this beautiful red leather jacket and it was cheap! $200 US! But it was a little snug and I didn’t like it that way. Shame too. I would have bought it. Oh well.
Helsinki pics:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.1rvtbwbv&x=0&y=so6817&localeid=en_US
So we got back on board around 4pm and I did a little wash and got my rucksack ready for tomorrow. I have to be ready for 8am, so I have to be up early! I need to stop off in the cyber for at least a few mins to check the connection, etc. before I head off for the day. So I figured I would get my money together, any info I have, charge my camera battery, etc. Then tomorrow all I need to do is get up and get dressed! I tried to nap for a little while, but I think I was too excited as I really didn’t sleep. I will surely have to go to bed early tonight; we have Clocks Forward again! Yuck! (so for those of you counting, I will be 8 hours ahead of the East Coast by the time you get up on Thursday morning)
Off to brush up on my basic Russian!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Unexpected Sea Day ... Booooo
24 June 08
now heading to Helsinki, Finland
Well we didn't make it into Visby; the rumours last night said we wouldn't. But I got up this morning on my port hours as usual. The deadlights were still open, so when I looked out my port hole I laughed. Actually, I think I just snorted. The swells were ridiculous and basically crashing right near my window. No way were they going to put the tenders in the water. Not to mention everyone would be sea sick. If they did run the tenders, I would have decided to stay on board. And I don't get sea sick very easily at all normally; especially not after being out here on the ship for almost 6 months! I have very good sea legs now. (of course I won't be able to walk when I am on dry land for more than a day during my leave LOL) But even I would have probably been ill.
So I went up at 8am and at 8.30 they made an announcement that they couldn't put the tenders in the water and wouldn't endanger the pax safety (they always like that) so we were leaving for Helsinki and would have another sea day instead. Good thing I went to bed early last night!!
So I have been working on my St Petersburg plans. I don't know if I can escort a tour (the one I want is way too popular) but I was able to get on as an escourt for the ballet! How amazing .. the Russian Ballet performing Swan Lake! OMG!! So I am very excited for that. I would like to be able to get on the Grand St Petersburg tour, but we will have to wait and see. I am keeping my fingers crossed. The thing I want to see the most is the Chuch of the Savior on Spilled Blood. Sounds wierd - but you all know it. (in case you don't, here it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Savior_on_Blood ) It is probably the most popular site in St Petersburg. Anything after that would be icing on the cake. I will see how it goes. We have two days there .. but I only have a day and a half as the 2nd day we are there I am going over to Ventura for a late lunch with Jacques, the MTN manager on board. We have become good pals over the last few months, so I am excited to finally meet him! (plus I will get a tour of the ship - which is the newest of the P&O fleet; only was launched in April)
I guess I could always pay for the tour if I had to ~ being in St Petersburg, I don't want to miss anything. It might be expensive, but I extended my contract for me to be able to see this city!
Tomorrow is Helsinki, so I am off to search CruiseCritic.com for things to do and what to see!
now heading to Helsinki, Finland
Well we didn't make it into Visby; the rumours last night said we wouldn't. But I got up this morning on my port hours as usual. The deadlights were still open, so when I looked out my port hole I laughed. Actually, I think I just snorted. The swells were ridiculous and basically crashing right near my window. No way were they going to put the tenders in the water. Not to mention everyone would be sea sick. If they did run the tenders, I would have decided to stay on board. And I don't get sea sick very easily at all normally; especially not after being out here on the ship for almost 6 months! I have very good sea legs now. (of course I won't be able to walk when I am on dry land for more than a day during my leave LOL) But even I would have probably been ill.
So I went up at 8am and at 8.30 they made an announcement that they couldn't put the tenders in the water and wouldn't endanger the pax safety (they always like that) so we were leaving for Helsinki and would have another sea day instead. Good thing I went to bed early last night!!
So I have been working on my St Petersburg plans. I don't know if I can escort a tour (the one I want is way too popular) but I was able to get on as an escourt for the ballet! How amazing .. the Russian Ballet performing Swan Lake! OMG!! So I am very excited for that. I would like to be able to get on the Grand St Petersburg tour, but we will have to wait and see. I am keeping my fingers crossed. The thing I want to see the most is the Chuch of the Savior on Spilled Blood. Sounds wierd - but you all know it. (in case you don't, here it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Savior_on_Blood ) It is probably the most popular site in St Petersburg. Anything after that would be icing on the cake. I will see how it goes. We have two days there .. but I only have a day and a half as the 2nd day we are there I am going over to Ventura for a late lunch with Jacques, the MTN manager on board. We have become good pals over the last few months, so I am excited to finally meet him! (plus I will get a tour of the ship - which is the newest of the P&O fleet; only was launched in April)
I guess I could always pay for the tour if I had to ~ being in St Petersburg, I don't want to miss anything. It might be expensive, but I extended my contract for me to be able to see this city!
Tomorrow is Helsinki, so I am off to search CruiseCritic.com for things to do and what to see!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Oy! What a day .. and its only half over!
23 June 08
At Sea; heading to Visby, Sweden
I am soo very frustrated right now; first off the satellite is absolute CRAP today so obviously with that comes complaining passengers. God forbid, anyone actually reads the plasma screens in here. And secondly, I don’t know if I have had it with the Brits (sorry Sam, Gill, Crissie) but these pax seem to get thicker on every cruise.
Had a guy who came in several times today to use the net; Internet kept going out so he would come back. One of my workstations is down, so when he sat at that terminal (the whole thing is off BTW) I told him that machine was not working. Would you believe when he came back later on, he sat there again? And then a freaking 3rd time?? He said the one time “oh, it isn’t fixed yet?” Yeah dude, I repaired the PC in the 15 mins that you were gone! RME!!
Now I have a pax in here that sat looking for the outlet for 10 mins before asking for help. I told her (when she asked about it before sitting at the laptop table) that it was in the cabinet. When she asked for help, she said “is it in the cupboard?” And I said yes. She said “well you didn’t say that, you said cabinet” Oh for the love of Mike! English and Americans aren’t that different that she didn’t know the cupboard was also the cabinet. There is only ONE there! Jeezus, use your freaking brain lady!
Whew! I had to get that out or I was going to throw myself overboard.
Rumor has it that tomorrow we are going to be at sea. The weather here is nasty; strong winds and rain and some rough seas too. Ventura couldn’t get into Copenhagen this morning because of it and now we aren’t supposed to get into Visby, Sweden tomorrow. I will just cry if it is another sea day. I would normally welcome it b/c it could increase revenue; however, most of the time when we have to miss ports, the pax get pissy and stop spending. Not to mention that I have no idea what the satellite will be like. Only thing could be that if the sat is good .. they might still come in. Fingers crossed!
Anyway I am posting some, ok lots of pics from the disco the other night. It was Gemma’s birthday so we all went out for some good fun. We had gotten her a cake and then we all sang to her .. then the disco got underway. The pics after the disco were from Jack’s cabin (again) since they have the biggest cabin to fit us all in. Then Clare took my camera “for a minute” and because I was so enamored with my bottle of wine, I lost track of the time she had it. So there are lots of silly pics of Clare and Gemma before I showed up to her cabin and took it back.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.3pgbpusz&x=0&y=-ed5pno&localeid=en_US
Some of them are a little "racy" so viewers beware! :)
At Sea; heading to Visby, Sweden
I am soo very frustrated right now; first off the satellite is absolute CRAP today so obviously with that comes complaining passengers. God forbid, anyone actually reads the plasma screens in here. And secondly, I don’t know if I have had it with the Brits (sorry Sam, Gill, Crissie) but these pax seem to get thicker on every cruise.
Had a guy who came in several times today to use the net; Internet kept going out so he would come back. One of my workstations is down, so when he sat at that terminal (the whole thing is off BTW) I told him that machine was not working. Would you believe when he came back later on, he sat there again? And then a freaking 3rd time?? He said the one time “oh, it isn’t fixed yet?” Yeah dude, I repaired the PC in the 15 mins that you were gone! RME!!
Now I have a pax in here that sat looking for the outlet for 10 mins before asking for help. I told her (when she asked about it before sitting at the laptop table) that it was in the cabinet. When she asked for help, she said “is it in the cupboard?” And I said yes. She said “well you didn’t say that, you said cabinet” Oh for the love of Mike! English and Americans aren’t that different that she didn’t know the cupboard was also the cabinet. There is only ONE there! Jeezus, use your freaking brain lady!
Whew! I had to get that out or I was going to throw myself overboard.
Rumor has it that tomorrow we are going to be at sea. The weather here is nasty; strong winds and rain and some rough seas too. Ventura couldn’t get into Copenhagen this morning because of it and now we aren’t supposed to get into Visby, Sweden tomorrow. I will just cry if it is another sea day. I would normally welcome it b/c it could increase revenue; however, most of the time when we have to miss ports, the pax get pissy and stop spending. Not to mention that I have no idea what the satellite will be like. Only thing could be that if the sat is good .. they might still come in. Fingers crossed!
Anyway I am posting some, ok lots of pics from the disco the other night. It was Gemma’s birthday so we all went out for some good fun. We had gotten her a cake and then we all sang to her .. then the disco got underway. The pics after the disco were from Jack’s cabin (again) since they have the biggest cabin to fit us all in. Then Clare took my camera “for a minute” and because I was so enamored with my bottle of wine, I lost track of the time she had it. So there are lots of silly pics of Clare and Gemma before I showed up to her cabin and took it back.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.3pgbpusz&x=0&y=-ed5pno&localeid=en_US
Some of them are a little "racy" so viewers beware! :)
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Just a quickie ...
22 June 08
Morning at sea
Just a quick hello - will post more later .. on our way into Oslo, Norway now and expect to get in around noon-ish. Working till then to try and get things in order for the new girl who is coming onboard by on the 28th. I have 5 days to show her as much as I can; and this job is a learn-as-you-go as things are always changing.
Will pop ashore just to see what Oslo is all about; weather is grey and chilly :(
Disco last night .. pics to follow later
Still nothing on another ship; have my eye on one that I think will be available in early Aug. So I am thinking it over and planning what to say ~ then I will email our VP and see if I can have it.
"Nothing ventured, Nothing gained"
Morning at sea
Just a quick hello - will post more later .. on our way into Oslo, Norway now and expect to get in around noon-ish. Working till then to try and get things in order for the new girl who is coming onboard by on the 28th. I have 5 days to show her as much as I can; and this job is a learn-as-you-go as things are always changing.
Will pop ashore just to see what Oslo is all about; weather is grey and chilly :(
Disco last night .. pics to follow later
Still nothing on another ship; have my eye on one that I think will be available in early Aug. So I am thinking it over and planning what to say ~ then I will email our VP and see if I can have it.
"Nothing ventured, Nothing gained"
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