Baltic Cruise

Baltic Cruise

This may have been one of our most anticipated trips since we moved to Europe, and we felt that a cruise would allow us to take advantage of this rare opportunity to see so many of cities in one trip. We took a ten day cruise on the Emerald Princess through northern Europe. We picked this cruise for several reasons, the itinerary was perfect, it hit all the cities we were interested and it fell over the right number of weekends and holidays so that Keith didn't have to take off too much work.  For such high expectations, the trip truly didn’t disappoint, it was amazing!!!  We’ll try to break this down so people can skip around to what they are interested in, the cruise itself, the cities, and some other random info:

The Cruise:

We have never cruised with Princess before and really weren't sure what to expect. The ship itself is amazing, a lot less tacky then some of the others we've been on or seen and we upgraded to a balcony room, which was totally worth it!  Unlike our Mediterranean cruise the sea and ports were amazing to watch from the comfort of our own room.  This was not your typical cruise, it was not about relaxing pool side, or soaking up the sun in the Bahamas or Caribbean, instead this was a full itinerary of sight seeing, and very cool temperatures – no need for a bathing suit on this trip.  For those looking for warmth stay away from Northern Europe at the beginning of summer, we mostly had temperatures in the high 50’s low 60’s with showers periodically.  The cruise did off a flexible dining option, which was great; you don’t feel the need to eat with 10 of your not- so-closest friends just to have a nice dinner.  One thing that was fairly dramatic on this cruise was the over 55 crowd, what's difficult to know is whether it's was the itinerary, or the cruise line that failed to attracted anyone younger. We've always been young on cruises, but the entire ship had about 15 couples under the age of 55. But when thinking about it, this is not a cruise that attracts a very young crowd, it's ten plus day off work, expensive airfare from the states, and pretty cold climates.  One fantastic program offered by the ship that we totally took advantage of was their port lecturer.  They paid a contractor to talk about each port and how to do it on your own instead of through the overpriced excursions.  We managed to get around every city other than St. Petersburg on our own, thanks to this guy and his great information.  Despite the age differences and the cool temps, the cruise really met all our desires in terms of seeing so much of Northern Europe for a reasonable price.

The Cities (highlights):

We started in Copenhagen, Denmark, despite being rainy, cold and expensive was a neat city.  One of the highlights is a fairly large amusement park / garden right in the middle of the city.  It also had an extremely charming little old town street with cafes lining the canal, each seat with its own blanket to stay warm in the cool temps.  Since Belgium really stays away from anything American, it was really funny to see tons of Seven Elevens everywhere.

Our next day was at Sea a great way to get familiar with the large ship.  We found ourselves hanging the casino mostly, they did have amazing pools and hot tubs, and an movie under the stars program but sadly it was just a bit too cold.

Stockholm, Sweden

We found Stockholm to be an easy city to do by foot.  We took a 15 minute shuttle ride from the dock into the heart of the city and set off to the main sites from there.  First stop was the city hall, which despite it's drab exterior was very interesting as it is where all of the Nobel Prizes are awarded (except the Peace Prize, which is done in Oslo).  Next, we wandered down to Gamla Stan, which is the old town heart of the city.  It's a charming little area that has the church where the Nobel Peace Prize winner delivers their acceptable speech.  It also has a beautiful sculpture of St. Peter slaying the dragon, a theme which is very popular in the Baltic area.  Finally we went by the Vasa museum which contains a perfectly preserved 17th century war ship.  It sank on its first voyage and due to the brackish water in the bay, was pulled out a few years ago in perfect condition.  It was difficult to get a good picture due to the lighting, but it was an amazing sight to see.

Helsinki, Finland

Helsinki was probably the least interesting of the cities we visited on our tour, but it was a lovely day and a nice city to walk around in.  The main attractions here were mostly churches, and the main market area.  The market is loaded with local crafts and food, with guys selling grilled fish from the boats that they just used to catch it.  We wandered the market area and the two main churches (one a Russian Orthodox church with amazing architecture)...but the most interesting thing here was the Rock Church.  This church is built underground in the area carved out of a huge bolder in the middle of the city, meaning that all of the walls of the church are rock.  Strange, but very beautiful.

St. Petersburg, Russia

We had two days in Russia and needed every minute of it to see everything.  Despite the slow growth post end of communism, the city has so many amazing things to see.  According to our tour guide, many of the Russian kings had an obsession with showing off their money and power, so the palaces and churches are simply incredible here.  The first palace that we visited was modeled after Versailles in France, and was strikingly similar in both architecture and the gardens around it.  We visited several beautiful churches, which are always beautiful in Europe.  Despite not being a museum person, I found myself really liking the Hermitage museum.  Not only was it a simply beautiful structure, the collection of artwork was simply amazing.  They had works from all of the greats...Van Gogh, Picasso, Da Vinci, and Michelangelo.  On our second day we took an early morning canal ride, and saw the city from a totally new perspective.  The city was design to be seen from water, and it really took on an entirely new feel from the boat.  We also visited the incredible Church of the Spilled Blood.  This is a traditional Russian Orthodox church, complete with the colorful bulbs at the top of the building.  At first we were both fairly frustrated with our tour guide hurrying us inside, wanting to stay out and take pictures of the awesome architecture, only to discover one of the most shocking and unique interiors we've ever seen.  On the inside, the entire church is covered from wall to wall with mosaics.  We agreed that this church ranks in the top five most amazing things we've seen.  Both days we were served great authentic meals, including Russian Caviar and Vodka, a nice touch before buttering us up for the rows and rows of Russian dolls for all us tourists, ranging from traditional to Obama and Simpsons dolls. 

Tallinn, Estonia

Tallinn is easy to overlook, and we even considered for a second staying on the boat this day...but we're sure glad that we didn't.  This amazing place is an authentic medieval city that has been mostly untouched by the wars, so it's original and in excellent condition.  There is a upper level where the nobility lived surrounded by a wall, and then the commoners lived in the lower area.  There is a great deal of former Soviet influence here, so it makes for an interesting mix when King Authur looking buildings sit next to a Russian Orthodox church.  Overall it was a small but beautiful city.

 

 

Gdansk, Poland

Gdansk was a pleasant surprise from what I was expecting.  The port town where we landed, Gdynia, was poor and run down and not exciting at all but we took the 20 minute train ride into Gdansk, which was much nicer.  Much of the city was drab, but the main square has clearly undergone a lot of renovation and is actually quite beautiful.  The painted buildings and fountains made for a lovely place to stop and have a beer (and soda for Elizabeth).  The prices were especially nice after a few days in Scandinavia...here a 1/2 liter beer was about $1.75, as opposed to about $12 in Stockholm or Copenhagen.  Yes, that's right...$12 for a beer...more on that later.  Anyway, it was a lovely town right on the river where they were having row boat races...and there was clearly a soccer match this day as the town was flooded with guys in red shirts drinking heavily and singing songs.  Now that was exactly what I expected in Poland.

At Sea

Next was another day at sea, and it was all about Rest, rest, rest!  It was nice to take it easy after all of the sightseeing we had been doing, but we can only handle so much bingo with old folks and blackjack.  We did take the time to see a comedian, who unfortunately was more uncomfortably weird as opposed to funny...but it was something to fill the time.

Oslo, Norway

Oslo was another beautiful Scandinavian city, but one I would probably rather live in that visit on a tour.  The city is rather small, which made walking it easy.  There are lots of lovely gardens and fountains, and the downtown was remarkably quiet for a Monday morning.  Very few cars here, which made it very pleasant.  The main sights to see are the city hall where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded, and Viegland gardens.  Here a single artist created hundreds of sculptures showing his take on life.  Apparently there was a lot of controversy over the park as all of the statues are naked, but it was beautiful.  Hard not to chuckle at the "Angry Baby" and "Man Overwhelmed with five babies" almost a little too lifelike? 

Finally, we had to write something about the cost of things in Scandinavia.  Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Oslo were roughly the same, and just for comparison:

- Grande Starbucks coffee : $8

- 20 ounce Coke bottle: $5

- 7-11 muffin : $4

- Burger King Whopper meal : $16

- Paperback book  : $23

Needless to say, we did our best to eat on the ship in these cities...

Venice

I had a three day weekend last week, so we decided to take a quick trip down to Venice.  We found a good deal on Ryanair and went down Friday morning and left Saturday night.  We did almost no research on Venice before we left so we had no idea what we wanted to see or do when we got there, but we've discovered that we love just wandering cities and stopping at anything that looks interesting.  This served us well again in Venice, except for our arrival.  We took a bus from the airport into the city and got off with no map and no idea how to get to our hotel.  We purchased a 2 Euro map from a street vendor and just started walking.

We quickly discovered that Venice can be a difficult place to get around.  There are no roads in the city, just canals and with sidewalks on either side.  We tried to just wander in the general direction of our hotel, but ran into countless dead ends.  After a bit of wandering and a quick stop for lunch, we finally found our hotel.  When we checked in, they told us that they had upgraded our room to a canal view, so we had a lovely room with a little balcony overlooking the canal.

After getting settled in the room, we went out to wander the city.  The only thing we knew was that St. Marco's plaza was the main attraction in Vencie, so we took off in that direction.  We

strolled for about an hour through tiny little alleys and along canals, stopping to get some gelato at one of the countless stands throughout the city.  St. Marco's plaza is a beautiful square with an amazing church and bell tower, but just packed with people.  We couldn't even find the end of the line to get into the church, so we just took in the view for a few minutes and then wandered through the streets again.  We stopped at a cafe for a cold drink and enjoyed watching the people and soaked up the 75 degree, sunny weather...something we haven't seen much of living in Belgium.  After a quick nap at the hotel, we went out and got a wonderful Italian pizza for dinner.  Then, we purchased a bottle of wine and went back to the hotel to sip wine (water for preggers) on our balcony and enjoy the view.

Day two in Venice was more of the same...just wandering the city, stopping for coffee and gelato here and there.  It was fascinating to see how Venetians handle their everyday tasks with no cars or trucks.  The police cruise the city in boats, even ambulances and mail are boats too.  It's very strange to spend two days in a major city without seeing a single car, truck, motorcycle, or even a bicycle.  Everything is done on the water.  It really makes Venice very unique and charming, since it operates like no other city in the world.

The one problem we found with Venice is the cost of traveling on the water.  Gondola rides were 70 Euro per person and a water taxi (which are beautiful boats by the way) from our hotel to the bus station was 70 Euro.  We passed on both of these and used the "bus" system, but even that was 16 Euro / person for a day pass.  The cost really forces you to walk everywhere, which as I mentioned can be difficult if you're really trying to get to a specific location.

Saturday evening we made our way back to the airport and after a brief delay due to the hail and lightening storm that passed through, we were on our way.  Overall it was a wonderful trip.  Venice was the fourth Italian city that we've visited, and probably our favorite as well.

Schaffer Visit

We’ve got the European whirlwind tour down to a science, just ask the Schaffer’s.  We jam packed our visit with Keith’s dad and Peggy with all sorts of European fun.  After the obligatory nap upon arrival (probably the only real rest they got while they were here), we headed out to the local cheese lady.  She normally is closed on Thursdays but was kind enough to open for us, and we of course made it worth her while by purchasing ten pounds of cheese!  Once Keith got home from work we all sat down with some wine and cheese as we watched a bit of an amazing slideshow they created for Keith.  They had scanned in and organized every photo they own relating to Keith, pictures of his grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc., all in chronological order.  It was pretty incredible!  Although it difficult to pull ourselves away from the thoughtful gift, we ended the evening in Mons with dinner at the famous Steak on a Rock.  

On Friday we headed out for a day trip to Monschau Germany, just one of those adorable towns to stroll through on a beautiful Spring day.  It was in this picturesque town that we learned of Jim’s interest in making pictures into jigsaw puzzles.  It’s amazing how many things you come across; flowers, old buildings and window displays that make for great jigsaw puzzle pictures! 

Most of our traveling was done over Saturday and Sunday when we headed to the Netherlands.  Keith and I are both agreed that we would love to retire in the Netherlands, the people are amazing, the Country is truly beautiful and for some reason you just feel relaxed, even when you are running around.  We spent Saturday wandering Amsterdam, from the red-light district to the flower market, to a beautiful canal ride.  Keith and I were excited on Sunday to return to the Keukenhof gardens.  The arrangements of flowers are spectacular, and seem never ending. It’s even more amazing that they change the layouts every year, so it was all new to us, despite having gone last year.  The heavy rain was kind enough to hold off until we were leaving the Gardens.  On our way home we decided to hit the highlights of Brussels including the Atomium, the Grand Place, and of course the Delirium bar with the 2004 Guinness Record of the largest number of beers in available.

Monday Keith went back to work and we headed to Brugge.  Not much new to add about Brugge since I’ve been so many times, other than it remains one of those cities that I love to go to over and over.  I never tire of the canal ride, or the chocolate shops!  We ended their last day here with dinner at a local restaurant and a few Belgian beers back at the house.  We still can’t believe we managed to see so many things in such a short amount of time, gotta love Europe! 

Irish Easter

I had a long four day weekend over Easter, so Elizabeth and I decided to make a trip up to Ireland.  We flew out Thursday night and went straight to bed when we got there as we had booked an early tour for Friday morning.  The next morning, we headed to the train station for our train / bus tour around the island.  It was about a two hour train ride to our first stop, Bunratty castle.  Here they had setup a little medieval village around an old authentic castle.  Apparently the castle was falling apart until a wealthy British family bought the castle and restored it.  They also brought their collection of authentic furniture and tapestries, so it was quite interesting to see furniture that was hundreds of years old, but still in excellent condition.  After the tour of the castle, we walked around the little village for a while.  Unfortunately it was Good Friday, so many of the little shops were closed, but it was still a lovely place to walk around. 

According to the original tour description, our next stop was an authentic Irish pub.  Unfortunately, there are two days in Ireland where they don't drink, and Good Friday is one of them (Christmas Day being the other).  So, anyplace that serves alcohol has to close.  Instead of the pub, we stopped at a little hotel restaurant for a good, but unexciting meal.  Then, it was off to the main attraction, the Cliffs of Moehr.  Here you can stand near the edge of a nearly 1000 ft drop off into the Atlantic Ocean.  This area is the inspiration for the Cliffs of Insanity in The Princess Bride, if you have seen that.  (If not, I highly recommend it)  The view was simply awe-inspiring...I can't describe it and pictures don't do it justice.  It's just something everyone should see for themselves.  After that, we were back on a bus to another area, The Burren, where the ground was an endless sea of rock.  It's really hard to describe, you really just have to see the pictures.  We then drove to Galway, where we were supposed to have an hour or so to explore the city, but apparently the tour ran late.  So, we just hopped back on a train to Dublin.  I was thrilled by the things we saw on the tour, but it was about 10 hours of traveling and 4 hours of seeing things...just too much travel for one day. 

On day two we rented a car and drove down to Youghal to visit the Irish family that Elizabeth lived with when she worked in Ireland just after high school.  The drive itself was quite an experience as, like the British, they drive on the left side of the road and the right (not correct, right) side of the car.  It took me a little while to get used to shifting with my left hand and it took a lot of concentration to avoid turning into oncoming traffic, but once we got out of Dublin and onto the highway it was fairly easy.  Unfortunately, the last hour of the drive was no longer highway, it was windy mountain roads that were two way, but barely wide enough for one car. Plus, sheep and goats were wandering the streets, so I had to be on the lookout for them as well. It was still a fun as we drove through beautiful countryside and cute little towns. 

We arrived in Youghal in the early afternoon, and Elizabeth took me on a little tour of the town to show me where she worked and ate while she was living there.  After that, we went to the family's house for dinner and drinks.  Elizabeth has always spoken very fondly of her "Irish

Family" and after meeting them I completely understand why.  I have never met a group of people that had the ability to make me feel like a family member when I barely knew them.  The parents, two daughters, and another family friend joined us for dinner and wine, and we just chatted the night away.  That evening, one of the daughters was kind enough to put us up for the evening, and even cook us a traditional Irish Breakfast in the morning, except for the blood sausage...I just couldn't bring myself to eat that. 

The next morning we stopped back by their house to chat a little more.  They all kept saying how despite it being 12 years since Elizabeth lived there, it was like she never left.  They picked up right where they left off.  We said our goodbyes and headed back to Dublin.  This time we took a different route and went through Waterford, where the famous crystal is (was) made. Unfortunately, this famous Irish landmark has fallen to the bad economy and declared bankruptcy.  You can still take a tour of the facility, but it's more of a museum now.  Plus, it was Easter Sunday, so it was not open anyway. 

When we got back to Dublin we took a walk through the city checking out some of the sights.  We really just wandered for a few hours, stopping in a pub for a pint of Guinness...it's always a great beer, but it really does taste better in Ireland.  We did a little souvineer shopping and then headed back to the hotel.  The next day we took the hop-on-hop-off bus tour of the city, which gave us a nice overview of the main attractions, including St. Patrick's Cathedral and of course the Guinness Brewery.  We took the brewery tour, but I have to admit I was disappointed.  They no longer show you where they actually brew the beer, they just have a bunch of TV's telling you about it.  It was an impressive building, but a little anti-climatic for me.  The highlight of the tour is that you get to go to a bar on the top floor of the building and have a pint of fresh Guinness (or Sprite in Elizabeth's case) while enjoying a beautiful view of the city.  I'm not sure if it showed up in the picture, but the head on the beer has a perfect shamrock shape in it.  I thought that was a great touch.

Overall, I would say that Dublin was a little unimpressive, but the Irish countryside and friendly people certainly did not.  Our visit with Elizabeth's "Irish Family" was just fantastic and made the journey up there well worth it.