Mariehamn, Finland

Mariehamn is the capital of Aland. Mostly Swedish (and some Finnish) is spoken here, and English, thankfully :). This quaint lovely little town was founded in 1861. Six tours were offered and I opted out. One was a tour of Stallhagen Brewery and others were tours of local museums and churches. I needed a tour break. Instead David and I took the ships shuttle into town. David could only walk about a block so he sat on a bench and waited for me to stroll the 2 block long town. I also went into a bank and got some Euros. Upon entering I had to ask Is this a Bank? A nice worker said yes and showed me how to take a number. I then sat in one of six chairs to wait for my number to be called. When it was my turn the teller asked my personal number..... right. I looked quizzical. Huh? I gave her my passport and signed a form. For $200, I received 170 Euros. I think I was jipped....
What a lovely peaceful little town. I loved walking the streets. Loved the town, the homes, the simplicity, and loved watching everyone out and about. Not much here or to buy, but that's OK. I loved being out ..... being in the SUN!!! AND I didn't need my North Face fleece today, 60 degrees!! All is good.
When we got back to the ship, Regent had a 4th of July BBQ on deck waiting for us. I changed into shorts and sat on the pool deck in the sun and read my 'audio book' for a few hours. I am reading Orphan Train, by Christina Kline right now. Just finished the new book Blood Feud by Edward Klein. I was waiting for a day like this for what seems like a long long time.






David, happy to be back onboard, dressed in his finest for the 4th of July.
Dinner at Compass Rose tonight followed by going to hear JR, the Cruise Director we had dinner with last night, sing. He puts on two shows this cruise.

Helsinki, Finland

It was so nice to arrive in Helsinki, getting away from the traffic and congestion of St Petersburg. We finally saw some sun!

A comedy of errors occurred on my tour of Helsinki By Sea and Fortress Island (Suomenlinna Fortress). This is a former island fortress, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 1748 the Finnish army helped to build this huge impregnable fortress, at the entrance of Helsinki Harbor. It has never been taken by assault. I wasn't too excited to head out for yet another tour after being so active on a daily basis in St Petersburg, but I rallied. Our guide escorted us to the wrong boat over to the island. After arriving on the island we had to get off the local boat and wait for our private boat, re-board, and go back to where we started to begin our private tour. We walked a bit around the island then headed back to shore. Once back we had no bus waiting to take us to the ship. We all had to find the shuttle bus. Our guide was clueless to know where to meet the ships shuttle or what time.... The good thing was I got a chance to walk around Market Square and Market Hall and see all the wonderful food venders there. The food on display was to die for. The bad news was I had no Euros to buy anything. They do not take US dollars here. Bummer.






Tonight we had dinner with JR Lusting, the Cruise Director and his assistant, Olivia. It was a lovely dinner, just the four of us. Afterwards we hit the show, Dancing to the Hits, wonderfully talented, beautifully choreographed dancers. Sort of like dancing with the stars..... One of the best shows on Regent we have seen.

St Petersburg, Russia / 3 Days

Once again I ride the elevator first thing in the morning to see where I am today. My elevator said St Petersburg! RAIN! Again? Well it certainly was raining on my boat. Three days in St Petersburg! A blessing or a curse?
Another day to brave the elements. We docked a good half hour from the city center. In reality it took about an hour to get anywhere due to all the construction and closed bridges.
We were well warned and warned again about how to be good comrades and follow orders EXPLICITLY (or be shot, I am guessing). You are not allowed to leave the ship unless you are with an organized tour. (Well, unless you pay mega bucks ahead of time and get a Visa for independent touring) Upon leaving the ship you HAVE to carry your tour ticket, boat pass and passport and file one at a time through immigration where people without smiles or emotions think about letting you pass through. You could ONLY go out as your group was called. If you went out of order the whole ship would pay the price by immigration closing down. You must stay with your group at all times, IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU REMAIN WITH YOUR GROUP! On the first day I camE back through immigration and they looked at my passport, then me, then my passport and told me it wasn't me...... That was a fun moment. Seriously? Quick thought of what they could do to me danced in my head. They called another officer up to look at me and my passport ..... after a bit, they let me go..... to the ship, thank God.
David got lost.

Yep. He signed up for a panoramic bus tour. These tours are usually just "look at tours' with photo ops, no walking. This time they went to Peter and Paul Fortress. Once off, the bus left, and as the group walked through the massive gates, David realized the distance. He walked a bit but could not walk further or keep up with the guide. He stopped and they went ahead. No one noticed or counted.... OhOh. He stopped at some garbage cans to rest and wondered what now? As the next Regent tour came up, the guide did not understand the language. The second Regent group came and they tried calling his group and there was no answer. He did not know where the group was exiting and there were no busses in site as busses were not allowed to stay there.
Finally, after 40 minutes his group came back through the same gate. He blended in to the group and no one said anything or noticed. He got back on his bus. Had he been caught without being in his group could have cost him permanent residence in Russia. I took a tour of the same site the next day and we entered and exited tow different gates. It was a lot of walking over tough uneven cobbled stones and a ton of standing. David could not have done it. Happy ending though.
Traffic in St Petersburg was a nightmare. One tour, which we cancelled was a private tour at Catherine's Palace and dinner with the Tsars. The tour started at 6:15 and was supposed to be 4 hours. They got home at 2AM!!! There was concern about getting back to the ship as gates to the islands are opened at night so you can't get back to the ship. They lucked out getting home but the traffic, 2.5 hours to the Palace was crazy long. No one obeys lights here. They pile through the intersection and block it to the cars crossing over in the opposite direction. It is one jam packed parking lot here. No honking, people seem expressionless in their cars while they wait.


David pretty much stayed on the ship during the three days we were here. I toured each day.
I went on a canal tour in the rain and saw Yusupov Palace. I enjoyed Yusupov Palace and the story of Rasputin. We were in the cellar here he was poisoned. I could feel his presence. His Palace is lovely. We then toured Peter and Paul Fortress, where David got lost the day before. Peter the Great was laid to rest here. He was tall, 6'8" (like Grandpa Lukas?). It is said he was very cruel. Several coups against hem ended with mass executions. I am not a forte fan but I did love the stories and I saw where the Romanoff family was burried. Of course, Anastasia was the tomb that capture my attention. I am so thankful I did not live in Russia during those times.... rich or poor it was horrific times where no one could be trusted. I need to read more Russian history.





I visited the wonderful Hermitage and had a private tour of the Gold Room. We did this last time we were here also. We were given individual head sets so we could hear our tour guide. As we doned our individual headsets our guide asked if they were all working. She had a great sense of humor. She said if any headset was NOT working they would locate the engineer who made them .... and shoot him! Her humor had us laughing all day. The treasures in the Hermitage are beyond belief. I never saw so much gold, so many diamonds and jewels. Their art collection is the finest, more then 3 million works, from the stone age to the present. If you visit the Hermitage and spend one minute at each painting it will take you two weeks (with no sleep) to see it all. Amazing. Worth Doing. I would have loved to have more time here.







Lastly I visited Catherine's Palace and the Amber Room, in Pushkin, again. Worth doing each time you visit St Petersburg. We saw pictures of the destruction after WWII so we much appreciated how beautifully it was restored. Restorers are amazingly talented people. They actually moved into the Palace as it was being restored. After our tour, we stopped for lunch at a local restaurant which was an old hunting lodge. There were animal heads and furs all over the walls. Doing as the locals do, (We were told) I downed a shot of vodka before I started eating. We were given champaign with lunch.. :) We had mushroom soup and stroganoff with mashed potatoes. There were more mushrooms then beef in my stroganoff. You know my love for mushrooms :). For desert we had an apple strudel.






Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood and its Byzantine domes. The name refers to the blood of Tsar Alexander II of Russia who was mortally wounded here in 1881.

First Stop: Tallinn

As I head up to breakfast I take note of today's weather. Hmmmmmm .... What happened to the "No RAIN for two weeks" forecast on the internet? Days like today, your inner thoughts say DO I just go back to bed? Then you also think ... This is an opportunity! Be a Traveler not a Tourist! Oi... Dress warm and dress for rain. I noted the sign on the elevator..... and found it very correct as I headed across the pool for breakfast.
The rain came down in buckets as we exited the ship and the wind was harsh and unforgiving. It was hard to walk. Umbrellas turned themselves inside out and were useless. I braved the weather and headed to the bus. There were 10 very soaked people on my tour. Today was Chocolate day for me. I signed up for a Chocolate workshop with a Master Confectioner. A self taught famous chocolate maker in Tallinn. The shop is well known for hand made truffles. BUT before we get to make chocolate, we have a walking tour of beautiful Tallinn with its cobblestoned streets, gleaming from the currents of water streaming over them.

From the drop off point, our group swam uphill like salmon following the cobbled streets to our final destination ... CHOCOLATE! It was an early Sunday morning. The streets were pretty deserted and most everything was closed. Our Chocolate Shop was open, warm, welcoming and cozy, and that was all that mattered. You could smell the melting chocolate pots waiting our arrival.


The Chocolate Shop. They also had a quaint little tea room inside. It would be a nice place to visit and have a pastry and some tea.



The Chocolate Master did not speak English so our guide translated. We were told the history of chocolate and how she came to be a Master. She didn't know much about cooking at first. She just wanted to assure she would always have something to eat. The stage was set for us to roll the fillings, dip them, and then decorate them with everything from sugar, to rose petals and nuts. My chocolates :) Don't you just want to dig in? They had to be refrigerated before we could take them home.
I think I would much rather have bought a few ...... Theirs looked so much better.... The counter of tempting chocolates and pastries.
Once again, we were taken out into the streets of Old Town, umbrellas in hand. We were told Tallinn goes back 5,000 years. Pottery was found on the site dating back to 3,000 BC. Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site overlooking the harbor. Old Town is divided into two parts. The upper town for the rich and the lower town. We spent time in the lower section. The two sides are divided by a huge medieval city wall. The gate was closed every night so no one could move from one side to the other.





Town Hall Square is the heart of the city since the 11th century. Here we fond the fabulous town hall and the old pharmacy which dates back to the 15th century. This is also the place where beheadings and peltings occurred. My ears perk up when I hear the juicy tales of the past. Now the square is filled a lot of outdoor restaurants and souvenir shops. We toured Old Town for about 45 minutes then had time to wander on our own. The rain gave us a break toward the end of the tour. We were here a few years ago and stayed in a hotel just off this big square. I walked by some of the places were we ate. Fond memories. It is a lovely little town. I would definitely come back. It is worth a visit, or two or six.