Summer Trip 2008 Post - Final Post

This is our final post from our Summer 2008 Trip.


Trip To Poland

We left Estonia on our way to Gdansk Poland. The Captain came on the PA and told us things were going to get rough. We were heading into a Force 8 Gale storm. We would hit the storm over night but be in port in the morning.

Around 3am we all woke up rocking like I have never felt on any boat.....and I have been in some pretty good storms on small sail boats.

The boat pitched, rolled, rocked and rolled again. There were a few times I almost fell out of bed.

In the morning we were told we wern't going to Poland. The storm had strengthned to Force 12 Gale, basically Hurricane Strength, and it was so unsafe we turned around.

We then found out we had a 2 day slow boat ride to Oslo Norway. We couldn't arrive early because we wouldn't have a bearth, so 12 knots was our speed....compared to 26 nornally.

Here are some photos of the waves.......after it got a lot better.

Here is a link to a Youtube Video I took. I can not upload the video here due to size.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwJdauE6Au0

Oslo Norway

After our 2 day fun fest on the boat we arrived in Oslo. We were walking distance to town and while we only had a few hours in town it was very interesting.

Our first site was just outside where we docked the boat. It was an old castle in Oslo. Very pretty place. Park like setting.

A model of the entire grounds of the castle we saw inside.

Below are several shots of the Oslo Harbor. Enjoy.

The Royal Palace In Oslo.

Below is a beautiful flower we saw at the Royal Palace Grounds. Could be a water colour.

Below is The Parliment Building in Oslo

A Cool Statue.

Oslo was destroyed. This statue represents the Exact Point where the King said "I will rebuild my city here".

Last Picture.

Last Picture. As we were leaving Oslo lots of boats came out to see the ship as we passed the thru the Fjords. This one began surfing our wake. This wasnt the highest he jumped, but it was the best shot I got.

Hope you enjoyed the posts of Summer 2008.

See you soon.

Random Pictures Of The Family

Post 4 The Baltics Trip

Here are some random shots of us from the trip.

On the deck of the boat

Christopher.

Before the first formal dinner.

Andrew.

Joan on the deck.

Joans First Moment on Russian Soil.

Andrew Ready For Dinner

Chris at Dinner

Chris again.

At one of the the Ship's many Bars.

Tallinn Estonia

Post 3 - The Baltics Trip - Tallinn Estonia

Our next stop was Tallinn Estonia. This is a very pretty medievil town. In fact it is the most preserved medievil town in all of Europe. We only had 6 hours in town but we made the most of it.

Here are some pictures.

The above picture is the old town hall in Tallinn.

Another Onion Dome Church.

Town hall again.

A nice suit of armor.

A cool wind indicator.

A view from above the city looking down on a church spire.

The old town wall fortress.

The town of Tallin reminded me of the towns in France or Germany.

The old Town Square

This is an ancient church courtyard. We saw some medievil group singing and playing old instruments. Look for the video.

The singing group.

More of old Tallinn.

Joan and the boys

Post 2 The Baltics - St Petersburg Russia--- DRAFT. BEING UPDATED.

Peter and Paul Fortress.

Our first stop in St Petersburg was this old fortress. It has a huge cathedral and other buildings. The curch spire can be seen from all over town and you'll see in in some other pictures.

Inside the cathedral was amazing. The amount of gold the Russians used is awsome. Everywhere was guilded in real gold.

The building below was the original treasury for St.Petersburg / Russia from long ago days. It was just opposite the Cathedral.



Just outside the St. Peter and Paul Fortress a Russian helo was landing.


The Hermitage.


The Tsar's winter palace in downtown St. Petersburg. An amazing place. Its hard to get a sense of how big it is but consider it 2-3 city blocks long by the same wide. They say to see every piece inside for 10 seconds would take 3-4 years full time. We spent 2 hours.





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St. Petersburg By Water.

They call St Petersburg the VEnice of the North. More like Amsterdam with its wide canals lined with narrow streets. The architecture is BIG. Long blocks of big houses or palaces all connected. Muted colors adorn the buildings.

The white building in the distance is the original stock exchange...dating back several thousand years. When boats and traders came to St. Petersburg they had to pay a tax to get in. The tax was stone or rock which was needed to build up the city.

A fountain in the center of the town waterways. Cannons fire off at noon and it turns on for the afternoon.

A view of St Peter and Paul's fortress from the water. The tall spire on the left is that of the Cathedral.



Russian Sun Set.


On our first night in St. Petersburg the sun was amazing. I took about 50 pictures as it was setting. Here are a few shots.

Outside of St Petersburg.

Day 2. We left early fgor the country.....about an hour out of the city center.

This is a classic church out in the country, near the Tsar's summer Palace. Typical Onion Domed Cathederal decorated with colorful tiles. See some below.

Peterhof Palace.

The Tsar's Summer Palace. This is about an hour outside of Central St. Petersburg and was built to look like Versailles in Paris. It was truly lavish.

Rasputin.

A replica of Rasputin at the last meal he ate. He was poisned, shot and stabbed then ran away. He fell through ice on a river and died from drowning. He was a tough guy to kill.

Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood

This is a famous site in St Petersburg. It is where Tsar Alexander II was finally assassinated. It is said he survived numerous attempts to kill him over the years and when a bomb went off outside his carriage killing his driver he got out to help. A second bomb exploded finally killing him.

The Church Of Spilled Blood in St Petersburg Russia. This is a model located inside the Cathedral.

Leaving St. Petersburg

Leaving St Petersburg we passed an old Russian Sub base. Here were a few of their subs.