Hi All,
Its been quite a time since I posted. Not much to say over the past few months. Joan and Andrew were back in the states, Chris had events in The Hague and I have been busy with work and all. But that’s all changed.
We just returned from a 10 day tour of the Baltic’s. We took a cruise on the Crown Princess, leaving from Copenhagen. Out itinerary took us to Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn (Estonia), Gdansk and Oslo before returning back to Copenhagen. We missed Gdansk for lots of reasons that will be described in later posts.
All in all it was a fantastic trip full of exciting sights, new and interesting cultures, food and drink. Lots of pictures will follow this post with descriptions of what we saw and did.
Our Ride - The Crown Princess
Our boat is above. It was huge, holding over 3000 passengers and 1500 staff. It had 6 pools, numerous hot tubs, a theater, bars, about 11 different restaurants, a gym that was as good as any on land and more. You could literally live aboard for months and never have to get off.
This is a view of the outdoor theater. The jumbotron is huge and while hard to see in this picture it gives a great view on screen. They have Movies under the Stars every night complete with blankets. We are sitting 2 levels above the deck in a balcony area.
Check out the bar, pool and two hot tubs on the deck.
Chris and Andrew enjoying a movie from the balcony.
Stockholm Sweden
Our first official port of call was Stockholm. We approached Stockholm through the Swedish Archipelago. There are 24,000 small islands that lie just outside of the mainland. Some are 50' by 50' others have several homes on them....others are large islands.
Sailing through the Archipelago
Some homes along the islands on our approach to Stockholm.
In the Galma Stan (Old Town) we found a unique statue. I tried to mimic it! What do you think?
Andrew with more of the locals in Galma Stan.
Stockholm is a city that lies on 14 separate islands connected by waterways and bridges. This is the most exclusive street in the city. Bjorn Borg and Tiger Woods have apartments along the Strip.
Stockholm City Hall.
Islands on our way back out of Stockholm.
Helsinki FinlandNext Stop was Helsinki. Helsinki is much smaller than Stockholm and we really liked it. We took a bus to the city center and walked around in the morning. The city was just getting up and we had a coffee at a cute little cafe along a tree lined boulevard. We walked into a town market and just strolled around. We did the town in about 2 hours on foot. Here are some shots we took.
A park leading down to the Helsinki main harbor.
The Daily Market. It had some of the best veggies we have seen in many many markets.
This is Alexandar 2, an early Ruler in Finland.
A classic Helsinki Church
Senate Square and the Cathedral of St. Nicholas
A boat along the Helsinki waterfront.Helsinki Jopo Bike Trip
We took a Jopo Bike tour thru Helsinki in the afternoon. Jopo bikes are one speed traditional bikes you see all over town. They actually were really nice to ride. The main attraction aloong the trip was a stop at Sibulius Park, named for Jean Sibelius a famous composer....so we are told. We've never heard of him....have you?
Sullys on the bikes.
The ultra modern monument to commerate this guy.
His head.
Sully's at the park.
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