What a wonderful world blog done and dusted.

Thanks for following us, sorry it's been erratic with the posts, even when I paid precious internet minutes to post they went to BFN... ?. Or is that moi?? 

It has been just an indescribable time, we have had a lifetime of dreams all fulfilled (well, I have,Wazza would like warm next time!)  we met some great people, saw some scenery that defies description, travelled to places most only ever dream about. Spent money I know nothing about... visited 13 countries, used toilets that defy description, paid to pee, queued to pee, queued to see yet another church, museum, souvenir shop... Spoke kindly to a Russian customs person to get a sweet smile back, and a close up look at where the Queen and her family stand and wave! Yes that was unreal! That great city of Berlin.. The horrors of war,  the memorial  service in NYC for Anzac Day, every step every day yet another memory .

I pay tribute to my mum for her encouragement ,for her wish for us to see what she saw, for her love of reading our blog, and telling everyone in ear shot what we were doing.... Well not always!  I will continue to take mums memory with us. 

Hey mum, if you are reading over my shoulder this time, business class looks nice, this is a jumbo jumbo A380-800 A6-EEV (for you Frank and Norm) and we are in a FULL as a GOOG plane in steerage, so lotto would be nice... Just sayin'.

Another smooth transfer this morning, and we had plenty of time to spare so we had brekky at Jacks Bar and Grill, and sat for a while.

Emirates do it well, the service has been very good.

The middle seat of 3 sucks big time... Life's problems hey? 

It's time to go home, see our kids and grandkids, cuddle my puppy for a week, celebrate our 40th anniversary, celebrate Daniels birthday and then ..... Plan the next adventure.

YES the Pub Crawl...... Maryborough look out.

Bali has been on the bucket list for a while, but we will see what happens. 

My thanks to my hubby, who has helped me down, up, in, out, around, through, and all before brekky most days. His arm is always there to support me.

No wonder I love him so much. My bestie forever.

Post script...

Sitting watching the planes webcam, Brisbane is 458 miles away. 

That looks good to me.

I still call Australia HOME.

Dubai UAE 

Brekky was included, so we had a light start to our busy schedule in the very nice dining room, and as per our trip, our guide was waiting early for us in the foyer.

His name escapes me, as does the drivers, although the car was fabulous, the driver too.. Our guide just jumped out of the washing/ laundry basket, and had eaten 38 garlic encrusted camel toes according to Wazza. Yes he was not fresh! 

The tour started with the usual, a visit to the museum... "(Can you hear Warren groaning"? ) it was hot and smelly people everywhere. 

Then we got dropped onto a wooden boat with a dodgy brother driving said wooden boat and got taken across the "river" to the Souk markets. Now this is where Wazza really got into his stride... 56 degrees in a water bag and every one in Dubai wanting to sell him copy watch copy watch copywatch... Or GOLD GOLD GOLD or SPICE SPICE SPICE..I was afraid he would smack one of the touts out. Full marks mate. They were very intensive.

The gold was HORRID, in our opinion, he was sure it was fake too!

As we showed little interest in the market we got a longer ground tour of Dubai, and saw all the amazing landmarks, and a very beautiful beach. 

There are good and bad in every port, and we didn't have enough time to see the city in its glory, so we will not pass judgement. 

We wandered around the old town in the afternoon .. But siesta time was approaching, so we went back home to have a drink before getting ready for our Dhow Dinner cruise.. Deluxe mind you. It was part of the package.

The driver of our shuttle should have been labelled a terrorist on wheels, he was a mad crazy bugger. 

The dinner cruise was just ok, but we were a bit cheesed off that as things ran so overtime we could not go and visit the other sights we had planned. Should have skipped the "cruise" and done our own stuff. Never mind live and learn.

By the time we got back to the hotel it was too late to venture out so we just had a farewell drink at the English Pub. The staff are super friendly ... Even if the hotel is so so. 

Packing for the last leg home.

Early morning call booked for our 6 am pick up.

Copenhagen take 3.... On to Dubai

I organised a private transfer and we were lucky enough to have Jan and Doug and Lyn and Ian (new Pommie friends )join us ... After we shared a last glass of cheer in o'Sheehans we left our lovely home /ship. I am going to miss our fabulous cabin steward Bernard, possibly the best we have had, although we are good clean living guests, making his job a bit easier. Bernard made us such awesome towel animals, and left them on the  sofa for the entire month... When we went out he would tell us he would go and feed the pets. Ironically We almost had to leave the cabin to fit all the new pets in!

As has happened every step of the way, we have been met in a very timely and professional manner, today's was no exception.

Our driver Vivianne was lovely and had a great limo/car.

Check in didn't take too long,and before we knew it, we were on our way to the last stop, Dubai.

Warren and I had a couple of bevvies, to while away the hours with Louise, Peter and Ross, and how happy we were to see our crew family also at the airport, more hugs and kisses. 

A good flight with some leg room for my leg that does not travel well, and a half full plane for those who wanted to sleep the flight away..

Arrival into Dubai Airport was mind blowing.. What they do, they do bigger and better, it was so well choreographed.. Even customs was easy. 

Transfer via a lovely Lexus to the Arabian Courtyard for our 2 night stay, where we were given an upgrade. The 2 room apartment was spacious, however very dated, lovely back in the 50's..LOL.. But the linen was fresh and we had a bed.

And a pub.. An English Pub where we went for a drink, and met some really fun people. Yes it's no problem getting alcohol in Dubai, so I discovered as I watched the bar maid pour Jagermeister  via a funnel down the necks of some young Pommies out for some fun!  

Now to sleep.... Well that was the plan. I slept for about half an hour.

The sound of the call to prayer was outside our hotel at 4.15. That is dedication...to the MAX. 

Bergen - Norway our last Port of call on this Wonderful World Adventure

We had a late start, as we were both feeling the effects of this long journey, oh and the social life the night before also! Off we went at about 10 am, it was a very overcast day, and drizzly rain again. But we are tough campers and sloshed through the puddles as we do our bevvies at night.

It wasn't a very long walk to the heart of Bergen, and once again, mum got this spectacularly right, it was gorgeous, although still World Heritage Listed UNESCO, not as serene and pristine as our previous ports in Norway, much more a big city feel, with lots of souvenir shops and eateries. 

Oh it was lovely though, as we ambled though the back blocks the buildings dating back to before I was born. We walked for ages and ages.

Alas.... Another cute little train snapped us up and way up to the top of the Mountain we went. I have never ever seen so many beautiful rhododendron .....even as beautiful and prolific as they are in Sassafras Nola Stokes, the windy road, and incredible vantage spots ensured we had another fabulous experience. At the top of the peak I had a yummy hot chocolate to thaw my hands out and we meandered down again, passing many of the early Leprosy hospitals. Oh and a few more awesome churches!

So far, no pubs... Impressed???? 

Ok time for a walk up to the Funicular Tram to take us up to the top of the world! It was something we thought would have been fun in the sun.. But it was OK... A long queue in the cold and rain, a squish into the tram, it  peed down at the top, so visibility was poor... And a squish down the side of the mountain. 

Tick off the funicular for now. 

By now we were both cold and hungry and a local pub with a cheap meal beckoned, and had free and excellent wifi. Oh and a nice Sav Blanc! Still no VB :( 

It was called Felix Pub. Quick stop in at O'Briens Irish pub, for our SIL. One side O'Brien the other was Mad Murphys.... 

Time to wander back to our ship, we did it slowly, passing some lovely old shops with wooden doors, lots of open air eateries, loosing lots of money, as there are two big ships in Bergen today, and all the tables are empty.

Our trek back was through the carnival, where loads of happy wet as shag kids squealed with joy.

My squeal was slightly different.... I was wet cold dripping and busting for a pee.  It just poured rain all the way back to the ship.

Yes, as we arrived and dried off...out came the sun.

Sail out of Bergen was beautiful. Our cabin looked like a Chinese Laundry, but we were happy and content with what we had achieved, seen, and experienced this cruise, that is coming to an end very quickly.

Next stop COPENHAGEN for the last time. Seems like yesterday we arrived and had a catch up with Penny and her dad here.

A million wonderful memories ago.

Geirangerfjord - Norway

You have to be here to believe it, so the brochure says. The brochure is so very correct.

What a day, what a place. 

Geiranger was entered on the UNESCO World Heritage List on July 14, 2005. The status on the list was justified by the countryside, the fjord landscape and the nature-friendliness of the area.

The Fjord is 16 kilometres long, and the average depth is 260 meters. The water is as clear as we have seen. But nit a good spot for a swim.

There is a population of 210, and annually they receive over 600,000 visitors. Plenty of work for the locals! 

While we waited for our tour to begin we walked through town to the base of the falls, happily the weather was much kinder than yesterday. There was a delightful caravan park right at the edge of the water, and was quite busy.

Our Limo driver arrived promptly and off we set for our trip to MtDalsnibba, due to a heavy fall of snow we had a change of plans. We were in a lovely Lincoln car, very comfy, and enjoyed some extraordinary scenery. 

The roads were full of hairpin bends, all added to the excitement of the morning! 

We stopped at many photo opportunities, and luckily either before or after the large tourist busses arrived. One stop was to view a drystone bridge built in 1882. What a remarkable feat! Geiranger Canyon way up in the sky allowed us to take some super shots of our ship ... Snow everywhere. Such beauty all around us.

We then travelled the Eagle Road and stopped at Lake Eidsvatnet. That was kind of like Lake Louise, so pretty.

On we went to have a stop at a store built in 1865, the shopkeeper was a friendly woman, and made us all feel very welcome. We met the grandson of the original builder of the store,  the grandson was a sprightly 93 year old! 

Some more photo stops before arriving back into town.

OK let's find a pub for a meal we said....... The girl at the tourist information centre gave us directions.  She failed to mention it was almost vertical! When we got there, no time for a lunch stop, so a pit stop then we took the "short" cut back to town.

Tippin' my legs will be squealing for months! There must have been 27 thousand stairs, at least! 

Onto our next adventure for the day, a boat trip along the Fjords on the MS Geirangerfjord. It lasted one and a half hours and was truly wonderful.... Except for the times old nan and pop dozed off, we were like a tag team!...  I still managed to take another zillion photos of waterfalls and cliffs!

A MAGIC DAY.

Back home for the spectacular sail out on our way to Flam tomorrow.

Alesund - Norway

I woke early, around 4 am, jumped up and went to look at the fabulous scenery, my feet stuck to the balcony, and as I was just in a summer nightie, important bits came close to snapping off!

Oh now how to start.. This is unbelievable ..... But we are a bit sad to see the gloomy skies and rain.

It's so much colder than we ever experienced in our lives, poor Warren, I am sure he came close to calling quits to our 40 year marriage.....wtf are we doing here??? Oh gawd it was freezing beyond belief. The hairs on my legs just snapped clean off..

The wharf area was a snarl of cranky people, all pushing and shoving, so we booked our tickets for the "train" ride with a lovely young girl from Melbourne who has married a Norwegian, and now lives here... Really??? Gosh you must be in love cos this is summer and it's close as you wanna get to snow! 

We wandered around the town for about an hour, chipping frozen snot from our faces, and thinking ... Wow this is fun! The town is really lovely, very steep streets, and all the shops were just waking up. 

Our tour lasted over an hour, we travelled up to the top of 

 to visit at the tourist centre/lookout. The summit was called Fjellstua, and afforded  the most magnificent views, the problem was to hold the camera still long enough to get a good photo! This was 192 meters above sea level, one could take the option of returning to town via the stairs... 418 steps. I passed this up... Wonder why?? 

The population is approx. 45000, and is made of up 7 islands.

In 1904 98% of the city burnt down. It was rebuilt over a 6 year period in Art Nouveau style. Thanks Wazza xxx

We got back to the wharf and went  to check out town, now it had woken up a bit, we found a warm shopping complex,  had a wander and headed back to just miss the ferry we wanted to catch, so back home for a change of wet clothing, a bowl of warm soup, some new Scottish friends, and off again.

Call us crazy.... I will NEVER argue.

We caught an express boat to Langevag, home to some shopping outlets, I was in search of pure wool, fur lined underwear, with a full sheep to wear around my head, and some lead lined gloves and socks. 

Full live sheep were difficult to find. Thermal underware increased 500% today, especially if you looked like a cruise ship guest!

We have travelled all over Alesund today and not even ventured into the door of a pub...

Chalk that one up. 

Tonight as we set sail for Geiranger (my Anniversary surprise for Warren) we are once again totally and utterly blown away,  the scenery is beyond any we have seen for a very long time.... A little tug with water hoses saw us out of the harbour with a fabulous display, just like they did for us in Newcastle Jaymie-Lee and Lachlan, except a bit colder!! 

Our cabin steward, Bernard just came in and gave us tomorrow's paper, the expected top temp is 2 degrees.. Rain and snow showers. 

There is certainly a benefit to having a balcony cabin.. Jump out take a photo and jump back in. 

This is a most amazing trip... And yes,it surely is a WONDERFUL WORLD.

love to all our friends, thanks to those who are following our journey, and cheers from Norway...

Glad I wasn't born a Troll!! 

Sea day beginning our cruise #19, and our Anniversary Celebration at sea

 This morning we attended our Cruise Critics meet and Greet, honestly, the BEST EVER!! The lady who organised this (Julianne) from Texas, was just a classic!

Beautiful  hand made invitations, lanyards.. And such a wonderful friendly group, when chatted for ages.

Then came Julianne.... And the slot pull, what a riot! We lost more than $3 bucks each, but had such fun, Warren was the highest winner....you guessed it, another bottle of wine!..... And a cash bonus.

Lunch was in a glass...  As it was the Latitudes function. 

Catch up with new friends... Lyn and 6 great laughs.

And so the story goes on.

Tomorrow begins the voyage to honour my beautiful mum. It was her wish for us to come here, and here we are. My mum shared so much with me, her love of travel just a small part. 

It's going to be very emotional.

This weeks marks the first Anniversary of her leaving us.  On Sunday the 24th we will scatter some of her ashes in Flam. 

Copenhagen - Denmark #2

After saying farewell to Karen we jumped on the hop in hop off bus to head into Copenhagen.

No one came to collect our fare, so we saved €28 each..win win! 

We got off the bus at a different stop today, and had a wonderful walk through the City, and visited the magnificent Copenhagen City Hall. MASSIVE!

Next stop Andersen's Bakery once more for a warm up, and some good free wifi. I called Rebecca to check up on news from the family, while I was on the phone a huge ruckus broke out right behind us. I didn't know which way to run. It seems a vagrant came to use the toilets and trashed them. Long story short. Couldn't get out of there quick enough! Went to get cash to pay for our transfer to the Airport then time for start of our Pub Crawl. First stop, The Londoner Pub was closed, good start ..... Then the Rock Bar Royal ..  I needed a loo stop, and most charge for the privilege, me in my ultimate wisdom decided it was better to go to the pub than spend one Euro in a public dunny...hahahahaha, it was an expensive pee, I have to say!  Wazza  had a local beer, he left half,  the look on his face was priceless!! I enjoyed a nice Sav Blanc, and I let Rebecca know we were safe and sound after the excitement at the bakery.

We saw a giant Lego man in the heart of LegoCountry! 

Pub # 3 The Scottish Pub was also closed, not looking too flash for this pub crawl.

The walk around the old streets was fascinating, but the risk to our lives from bike riders was a different story... Crazy crazy!

We were then intent (well some of us were) on finding the Australia Pub, for yes, you guessed it, a VB! We got directions from Google, and almost everyone else in Copenhagen, and still NEVER found it! 

BUT.. We had a stop at the Hard Rock Cafe, Megan looked after us ... She also gave us directions to this flippin Aussie pub! 

Alas, the Dubliner jumped out, and who can go past a good Irish Pub in a foreign country?? Not us! 

Just a little off the track here, we have been to several countries, battled language barriers, and spent money in $USD, EURO, GBP£ CNY, DKK, SEK.. Mostly I have no idea what coin or note is which, I trust all I have met have been honest!!

Back to the pub crawl...

We had a delicious Irish Stew for lunch at the Dubliner.... Then after yet ANOTHER set of directeions we landed upon the Southern Cross Pub, out the front a sign displaying VB, etc, inside a young girl setting up the bar, I knocked on the window and discovered they didn't open for over half an hour... Cutting it too fine to return to the ship in a taxi, given the peak hour traffic. Our driver was a great man, an excellent driver, and had us back on the wharf in plenty of time for sail away. My poor husband was shattered! 

Another note ..... The ship is almost out of Smirnoff Vodka. What next for him?? 

Our final sea day with Karen before Copenhagen take 2.

We had a slot pull with Marian's group at 11 am, we did very poorly. We put our "losings" into a machine and Karen Warren and I played for quite a while before we collected our bounty! ($12 each).

I have a funny story to relate, well there are lots really, but this one take the cake, Karen was not feeling too flash after a busy Port day so decided to have room service dinner (now $7.95 btw), being a good tidy camper she put her tray on the floor in the corridor outside her room, naturally in her jammies... Yep you know what's coming, click the door to her cabin shuts, no key, and no glasses to see the numbers on the phone in the hall. She had to stand a wait for a Good Samaritan to come by and help her use the phone to call guest services..   They arrived after half an hour!. I said why didn't you call me? Cheeky bugger said 'cos I know you two would be out at a bar some place!! 

Not much other news to report today, the usual banter, and saying farewell to our new friends, before a night out on the high seas. 

A stunning sunset tonight.

Stockholm - Sweden

Well, the sunshine finally departed today, it was a day of overcast and drizzly weather, chilly but not freezing.

Our tour bus was waiting, it was a large coach, very warm, and only 12 of us on board. We were excited to visit this new country. 

Our tour guide was the worst we have come across, and we have done a few tours, he is a representative of SPB tours, we paid US$125 per person.  What a terrible rip off! We did a short drive. Looked over a few bridges, and spent way too long in a queue to see the Vasa Museum, in the cold and rain... Basically it was a very old ship, bringing a $hitload of money into the community. Sergio (our guide) waffled on and on and on.. It was a good opportunity for me to upload the last blog, and get a private call to Rebecca via viber.

I had enough and we were all pretty bored.

But....... It wasn't a palace or a church!! 

Our tour guide showed us the usual sights that we saw already, the Abba museum, then dropped us in the rain in the town square for a free time of 1 hour and 40 minutes.

I went to the office of SPB and went a bit feral.. They could not give a rats.

Warrens notes.. 

There is free education in Sweden. 

Stockholm is made up of 14 islands, the oldest building was built in 1270 and it's called the Nobility church.  

There are 26000 islands in the Archipelago .. 

He did well .. It's why I love him so much xx

Lunch was in an underground prison, 700 years old. It was a good meal, and quite out of the ordinary for us, and warm and cosy. We sat next to people who were sailing on the Serenade of the Seas. They were not so impressed with Royal, really nice people.

Our hosts where very charming, and lunch was a reasonable price.. Well this is where I lie.. Nfi what it cost.. Got a crazy hat for our son in law.. Also nfi what it cost, but he will like it .

After lunch we went to the  pharmacy for Karen to stock up on cold and flu stuff for the trip home. She was certainly looking and feeling very miserable today. The cold weather and crappy tour did nothing to make her feel any better.

Not once did she complain. What an excellent travel companion. Rotten luck for her to get such a nasty cold.

We wandered a bit more around the old town, and rejoined our group for the transfer back to the ship.

Our evening drinks in the Champagne bar were, as usual fun, tonight's was certainly fabulous for Warren! We joined a mum dad, son and daughter in law. The dad was blind, the mum was a vegetarian who just drank her way through dinner!  And the young couple were on their honeymoon, And expecting a baby. It was her birthday.

I am getting off the track here, what I started to say was the old fella was a retired Texas Ranger. He kept Warren enthralled for ages with his tales. It was a great night.

This sure is a grand way to meet some interesting people.

Helsinki - Finland 

Arrival was into Meikki quay, an area of reclaimed land, being turned into parklands and new housing over the next couple of years, it looks a bit daggy now, but will be beautiful when it's finished.

After brekky at our Irish Pub on board we ventured off to meet up with our tour guide from SPB Tours once again. While we were waiting we got chatting to a lovely lady originally from Hobart, now a resident for 14 years, and a tour operator running food tours of Helsinki. 

Our guide George and driver arrived and we began our 5 hour tour.

We passed a beautiful parkland called Kaivopuisto, the drive followed the coast line, the scenery was really pretty. Finland has turned on a great day for us, it's the second sunny day this year. 

Next up a city central drive before stopping for 45 minutes at Centre Square to visit the waterfront markets and the city hall. The markets were full of stalls selling the usual tourist souvenirs, fresh local salmon, lots of fish, and a multitude of delicious summer fruits. Naturally I got several bags of berries etc. and a couple of gifts for the little kids at home. The market was great, way better than the tacky stores from yesterday.

All too soon it was time to get back on the bus to head off sightseeing. We passed the Central Railway station, and had a stop for photos at the Olympic Stadium, built for the 1952 Olympics. It is still a working stadium and has many events annually. It holds 42000, not a big stadium compared to the one in Melbourne!

We continued to enjoy seeing the sights of this lovely city before heading out to an open air museum, representing the Finnish building traditions from the 18th to the 20th centuries. The walk around was fabulous, quite lengthy, but an easy walk, and the sun and sights made it even more enjoyable.

Morning tea was provided at a gorgeous restaurant, they served coffee and a cinnamon scroll, delicious! 

The buildings we visited depicted life in the harsh environment of a year that sees many many months of darkness, and extreme cold, very similar, but also very different to what we saw in Alaska, small windows, to retain heat.

The new bulbs are prolific, and must be a welcome sight after so many months of darkness. I am sure it's not our life style choice.

Finland has about 200 thousand lakes, and consequently boating is a popular pastime, that's when the lakes are not frozen golf courses! 

The population is around 5.4 million, and has 900 thousand registered boats!!  40 percent are Lutheran, education is free, for all ... As is health care. Each person drinks about 16 kilos of coffee each a year on average ...They must never sleep! 

Sibelius Monument was our next stop, quite unique, designed and built by a woman over 6 years, it cost her her life in the end. It was made up of 600 pieces of different size steel pipe, all welded and sculptured with filigree ... Will post a photo later. In the cold windy days it produces a musical tune, although who the heck would stand on the headland to listen??? Not this black duck for sure. 

Very unique and quite similar in its 'popularity' to the Yellow Peril in Melbourne.

Our last stop was at the Church in the Rock called Temppeliaukio. It was built over 10 years, and is quite remarkable. It is still a functioning church. Warren lasted just a couple of minutes. His church quota was exceeded yesterday by about 15 or so!

Finally a stop in at the souvenir shops at the wharf, everything is so very expensive, so not much purchased here. Just the shot glass!  

Free wifi continued onto the ship, so we sat on the pool deck, and waited for the sailaway party that didn't happen and came back to our cabin for a rest. It's a hard life you know! 

Sail out was very lovely, big ferries coming and going 

St Petersberg day 2 

Much easier to get through customs, and I had a lovely smiley lady, however, she wished me good luck as she passed back my passport... Hmmmm I had a WTF moment then!! 

All was good, our lovely guide was early to meet us and we departed the wharf area right on time.

First stop was to StNicholas Church, an imposing looking place, and another very opulent looking cathedral. So much gold... And such beautiful architecture. 

This was a "working church" many people were inside, tourists had a roped off area, and as such photos were forbidden... Just amazing how many pool still take a camera out.Interestingly none of the churches have pews, or pulpits, except one. We have done well so far, so many churches, and none have fallen in! 

Next up a stop at a typical crappy souvenir shop, we sat in the sun and enjoyed an ice cream ... I guess they are part of the deal. But REALLY??? They are so tacky, and overpriced. When we passed a market stall, it was a no go zone! 

A city tour followed and then onto Peter and Paul fortress, home of the still functioning mint for currency, medals etc.  there was another church to visit, it was once again spectacular. There were tombs with the bodies of Peter the Great and his mates, for clarification of this fact, please refer to Google! We are in information overload, and my poor long suffering hubby is about to cry if I take him to another church, cathedral, palace, or any place that does not serve alcohol!! 

Our brains have taken in so so much in the past two days... It's wonderful, exhausting and fabulous.

Excitement next, a canal cruise for lunch, Warren had a Russian vodka, smelt like stuff you would use to embalm a body...  He had a healthy glow for a good while, then he topped it off with a Russian Beer... Lunch was good, well, not as good as yesterday's, as we shared the table with a few more ....yes you get the drift whinge whinge whinge.. I get very embarrassed. More cabbage, fish and rice, ( oh excuse me I don't think that was sunrice) soup, and a apple bun cake thingo.

The boat had a toilet that I needed to use... Thank goodness there were no cameras, it was T I N Y.... I had my knees around my shoulders, had to sit on the dunny  to pull my daks down,  put one foot in the basin and hope I aimed right. Now that was an experience. I could write a book obituary my travels with dunnies...gawd.

The wine here was also very good.

Next up another church...

Can you hear him moaning... 

It was the famous Church of the Spilled Blood. Awesome mosaic work 70000 sq metres inside and out. The history was incredible, such a beautiful church during its lif it was once  home to a vegetable market, and most of the inside was ruined by weather, it's it now restored magnificently. 

After leaving the church, we walked with our guide (well some of us did) and passed lots of market stalls, we would have loved to have had a Squizzy .. But as good sheep do, we followed our guide, (well some of us did... Are you seeing the pattern here?)  Lo and behold, we had to stand and wait and wait and wait in the cold for 3 ignobloodyramusses to be found. HAPPY JAN! 

Then off to a "shopping stop" yep another crappy suck in the tourist shop. I was aware that it's what tours are about, but surely we could have had one decent shopping stop? 

Last stop on our tour was at a square ... Famous for ...google it!    Another photo opportunity, my camera is so full of churches, bridges, cathedrals, and I was sure Warren was going to self destruct! We didn't even get off,  preferring to wait for our ride home. 

Geeze it was good to get home.

Feet up, recharge and now at the Irish Pub for a bit of dinner, then bed.

Well that's the plan.

Tomorrow Helsinki Finland.

Ok, well before we post this we are at Gastsbys Champagne bar, having a roadie with Stan the music man, the sun is still up, so why choose bed over  fun in the Baltic Sea, where the sun still continues to shine, it's like living in a time warp. Day after day after day, thank goodness our days at Woolies were not this flipping long! 

It's amazing how a few bubbles recharge you..  Kind of like magic. 

Our friends behind the bar are now friends . ...

They know the magic medicine.

Still tomorrow Helsinki, hope we wake up. 

St.Petersberg - Russia a two day stop over.

We have just come back to the ship after our two day tour with White Night Tours, our guide was Anna, who was a lovely German girl, and our driver was the very efficient Paul. Anna spoke good broken English, Paul .... No idea! 

We disembarked to begin our tour at about 8.15 am and had to queue for customs ..another snot freezing wait, we were in the line to nowhere, and consequently last through. A very surly customs official scared the crap out of me, but must have thought I was OK ... He let me in after waiting for well over an hour. 

Off we went through the city to visit the Hermitage Museum, the Winter Palace, I just asked Warren how big was the palace, his reply was $&@£€# HUGE! So no details, sorry! Again we formed a "far q"to gain entry, again our snot froze over. It was like sheep being herded not a fun wait, but when we finally entered (after having to remove our jackets and check them in the locker room..... Because.  Wait for it .........ITS SUMMER!!!!!)  we were gob smacked, the place is enormous, and holds some incredible irreplaceable works of art, by many famous artists, nothing is a replica. We toured for what seemed like a year and a half, with the other 3 million tourists, shuffling along, snapping awesome photos of the back of some Japanese tourists head. 

Much to Warrens relief we moved on ....

Our coach took us out to our lunch spot, a village 40 minutes from town, the drive was pleasant, passing the Presidents Winter residence. There are more palaces and churches than people.. Go figure!

Lunch was efficiently served and was really delicious, an authentic Russian meal, in a building made in the traditional way of large logs all joined together beautifully, and nit using any nails! We were served Borscht  soup, cabbage and carrot grated (????) yummy beef stroganoff and blueberry

 pancakes..oh and lovely local wine and not so lovely local beer.

Next up was Peterhoff Gardens, home to 150 fountains and some more palaces. The gardens were sensational, just blooming tulips, what a great sight. We even saw another squirrel, much to my excitement. We walked for a long long way, admiring all the sights, the sun was out, and life was grand in Russia!  From this park you can see across to Finland. Our camera was running at full steam again.

Peterhoff Palace was very grand, gold turrets gleaming in The sunlight..

A lovely secret fountain where you took a risk to 

run through the cobblestones to try and miss the water spout. 

We were warned to be aware of pickpockets here, to me there appeared to be no sign of vagrants, or beggars. 

On we go driving back to town. Time for a nana nap for me on the way! I was not alone :) 

We saw the main office of the Russian Navy, an ice breaker ship, a submarine, one  dating back to 1927, and for a change a few dozen more palaces, oh and churches!

St Petersburg was originally made up of 102 islands, they have since filled in a lot of the canals and now consists of 42 islands. There are many canals and over 400 bridges, gotta wonder how the 5 million fit, between bridges, palaces and churches. The population doubles in summer...A large influx of tourists certainly helps the economy.

Back to the ship to charge up phone/iPad/camera and nana batteries. Or venture out for a bit of socialising.... As you do!

 

Tallin- Estonia 

This morning we docked right alongside the Aida Deva cruise ship, we have been travelling together for yonks now, since Ponta Delgada!  We disembarked easily again just after 9am.

We had made a booking last minute for a tour of Tallin, and met up as instructed right on time outside the Port Gates, I smelled a rat from the get go!

Never have I heard so many whinging Yankies (sorry friends, you know you are not in this category!) we got squeezed into the back of the worlds smallest tourist bus, with the worlds fattest loudest moaning bunch you ever could come across, just when it was necessary to open the walls with a can opener to fit more in, we decided to bail. Warren was out of there like $hit out of a Shanghai! The poor tour guide was just beautiful and tried to convince us to stay. I felt so so sorry for her. 

On we go hoofing it into Tallin Old Town! What a treat to see this beautiful old city, we walked for ages, and stumbled across a tiny little "beer" shop, they sold 571 different beers, alas, the only Aussie Beer was a Coopers. I though of our mate Stewie, he would have had a grand time here! Colleen and I would have been looking for the pretty woollen jumpers socks and scarves, as it was so blooming cold. Snot freezing weather again!  They have average temps of minus 20. Warren made the comment more than once, what the heck are we doing here! It's an adventure, just a shame we are adventuring in Brisbane clobber!

With 3 ships docked it was a busy town, I thought of our Kunelius friends all day long, and wondered at what life was like for Laurie growing up here. 

We caught the Town Tram for a 20 minute ride €6 each, it was a bumpy old ride on the cobblestones, but great fun.

We wandered through a Tallin lane way where there was a timeline, fascinating to read. Warren was our tour guide, and did a fine job, leading us Straight to Mad Murphys Irish Pub. We had a great lunch and a drink before heading out to walk some more, and find a nice Chrysler taxi to take us to some more landmarks for €40 for one hour. Our driver was excellent, and once again, beautiful scenery.

Home after another sensational day to,our warm and cosy cabin.

StPetersberg - Russia tomorrow.