The Great 30th Birthday Trip...
<<itinerary>>
We set out for our latest adventure, centered around a 10 day Baltic
cruise, ready to enjoy the cool weather, only to be greeted with
freakishly warm days and impossibly blue skies. We arrived at the
Cinci airport Thursday July 29th and feeling like imposters, checked
in at the Business Elite line (courtesy of 160,000 miles racked up
on our AmX Delta credit cards). We were able to change our original
flight to a later direct flight which would land us an hour earlier
in Frankfurt. This gave us a lot of time on our hands, but
fortunately we were able to while away the hours in the peaceful
oasis of the business lounge. What a feeling to sink into those big
luxurious seats in business class … champagne and mineral water were
on hand immediately, my jacket was taken, we were welcomed on board
and given a menu for dinner. Wish I could always fly like that.
 Our
flight was uneventful and we arrived about 8 hours later. Frankfurt
airport was very clean and streamlined. We were at the onsite train
station by 9:45 am local time. Day 1 was Luebeck. We arrived early
afternoon and checked into the Baltic hotel, a simple but
comfortable place. Our room was on the 3rd (hence 4th) floor, with,
of course, no elevator. Lugging the suitcase the cruise necessitated
was not fun for Brian!
We didn't have the energy that evening to do much more than
wander around the old city center and admire the canals and
architecture, and eat a hearty German dinner of fish and potatoes. A
good night's sleep in our tiny sloped room did wonders for us and we
set out early the following morning for the 8:15 train to
Copenhagen. Our reserved seats ended up placing us with a very
interesting fellow traveler - an Iraqi now living in Australia, now
traveling through Europe. We passed the train ride conversing with
him, and trying to determine who exactly the young men were who went
through the train looking at passports, claiming to be German
customs, but wearing Tshirts, and who jumped off the train just
prior to loading on the ferry for the crossing to Copenhagen.
 We arrived in Copenhagen to a very warm afternoon, checked
into our funky little room at Chicken's Private Pensione, and set
out to explore. We immediately noticed the very high prices - a
basic lunch at a café was about $50 US. Copenhagen is a colorful and
interesting city, and very walkable. We spent all afternoon
wandering the cobblestone streets and squares, and enjoyed dinner in
Christiania, the hippie enclave.
The following morning, a local MINI owner, Peter, called us at
our Pensione, and volunteered to pick us up and show us around. We
were excited to meet another MINI person, and get a local's
perspective. We took another long walk before he arrived, along the
Nyhaven harbor and to Ameliasborg Palace. Peter picked us and our
bags up late morning and took us to see the Little Mermaid, a petite
statue in the harbor. We stopped for ice cream and to admire the
view of the sea, before heading to a charming little amusement park
where we took a carriage ride through a park, and spent some time
learning about Peter and life in Denmark. His MINI was horribly
expensive, due to the remarkably high taxes of 180% on new cars.
Peter drove us directly to the ship, which was very nice and
certainly saved us a long trip on public transportation.
 Boarding was quite quick and easy,
especially because I had already filled out my immigration forms
online. Our room was already ready, and our cabin steward managed to
get us a fan and extra pillows. It was a new and interesting
experience for me to be on board a cruise ship - I luckily did not
get seasick, but the vibrations took some adjusting. We met up late
afternoon with David and Linda, a couple we met on a cruise message
board before leaving, and hit it right off with them. We enjoyed
some champagne in our cabin, then went down for dinner. They had
placed us a table alone, despite our request for a large table, so
we spoke to them about that, but enjoyed our first night's 5-course
dinner.
 Monday was a full day at sea. I was quite restless, and
prowled about the ship most of the day. Afternoon high tea was
lovely - I do love scones and cream. Brian toured the ship kitchen,
which he found interesting. Dinner was formal Monday night, so we
dressed up in our "prom" clothes, and went for a drink in the
"Crow's Nest" before going down for the Captain's champagne
reception, and many photo stops. We joined our new tablemates, who
were quite nice, but fairly quiet except for the vastly entertaining
ship nurse and her husband. With her at the table wine was on the
house. So it's not much surprise that we found it difficult to get
up the next morning. We had also lost an hour the first night of the
cruise, because Estonia is another hour ahead of western Europe, so
Brian especially was groggy. We walked with David and Linda to the
port gate, bypassing the higher priced taxis at the gate, and got a
taxi with the sweetest taxi driver who told us a lot about
Estonia. "It is a small country with a big heart," he told us.
 
We especially liked Tallin. A beautiful medieval city with the
stunning Russian Orthodox Church, it offered intriguing views around
every corner. Our highlights included a visit inside the Russian
cathedral - stunning and exotic - and a climb to the top of the city
hall tower for incredible 360 degree views of the city. Our legs
were spaghetti by the time we climbed up and down that steep spiral
staircase, but it was well worth it. The weather was perfect, the
skies so blue as to not be believed, as they were to be for most of
our trip.
 I had trouble sleeping that night, knowing we
would be in Russia in the morning. We lost another hour, placing us
now 8 hours ahead of home, and arose early for room service (some
things I definitely like about cruising) and left the ship for
Russia! Customs was a breeze, not at all like I feared, and we were
very early outside the customs office waiting for our guide and car.
We booked this service with Palladium before we left, and obtained
visas so we could travel independently. We had no desire to be
packed onto a tour bus and trundled around the city, and it was
actually quite a bit less expensive to hire a private guide, car and
driver. Just prior to 8:30, Lena came around the corner with
Alexander, and we were off! The car had to stop at the port gate for
the curious procedure of documents inspection and a barrage of
Russian fired between the driver and the guard. Lena commenced with
a history of St Petersburg as we made the drive into the city. Our
first stop was at a gorgeous blue and gold orthodox church with
those mystical onion domes. I soon had to venture into a Russian
public restroom, which I had heard much about (and none of it
positive). I borrowed 10 Roubles from Lena, took the paper from
outside the stall after the attendant stopped me to point it out,
and that was that. No better or worse than a rest stop on any
interstate at home. We stopped at an ATM for roubles next, and
headed out to Catherine's Palace, all the while gawking out the
window and pinching ourselves to make the fact that we are in Russia
real. Just outside the city we stopped at Chesma church, a birthday
cake of a building - pink and white striped, with some lovely icons
inside.
 We quickly learned the advantages of having a
guide and car/driver. We were dropped off right at the entrance to
Catherine's Palace and Lena took us directly to the front of the
(long) line. She showed some papers, spoke a lot of Russian and got
us into the courtyard of this fabulous blue palace crowned with a
cluster of golden onion domes. As we toured the palace in our
mandatory slippers Lena kept up a running commentary on the history,
art, architecture and people of this palace. She was extremely well
educated and we learned that in order to be a licensed guide, she
was required to take a course on each and every major museum and
church in St Petersburg. Upon leaving the palace, I bought a bottle
of water, and a Coke for Brian, and was a little surprised to see
how many roubles it cost - the equivalent of $7.00! This in a city
in which teachers make around US $30 per month.
 We went to lunch following the palace. Lena took
us to Restaurant Podvorye, a place she said is a favorite of their
president. Other foreign presidents and royalty have also eaten
there. It is built to look like a wooden Russian cottage. Brian had
traditional Russian borscht (beet soup) and I had potato pancakes
with sour cream for a starter, and then we each had fried fish for
our main course. It was actually quite good. My mashed potatoes
tasted just like those my mom make. I have to point out here that my
already worn down by travel and lack of sleep immune system had
given out somewhere in the middle of the previous night and by lunch
I was full blown sick with something like a head cold. Headache,
terrible alternating runny and stuffy nose, and general feeling of
malaise. Lena told me she would take me to the chemist when we got
back to the city. After lunch we drove to Pushkin to see Pavlovsk's
Palace. Not as grand as Catherine's but lovely nevertheless. Lena
continued her commentary. We drove back to the city afterwards. Here
would be as good a time as any to describe driving in Russia. No
lines on most of the roads, and cars tailgate so close that at one
point our hood was under to bed of a large truck in front of us. No
such thing as passing lanes, the driver passes when he has more guts
than the guy in the oncoming car. Change your mind about where
you're going? That's OK, just back up in the middle of the street
and turn around on the sidewalk. Tired of waiting to pull out into a
rush of oncoming traffic? No problem, just pull out and run people
off the road. I felt confident in our driver's abilities, but still
white knuckled it more than once. And if a police officer
steps into the street and waves his black and white baton at you?
Pull over and show him your papers, as Alexander did.
We stopped at the chemist once back in the city. Through Lena's
translation of my symptoms, the chemist prescribed three medicines
for me, and threw in an aromatherapy bath oil. Total price? About
$4.00. Evidently when one is sick in Russia, a visit to the chemist
precedes, and generally replaces a visit to the physician. Next we
took a river cruise through the city, which was an excellent way to
see many of the buildings, all of which Lena named and described of
course. I got my first glimpse of the Church on Spilled Blood, which
was even more extraordinary than in photos.
 We decided to get our souvenir shopping over with
next, and were greeted with complimentary vodka when we arrived. We
picked out a miniature done by a student (couldn't afford one by a
master!) some postcards, a Christmas ornament, a lovely print of
Church on Spilled Blood, and other miscellaneous accoutrements. We
took a short break and had some free coffee and took advantage of
the free and clean bathroom before going to our evening folkoric
show at Nikolaevsky Palace. We parted company with Lena then, and
arranged for Alexander to pick us up at the end of the show to take
us to dinner.
 I expected the show to be touristy, and I guess it
probably was, but we thouroughly enjoyed the Russian music, costumes
and dancing. I think I was smiling the entire time. At intermission,
caviar and champagne was available. We were lucky to get a couple
bites of caviar on toast - tour groups descended like locusts on the
table, then wouldn't budge for those of us who had to come from the
other side of the theatre. There was only about 20 minutes remaining
in the show, and we decided to be rebellious and wander around on
our own in St Petersburg until Alexander picked us up. We walked up
to a bridge and looked out, then walked a few blocks, and were happy
to get back in our car. Alexander drove us to The Idiot, a place I
had chosen from my guidebook, and waited for us while we ate. With
his earpiece from his mobile, and the way he jumped out of the car
to get my door, he made us feel like we had a secret service agent.
Dinner at The Idiot came with a shot of vodka - no surprise there! I
had a yummy pasta with caviar and shrimp. We ordered "salted
cucumbers" as a starter - this exotic Russian dish turned out to be
pickles. Alexander was waiting to take us back to the ship after
dinner. After going through the documents process at the port gate
again, he dropped us at the ship, and we called home from the
payphone at customs.
Movie of our photos
| Photo Album |
Thoughts on the ship
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