absolutboy20

This does work. I leave the hotspot on the balcony to get better cellular land signal. When my cell phone shows the regional carriers' reception, not the ships "Cellular at sea" etc., I turn on the hotspot to connect my other devices via wifi. I've never done it with the U.K. carrier you are referencing, but the ones I've used will throttle to 3G or slower when you are not "in network".

Day 13 - 5th Sea Day

This one will be fairly short. We went to breakfast, I finally caved into the pastries. Two thumbs up.

We hung out in the Solarium for a few hours as it was another cold day outside. It actually did warm up in the late afternoon.

At 2PM the charity auction on the glassware made on board was to be sold. I was interested in bidding on the goblet with a penguin base as that was the one I saw during the demonstration.

We headed down for the auction, only to see the goblet was not up for sale.

The reasoning I was told is they don't auction off cups as they don't get a high bid. I was disappointed and overhead others asking where the goblet was. I watched the auction, most of the items sold for around $500-$600 dollars. The last piece, a turtle went for $1200.

After the auction, we started packing as our room attendant asked if we could get the bags out around 6pm-8pm he would greatly appreciate it. He was trying to avoid the elevator congestion later that night. We told him we hadn't received our luggage tags, and after a visit to guest relations they were brought up.

I sat on the balcony watching ships we were passing by. This one was heading to Texas. Has a long ways to go.

The room was already getting set up for the new guests who are coming on board tomorrow. New robes were in the closet and the ice bucket with two champagne glasses were out with the note of "Compliments from the Hotel Director".

We went to our final dinner and said goodbye to some new friends not knowing if we'll ever cross paths. OH called it a night and I went to the the final show Euphoria with a earlier showtime of 9pm.

Combination of singers and aerialists. The show was packed. And one final goodbye from the captain after the show. After the show I sat down in the library enjoying one final view of the atrium while collecting ping pong balls.

Day 12 - 4th Sea Day - Final

After the ship tour, we headed to the dining room for lunch.

I had the soup and a burger. The soups on this cruise have been excellent.

The weather today has been terrible, cold and windy. So I ventured out to the lawn deck which was empty, and made it to the Sunset Bar.

A ghost town. BUT I finally was able to get the coveted spot!

I did sit there for about 15 minutes while writing the review, and having a Grey Goose with club soda, splash of cranberry for color.

The evenings entertainment was Ukebox. A British band that plays the ukulele.

I thought it was quite entertaining. Ended up buying a couple of their songs off Itunes. After the show there was a after show similar to "Who's Telling the Truth" featuring the captain, cruise director Eddie, and the comedian from last night. A word was displayed on the screen, we had to guess which of the three was defining the term correctly. The captain always went back to the origin of the word being a Greek term. [emoji2]

How much did this tour cost?

 

 

 

Do you know if the cost was the same if booked pre-cruise and if booked while on the ship?

The cost was around $100 per person. No discounts and they had them on all five sea days. Pretty popular I hear.

Day 12 - At Sea (4th Sea Day)

We toured the laundry facility as well but it was fairly quiet in that department as all of the work had been completed in the early morning hours. Their laundry machines can handle 50kilos per load.

The engine room required us to meet up with security where the gangway and metal detectors are located. We had to sign in and have security do a thorough check.

The engine room is a windowless room with a lot of buttons and monitors. The engineer informed us that we they were running only two out of the four diesel engines. The engines can provide power for up to 50,000 residential homes. The diesel consumption was 5,000 liters per hour. I asked if the ship refueled for this cruise, and he stated they did but it was not due to the fact that they were running low on fuel, but the price of fuel is cheaper in Russia than in Southampton. There are two rooms that are identical in case one engine room fails.

After leaving the engine room, we walked the I95 corridor which the staff use to get from one side of the ship to the other.

Last stop was the bridge. Security met us, we signed in, and had to go through another body check. Once cleared we were buzzed in. The staff captain gave us the tour. I knew the bridge was big but there are chairs and a coffee table with the best views.

The coolest part is the glass floor.

The ship was on autopilot and we could see the wake of the ship as it made a slight turn. The crew on the bridge work in four hour shifts. Captain Leo showed up at the end of the tour to answer any questions and for a photo opportunity. I have to say he has been the friendliest captains and most visible ones I have had on a cruise. We spent about twenty minutes up there before the tour ended.

Day 12 - At Sea (4th Sea Day)

Preface: I have been trying to post this sea day with pictures but have been unsuccessful for two days. The Xcelerate on sea days has been a mixed bag, or terrible. I will finish off the rest of the blog tomorrow with some reliable internet. And I also apologize for the horrid grammatical errors in my previous posts. I've been posting through Tapatalk and Grey Goose. Below is what I was able to post with pictures after days of failure on Tapatalk.

As we didn't have an early excursion I didn't set the alarm and I woke up around 8AM. It is going to be a chilly day, around 60F with cloudy skies. I went down for breakfast and the artwork for today was:

OH was going to join me for breakfast but as soon as he opened the cabin door, Alfred was walking by who told him his usual breakfast had already been ordered and he will be bringing it in five minutes.

We actually have one final excursion this trip with a meeting time of 9:45AM at the shore excursions desk.

We met up at the starting point, and I forgot to bring down our photo id’s which was required, but at least the room is only an elevator ride away. We signed all the waiver paperwork, given a earpiece, and a lanyard. We were ready to begin the behind the scenes ship tour.

Our first stop was the MDR. We entered through the 4th floor and were greeted by the MDR manager. On the main floor, breakfast was still being served. He pointed out that the MDR is the same in every S-class ship, except for the name, carpet, and chair colors. The dining room’s shape is supposed to be inspired by a champagne bottle. Bubbles on the entry wall, the base being the wall nearest the entry, curvature of the railings being the shape of a bottle, and the wine cellar being the cork.

The MDR can serve 1300 guests at a time with 160 crew as service staff. The most expensive bottle in the cellar? A Screaming Eagle for $4,000. The most difficult part for the MDR staff? There are only 30 tables by the window and everyone wants a view. On average 500 bottles of wine are consumed in the MDR a day.

After bidding the manager goodbye, we then proceeded down to the galley.

The galley was very active in preparation for lunch and dinner. We started in the pastry section then moved along to the entrees being prepared. There are two galleys on the 3rd and 4th floor with the same layout.

In one of the cold rooms, they were preparing the lobster tails for the night.

As we were nearing the end of the cruise, the storage rooms were becoming fairly empty.

50,000lbs of meat on average are consumed on a 14 day cruise.

There was still plenty of high end liquor in stock.

The recipes for all of the meals are posted on one wall.

Day 11 - Warnemunde, Germany (Berlin) Final

The wall was the end of the tour, we said goodbye to Jim, and hopped on the bus to do the three hour drive back to port. The drive is very peaceful filled with green farmland dotted with windmills.

We were behind schedule but arrived at the port at 8:30PM. OH ran into the dining room, ordered a ton of food for the both of us, and told waiter to not wait for the next course and bring it all together as they were closing soon. I had to go back up to the room to change since I was in shorts from the excursion. At dinner we were seated next to a lovely couple from England that we’ve been chatting with before.

After dinner we headed up to the room and saw that we had a late departure. Warnemunde’s port is very tight and the ship was in the process of turning 270 degrees to make the turn out of the port. Once the turn was complete, we were in a holding pattern to allow a container ship pass through.

It was around 10pm but there were plenty of onlookers from the pier waving their cellphones with the flashlight feature.

I was getting the impression this would be the last time in this town for the Eclipse this year. After the container shipped passed, the Eclipse made three very long bursts on the horn and we started our way out of the harbor.

Fireworks could be heard and I thought they were being fired from town, but I believe they were coming from the top of the ship. One last person waving their phone from the end of the pier entry and we were out in the sea.

I went to the 11:30pm show in the main theater that was to be a comedian and for adults only, OH went to bed. He had the right idea. 15 minutes spent on flatulence, couple of jokes of where people are from/occupation and it was done.

Day 11 - Warnemunde, Germany (Berlin) cont'd

We walked from Reichstag to Brandenburg gate. One of the few remaining structures from the 18th century, the structure was damaged but survived the heavy bombings. The columns have evidence of the from the shelling and bullets that had hit the monument.

Our guide showed us pictures of area after the air raids and it looked like a blank canvas.

From Brandenburg gate, we walked by the US Embassy and then to the Holocaust memorial. There are 2271 rectangular cement blocks of different height and size. OH is Jewish so this was a tough memorial. What disappointed me were the number of people (not from our group), mostly young teenagers, who were taking selfies between the blocks or jumping from one block to another as if it were a playground.

After spending about 30 minutes at the memorial, we were given time for lunch.

We reboarded the bus and drove by several areas in East Berlin. There continues to be a lot of revitalization and rebuilding of areas after the unification.

We stopped at Checkpoint Charlie. Unfortunately none of the existing structures relate back to the original checkpoint. The station post, signs, and the men dressed in uniform are all fake. Across the street, the stop did have the actual footprints of where the Berlin Wall existed.

The last stop was where part of the Berlin Wall were still standing. Behind this area was where the SS building was headquartered where many people were tortured. Those buildings have been destroyed, but now a free public museum has been erected to explain the terror that was inflicted by the SS and the regime. As we didn't have time to tour the museum, the guide recommended a book that is sold here that covers most of what is presented in the museum. We purchased the book and walked around the wall.

Day 11 - Warnemunde, Germany (Berlin) cont’d

We arrived into Berlin a little under three hours. Our driver made an announcement that we would be meeting our city guide at the Olympic stadium. A couple in the bus would be leaving us for their private tour.

Once we arrived at the stadium, our Berlin guide hopped onto our bus to introduce himself. His name is Jim… from Michigan.

He came here to write his thesis, met a girl, got married, just had twins, and has been living here and been a guide for 12 years.

We hopped off the bus to get a better look at stadium. Built for the 1936 Summer Olympics, the design is very sterile. It originally had the capacity of seating 100,000.

Back on the bus, we headed toward Brandenburg gate. We drove by several points of interest, including the palace of the last royal family before being overthrown in 1918.

We then drove by an oyster shaped building used for concerts which was gift from the US in 1957.

Reichstag, the country’s parliament building was where we got off the bus to continue the walking tour. The building was recently renovated to include a glass dome that has a walkway with views of Berlin.

Day 11 - Warnemunde, Germany (Berlin)

Ships arrival is scheduled for 9AM and our tour starts at 9:30AM. I set my alarm to wake me up at 6AM. We were both ready around 7AM. Headed down to the dining room and had a huge breakfast. I always get a cappuccino, and a very talented waitress makes my coffee every morning with a different theme. Today's was exceptional.

After breakfast I headed up to deck 15 for the sail-in. We were following a ferry from Copenhagen to enter a narrow pier.

We passed by an Aida ship which was already docked. To make our berth, the pilot and captain had to make a sharp turn. The gap got pretty narrow between the ships.

This will probably be the longest excursion for us on this cruise. Warnemunde is a three hour bus ride from Berlin. We got off the ship a little after 9AM. As we were getting in the elevator an announcement for “Starcode, starcode, starcode, room 7xxx” was made. This was third time I heard the announcement on this cruise. When we exited the ship, one ambulance was already parked for another passenger, while another pulled up for the latest event.

We had another passport control but the lines moved much faster. All EU residents have to do is show their passport, US passports were checked and stamped.

A SPG rep was waiting at the cruise terminal. They had three buses for this excursion. After some confusion as to which bus to join, we boarded bus #2. Thumbs up to SPG for not cramming us into one bus. We each could have own row with reclining chairs. After waiting for the last two people, we left around 9:40AM. The ride is along the Autobahn, which normally has no speed limit. I REALLY wish I had my truck from home to try this freeway.

Scenery passing by is agricultural fields and large windmills.

A little over an hour into the drive, the bus driver made an announcement that we would be making a pit stop for food and restrooms. It's customary to leave some money to use to toilets. The bus driver told us to not get in the long line that everyone else from the ship was using, but to use the one in the restaurant. I love it when a guide has a secret tip for us. No line whatsoever where everyone else was in this.

p

We proceeded to the gas station to get some snacks. I had to try these.

Western style chips means barbecue flavor. Jack Daniels means I'm buzzed on the bus ride.

Day 11 - Warnemunde (Berlin)

The daily. They go into my backpack and get thrashed so it has a couple of creases.

Day 10 -Sea Day (3rd Sea Day)

Well after four port days it was really nice to have a sea day. Looking at the ocean and sky from the balcony the weather looked ominous.

This report is going to be short as I didn't do much besides lay by the pool.

OH joined me in the dining room for breakfast, first time after 10 days on the boat! I had two Scottish salmon benedicts, applewood bacon, smoothie, and a plain yogurt.

After breakfast, OH went to the Solarium. The weather was cool and cloudy, so I don't want to lay out by the outdoor pool. Once I got up to join OH in the Solarium, he immediately headed to the shopping area as they had a 10% off special for Baltic souvenirs for the first two hours. This was the last sailing for the Eclipse to the Baltic for the season. She’ll do a fjord run then head down to the Mediterranean before making the Atlantic crossing.

I was lounging poolside and trying to upload the St.Petersburg log onto Cruisecritic. As it was a sea day with no land in sight, the internet network was heavily congested and my picture uploads kept failing.

OH came back and said he bought some souvenirs but it's a mad house down there. Looks like a lot of us had last minute gifts to buy. I wanted to go see for myself and sure enough you could barely make it down the boulevard.

They have a $8500 faberge egg on board that I wanted to see, but I couldn't figure out which one it was in the jewelry department. Ii wasn't interested in purchasing so I didn't want to askone of the sales people.

OH had lunch at the Aquaspa cafe. I took a glance at it and some of the items looks appetizing.

Bingo started at 3:15pm so I headed up to the Oceanview Cafe to have some lunch but the place was a zoo. I walked around and walked straight out. I picked up my bingo cards with six plays for $49. On the charters, bingo is huge with some of the entertainers that are brought on board hosting it and making it a fun show. It's so popular that they need to use the main stage and it can become standing room only. The pots can be in $800-$1500..

The turnout of the Bingo on this one was very low and the host wasn't really interesting. She kept saying “If you have the number say yeah!!” “If you don't have the number say boo.”

The pots were in the $150 range. I didn't come close. After Bingo I headed up to the room. OH had his third spa appointment and I went to the lawn deck but it was just too windy and cold.

We went to dinner. I didn't see anything particularly interesting on the Luminae menu so I ordered lobster bisque and the chateaubriand. This was the first time I noticed the difference between Luminae and the way MDR’s food is prepared. We had the lobster bisque a few days ago from Luminae. There were chunks of lobster in the bisque and it was quite tasty. The one from the MDR had a biscuit in it that was topped with soup. There weren't any pieces of lobster and quite flavorless. He chateaubriand was ok, but the sauce was a little runny.

We ordered the creme brûlée and the cherry cake. Both were excellent.

I actually had the energy to go to a show tonight! Unfortunately it was Toppers which I saw on the Equinox last year. I still went to the 10:30pm show and sat on the first floor where they have bar stools in the rear. The show filled up. The premise of the show is the main character keeps all of his friends who have musical and acrobatic talent in this large hat. They come out and do their performance. He keeps them in the hat as he thinks they will run away. I think they are trying to appeal to a younger audience on this show as it included a lot of pop songs.

After the show I walked by the pool area and called it a night. Tomorrow is Warnemunde, our last port stop.

Leaving you with a picture from the pool deck tonight.

Day 9 - St.Petersburg (2nd day) Final

Wall heaters using firewood and covered in danish tiles.

We exited the palace and headed back towards the bus where he walked by the line for entry. I couldn't see where it ended, and the guide stated some would not be able to see the palace as they will be closing in a few hours. Group tours bypass the normal line.

This was a canal system Peter the Great had made for fish, but the water was too stagnant and they didn't survive.

We boarded our bus, filled out a survey, and headed back to the cruise terminal. The rain had really started to fall at a steady pace on the drive back.

After being dropped off, we said goodbye to Elena and Vladimir. We only hit one gift shop during the tour, and I should of bought some items yesterday, but didn't thinking we would stop at another one today. So I had to do some shopping at the cruise terminal. We bought a faberge egg that has a stamp verifying it was made in Russia.

We did one final passport control and were back on the ship.

One picture I forgot to include on the drive out to Peterhof's palace was this building.

This was a hotel built during the Soviet era just for their people. The hotel featured non-western toilets and communal sleeping quarters. Our guide stated it was a great way to meet new people. Foreigners had a separate hotel as well as their own airport.

We had dinner in the dining room and the OH had the chocolate sphere as a dessert.

The ship backed away from the pier to start our journey back to Southampton.

After lunch, the final destination was Catherine’s summer palace. While driving to the location, our guide indicated the palace was occupied by the Germans in WWII. Before the Germans took control, they managed to remove the artwork and furniture out from the palace on six train cars. The only room they could not save was the amber in the amber room.

When the Germans began losing ground at the end of the war, they tried to destroy to the palace.

They have been restoring the palace ever since and the amber room was re-created. We entered through a back door that is used for group tours. Once inside, we had to coat check all our bags, umbrellas, and jackets. We also had to wear booties on our shoes to enter the palace.

A couple of pictures from the tour. The furniture is all original.

Day 9 - St.Petersburg (Day 2) cont'd

Back on board the bus, next is stop Peterhof’s Palace. It was about a 45 minute ride. When we arrived, it started drizzling. I had seen pictures of the gardens, but what surprised me the most was the scale of the property. The gardens go on for miles. All of the fountains are gravity fed and operate without electricity or pumps.

After Peterhof’s Palace we stopped for lunch. This meal had a better review from the group. The appetizer was borche, main entree being a chicken patty with vegetables, and the dessert being ice cream. There was also a shot of vodka on the side.

Day 9 - St.Petersburg (Day 2) cont'd

Although St. Petersburg is a major shipping port, there are never any cargo containers on the river during the day. This is due to several bridges along the river that need to be retracted. The bridges are only raised from 1AM-5AM to allow shipping tracking. During this time pedestrian/car traffic is halted.

About an hour later on the river cruise, we docked and proceeded back to our vans.

A short subway ride was the next adventure. Our guide reminded us to leave any valuables in the van as there are pickpockets. We arrived at the station and walked down to the turnstiles where we were given a token. Paying the fare, we walked through the turnstiles and had to take an escalator down to the platform. I've never been on an escalator this long.

Once we arrived at the platform, the ceiling was covered in marble with Soviet era artwork.

After taking some pictures, we boarded the subway and rode it for two stations. Each station is decorated in a different theme. This one had columns with crystal.

Day 9 - St.Petersburg (2nd Day) cont'd

We made a turn into a canal. Peter the Great's plan was for St.Petersburg to be the Venice of Russia. Although many of the canals have now been filled in to create roads, some of the old canals still remain. We passed by a set of three palaces that were identical but each in a different color. A wealthy merchant had built the palaces next to each other for his three daughters.

We also saw one of Peter the Great’s residence. Although he had elaborate palaces, he didn't reside in any of them. They were used for entertaining guests. His actual residence were very small compared to the mansions.

After sailing in the canal, we made a U-turn heading back out to the Neva river. Hydrofoils were arriving in from neighboring cities.

Day 9 - St.Petersburg, Russia (2nd Day) cont’d

The phone rang at 6:00AM to confirm room service was being delivered. No gym/dining room for me this morning, I was lucky I woke up to hear the phone ring.

After breakfast, we showered, and headed out to the the dock around 7:20. We didn't want to be the last two again to arrive for the tour. Passport control moves along much faster the 2nd day. It seems all they look at is the stamp on your passport and the tour ticket confirmation. I lost my tour ticket yesterday, and had to go down to guest relations to have them try and print it out via an email. Unfortunately due to the security measures for their onboard systems, she could not open the link. Luckily I was able to open the link at the computer lab and they had a printer available.

We ended up being the first terminal side.

Our guide and driver had not even arrived. The weather was cloudy, wet, and cool. Elena our guide stated there was no point in looking at a weather report, as they are always wrong. She told us to bring a jacket and umbrella, and if we didn't need them we can leave them in the van during our tours. She stated the weather is so unpredictable in St.Petersberg that it snowed last month in July.

By 8 o’clock our group was assembled, the van arrived, and we headed out. First part of the tour was a river boat cruise. All of the SPB tours met up for this, and we needed two river boats to accommodate all of us. The weather held out so the plastic dome covers for the river boat could be fully retracted.

Once we were onboard, we headed down the Neva river. Our guide Elena ended up being the on board guide for our boat.

We passed by sites we saw the day before including the Hermitage, the Winter Palace, and Peter and Paul Fortress.

Day 9 - St.Petersburg (Day 2)

The daily.

Day 8 - St.Petersburg Final

After exiting Saint Isaac's cathedral our tour for the day was ending. Some in our tour group had hired an evening driver, and they left our group to explore on their own. Russia has a very strict tourism policy, and without a visa you cannot go exploring on your own. A guide or driver needs to be with you. I did explore obtaining a visa, but there is significant paperwork that needs to be completed and a visit to the nearest embassy is required. Most of the crew do not get off at this port even though it is an overnight spot, as immigration takes too long for them to enjoy anything shoreside. Our room attendant, Freddie once went onshore at the beginning of the season, and he was an hour late getting back on board for his shift due to passport controls.

We arrived back at the ship a little before 5. Passports are again checked and the white slip form that was completed by the officer earlier in the morning was taken. We took a shower and went to dinner at Luminae.

I watched Mein Schiff depart along with Windstar. Pullmantur had docked sometime in the afternoon for the overnight.

Next day our meeting time was 10 minutes to 8 at the cruise terminal. I filled out the room service menu for a delivery at 6AM and called it a night.

Day 8 - St.Petersburg - Cont'd

Yusupov Palace was the next destination. This was where Rasputin was murdered in the basement. The exterior of the building is under renovations and is covered. There were two rooms where wax figures were used to depict the scenes before the assassination. The figures look very lifelike and I kept looking back to make sure they were made of of wax.

Rasputin was supposedly invited to the wine cellar in the basement for a meal. After that, the storyline varies as to how he was killed. One states that the food he was given was poisoned, but even hours after eating the meal Rasputin did not become ill. He then was shot from the back several times. Even after being shot, he managed to crawl out using the stairs where he eventually was fatally shot after reaching the courtyard.

Prince Felix Yusupov who was involved in the killing, and his wife Irina.

We continued the tour out of the basement to several rooms of the palace. We went to the blue room and the families personal theater complete with multi level seating and a stage with an orchestra pit.

The last stop on the tour was St.Isaac's cathedral. It is smaller than St.Peters basilica in Rome, but it is largest Russian Orthodox Church. There are two smaller chapels to side of the main chapel. Ten pillars are made of malachite.

Day 9 - St.Petersburg cont'd

After touring as much as we could, we exited the Hermitage to a masses of people in the coat check area who would be entering.

The next stop was the Church of the Savior of Spilled Blood. The location is where Alexander II initially survived an assassination attempt, but upon exiting his armored horse carriage, another bomb was set off which caused the fatal injuries.

We then stopped at a restaurant for lunch. The pre-fixed meal was a salad, beef stroganoff on mashed potatoes, and a piece of cake that looks similar to tiramisu. The beef stroganoff had an overall unfavorable rating from the group, but I thought it was ok.

After lunch we moved on to the next location Peter and Paul Fortress. This was the location where political prisoners were held, and was fortress to defend against an invasion. Part of the site now houses members of the royal families who were relocated here after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Day 8 - St.Petersburg cont'd

The first stop on our tour was Hermitage/Winter Palace. The tour included early admission at 10:15am. The museum has 3 million pieces of art, and only a portion is on display. If someone spent 30 seconds to look at each artwork, it would take 9 years to see all of the artwork.

Entryway staircase to museum.

Unfortunately, I don't remember what each room was used for so I'm just attaching them below. The dresses in the exhibit original ones from the royal family. Catherine the Great had 50,000 dresses, along with 50,000 shoes.

One piece of artwork is a golden peacock on a tree that was a gift. It's a functional clock that depending upon the time, the peacock can spread its wings. They only turn it on for special occasions.

The link to see it in action is here:

We proceeded through all of the artwork that was sectioned off by countries of origin. It becomes overwhelming after a while. This was a section dedicated to the generals who were instrumental to the republic.

Part of the tour included visiting Catherine’s own personal church she had built inside her Winter house.

Day 8 - St.Petersburg, Russia

The ship arrived in port a little after 6AM. Windstar and Mein Schiff were already tied down. They were most likely on their second day. The U-shaped harbor is so large that the captain and pilot brought the Eclipse into the center of the cruise terminal, and turned the ship around 180 before docking. Our meeting time was scheduled for 9AM.

I needed to get some breakfast for the long day and went down to the dining room. They were closed until 7:30am. I got my backpack ready with water, passport, and tour tickets (required to present it and be registered by the tour group or you need a Visa). Went back down to the dining room to have a quick breakfast and we were off the ship at 8:10am.

At the pier, Celebrity employees were directing the flow of passengers to try and spread out the crowd for passport control. They directed us a line in the 20’s. Passport control is slow here compared to even US standards. If you are a family, the child has to go and hand in their paperwork individually.

There were about 6 in front front of me, and took about ½ to get to the front of the line. I stepped up to the counter and handed my paperwork/passport to the immigration agent. She flipped the passport to the page with my picture, and held the passport next to my face through the glass divider. She looked at the passport, looked at me, looked at the passport, looked back at me. This went on for probably around 20 seconds and it became odd making eye contact with someone so many times. She then scanned my passport, then went back to comparing the picture to my face several more times. Finally she stamped my passport and let me through. I got my passport, went through the gate, and forgot to take the tour ticket with me and left it on the counter. By the time we got outside the terminal, SPB representative was waiting. It was 8:40am and were the last to arrive for our group.

We quickly jumped into the minibus and were on our way. SPB seemed to be the major tour group and they had at least 10 vans for various tours.

Our guide for the next two days is Elena and the driver is Vladimir. As we pulled out of the cruise terminal, there were several tall buildings made out of concrete with zero curb appeal.

Our guide mentioned that the development occurred during the Soviet Union. Each person was given housing through the government for free.

The first part of the tour was a drive around St.Petersburg. We passed by Catherine’s Palace, Hermitage, and headed down Nevsky Prospekt. We drove by several churches, cathedrals, and temples. Each neighborhood has a religious site, but they were all closed during Communism and have now reopened. Basically a religious site was built first and then a neighborhood grew around it.

A couple of interesting landmarks on the street were a former Singer sewing machine building and a real Egyptian monument sitting on the side of the Neva river, the main artery to Saint Petersburg.

Day 8 - St.Petersberg, Russia

The daily