First live blog. Legend. Ultimate Scan & Russia 27th july 2014

[AussieVisi2r]

The Legend.

 

We took the RCCL shuttle from the airport. It was the first time I have flown in and it was a brilliant way to get there. We booked the tickets months ago and it was $27AU each although I did hear people saying they paid $35 Euro at the airport. Still so much cheaper for two people then a taxi. And we did get caught up in massive traffic after a huge storm – so we were very glad that the metre was not ticking. ( We did miss having a crash by less then a few centermetres – just stopped before hitting the poor guy who probably still has a racing heart rate!)

 

Check in (at about 3pm ) was amazing. All of 10 minutes start to finish.

 

And then there we were on a new class of ship. We have only sailed Radiance and Navigator so this was fun!

 

First impressions were great. Loved the huge Centrum area. The aerial show looks like it will be great. I shall look out for it. The smells were just the same – really like coming home.

 

The Solarium pool and the outside pool are quite separate.

 

 

NOTE - Trip is incredibly port intensive. Home from tours then coppapse - but I will catch up soon. Sorry.

[AussieVisi2r]

Double post!!!! Photos coming.

Edited July 31, 2014 by AussieVisi2r

[AussieVisi2r]

We ventured into Stockholm by rejecting the transport at the port – a taxi was around $55 each way, the Hop ON Hop Off bus was $45 each. We walked 15 minutes up to the bus stop and got tickets for around $5 each. Much better.

 

We spent a few hours wandering around Old Town and the water front. It was great. Between the public bus in and the walking around we didn’t feel the need to do a tour. There were plenty of boat trips available at the water front.

 

 

And after more than a week, we found a Really good coffee shop. Sarah was happy. It was called Chokladkoppen and if you are a coffee snob like my darling 24yo, or an ice cream lover like me it as great. (2 cups of coffee (both her, and a huge bucket of ice cream (like the RCL paper coffee cups) was about $12US) it is SO worth a visit. Also had free WiFi.

 

 

The city is lovely.

 

Stockholm is a city of 2 million people, but in the middle of this huge city is a salmon run. In salmon season people can fish right in the middle of the city for giant salmon about to jump up the locks to return to their spawning grounds.

 

So much for this area being cool! It was around 30 degrees again today. But happily it did rain and all the damn tourists pulled their umbrellas out and tried to take out other people’s eyes. We just wandered along getting a bit wet. Then the rain stopped, the sun came out and we sweltered in the humidity for the next hour.

 

On the bus on the way back we came across a parade and had to pull over to the side of the road to let it past. We do believe the parade was in our honour.

We had a lovely time in Stockholm and managed to spend $10 on our tickets and $12 at the coffee shops. Big win to us!!!!

 

Sailing out through the Stockholm Archipelago was quiet stunning. It’s 170 ks long and takes 3 hours to sail through – perfect timing for the Concierge Lounge! You cannot imaging just how many island their actually are….like thousands! More than thousands and it got us wondering what actually constitutes an island and what is a rock. Is it - dry at high tide?, is it life sustaining, is it so many centimetres above the high tide level? Is it something that has been charted, or something that has been named? And therefore just how many there are in this archipelago!

 

Most of the big island had houses on them. Lovely but very isolated. Many had jetties and wharves. It’s too cold to live on them in winter – everyone goes to their city home.

One island – we sailed so close to. It must have been a sheer drop into the water. We were only metres from the people sitting on their decks. WE could have handed them a beer.

 

It took about three hours to pass through it all – supposedly one of the most spectacular sailaways in the world! We spent it in the Concierge Club, drinking, chatting and laughing. The captain made an announcement early in the trip about the archipelago. As we were travelling someone asked if we had seen it yet! We saw a lot of traffic and were second in a line of five ships!!!

 

Dinner was fun and we laughed heaps as we looked at various tables and made up their back stories.

 

As we came out of the islands and into the Baltic Sea we have begun to feel some motion. It’s great to be back on a moving ship!

 

 

OOpps Photos were too big. I'll repost them tomorrow.

Edited July 31, 2014 by AussieVisi2r

[NorbertsNiece]

Been back less than 5 weeks.... you've brought it all back!

[AussieVisi2r]

sitting at a lovely cafe in Riga, trying to catch up on a few photos.

 

Stockholm.

 

Old Town

 

 

 

 

 

Lovely place.

[AussieVisi2r]

Helsinki, Finland

 

We did manage to crack Helsinki on it’s hottest day for 50 years!!!!! Go us!

 

We caught the shuttle bus into town (10 Euro each) and wandered around. As we were walking down the road we saw a crowd, and like good sheep, when up to see what it was. In the forecourt of the Parliament House was a Mini Military Tattoo with international military marching bands playing. It was great.

 

 

Finland is the only country in this area that has never had a monarchy. For that reason they are a very collaborative country with everyone being equal, so it was good to see Parliament House.

 

Cell phones were invented in Finland, in fact the Nokia country is from here.

It is the most Wi-Fi’ed country in the world. They invented the mobile phone so that isolated reindeer herds could communicate. How cool is that. Thank’s reindeer guys.

 

We then wandered down to look at the markets – Finland has an eight week growing season, so things like berries mature quickly with masses of flavor. We bought a big punnett of strawberries and gutsed them. In the heat and the plastic punnett they were turning to jam but tasted great.

 

 

Finland was under Russian and then Swedish rule for 800 years. During that time they were not allowed to speak Finn during this time. They kept the language alive during by singing in Finn. Music became a hugely important park of this countries ethos with a huge music culture. Now days every person is fluent in Finish, English and in music. Reading music is taught almost as another language. The language of Finland is incredibly unique - so lucky it was kept alive. Music happens everywhere. We saw three different public performances today - and it was a week day!

 

The ferry to Suomenlinna Island was about a 20 minute ride and very pretty. It's a very historic island that has become a retreat for the locals.

 

The Main Square is from 1760’s. It was badly damaged by bombing in the Crimean War in 1855.

 

 

Hundreds of locals (and a few tourists come here on every ferry - every 30 minutes) to enjoy the quiet. They came with picnic baskets and dogs for a day out.

To sit in the park. Or to play under the sprinklers. And hundreds flocked to the beaches.

 

 

Kustaanmiekka ( at the back of the island) had a view of the original bastion fortress and the coastal defence line. These were constructed by the Russians at the end of the 19th Century.

 

King’s Gate is the emblem of Suomenlinna. It was built in 1753 as a ceremonial gate to the fortress. The gate was built at the site where the ship carrying the founder of the fortress, King Adolf of Sweden, was anchored while the king inspected the construction of the fortress.

 

A few notes.

 

***Free Wifi at the port.

***If you take the ferry to the island------The Town ferry was 2.50 Euro each way.

If you plan on walking across the island it is not the town ferry that leaves from the other side. You would need to go back to the start for that ferry. The ferry from the back of the island is a private and was 4.50 Euro each way. We paid for a return then got on the wrong one (as did almost all of the tourist). So don’t buy a return unless you want to walk the 3 k back to the start.

 

***There is a tram about 10 minute walk from the terminal. It is only 2 Euro each way. Cheaper than the shuttle bus – we only found this out later

 

I loved Finland. The people were all happy and friendly. Prices were sensible. I would happily go back.

[NorbertsNiece]

Great job!! Lovely to see pics of places I didn't get to! :D

[AussieVisi2r]

Russia.

 

Well, we got there. There was always the chance the political situation would worsen and sanctions would be in place. But all was fine (for us to visit).

 

WE had booked a private guide for the three days. IN Russia you must either have a full visa – very expensive and difficult to get – or be on organised tours with a guide. We book Gennidiy Chenston, a local guy with a really interesting background. He had great English, really well educated, proud of where his country had come to and an extensive amount of information.

 

I will do this in sections as its so big.

 

 

And.......... the heat wave is following us. Not happy Jan! St Petersburg had its hottest day…..blah, blah, blah.

 

Our private guide for the next three day was waiting for us at the appointed time, so off we went in our nice comfortable car, and started off with a drive around town. Up and down Nevsky Prospect (Nevsky Avenue – the main drag), across a few of the islands and saw some many amazing building.

 

 

 

St Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia with over 5 million people, and is on the Neva River. It was the capital of Russia for over 200 years and is often called “The Venice of the North’ due to the many canals and it’s 416 bridges. Peter 1, who later became known as Peter the Great, purpose built the city to act as a sea port into the Gulf of Finland in 1703. He called it St Petersburg after St Peter – not after himself. And boy! Do they ever love Peter the Great in these parts. The name was changed four times (due to world wars) to Petrograd, Leningrad then back to St Petersburg.

 

Many of the buildings have gilded gold domes. St Issac’s Cathedral had it's gilded dome made using a process involving mercury and gold being burnt onto copper. Over 100kg of gold was used for this one roof. The method was incredibly effective, making a very think, strong bond. It has never had to be re-gilded. Sadly over 60 of the workers who completed the process died within a short while of working on it and thus this method was abandoned. During WW11, the dome was painted black to hide it from German bombers!

 

One of the amazing things we saw was the retired naval ship Aroura. When the Bolsheviks planned to take over Russia, they had a plan and needed a signal to set the plan in motion. They had the crew of the Aurora on their side and at the set time Aurora fired off a shot which set the take over in motion, and the start of Soviet rule in Russia. It is referred to as “the shot that was heard around the world!”

 

We went to the Peter and Paul Fortress on Zayache Island, the birth palace of St Petersburg. It’s a fortress on an island that is incredibly well fortified but never saw a battle.

 

The St Peter and Paul Cathedral contained the burial sites of the Tsars (and their families). It was a very elaborate building with SO much gilding, most of it gilded onto timber carvings. The columns were made of plaster and painted to look like marble. Strange.

 

 

 

 

to be continued

[AussieVisi2r]

St Petersburg Continued.

 

THE HERMITAGE

 

A boat trip up a few of the rivers let us see it all again from a different perspective then lunch at a place used by locals.

 

The subway system is 80 meters underground!!!!!!! And is so elaborate with marble walls, mosaics, tapestries, sculptures, amazing light posts and chandeliers.

 

The escalator was unbelievably huge – it took almost 2 minutes 30 seconds to get up/down – we timed it!

 

 

A visit to a small market was always great, the meat selection was different – whole livers, big fat ducks and chooks, big bags of fat and heaps of scraps.

 

Outside the metro station there were lots of ladies selling what looked like home produce – vegies, flowers. And they just looked like ‘little old Russian ladies'.

 

It was then off to THE Hermitage Museum (one of the largest art museums in the world) - as in THE HERMITAGE MUSEUM!!!!!!!!

 

Every noble's house/palace had a Hermitage. A quiet retreat - kind of like a reading room or a man cave. It was separate from the main building but for instance here in the Winter Palace it was joined, an annex.

 

 

Today we stood less than 500mm from a Rembrandt,

 

And a RenoirAnd a Monet,

And a Leonardo De Vinci,

And a Vincent Van Gogh,

And a Degar,

And a Paul Gauguin,

And a Raffaelo.

 

So much amazing stuff.

 

These urns are not made from one big chunk of stone. They are mosaics.

 

 

And the tables are also mosaic – made on minuet chips of glass.

 

 

The reason the Hermitage has such an amazing collection is that during the Soviet rule, goods were confiscated not just from the royal families but also from private collectors!

 

You could easily spend weeks in their looking at the amazing detail.

 

But we didn’t have weeks – it was back to the ship for a few drinks at the club, a Russian Folk Show and bed!

[AussieVisi2r]

ST Petersburg continued

 

Catherines Palace.

Stop one – Catherine Palace. Our guide kept telling us we were off to “Tsars Wheel-age” – Tsars Village also known as Pushkin after the poet, who live in a boarding school near the palace for much of his youth.

 

He told us many interesting things on the trip. St Petersburg was besieged for three year by the Germans in WW11. They cut off gas and electricity and all roads in, stopping food getting in. 3,000 buildings were destroyed by bombs and 7,000 damaged. During this time over 1,000,000 residents died – mostly from cold and starvation.

They were given a ration of bread each day – made with sawdust and paper pulp and up to 40% flour. A group of truck drivers decided to take a risk and to drive food down on the frozen Neva River. One in four trucks fell through the ice killing the driver, but they did save many lives.

 

We saw bus driver rage in the parking area at Catherine’s Palace, where two drives got out and had a shouting match. One was slamming his fist into the other bus, they stood right in each others faces and yelling. They then walked away.

 

Peter The Great’s best friend had bought a young Polish peasant orphan girl, by the name of Marta from the priest who was raising her. Peter saw Marta and decided that he wanted her. So Marta became Peter’s mistress for many years. He gave her a plot of land in Pushkin and she had a holiday house built there. After the death of Peter’s wife he married Marta – but not until she converted to the Russian Orthodox church and took the name of Catherine.

 

 

Their daughter Elizabeth (of the Eternal Masquerade – due to her obsession with over the top parties etc) built the existing palace – Catherine’s Palace.

 

 

The Amber room.

 

 

 

This place was such a massive display of wealth and we will admit we have seen enough gaudy, gold gilding to last us a lifetime.

 

Next..... the “Church of the Saviour on the Site of the Spilled Blood”.

[NorbertsNiece]

I think they said it would take 8 years to see it all if you spent one minute looking at each work of art....

 

You got a pic in the Amber room!!! :D

Edited August 3, 2014 by NorbertsNiece

[LMaxwell]

Incredible stuff. Thanks for sharing it.

[AussieVisi2r]

We went to the “Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood”.

 

Alexander 11 had many assassination attempts made on him. One night in 1881 a bomb was thrown at his carriage. It missed him but many people were killed or hurt. Instead of fleeting the scene with the police, Alexander wanted to stay and help. A second bomb was then thrown at him, this time killing him. The church is built over that site, and a section of the original cobblestones he bled and died on were left and the church build around it.

 

 

The outside is awesome - the one you see when you see photos of St PB.

 

 

The inside is amazing!!!!! All the works are amazing. They are made of mosaics with tiles less than 1cm square - so 10,000 tiles per square metre. There for there a millions of tiles around the room.

 

Mind blowing.

 

One of the murals is of Christ as a 10yo. One of the only images of this.

 

 

 

 

Loved this church.

[AussieVisi2r]

We managed to have a bit of wondering time, leave our guide for a while and going for a walk along Nevsky Prospect and we saw lots of cool things –

 

 

Raccoons with a busker, a guy showing off and doing wheel stands down the road who was this close to loosing control and flipping over backwards and killing himself – but he just got it back and wobbled down the road, and a fire in the back of a building with three fire trucks and hoses inside.

----------------

 

We also made a visit to Yusupov Palace. This was the private home of the Yusupov family and was the place were Rasputin was killed. This family was unbelievably rich. They had 40,000 serfs! And so much excess of everything.

 

 

They were one of the major contributors to the Hermitage (since the Soviet confiscated much of the Art collections that eventually ended up in the Hermitage.)

 

 

Amazing.

[AussieVisi2r]

 

More St PB

 

On the freeway near the cruise port live a pack of “wild dogs” although we would call them strays. They are big pig dog looking things and live in the middle of this huge road, sleeping most of the day – and we suppose scavenging the rest. We saw one carefully crossing the four lanes of traffic, as the lights were red.

 

 

We drove thorough town, which is always an adventure with the millions of aggressive drivers. Traffic lanes seem to be more of a suggestion than a rule but no one crashes – lots of nearly’s though. We saw lots more domed building - many of them were more toned down and were very attractive.

 

As we got into the suburbs we drove past many of the infamous ‘Soviet housing blocks’ – heaps of huge apartment building built very quickly and with no thought to anything but space for people to live. They were built in the 50’s after the huge housing shortages post war. Many of the ‘units’ houses up to 15 people from three families in communal spaces.

 

And the rattly old trams that service the area. A suburban home on a ¼ acre block was well over $1,000,000US.

 

We also saw many modern apartment blocks all around the city. The big thing we noticed was that they all had balconies – almost all of them were enclosed. Makes a lot of sense, a sun room is more use for 8 months than a balcony for a few months.

 

 

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[AussieVisi2r]

Then Peterhof. The Palace and the Gardens.

 

We started off by going through the palace and again had the opportunity to don our very attractive shoe covers. This was the Summer Palace built by Peter 1 (Peter the Great) down on the coast about 50ks from St Petersburg.

Of course it was amazing, opulent and over the top.

 

 

And without meaning to sound rude, it was yet another huge building crammed with an excess of everything. There is no doubting the fact that it was magnificent but ….Too much gold gilding, too may massive painting, too many tapestries – just too many textures, colours, designs etc. BUT MAGNIFICENT!!!!!!!!

 

 

Hand made Wedgewood dinner settings for 3,000 people, giant chandeliers with gold cooked in the glass to give them a purple tinge, clocks with diamonds encrusted all over them, huge paintings and huge tapestries, walls lined in Chinese silk, Chinese urns everywhere, marble statues. Much of the stuff here was saved during WW11 (as was much of the precious stuff throughout Russia) as it was shipped off to Siberia and the Urals or put onto the bottom of deep lakes.

 

 

The Palace is set on a massive block of land – maybe 50 acres and had the most wonderful grounds and gardens – huge areas planted like forests, a massive area of shaped trees, pergolas cover in wisteria and others and of course the famous fountains.

 

[AussieVisi2r]

The fountains – WOW. Peter liked his toys. These fountains are all run on spring water from a spring 18 ks away on the mountains. The water is piped here and the fountains are all powered by gravity.

 

 

Very impressive. Of course they were turned off in winter and all the pipes drained to stop them freezing and popping.

 

 

The main canal from the house went down to the ocean and his boat could come up to the front of the Palace.

 

 

 

Peter was also quite the trickster and had a number of ‘joke’ sprinklers. These could be operated from a hidden place and could turn on to wet people walking up the paths!

 

 

Down near the water was his Hermitage. All fancy homes/palaces had a Hermitage – a secluded area. His was a full house with bathrooms, kitchen etc right on the ocean with views across to St Petersburg.

 

We spent a lovely few hours walking through the gardens.

[AussieVisi2r]

Sailing out of Russia was interesting. There is a long string of islands on the northern side. They are connected by a series of huge bridges and some tunnels. Then we came to a collection of larger island with lots of industry on them and old fortifications.

 

 

 

 

St Petersburg has been devastated by a number of giant floods over the years. There are many monuments around town showing the various levels. They are usually caused by huge spring rains, and melting ice in combinations with a large storm in the Gulf of Finland pushing huge amounts of water back up the rivers.

 

To stop this at the outer islands they have built giant “swingy outie things”. They probably have a proper name but with out affordable internet the name will have to wait. They are giant booms that are swung out in big storms to stop the water pushing in. There had not been a major flood since they were installed.

 

 

 

St Petersburg was amazing!! Everyone Should put it on their lists. SO GOOD. But do go with s small a group as you can as there are crowds everywhere.

[AussieVisi2r]

Tallin, Estonia.

 

Tallin Old Town is a very well preserved Medieval city dating back to the early 13th Century. It is full of lovely old buildings, cobblestones of the horrid kind, Onion Domed churches, towers, spires and much lovely stuff. It really was pretty – and such a pleasant sight after the gaudiness of St Petersburg. It was a fairly savage place with a lot of torture happening over the years and is quite Gothic. It was a walled city with much of the wall still intact.

 

 

 

 

It was very funny that up until 10.30 am we were unable to find a coffee place open – many had displayed opening times of 12 noon. But there were dozens of pubs and beer places open at 9.30am. Funny.

 

 

We also ventured out of Old Town and into the modern section of the city and had the chance to look around the shops.

 

 

Our last few days in Russia had eight cruise ships in port. Eight ships – with an average of 2,500 passengers each is a lot of tourists even in a city of 5 million.

 

Today is Estonia there were only six ships – 15,000 extra tourists in a place of this size!!!!!!!!. As you can imagine Old Town was like coming out of a football game at full time. Wall to wall people.

 

 

A great day

[AussieVisi2r]

opps.

Edited August 7, 2014 by AussieVisi2r

[AussieVisi2r]

Klaipeda, Lithuania.

 

Today was the first time a Royal ship has been to the port of Klaipeda, so there will be a new plaque on the wall - and we were there for it!

 

Klaipeda is a really important seaport as it is one of the northern most ice free ports in Europe.

 

It’s been an important trading port since the 13th century and before that was used in pre-historic times as it was on the amber route.

 

It got its independence from Russia in 1991.

 

We walked into old town then back through the modern part. Old town had some lovely building but the town square was full of little stalls selling mainly amber. A lovely big canal runs up into the town and was full of lovely restaurants and bars.

We did find a coffee shop with good coffee so Sarah was happy.

 

 

There were some really interesting modern buildings and a few very old building that had been beautifully renovated using dark glass instead of white rendered panels.

 

 

Again it was stinking hot! We have had over 32 degrees every day in Scandinavia, Russia and the Baltics. We have been lied to. This place is not cool at all. And of course they are all seaports so it is really humid! Today was particularly humid with sweat running off us even when we were sitting down.

 

 

The port is protected by the Curonian Spit, a sand spit stretching nearly 100k. The spit is a world heritage site.

We caught a ferry across to the spit then walked across to the other side, where there was a lovely beach – obviously! Since it was a 100km sand spit. Thousands of people were enjoying the beach. All streaming off the ferry with their bags of food and drinks etc. There were sun lounge hire places, push bike ice cream man and more.

 

Pity we didn’t know we were going to the beach! We would have come prepared with mod cons like swimmers.

But it was so hot – we didn’t let a little thing like lack of swimmers stop us. So in we went. And it was lovely. We have now swum in the Baltic Sea.

 

The floor of the sea was amazing – it was very corrugated but the ripples were about 80-100mm high and rock hard. They really hurt your feet. And t get into water more than one metre deep we had to walk out about 500 metres.

 

 

We played in the water for about 30minutes then headed back to the ferry.

 

We had a hilarious dinner with a mixed group of people - Calgary, Texas and Bendigo, with the funnies stories being told.

 

What a lovely day.

 

Tip – catch the ferry over the river (cost about $2 return, walk across the spit and enjoy the beach. Take your swimmers!!!!)

 

There is no wifi close to the ship. Take your devises with you as there are plenty of coffee shops in Old Town with Wifi.

 

Prices were great. $7 for coffee and milkshake.

 

[AussieVisi2r]

Sunday 3rd August 2014 Day 23 (day 8 of the cruise).

 

Riga is on the mouth of the Daugava River and was a lovely sail in/out. Riga has always been an important cultural and commercial hub for the Baltics. It was an important site on the Vikings trade routes and then aught the attention of the Hanseatic League – German merchants. For centuries the Baltic Germans were the main ethnic group of the area. Now it is a mix of Russians and native Latvians who live there.

 

 

Riga is stunning. Its most recognizable style is the German Art Nouveau style with 13th century cathedral and castle along with Soviet high-rise apartments and many really interesting modern building. The Old Town is a UNESCO site and was great. There are lots of lovely parks.

 

 

After walking around Old Town we wandered through the new town then went on a boat ride along the canals. Brilliant. Right through the heart of the city past such pretty stuff.

 

 

The small timber boat left from a place about 500 metres from the ship. As you come out of the dock area keep walking (with the river on your right) under the bridge then there it will be. The trip took about 50 minutes and was 10 Euro each. So worth it!

 

 

We also found a lovely place with the most delicious cocktails. They were quite strong and were not wasted. The restaurant was called ‘Dabigai Labsajaotai’. It was across the road (facing the river) and anther few hundred metres further on. Great wifi, really fast, and they had no problem with us sitting there for a long time, sipping our drinks and using the wifi.

 

 

An absolutely delightful day.

Edited August 9, 2014 by AussieVisi2r

[AussieVisi2r]

Wednesday 6th August 2014 Day 26 (day 11 of the cruise).

 

Warnemunde and Rostock - Germany. Today was delightful.

 

Warnemunde has been a sleepy little fishing village for hundreds of years but in the 19th century was discovered by the crowds! It has great beaches and grew into a major seaside resort town. It was absolutely charming with its canal running from the main river mouth down through the main area and a train coming from nearby Rostock and therefore everywhere.

 

 

Fishing boats come directly into the canal, unload into their shops, then cook and sell their supper fresh produce. The water is lined with stalls. Just behind was the promenade filled with cafes, restaurants and trinket shops.

 

 

This report really needs ‘Smellavision” as this place was the best smelling places ever. Ocean, fish, coffee, smoke houses……..

 

Thousands of holiday makers flood in from the train – as always loaded up with picnic baskets, kids and dogs and head to the beach.

 

 

There was a busker who played awesome music on glasses of water (and when I think about it - it was just like Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality when she is in German national costume!!!)

 

After a few hours we did a river trip upstream to the town/city of Rostock, a medieval town, another of the very important towns on the Hanseatic trading route.

 

 

 

And it was absolutely beautiful as well. We wandered around and looked at the really interesting and very different architecture, the old wall and rampart, and old buildings for the medieval times.

 

And guess what???? The Tall ship race circuit had caught up with us from Bergen. The harbour was filling with Tall Ships and the surrounding area was setting up for what looks like it is going to be a huge few days of festivities.

 

 

The trip up and down the river was great with much to see.

 

Very industrial in parts with huge ship yards.

Very expensive looking both houses and units lined both sides of the river.

Swamp lands and wind generators!!!

 

 

We wandered around, found one of Sarah’s favourite shops and did a few quick purchases, ate some smoked herring which was glorious and has some really strong beer.

 

 

 

Brilliant day.

[AussieVisi2r]

Fredericia, Denmark

 

Wednesday 7th August 2014 Day 27 (day 12 of the cruise).

 

Fredericia, is a historic Dutch military stronghold on the end of the Jutland Peninsular. It's got the usual fortified walls, historic monuments and military remains throughout. Today it is still the major barracks of the Royal Dutch Army's Signals Regiment.

 

Today was the first time Fredericia had ever had a large cruise ship. And the town went all out – a bit like Napier in NZ.

People dressed in national costume, old cars, huge crowds.

Lots of school groups were out to see the ‘big ship’ and even a nursing home was out for the day.

Politicians were there, and the town mayor.

 

As we came into the port this morning they fired cannons!

 

 

We walked around the lovely town and saw heaps. They had really good maps at the dock with great walking tours planned out.

 

We went into the town proper, the Jewish cemetery and up to the old fortifications.

 

The town has some really interesting art installations and make great us of water features.

 

 

We then a walk down to the beach. It is breeding season for the Pink Jellyfish. We saw plenty.

 

Then we walked back along the coast line for a while, then up into the suburbs.

 

 

Sail away was at 6pm. By about 5pm the crowds started to arrive. By 5.45 there were literally thousands of people gathered to see us off. There was a marching band, a re-enactment military band, dogs, prams, skateboarders, people on bikes, the newspaper, TV cameras, all the town officials and more.

The band played, the cannons were fired, people cheered and more than a few photos were taken.

 

 

And of course everyone on board crowded the rails to cheer and yell.

The Captain blew the horn may times and off we went, escorted by about 40 pleasure craft.

 

 

 

 

Stunning little town that has a big future with cruise ships.

[AussieVisi2r]

I don't believe anyone is still looking at this but I will finish anyway. LOL

 

Friday 8th August 2014 Day 28 (day 13 of the cruise).

 

Copenhagen, Denmark.

 

In 1397 Denmark, Sweden and Norway joined forces to form the largest Viking Empire in history. Copenhagen was the capital.

 

Now it’s a stunning city with no Vikings.

 

We started the day off by purchasing very expensive tickets for the Hop on hop off bus and off we went. This company turned out to be the “wait a long time” company as we spent more time waiting then we did driving.

 

But we did see many wonderful things.

 

We went to the Carlsberg Brewery – which was named after the son of the founder. Archaeology shows that Denmark has been brewing beer for over 5000 years. They have always had a strong brew and each farm would brew their own. The farms that brewed the best and strongest brew were able to attract the best workers and were therefore the best farms!

 

 

By now we were sick of sitting on a parked bus for long periods of time and decided to get out and walk. And we walked through some stunning area.

 

We wandered down some of the very stunning canal streets and had a coffee - very small $8.

 

 

Christiana was our next stop - a commune in the middle of Copenhagen. It has pretty well been deserted by the town council and is full of squatters. The police ignore it and although drugs are illegal a very blind eye is turned.

 

 

We then walked around a bit more and found the pick up spot for the canal boat tour and jumped on.

It was fantastic. Among all of these wonderful old buildings were super modern amazing building.

 

 

 

We hoped off the boat at the Little Mermaid (and saw the mobs of people queuing to see the tiny statue), meet some swans and came back to the ship for a fun night.

 

We had an 11 pm sail away today. Out the window of the Concierge Club was a Bungy Jumping place. We all sat drinking and watching. As the basket would start to go up someone would cry "Basket Up!" and everyone would swivel around to watch the fool pay perfectly good money to jump off a perfectly good crane! Some people would dip into the ocean and of course the cheers from us all were loud and long.

 

Copenhagen is one of the most visually stunning places I have been!

 

It is a very spread out city. The HOHO bus was expensive - but only about $10 more than the ship shuttle bus - so I suppose it was good value - but be prepared it was one of the more frustrating HOHO buses I have used.