May 19 2017 Silhouette Baltic (+ Berlin) Photo Review Silhouette Photo Review

[afto]

It was recommended that we should leave our bags and money in the 'van' on our SPB tour in 2015, as a precaution against pick pockets.

 

 

Jackie, I am not surprised to hear this, as others have reported the same. Our tour guide simply pointed out that “pickpockets will be here to welcome you.” I don’t think I would have been happy leaving our passports on the van, even with Sergei standing guard.

 

On a side note, I had purchased a travel bag with several security features — it came with a training manual so I thought I could learn to use it. A key feature for me was that it was not too big, but big enough to hold my bulky camera. It had several pockets so that I could separate often-used items and methodically file each of them away in its own spot every time. It was big enough so that this bag plus one small-ish backpack carried everything that we needed for a day ashore, including jackets and hats and water bottles and camera gear and umbrellas. The bag might be too big for some people but I felt that my belongings were secure and I loved it. I ran into a lady at the port in St. Petersburg who had the same bag and asked her how she liked it; turns out that she hated it because she could never find anything in it. But I liked it enough that I will give you a link to it on Travelon’s web site. Despite its name, the bag actually has 5 compartments, four exterior and one interior.

http://www.travelonbags.com/anti-theft/anti-theft-signature-3-compartment-crossbody/

Edited July 5, 2017 by afto

[afto]

Excellent review! Brought back all the good feels from our Baltic trip on the Eclipse in 2015, with a bonus from our Amsterdam overnight last month also on the Eclipse British Isles cruise. I love your flippant writing style, and 4000 photos -- pffff, so few? (Seriously, I only did 1000 last month but my husband took 3000. He's prone to taking photos of signs and other quirky things.) I do have to add, "Yikes!" to the immigration fiasco in St. Petersburg -- we had nothing like that in 2015 (toured with SPB -- are all drivers named Sergei?) but we were 20 minutes late getting off the ship in Cobh, Ireland and we thought that was a catastrophe. I'm looking forward to more.

 

When it comes to photography, I am a firm believer that if you take enough pictures one or two of them will turn out OK, so I privilege quantity over quality. And yes, there may have been a few more than 4000.

 

And in answer to your question, no, it seems that not all drivers are named Sergei. DH has just informed me that our driver’s name was Yuri, not Sergei. Not sure why I changed it to Sergei; maybe I thought Yuri wasn’t Russian enough? Hard to say.

[meicheraxo]

Question - did you have the need to get any Rubles or were you able to use credit card and Euro? Reason I'm asking is someone on another thread mentioned needing Rubles for the bathrooms?

[upwarduk]

Question - did you have the need to get any Rubles or were you able to use credit card and Euro? Reason I'm asking is someone on another thread mentioned needing Rubles for the bathrooms?

 

We were taken to bathrooms in tourist stores ( who also provided coffee)

or in restaurants.

The only place that we couldn't use € /$ or C.C was in The Church of the Spilled Blood, so I didn't buy anything there.

There are adequate stores at the port, with a variety of merchandise and they take € & $.

[afto]

Question - did you have the need to get any Rubles or were you able to use credit card and Euro? Reason I'm asking is someone on another thread mentioned needing Rubles for the bathrooms?

 

We did not get any roubles and did not need them for bathrooms because we were always able to use free facilities at museums. The only exception was the public bathroom at Moscow Station where a fee was required; Max pointed out to us that we could instead use the free one at the restaurant where we were buying sandwiches and snacks for the train.

 

I did not need roubles for shopping, because the only thing I bought was the Christmas ornaments that I mentioned earlier and an inexpensive book at the gift counter at the Armoury Museum in the Kremlin. I was able to pay for both with credit card. I am not sure about what forms of payment the souvenir stalls would accept.

 

I will say though that I should have had a few roubles for purchasing drinks in one of the restaurants where we had lunch. AFTER we had ordered drinks, we discovered that they did not take credit card. Can't remember how that was resolved; someone in the group may have had roubles, or they may have decided to accept US dollars. Now that I think of it, it's possible that I still owe someone in my group money for a coke. :o

[afto]

May 29: Day Fifteen (St. Petersburg again, Part Five)

 

Onemore highlight before we left Russia: the Catherine Palace. It’s a bit of a drive to get there from the city, about half an hour. Before we proceed to the palace, please allow me to insert a few barely relevant comments about lunch and chocolate.

 

 

Alla Tours provided us with a box lunch to sustain us on our long journey. The package contained two Stolle pies: one was mystery meat and one was mystery fruit, most likely apple. There was also a package of GORP (good old raisins and peanuts) and a bottle of water. I liked the pies, but they were very heavy (not a flaky pastry) and not to everyone’s taste. Luckily for me, I was brought up in Scotland so I love stodgy food. Our lunch also included a bar of dark chocolate. Dark chocolate is an abomination and I object to its very existence,but I do love milk chocolate. I race into the cabin every night to examine the pillow chocolates and on those rare occasions when our cabin steward leaves milkchocolate I snatch up both of the little squares; more often, I am disappointed to find the despised dark chocolate lurking there. In the latter case, that means that both chocolates are going to be eaten by DH.

 

Sorry, totally lost the plot for a minute there. We entered the grounds of Catherine Palace and were duly impressed with the sheer scale of the main building. The courtyard was dotted with people taking pictures, but we did not wait in a long line to enter because we had a pre-arranged admission time. Alla Tourst had thoughtfully dispatched an employee to meet their groups and obtain the actual entry tickets; this sped up the process.

 

 

My eye was drawn to a lovely green meadow sprinkled with yellow flowers.

 

 

Afto is thinking: Oh, look how the yellow wildflowers coordinate so perfectly with the golden detail on the gates!

DH is thinking: That lawn needs mowing.

Because I can read DH’s mind, I had a flashback to the lawn-mower admiration session at Kastellet in Copenhagen. I was just hoping that he didn’t wander off to see if he could hijack an unattended ride-on mower and tackle the dandelions.

 

Entering the palace, we donned our paper booties and proceeded through yet another series of extravagantly decorated and furnished rooms. This is the Great Hall and some challenging lighting conditions; I did not meet the challenge.

 

 

I loved the blue and white ceramic stoves in some of the rooms. A homey touch in rooms that were so brightly gilded that I was wishing I had brought sunglasses.

 

 

The famous Amber Room was very crowded. I obeyed the rules and did not try to take any photos. I think I may have been in palace overload mode by this point, and my shots of the interior of the palace really don’t do it justice. You can find a list of all the main rooms and lots of information and good photos here: http://eng.tzar.ru/museums/palaces/c_atherine]

 

The group really had been rather insistent with Olga that we wanted to aim to be back at the ship early. We were still thinking about the previous day’s mechanical troubles and did not want to be arriving at the cruise terminal, as we had at the train station, with just a few minutes to spare. So we did not linger in the gardens outside the palace, but we did pause long enough for a group picture with the Catherine Palace in the background. When I uploaded the pictures from my camera I was happy to see that Olga had done a great job with that shot. No mechanical or traffic woes delayed our arrival back at the port, and we were there in good time. No line-ups at immigration. We said goodbye to Olga and Yuri (aka Sergei) and thanked them both for a job very well done.

 

New friends had generously invited us to join them for dinner at Luminae that evening. It was such a treat. I had the venison and an artistically-presented crème brulée. Every morsel that entered my mouth was delicious. There were some interesting vistas too, as we sailed past the naval base at Kronstadt, a couple of lighthouses, and the flood-control gates. Great food and great company; it was a memorable evening and the perfect ending to our three days in Russia.

 

Our time in St. Petersburg and Moscow had indeed met my very high expectations and I fell asleep that night humming Lara’s theme from Doctor Zhivago. Or maybe it was Moskau by Rammstein? It was one of the two; so easy to get them mixed up.

[luvtravel88]

Question - did you have the need to get any Rubles or were you able to use credit card and Euro? Reason I'm asking is someone on another thread mentioned needing Rubles for the bathrooms?

 

We did get some roubles for our trip this past May. We didn't need them for much, but we did go to GUMS department store on our tour and decided we wanted to purchase some ice cream there. They only accepted roubles, so we ended up paying for everyone on the tour and they paid us back in euros, which we easily spent.More

 

We also used them for some public toilets and I had enough that we gave tips to our guides in roubles as well.

[afto]

May 30: Day Sixteen (Tallinn, Part One)

 

Caught up on our sleep this morning. Woke up to a beautiful day — shorts and t-shirts weather, at least for some.

 

In the later stages of planning for this trip, I made the mistake of checking to see what kind of birds are frequently seen near Tallinn. I discovered that Paljassaare Special Conservation Area is only a short bus or taxi ride from the ship. In theory, I could go birding for a couple of hours in the morning and be back in time for an afternoon walk in Tallinn! DH was enthusiastic about this idea, because he could opt out of the birding excursion and carve out some free time for relaxing on the ship after our three days in Russia. Being something of a fair-weather birder, I postponed my decision on what to do, thinking that I would see what the weather was like when we got to Tallinn. Leaving options open is a very bad strategy for my personality type because I am pathologically indecisive. We docked in Tallinn and I spent the next hour trying to make up my mind whether to go with Plan A or Plan B. Time was a-wasting until it reached the point where it really made no sense to try to fit in anything other than a walk through the Old Town, so that’s what we did. [Article about visiting the Old Town: https://www.visittallinn.ee/eng/visitor/discover/articles-guides/old-town ]

 

 

The photo above is non-zoomed, non-cropped, and taken from the ship —you can see how close the Old Town is to the cruise ship berths. You may also be able to tell from this shot that the Old Town is small —small enough that at some point in the day we ran into almost everyone from our Russia group. Just walk towards the walls, head uphill once you enter through one of the gates, and then head downhill when you are ready to leave. You really can’t get VERY lost, and getting just a little bit lost is actually not a bad idea. I had envisioned a relaxing low-key day of just wandering around with no particular destination in mind. Nevertheless, I had researched the things that I wanted to see in the old town, plotted them on Google maps, and printed out my own walking tour. There is no hope for this compulsive planner. This link may or may not work If you are interested in our route within the Old Town: MAP

 

We entered at the Viru Gate and walked past the sweater wall.

 

 

 

Then through St. Catherine’s Passage to Town Hall Square.

 

 

Uphill from here, to Lossi Plats (square) with the Estonian parliament buildings on one side and Alexander Nevsky Cathedral on the other. Just down the street is the Toomkirk (aka St. Mary’s Cathedral) which has been rebuilt a few times since the 13th century.

 

 

We visited the interior — with many carved coats of armshanging on its whitewashed walls, it is unlike any of the other churches thatwe saw on this trip. [More on the Toomkirk: https://www.visittallinn.ee/eng/visitor/see-do/sightseeing/pid-177138/cathedral-of-saint-mary-the-virgin-dome-church ]

 

[dodger1964]

Still really enjoying the review. We are considering similar trip.

 

How much did the Russia tour cost? That sounds like the perfect way to spend the 3 days!

[afto]

Still really enjoying the review. We are considering similar trip.

 

How much did the Russia tour cost? That sounds like the perfect way to spend the 3 days!

 

The standard cost of the 3-day tour when we booked was US $695 per person (I see that the Alla web site now shows the same tour at US $675). We paid US $650 because there is a discount for groups of 10 or more, so it's worthwhile to organize this on your roll call. The bookings are handled individually, but the whole group gets the discount. It's easy to do this and there is no risk or special benefit to the tour organizer: you just call and set up the group, giving it a name. Then let roll call members know the name of your group and they deal directly with Alla. As soon as the minimum of 10 people sign up, everyone's invoice will be adjusted to the lower rate. If you do not achieve the minimum of 10 passengers, you will pay the higher tour rate. (FYI: You cannot limit group size to 10 -- the standard group size is 16 and if you do not have 16 people from the roll call sign up, Alla may add other individual travellers to your group.) I am not sure about procedures for other companies, but I believe that they would be similar. Price will be competitive among all the main companies. We had multiple groups from our roll call take this tour.

[afto]

From the Toomkirk, we walked the short distance to the Patkuli viewing platform. This is a popular spot — it’s probably the number one “must-see” site in Tallinn and it took us a minute or two to work our way to the front of the crowd there. I was glad that we could take our time just to enjoy the great views over the rooftops. Blue skies again!

 

 

Let’s see … one, two, three, four, five medieval city towers visible in that shot, plus the spire of St. Olaf’s Church. You can even see the Silhouette’s X in the distance, to the right of the church spire. I have a shot from another position that includes NINE towers … really, Tallinn, this is overkill. It’s almost as if you are trying to make other, lesser, medieval towns envious.

 

St. Nicholas Church spire from the Patkuli viewing platform:

 

 

Each summer, the Tallinn city council hire a number of unemployed gulls to patrol this area and ensure that no tourist leans too far over the edge in pursuit of the perfect selfie. Message received, my feathered friend.

 

 

Shoppers will love Tallinn. Lots of woollen goods, crafts, chocolate, and items made from local juniper wood. And amber, so much amber! If all the Baltic amber shops in Tallinn were laid end to end, they would stretch all the way across the Old Town. In fact, they do stretch all the way across the Old Town. There is also a little market area in the port area on the way back to the ship, with all kinds of Estonian souvenirs. Just in case you somehow managed to miss all the shops in town.

 

 

From Patkuli, we descended via some stairs that I had assessed as safe to the gardens below the walls, where there was some kind of floral exhibition underway. “We” wanted to take some pictures of the towers from outside the walls: mission accomplished.

 

 

We re-entered the Old Town near the Nunna, Sauna, and Kuldjala towers. It is possible to pay a small fee here and climb up to walk on a short section of the wall. That did not happen.

 

[upwarduk]

So pleased you have a photo of St Nicholas church. We sheltered inside from the rain and found that it had an art exhibition in the Crypt. We also saw art that had been found in Germany being restored for the Russians.

 

 

 

 

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Edited July 7, 2017 by upwarduk

[afto]

So pleased you have a photo of St Nicholas church. We sheltered inside from the rain and found that it had an art exhibition in the Vaults. We also saw art that had been found in Germany being restored for the Russians.

 

Interesting! There is really a lot to see in Tallinn, if you have the time. It was such a beautiful day when we were there that we did not spend a lot of time indoors. Thanks for posting, Jackie.

[upwarduk]

We also had to shelter in a hostelry, due to the rain. That was very quaint!

[afto]

The cobblestone streets and lovely buildings of Old Town Tallinn are so picture perfect that walking around town feels like being on the set of some historical drama — the kind that includes several thousand time-travelling cruise ship passengers. But it is still possible to find quiet streets with no one in sight.

 

 

If I were a tour guide, I would be sure to tell my groups that pig-shaped planter boxes were very popular in the late 16th century but had gone out of style bythe 17th. Yes, I made up that “fact,” but I would enjoy telling it to the tourists anyway.

 

 

Our last stop before heading back to the ship was the section of the Estonian Maritime Museum that is housed in Fat Margaret Tower at one of the city gates.

[info on the museum: http://meremuuseum.ee/paks-margareeta/en/ ]

It’s an interesting place, with lots of artifacts, ship models, and an exhibit about the Vikings. (Just to keep things clear, I do know that this character is not a Viking.)

 

 

There is a small display about the ferry “Estonia” that sank in the Baltic in 1994 with a loss of 852 lives.

 

 

Just outside the tower, there is a memorial to those lost on the Estonia. I found a long and detailed story about that very tragic event, but it’s probably not something that you want to read if you are sailing anywhere any time soon.

[From The Atlantic, May 2004: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/05/a-sea-story/302940/ ]

 

I knew that there was a café at the top of the tower, and I thought we might have an ice cream up there before heading back to the ship. Unfortunately, the café is reached by a short and perfectly sturdy set of steps that happens to go up the OUTSIDE of the tower, from the top floor of the museum to the roof.

 

 

DH could not convince me that the steps were securely attached to the wall of the tower.

 

 

 

I really tried, but I only made it up a few steps before I had to retreat. No ice cream and, more importantly, no rooftop photos for me.

[afto]

May 30: Tallinn, Part Four

 

After bidding farewell to Fat Margaret tower, we headed back to the ship.

 

 

The Serenade of the Seas and the Disney Magic were docked beside the Silhouette today.

 

 

By sailaway time it had cooled down a bit and passengers were wearing jackets as they took in their last views of Tallinn.

 

 

It had been a short day in Tallinn, and the Silhouette was the first ship to leave, sailing at 4 pm. Here’s a shot for fans of the ship’s wake:

 

 

A Tallink ferry was arriving as we sailed out. That green area in the background is Paljassaare. Birds are in there. I did not see them.

 

 

I noticed that the Silent Disco was scheduled for the Sky Lounge at 10:00pm. This had been held once before, on the second night of the cruise at the Martini Bar, and we stopped by then because I had read about it on CC and wanted to check it out for myself. We are not really party people but everyone looked like they were having so much fun that “we” grabbed some headphones and gave it a try. It’s a very silly concept really, but one of us had a lot of fun and the other one did make some effort to play along. It had been pretty crowded in the Martini Bar that night, so I was glad to see that Son of Silent Disco would be in the Sky Lounge, where there is a bit more room. There was a flair bartending demonstration before the disco began; one or two shakers went flying, but it was still impressive and fun to watch. We had arrived early so we had no trouble snagging a table but by the time we left it was standing room only and everyone was having a great time. We usually prefer live entertainment to a DJ, but obviously this concept would not work with a band. One side benefit of the silent disco is that we were sitting with another couple and we could actually carry on a conversation when we were not dancing.

 

This was such a busy cruise that we did not spend a lot of time listening to musicin the evenings, but we did like the house band, Ocean’s 5, and we enjoyed theRay Brown Jr. [jazz] Band one evening in the Ensemble Lounge.

 

Tomorrow we would be arriving in Stockholm, our port of disembarkation, but we had an overnight in port. And that meant that packing could be put off until tomorrow.

[reilly1]

Loving your review. We're on Eclipse 16th July to Baltics - our 4th time! Tallinn is our favourite port. We loved it so much after our first visit that we went back and toured Estonia. Hope we get blue skies too. We have had awful weather there in the past.

 

 

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[dodger1964]

The standard cost of the 3-day tour when we booked was US $695 per person (I see that the Alla web site now shows the same tour at US $675). We paid US $650 because there is a discount for groups of 10 or more, so it's worthwhile to organize this on your roll call. ...

 

Can you imagine what that would have cost as a Celebrity excursion!!

 

I would say you got your money's worth!

[Chelly]

Wow alto!

Spectacular photos and commentary. I'll be on the Silhouette's Aug 23 Baltic cruise. Your review is making me very happy for making this choice. Can't thank you enough.

Chelly

[afto]

Wow alto!

Spectacular photos and commentary. I'll be on the Silhouette's Aug 23 Baltic cruise. Your review is making me very happy for making this choice. Can't thank you enough.

Chelly

 

You are very welcome, Chelly. If there are any other cruises that you are considering, I would be very happy to preview those for you, any time, if you would like to pay my fare. ;)

[Chelly]

You are very welcome, Chelly. If there are any other cruises that you are considering, I would be very happy to preview those for you, any time, if you would like to pay my fare. ;)

 

Well alto....I was thinking that was a lovely gesture until I got to your last eight words.;p

[afto]

May 30: Stockholm, Part One

 

For the scenic sail-in through the archipelago to Stockholm, I was out on the balcony at 6:04 am. I am shaking my head right now as I write this. Note: it is not necessary to be out on the balcony at 6:04 am because there are four more hours of scenic sailing ahead, and it’s OK to miss a few minutes of it. Grey skies all the way, but I was happy that we were not held up by the high winds that sometime prevent larger ships from entering the archipelago.

 

The ship follows a narrow and defined path, and there were always one or two vessels visible behind us. Parts of this sail-in reminded me of the Gulf Islands and San Juan Islands that will be familiar to anyone who has travelled on BC Ferries or Washington State Ferries or a cruise ship that visits those areas. The many Swedish flags and the architecture of the buildings along the shore made it clear that we were not in the Pacific Northwest any more, Toto.

 

 

We were often very close to shore, as you can see in this shot that includes a lifeboat and a bit of the bridge.

 

 

One of the Cold War era fortifications along the shore; some of these are apparently re-purposed now as holiday accommodation for tourists. (Not a fake fact, but a real fact, in case you were wondering. I am concerned that my credibility might have taken a hit after the bit about the pig-shaped planter boxes.)

 

 

A vehicle ferry loads up for a short crossing to a nearby island.

 

 

Closer to Stockholm, we passed some upscale waterfront dwellings.

 

 

As we approached our berth at Frihamnen, the Silja Serenade cruise ferry that had been following us was now alongside. I love the cute little seal on the Silja Line funnels, and I was thinking that “Silja” is probably Finnish for “seal.” According to Google translate, it is not. And "Disney" is not Finnish for "mouse" either, apparently.

 

 

In case anyone is wondering, the photos above were all taken from our balcony on the starboard side as we sailed in.

[Pushka]

We have just completed the Stockholm sailaway last Thursday and it is indeed amazing. Almost feel like you can touch the houses from your balcony. It lasts for 5 hours according to the Captain.

[afto]

We have just completed the Stockholm sailaway last Thursday and it is indeed amazing. Almost feel like you can touch the houses from your balcony. It lasts for 5 hours according to the Captain.

 

Glad you are enjoying your cruise, Pushka!

[afto]

May 31: Stockholm, Part Two

 

I hope that no one is paying any attention to the days and dates in the headings of the previous posts. Apparently I do have some difficulty with reading a calendar; it’s the combination of letters AND numbers in the same place that I find most confusing.

 

We did have some difficulties with our bus passes in Stockholm, which I won’t go into in great detail. It is simple enough to ride on the actual vehicles, but the purchasing of tickets can be tricky. If you are docked at Frihamnen, I would recommend that you buy any passes from the tourist information booth in the terminal, even if there is a long line, rather than trust that the automated ticket machine at the bus stop can be persuaded to dispense anything other than single tickets. If your pass ceases to function after the first ride, as DH’s did, I have no suggestions for you other than pleading your case with driver after driver. Also, pay attention to where you are going (duh); at one point, I let my guard down for just one teeny-tiny fraction of a second and a rogue bus swooped in and carried us off in the wrong direction. On the positive side, Stockholm public transit allows dogs. One memorable ride involved a dog, another dog, a barking contest, and a class of schoolchildren imitating the dogs. Close your eyes and imagine it. Hilarious, right?

 

Once we finally had our passes in hand, it was a simple matter to take bus #76 (towards Norra Hammarbyhamnenm) and get off at Djurgårdsbron. We walked over the bridge from the bus stop to the island of Djurgården. There are plenty of options for activities on this island.

 

 

The Stockholm Pass covers many of the city's points of interest, but I had decided that it would not be worth our while to purchase the pass. Our plans for Stockholm included only two sites or activities where the pass would be valid (Vasa Museum and Skansen); other places that we would visit would either be free or were not included in the pass. I also decided against it because when we have a pass, “we” have a tendency to try to fit in more museums than there are hours in the day: I call this WMAWSWHTP syndrome (“we might as well since we have the pass”). A couple of days at a more relaxed pace would give us a bit of a break before jumping back on the merry-go-round in Berlin.

 

Our first destination was Skansen, which was founded in 1891 as the world’s first open-air museum. Like similar museums elsewhere, it houses a variety of relocated historical buildings and it is populated by costumed interpreters, lively crowds of schoolchildren, and families with strollers. We entered at the Hazelius Gate: it’s the closest one to the bridge, but do check opening hours for this gate if you decide to go.

[skansen’sweb site: http://www.skansen.se/en/ ]

 

We bought a ticket for the short funicular ride up to the top of the hilly site. If you enter instead at the main gate, an escalator will take you to the top.

 

 

Structures have been brought from Lapland to recreate a Sami mountain camp at the top of the hill. This storage shed is built on posts to keep its contents safe from animals. The Indigenous Sami people are the only people who have the right to herd domestic reindeer in Sweden.

 

 

Skansen has a zoo area featuring Scandinavian animals such as reindeer (caribou). This is one of the youngest members of the Skansen herd.

 

 

The Bredablick Tower, built in 1874, sits at the highest point of the hill. The number of buildings that are open at Skansen depends on the time of year; Bredablick Tower was closed during our May visit.

 

 

Outside Skogaholm Manor, I coaxed a random passerby into providing scale for this shot of tiny cannons, which would no doubt be very useful in case the manor should ever be attacked by a Lilliputian horde.

 

 

Fair warning: the next post is also about Skansen.