Day 9 - at sea

Day 9 is another wonderfully relaxing day at sea. We were able to sleep in and then enjoy a day spent just wandering around the ship, playing blackjack, eating (there go the waistlines) and dancing.

Day 8 - Stockholm, Sweden

I've been informed that I've been extremely remiss in posting to the blog, so I will make some entries today and the rest I will add after we return home.

Day 8 and we’re in Stockholm, Sweden. We never realized until today that the city of Stockholm is built on 14 small islands. We spent our time ashore on an island called Gamla Stan – this island holds the “Old Town” of Stockholm. Narrow, cobblestoned streets and quaint little stores were the norm. Apparently, however, Stockholm has some very strange residents!!

Day 7 - Helsinki, Finland

Day 7 has found us in Helsinki, Finland. We got off the boat and took a bus into town. We found Helsinki to be a very clean and unimaginative city. It is beautiful with cobblestone streets and sidewalks. Many of the buildings are quite old, but, there is nothing to make this city stand out for us – perhaps if we had taken a tour.

They tell us that tomorrow, in Stockholm will be a very different adventure.

Day 6 - St. Petersburg, Russia

Day 6 has been our second day in St. Petersburg, Russia. Since we did not have a visa, we were not permitted off the ship. We decided to have an extremely lazy day today. We were very late getting up and even slower getting going. We spent a lot of the day napping in preparation for Helsinki, Finland early tomorrow morning.

Leaving port this evening was an adventure – with only a very narrow channel to navigate out of the city into the Gulf of Finland, it was amazing how close we had to sail to some small islands.

Day 5 - St. Petersburg, Russia

Day 5 has been an extremely busy one. We left the ship this morning at 8:00 am – yes, I managed to get Graham up, fed and out the door (so to speak). We were required by the Russian authorities to leave the ship as a group, to remain as a group throughout our stay and return to the ship as a group. Unfortunately, our tour guide neglected to get this message – she totally lost 6 of us at Catherine’s Palace and it took the better part of 30 minutes for us all to get back together again. There were a couple of other times during the tour when she was convinced that she had everyone gathered up when she didn’t - thank goodness the rest of us realized that she was significantly counting challenged and we managed to make sure that no one got lost again.

Anyway, we visited Catherine’s Palace – this is the palace where Catherine the Great lived throughout her reign. The Amber Room alone was worth the entire day – unfortunately we were not allowed to take any photographs within the Amber Room. We were able to pay a small fee to take pictures everywhere else within the Palace. It was an awesome display of opulence and power. Following this tour, we travelled to Pavlov’s (Paul’s) Palace (Pavlov was the only child of Catherine the Great). Pavlov and his wife Marie lived in this smaller, more austere Palace and raised their nine living children (one daughter died at birth). Marie continued to live in the Palace for the remainder of her life following the death of Paul. Again, this Palace was a display of the wealth and power of the Russian Csars and Csarinas.

Day 4 - Tallinn, Estonia

At 10:30 this morning, we docked in Tallinn, Estonia. From the deck we could see the “old town” – what an amazing sight. Once we were docked and cleared by immigration, we headed off to tour the old town. It is about a 15 minute walk from the pier. What an amazing place!!!!!! Cobblestone streets, old churches, the original fortification walls, the original town square, narrow streets, friendly people, awesome amber!!!

We spent about 4 hours walking throughout the town taking pictures and visiting the occasional shops. The best deals, however, were to be had in the old town square where I was able to buy a couple of beautiful cardigans for amazing prices.

One of the stores had this awesome, 5 ft amber “tree”

After walking about, we returned to the ship for lunch and, for me a foot and ankle massage followed by some time on the heated ceramic bed, for Graham, a nap.

That evening we both entered a blackjack tournament. Only Graham made it to the finals – he won!!!!!!

Day 3 - we're finally on our way!!!!

Day 3 and it finally feels like we’re on vacation!! We are more than half way to Tallinn, Estonia, our first port of call. We are scheduled to arrive at 10:30 tomorrow morning (3:30 am Ontario time) – every time we turn around, they’re adjusting the time on us – apparently there will be one more change this week.

Today we just took things easy, wandered around the ship and spent some time in the Casino. We both napped this afternoon – Graham in the cabin while I enjoyed my nap in the thermal suite in the spa – this is a room full of ceramic, heated beds and sauna’s – so relaxing.

Tonight was the first of our formal nights. Graham was a huge hit in his kilt. Surprisingly he appears to be the only gentleman wearing one during this particular cruise. We are finding that, despite starting and ending in a European port, most of the passengers are American.

After dinner and a bit of time in the Casino, we went looking for dancing and found some in a little out of the way lounge – bad band, but, that’s what keeps the dance floor empty.

Day 2 and we're still travelling

We arrived at Charles deGaulle airport this morning on time – 9:00 am after an uneventful and awesome flight. First Class is the ONLY way to travel!!!!! Free wine, scotch, perfect food on china with real silverware. Unfortunately our flight from Detroit landed in Paris 20 minutes after our flight to Copenhagen started boarding. Despite our best efforts, we missed our connecting flight to Copenhagen and are now sitting in the first class lounge at Charles deGaulle Airport eating and drinking more Free food, Scotch, Beer and Wine waiting for the next flight to Copenhagen. Such a hardship!!!!! We are now scheduled to land in Copenhagen at 3:00 this afternoon while our ship is scheduled to depart at 5:00 – again we’re cutting it very close. More to come!!

Day 1 We're on our way!!!!

The party’s over, but, for us the fun is just beginning. Here we sit in the first class lounge at the Detroit airport drinking and eating while we wait for our flight to leave.

We cut things extremely close in Windsor. We called for a taxi when we were still about 15 minutes away from Windsor. The company we called, however, wasn’t able to pick us up at the Freightliner dealership – it is outside Windsor’s city limits. The company very helpfully gave us the phone number for a company that could pick us up there. Apparently, it is a 1 person, 1 vehicle company – a gentleman informed us that he couldn’t pick us up for at least an hour as he was on his way to Harrow. Frustrated and unable to do anything else, we ended up driving the truck to the pick-up spot (The Holiday Inn). They kindly agreed to allow the truck to remain in their parking lot overnight and Graham arranged for someone to come and get it tomorrow. We boarded the Robert Q shuttle and here we are!!