This blog is late because I decided to wait until the cruise is over and tell about all of it, and also because Wi-Fi on the ship is very expensive and slow.
And before I go any further, let me say that this is a big cruise liner and too big for my liking, so I don’t think I’ll be doing a cruise on one this size again .
First stop was Zeebrugge for Bruges. The ship’s shore excursion to Bruges was a walking tour, and quite good, although the place was full of cruise ship tourists. We saw a lot of the historic town including the bell tower, Beguinage (google it!) and a very attractive alms-house. Then we took a ride on the canals for 30 mins or so and looked at the town from a different angle.
The next day we were at sea and since I came on this cruise as part of a genealogy group, I went to a few sessions on the subject.
The next country was Germany, we docked at Warnemünde, in the north of the country. In the morning I walked into Warnemünde which only took about 10 mins; this is a very pleasant little town, with a very attractive Evangelical church, in which the organist was practising, which added to the charm for me.
In the afternoon, I went on the shore excursion to Rostock, a Hanseatic League town up river from Warnemünde. The excursion started with a boat trip up the river and we then walked around Rostock, hearing about its history; a lot of this however, was mild criticism of the actions of the GDR as Rostock was in East Germany before the unification . We went into St. Mary’s church, home to the oldest still-working astronomical clock, built in 1472 (so we were told, European countries are very competitive about the oldest, highest, largest whatever!) However, I would quite believe this was the highest non-cathedral church anywhere, certainly that I have ever seen, the highest part of the ceiling is 38 metres high. Finally we went to a microbrewery, where we had a short talk on how the beer was brewed followed by a tasting – and their idea of a tasting is half a good sized glass, not a couple of mouthfuls. Very good it was, too!
The next day was a rest day i.e. at sea. Then we had five consecutive port days with excursions. The first was Tallinn in Estonia. This is a very pleasant little town, we went first to the Old Town, upper part, where we went into the inevitable churches, first the Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox church, which was, typically, very ornate, with no seats as the congregation in a Russian Orthodox church either stands or kneels, no sitting; the next was the Lutheran Cathedral, which typically is much less ornate. Again the organist was practising which pleased me.
After that I walked back to the bus through the lower part of the Old Town, which was equally interesting in a different way, that is where the shops, cafes, markets etc. are. I looked into an Ice Bar – everything made of ice, if you patronise it you are given a parka and gloves etc. Just looking in made me cold!
The next port of call was St . Petersburg, for two days. The first day I went on an excursion that took us to the Yusupov Palace; this was the residence of the Yusupov family, now a museum, with some very beautiful rooms, and the basement rooms, not so beautiful (!) where Rasputin was assassinated. This was followed by a river cruise down the River Neva (named after Alexander Nevsky) and canals, unfortunately a thunderstorm came up so we could not sit on the outside of the boat, or see much through the rain.
The next day I took another excursion, a walking tour of St. Petersburg, where we saw the Eternal Flame, in a park called the "Field of Mars", and then a visit to the Church of the Resurrection or the Church of the Spilled Blood (so named because it is built in the exact spot Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881. (As you know, the Russians were fond of assassinations!) This church is now more of a museum, and apart from the floor and ceiling, is entirely made of mosaics, again no seating. Fortunately this time the weather was good.
Next port was Helsinki. Here I went into the city by myself. I went to the Temppeliaukio Church or Rock Church, since it is quarried out of the natural bedrock. Very interesting, but packed with tourists, so you could hardly see anything. Then I went to the Senate Square and the Lutheran Cathedral. The latter again very plain, but peaceful, with box pews complete with brass door handles. (For those used to English and Australian cathedrals, I can tell you that European ones are just as much covered in plastic sheeting and scaffolding as English ones .) I have to say I was disappointed in Helsinki, it is just a city like any other.
The next day we were in Stockholm. This is a much nicer place than Helsinki but we did not have enough time to see everything, it was a very short stay. The excursion took us to the City Hall, which although only built in the 1920s, is extremely ornate and well worth seeing. Then on to the Old Town, and the Royal Palace where the Swedish royal family work; it is on a square where people, locals and tourists, congregate, and apparently you can see the royals "turn up for work" at the appropriate time – imagine trying that at Buckingham Palace! We had a short walk around the narrow cobbled streets and then it was back to the ship. I would like to come back to Stockholm sometime for a longer stay.
Finally on to Copenhagen where we stayed until midnight. I went on a long walking excursion, saw The Little Mermaid statue (Hans Christian Andersen), the Royal Palace, and the one where Princess Mary from Tasmania lives. This town is also interesting, full of cobbled streets. I took a canal trip, and saw a great many expensive pleasure craft – I don’t know how they afford them as the minimum tax rate is 52% and VAT (GST to the Australians) is 25% on everything. Also saw many low bridges over the canals, including the one that isn’t finished, because they built it from each side of the river - at different heights! So they had to start again. It seemed a shame when we were in port to midnight to stay on the ship after the excursion, but I was so tired after the long walk that I had no energy for anything else.