Blue skies in Helsinki

After spending two full-on days of touring in St. Petersburg, we made our way to Helsinki, Finland for a day.  Helsinki was clean, calm, and cool.  I really liked this city and I think it was John's favourite one that we visited on our trip.  We spent our morning riding street cars and walking around the downtown area.  Our first stop was Temppeliaukio - aka "The Rock Church."  This Lutheran church is a round shape built into solid rock, with skylights and a large domed roof.  It was pretty cool to sit in there and listen to a musician play the piano despite all the people snapping photos around the place.

After finding the Rock Church we walked around town, making our way back towards the harbour.  We passed by this big crane which was holding a table of people in the sky.  It was an attraction aptly named "Dinner in the Sky."  We tried to sign up for it but it was all booked for the day.  Basically you book a time slot and then you get taken up in a crane to have a meal in the sky.  It is so odd but looks like it would be a cool experience.  We were sad that it was booked, but we had no idea that it existed before we stumbled across it.  Maybe we'll find a "Dinner in the Sky" again some day soon!

Later on we eventually found ourselves at Esplanadi, which is an area of the city with a park and streets lined with a bunch of restaurants.  We strolled on through to the waterfront area where we found some type of beer garden and spent a while using their free wifi and drinking a beer called "The Midnight Sun."

Just up the road from there was the huge Helsinki Cathedral which seemed to hover over the waterfront.  This Lutheran cathedral has a huge dome and from the outside is quite impressive.  On the inside it is fairly plain in comparison.  I liked walking up the steps and then looking back at the city.  The sky was so blue that day and the weather was warm and perfect for wandering around outdoors.

The best part about Helsinki was its relaxed vibe.  We found the Market Square near the harbour, bought some souvenirs, and ordered food from one of the stalls.  We tried some roasted potatoes and reindeer meatballs with ligonberry jam (apparently a popular meal in Finland).  It was ok but I'm not a big meat-eater so I didn't love it!  I felt a bit weird eating Prancer!  :(

I would like to visit Helsinki again some day.  It was too bad we didn't get more time in the city, but that's how cruises usually are.  Even though you get to see a lot of places, you have limited time at each port of call.  When we were sailing out of Helsinki the water was so calm and there were so many islands that were part of the Finnish archipelago.  Finland is a lovely country with friendly people.  Hopefully one day we can go back and explore some more places there!

"Venice of the North" - St. Petersburg by boat!

Day #2 of our "Grand Tour" of St. Petersburg started off with a boat trip along the many canals of the city.  This was actually my favourite part of the two days spent in the city.  The weather was sunny, warm, and perfect for a boat ride to admire the many beautiful sites from a water view point.

After a lovely hour on the canals, we got off the boat and made our way to Yusupov Palace, which was the home of a Russian noble family.  This place is famous because Grigori Rasputin, an influential friend of Nicholas II (the last tsar of Russia) was murdered here.  This place is a bit creepy because it contains wax figures depicting the scene of the crime.  Apparently Prince Felix Yusupov tried to give Rasputin tea and dessert laced with poison but in the end he shot Rasputin with his gun.  The palace itself was very elegant but the best thing about it was that there were hardly any tourists there!  Unlike every other tourist attraction in St. Petersburg, Yusupov Palace seemed empty since we got there early (even before opening time).  There was just one other tour group there at the time.

From Yusupov Palace we took a hydrofoil boat to Peterhof Palace, also known as the "Russian Versailles" because of its grandeur, beautiful gardens, and huge fountains.  This palace was created for Peter the Great.  We didn't go inside the palace but we toured the gardens and the fountain area.  At the top of the Grand Cascade fountain was a great view of the garden area.

Our final stop of the tour was one more palace - Catherine Palace, created for Catherine I, the wife of Peter the Great.  Catherine Palace was PACKED.  There were a bunch of tour groups crowding the golden gates at the front, but each tour group had a specific time they were allowed to enter.  We literally had to push and shove to get through the gates, and once we were inside it was a bit better in the sense that you just followed another tour group, and when the tour group left you would then enter the next room.  The best rooms of Catherine Palace were the grand ballroom and the Amber room.  The Amber room was not very big compared to some of the other rooms, but it contained beautiful amber panels on the walls.  This room was actually looted in WWII but restored and re-opened in 2003.  We weren't allowed to take photos inside the room but it seemed like you could sort of get away with it by taking a photo from the doorway of the next room looking in.

After two full days touring St. Petersburg we were super tired, but the city was worth it.  It was a very extravagant place which seemed like a living museum.  Everywhere you turned was something historic and grand.  Two days was really not enough to tour the place, but Alla Tours did a great job giving us a whirlwind tour of this historic city.

St. Petersburg - the epitome of opulence!

St. Petersburg, Russia is often considered to be the "jewel" on any Baltic cruise itinerary.  It was definitely dazzling!

When touring around the city two words came to mind, over and over again... GRAND and OPULENT.  This place has quite a lot of bling.  You won't find anything "plain" about this city!  To visit St. Petersburg you need to arrange a Russian visa which is a bit of a hassle, but you can get around it by joining a group tour when your cruise is in port.  We decided to forego the ship's tours since for St. Petersburg since they didn't have great reviews, and chose a highly recommended tour provider from Tripadvisor called Alla Tours.  Alla Tours arranged everything for us, and although we paid quite a bit of money for a 2-day "Grand" tour of the city, it was worth the experience.

The first stop on our tour was a park near the Neva River.  From there we had a great view of the Hermitage Museum which was the second stop on our tour.  The Hermitage is HUGE.  It is one of the oldest and largest museums in the world, and it has over 3 million items inside!  The whole thing is so big that it takes up 6 buildings.  Most of the art that we saw on our tour was from Italian masters, with some famous paintings by Leonardo, Raphael, and a sculpture by Michelangelo.  Every room was quite opulent and a sight to see!  There were also a ton of people in the museum which made everything quite overwhelming.  We only scratched the surface of the Hermitage.  You could spend days in there and still not see everything!

We ended up getting to the Hermitage by subway.  The St. Petersburg metro is even fancy.  It has large mosaic tile displays on the walls and the longest elevators I have been on in my life.  The metro in St. Petersburg is the deepest in the world, and we even visited the deepest metro stop which was 86 metres below the ground.  Crazy!

From the Hermitage we made our way to the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood.  I would rate this place as possibly the most intricately designed and magnificent church I have ever seen.  The outside is amazing, with its colourful domes and intricately-designed facade.  The inside contains over 7500 square metres of mosaics which is the most of any church in the world.  All the mosaics look like paintings since the tiles are so tiny.  Even the ceilings are done in mosaic.  It is truly a beautiful place which cannot be missed on a visit to this city.  The church got its name because it is built on the site where the Emperor Alexander II was fatally wounded.

After several straight hours of touring, we were taken for lunch with our tour group.  We had soup, chicken Kiev - famous in Russia, and apple strudel for dessert.  It was nice to take a break on our fast-paced tour, but with only two days in a city like St. Petersburg, you have to move fast to cover as much ground as possible.  There are so many places to see!

After lunch we got back in our tour van with our guide and headed to St. Isaac's Cathedral, which is the fourth-largest in the world.  The dome is huge and is plated with pure gold.  The Russians really like to bling out their buildings.  I don't think we came across anything plain-looking at all in St. Petersburg.  St. Isaac's Cathedral has massive bronze doors to go with its massive dome.

The third church we visited on our first day in St. Petersburg was called the Peter and Paul Cathedral.  On the outside it looked very plain compared to the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood and St. Isaac's Cathedral, but inside it contained many ornate decorations and paintings as well.  This church is the oldest landmark in the city, dating back to 1712 when construction began.  This church is also significant because it holds the tombs of almost all the Russian emperors.

Our final stop on day #1 of the Grand Tour of St. Petersburg was a shopping trip.  We didn't buy anything at the store since it seemed overpriced, but they had every matryoshka doll you could imagine at this place.  Michael Jackson?  Madonna?  Elvis?  Jarome Iginla?  You name it, you got it.  We ended up buying a matryoshka doll set at the shop near the cruise port which had better prices.  After our first day in the city, I was pretty tired but looking forward to day 2...

Fairytale in Tallinn

Tallinn, Estonia is not a place that I knew much about, but I had a good feeling that I would enjoy it since the photos reminded me a bit of Prague's Old Town.  It had a sort of old world charm to it that I really enjoyed.

The first thing John and I stumbled upon was a flower festival going on near the walls of the Old Town.  It was fairly early in the morning when we ventured off the cruise ship into Tallinn, so luckily we didn't find many tourists around and were able to walk around peacefully through the gardens.

The best view of Tallinn is up on place called Toompea Hill.  At the top you have a beautiful view of the city below.  At the top of the hill you can also find such buildings as the Estonian parliament and Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.  The streets are all cobblestone and many are filled with street performers and vendors with carts selling roasted nuts.

The Town Square in Tallinn is the place to hang out and people watch.  We went to a medieval pub called Olde Hansa and tried cinnamon beer served in big ceramic mugs.

For the rest of the afternoon we just wandered around the Old Town and enjoyed being out on a sunny day.  Luckily the weather was excellent.  Apparently this was the best weather that the cruise director saw in Tallinn all season long!  The good thing about going on a Baltic cruise is that you don't have to worry about getting around to all the destinations since your food, accommodation, and transportation are taken care of.  After spending the day in Tallinn we got right back on the ship and set sail for our next destination... St. Petersburg!

A stroll around Kiel, Germany

Kiel, Germany was the first port of call on our Baltic cruise after setting sail from Copenhagen.  To be honest, I wasn't expecting too much since I hadn't really heard of the city before.  We only ended up leaving the ship to use the wifi in town basically since internet on cruise ships is ridiculously expensive.  Much to our surprise, Kiel ended up being a nice place.  The city has a population of around 240,000.  We took a stroll around the area of town near the cruise port and did a bit of shopping.

A lot of people on the ship ended up taking the train from Kiel station to Hamburg (around 1.5 hours away) but we didn't want the hassle, as we wanted this vacation to be more relaxing than the ones we usually go on.  In town we stumbled across the typical German things like pretzel carts, Birkenstock stores, food trucks selling currywurst and huge sausages on a bun, and of course - the biergarten.  When in Germany, why not go to the biergarten?  It always seems to be beer o'clock in this country.  We sat outside people watching and using the free wifi there.  While we didn't spend time seeing major tourist sites, we enjoyed our time relaxing in a quaint city in a country that I always enjoy travelling in.  No complaints!

Copenhagen: my kind of city!

Over the summer John and I had the pleasure of visiting Copenhagen, Denmark for several days as our Baltic cruise started and ended there.  After our delayed baggage fiasco on our many connecting flights home to Canada, we decided to spend the extra money and fly directly with Emirates to Copenhagen.  It was a 6 hour flight and getting from the airport to our hotel was quite easy as well.  Copenhagen has a population of around half a million people, and felt much smaller than other cities we had recently visited.  I really enjoyed the ease of getting around this city, and how clean it was.  The people were also very friendly and even though Danish is the main language, everyone speaks English as well.

Before we started our cruise we stayed at a hotel on a quiet street in the trendy neighbourhood of Osterbro.  The transportation mode of choice by most people seemed to be bicycle, and the streets all had bike lanes.  Copenhagen also had a lot of bus, metro, and train options.

One of the highlights of Copenhagen was visiting a place called Nyhavn, which is famous for its colourful buildings.  Nyhavn was packed with restaurants, street performers, and tourists strolling along the canal.

After visiting Nyhavn, we spent an afternoon at the Rosenborg Castle grounds.  We didn't pay to enter the castle, which houses the Danish crown jewels, but just visited the "Kongens Have" (The King's Garden) which was free.  The King's Garden is a great place to people watch and relax.  It was nice to lay down on the grass and enjoy the warmth of the sun.

From Rosenborg Castle we walked to the famous statue "Den lille havfrue" ... The Little Mermaid.  Hans Christian Andersen, the most famous Danish children's author, wrote the story of the little mermaid and her statue is now a symbol of the city.

We also enjoyed walking down Strøget, which is one of the oldest and longest pedestrian streets in the world.  Along the street you can find many cafes and souvenir shops.  We stopped into the Lego store to admire the amazing Lego creations.  Lego was invented in Denmark, and in the store we saw displays of famous places like Nyhavn made out of Lego.  

Along the pedestrian street you can also see many food stands.  The most famous street food in Denmark is the "pølser"... the hot dog!  Hot dog wagons are everywhere in Copenhagen, and they usually serve a large variety with some interesting toppings.  The classic Danish hot dog is topped with crispy fried onions, raw onions, pickles, ketchup, mustard, and remoulade sauce.  It is really, really good!

Just off of Strøget you can find the Rundetårn (The Round Tower) which was built in the 17th century as an astronomical observatory and is attached to a chapel.  The Round Tower has a winding sloped ramp leading to a short staircase at the top.  From the top you can have a great view of Copenhagen.

However, the best thing we did in Copenhagen was visit Tivoli Gardens, which is an amusement park dating back to 1843 - one of the oldest in the world!  Tivoli Gardens has several "old school" rides, including one of the world's oldest wooden rollercoasters.  There are also some modern rides of course, but overall the place has a very vintage feel.  It is a nice place to visit even if you don't want to go on rides, as there are restaurants, gardens, and a concert stage which has performances throughout the summer months.  We ended up paying for an all-access pass which let us go on any rides we wanted.  Although I'm not a big rides person since I get pretty dizzy, my favourite was the "Star Flyer" which is the world's second-tallest carousel at 80 metres high.  After you strap into your chair, the Star Flyer lifts you up slowly into the air, and before you know it you're swinging around in the sky with an amazing view over the city.

Copenhagen was very charming and a place that I'd love to spend more time in.  Despite the city being fairly expensive, it is definitely a place I'd recommend on a visit to Europe.