Blessed with another sunny day in St. Petersburg, we boarded the tour minibus at 7:45am and headed to the river for a boat tour. The canals we saw were lined with beautiful palaces and often crossed by ornate bridges. The boat let us off at Catherine the Great’s Hermitage, which houses one of the world’s greatest collections of art; DiVinci, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Raphael and Botticelli to name a few. The …
Russia! It took awhile to exit the ship because of the incredibly strict border security. We had pre-booked our two day St. Petersburg tour in Canada and met our guides at the port. There were fifteen people in our group. Maria, our guide, and Alexi, our driver, were delighted because it was a bright sunny day. Maria informed us that usually they get about fifty sunny days a year …
The sky was bright blue and the weather warm when we walked off the ship in Tallinn, Estonia. The tall tower of St Olav Church beckoned us into the cobblestone streets of the medieval city. St Olav was our first stop. John and Graham climbed the tower, but I stayed below in the church since I had read that the stairs were steep, spiralled and narrow (all 258 of …
During dinner on Thursday night we heard an announcement of a medical emergency in the dining room. We later learned that an elderly man had collapsed at his dinner table and that he was being given CPR. A further announcement advised that everyone was to stay indoors and off the outer decks as an emergency evacuation by helicopter was to occur. The ship was at sea at this point. …