WHITE NIGHTS - RUSSIA and ESTONIA

Day One: Saint Petersburg, Russia

Saint Petersburg, Russia and Tallinn, Estonia are White Nights territory where the summer nights are long however, this means the winter days are short.  This is a city I have always wanted to visit and would like to return for a longer stay. 

Lighthouse on Vasilievsky Island, St. Petersburg, Russia.

This is not an old ship but a modern reproduction which is a restaurant on the River Neva.

Peter and Paul Cathedral, Russian Orthodox cathedral inside the Peter and Paul Fortress, Saint Petersburg, Russia. This is the first and oldest landmark in Saint Petersburg, built 1712-1733 under Peter the Great.  The world's tallest orthodox bell tower.

Gold, gold, gold .... wherever we visited in Saint Petersburg there is an abundance of gold.

The tombstones of Tzar Nicholas II and his family (assassinated in 1917).  The relics of the family are entombed here in St. Catherine's Chapel.

Catherine Palace was the summer residence of the Russian tzars, located at Pushkin 25 kms south-east of Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Every room in this palace is decorated in the Rococo style with as much gold as in this dining room.

When Catherine the Great died they found over 15,000 dresses in her closets, she did not wear the same dress twice.

This room is as beautiful as the Hall of Mirrors, Palais de Versailles, Paris, France.

Breathtaking, opulent, beautiful.

The gardens are very pretty .....

The Amber Room
Also at this palace we saw the reproduction of the Amber Room. Originally installed in Schloss Charlottenburg, home of Friedrich I, the first King of Prussia.  Peter the Great admired the room on a visit in 1716 and the then King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm I, presented the room to Peter the Great and it was installed in the Winter Palace.  In 1755 Czarina Elizabeth ordered the room to be moved to Catherine Palace in Pushkin (named Tsarskoye Selo or "Czar's Village").  In 1941 the Nazis looted the palace and shipped the Amber Room to Königsberg Castle museum on the Baltic Coast.  The original panels went missing in 1945 never to be recovered.  The room is spectacular but photography is not allowed, so no photo.  Google: Amber Room, Catherine Palace.

Day Two: Saint Petersburg, Russia

Peterhof (Petrodvorets) is an Imperial Estate at Peterhof outside St. Petersburg.  Photographs not allowed inside the palace so only the garden is featured.

Our meeting point was the two headed eagle (Russia's symbol). Actually it has three heads and from wherever you view the eagle only two heads can be seen.

Gold and more gold again .....

State Hermitage Museum
We return to Saint Petersburg and visit The Hermitage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermitage_Museum) and are 'blown away' by the buildings and the artwork.  With the time being limited we first looked at the main rooms and then spent our hours viewing the exhibitions.  It is estimated that there are nearly three million items and twenty-four miles of corridors in The Hermitage so it is not possible to see it all in one afternoon.  Another visit to Saint Petersburg is required!

 The central staircase.

 Look at this gold .... more gold

 The portrait room

I liked this room better than the previous 'gold' room

A Lamont Doherty scientist made me aware of Caravaggio about ten years ago and when I can, I look for his work. The Hermitage have one Caravaggio, The Lute Player, and it is beautiful. Photography without flash is permitted throughout The Hermitage.

The Lute Player, Caravaggio (1571-1610) ca. 1595. The five senses are shown in this painting: smell - flowers, taste - fruit, sight - eyes looking at viewer, hearing - music, touch - lute playing.

There are many beautiful rooms and corridors at The Hermitage

Henri Matisse (1869-1954), View of Collioure c. 1905

Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Music, 1910

Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Dance, 1910

Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Still life with Blue Tablecloth 1909

The Peacock Clock, 18th century, James Cox - English clockmaker

Titan (Tiziano Vecellio) c. 1488 Pieve di Cadore - 1576 Venice, The Penitent Mary Magdalene

A reproduction of Raphael's Loggias erected in the Vatican Palace.

Russia's symbolic two headed eagle (painted on a ceiling).

Antonio Canal (Canaletto), 1697-1758 Venice, Reception of the French Ambassador in Venice, Acquired before 1773

Tallinn, Estonia 
This was our fifth visit to Estonia and we spent the day with Garry's family, therefore not many photographs from Tallinn. The family drove us 100kms northeast of Tallinn to Haapsalu where we all met at the summer home of a family member.  We then walked around the town before having lunch on the verandah of a lovely old lakeside restaurant.  Garry told me he recognized a woman from the ship (whom we knew) and went outside to greet her.  Yep, there was an excursion group from the ship that lunched inside at the same restaurant during their tour. 

Tallinn from the port where M/V Discovery docked.

The Lake at Haapsalu - it was a beautiful day for a walk.

The restaurant where we had lunch. We were on the verandah.  The M/V Discovery tour group lunched inside the restaurant.

This is not really a polar bear.

Some family members enjoy being 'on' the lake

Family members walking around the lake .....

DENMARK to FINLAND

This golden lady once indicated to folks in Copenhagen the weather conditions.  Without umbrella the day was sunny - with umbrella it was a rainy day. The company who placed her there no longer exists so nobody pays the power bill therefore she is turned off, shame really.

 The new apartments built in the 1600's.

Changing the guard at Christiansborg Palace.

There she is - the Little Mermaid and she is beautiful.

The weather has been delightfully warm and sunny.  The downer for me is that yesterday I developed pink eye (conjunctivitis) and my eyes feel sore and gritty.  Of course, I look like I have had more than one good night on the drink with my bloodshot eyes so I wear sunglasses everywhere.  Now I feel like a poser.  Hopefully by arrival at St Petersburg my eyes will feel and look better.

Helsinki, Finland

After another day at sea day we arrived in Helsinki, Finland this morning.  Looking at the many islands as we cruised into port reminded us of sailing this way in the 1970/1980's when we would visit our family in Estonia.  Later years (1990's on) we would fly into Tallinn Airport.  Today we can look across the Baltic Sea and know that at the end of the week we will have a day visiting the family in Tallinn - it is a wonderful opportunity to see them again.

We booked a City Highlights tour for today as we knew Helsinki to be small.  We have been here four times, it is pretty but there is not much to see.  We visited the Lutheran church that is built into the rocks, stopped at the Lutheran Cathedral and drove past the Russian Orthodox church.  We saw the stadium built for the 1938 Olympics that were not held until 1952 because of the war.  I had an aunt killed here in 1952 when she came for the Olympic Games (mauled to death by a German Shepherd).

Temppeliaukio Kirkko (Rock Church), the church is built into the rock, the cross is rock, and from the outside one would not know this is a church.

Helsingin tuomiokirkko (Finnish) or Suurkirkko (Swedish) - Helsinki Lutheran Cathedral

Upenski Cathedral - from the bus. Russian Orthodox Church

Suomenlinna - fortress Helsinki

This ship behind us is coming through the channel at Suomenlinna with a pilot boat in front of her. From the photo it is easy to see how narrow the channel is at this point.

I have the afternoon off while Garry is walking around town.  My eyes feel gritty and sting from the eye drops so I am going back to the cabin after checking email.  I will read a book on my new amazonkindle.  I saw Andrée use her amazonkindle when we were in Italy earlier this year, so thanks Andrée for the idea and yes I even have a red cover!  Garry gave me the amazonkindle for my birthday in Houston so that I could download books before leaving.  With 14 books on it I have enough reading for the trip ..... hmm, I wonder is it too heavy for the Camino?

ENGLAND to DENMARK

June 29 - July 2
After an uneventful flight (thankfully) we enjoyed two and a half days with Gwen, Dave, Tanya and Sophie in Waltham Abbey, Essex.  Picking Sophie up from school both Thursday and Friday made our little 'granddaughters' day.  For quite some time Sophie has been telling her teacher about our visit followed by Karen, Stephen, and Charlotte's visit next week.  Both Charlotte and Sophie are excited to be seeing each other again ..... they were both toddlers the last time they were together.

On Friday, July 1, we visited the Lea Valley Water Recreation Park which has been created for the London Olympic Games (white water rafting) in 2012.  The Lea Valley park is a well planned area and it was fun watching the rafts go downstream over the rough waters then up the conveyor belt for another run.  Yes, one person came off a raft and had to swim for shore (well really, concrete steps).

Our friends had us at Harwich on time only to find the ship was on a two hour delay.  Yes, M/V Discovery crew had sent both of us an email but I have the data turned off on the BlackBerry and with a very slow internet connection neither of us had bothered to check email. Thank you friends for a lovely visit and we will see you on the 13th.

DENMARK - July 4

The delay for M/V Discovery was caused by the hard work of the crew sanitizing the ship.  There had been a few (maybe more than a few) folks with stomach problems on the previous cruise so the ship was cleansed before we were allowed to board.

Sailing into Copenhagen, Denmark.

After a day at sea we arrived in Copenhagen around lunchtime on July 4.  When I turned the BlackBerry on this morning it pinged many times with text messages arriving.  Garry informed me that a few folks had left messages for me on facebook so I logged in as a courtesy to y'all.  I thank all my family and friends for their text messages, fb, and emails .... and Stephen for the missed calls, sorry son!

In the late 1970's I told Garry the one thing I wanted to see on my world travels was The Little Mermaid, now over thirty years later I have seen her, she is beautiful.  We went on a City Highlights tour of Copenhagen finishing at this statue.

And here she is ..... the Little Mermaid.

Garry made a dinner reservation for the Discovery Yacht Club on July 4.  Each passenger can only dine at the Yacht Club once per cruise to accommodate all passengers wishing to eat there.  At dinner Garry honored my wish and I did not have singing waiters at the table.  It was extra special sailing out of Copenhagen while at dinner as we had excellent views from our table.

On our way ...

Thankfully our wonderful friend and house-sitter arrives as we leave this afternoon. After stopping over in London for a couple of days we are off on a Baltic Sea cruise (M/V Discovery - The Timeless Baltic).

http://www.voyagesofdiscovery.co.uk/voyage_details.php?cruise_id=18465.

Our ports of call are Copenhagen (Denmark), Helsinki (Finland), St Petersburg (Russia), Tallinn (Estonia) and Warnamünde (Berlin), Germany.  With over a month of high heat each day, including many days above 100 F. (37 C.), it will be lovely to be in the cooler climate of Europe.

First though we are looking forward to our visit with Gwen, Dave, Tanya and Sophie in London .....

Brazos Bend Texas State Park

With temperatures reaching 105F/40C degrees over the past two weeks it has been hot. So hot that it is hard to believe it is not summer until June 21st.  It is still only Spring!  Today we visited the Brazos Bend State Park.  With the Spanish Moss hanging on the Live Oak trees and the beautiful water lilly's on Elm Lake it felt cooler, and actually, it was five degrees cooler in the shade. 

The sign warn folks but it was a quiet day for alligators today .... we did not see one, not even eyes in the water. Thankfully no snakes came our way, I am sure there are rattlers and cotton mouths in this area.

Hearing the bird songs from many different birds made stopping here extra special.

The water lilly's were blooming making the lake look very pretty. From a distance the view was beautiful but it does not photograph as it looks to the naked eye.

Many trees have Spanish Moss on them giving an old southern feel to the area.