Corey & Eva's Travels

Hafia, Israel

Oct 25, 2012

This morning we docked in Haifa, Israel. We got off the ship at 6:30 am. We had a long trip ahead of us. Ashar was our guide and Simon was the driver. They are both from Jerusalem. Haifa is the world headquarters for the Baha’i’ religion. The first stop was the Baha’i gardens. The gardens are a world famous site on the slopes of Mount Carmel. However, we did not have a lot of time, so we just had a quick stop for a picture.

Today everything went very quick as we had a lot of ground to cover with very little time. Haifa where the LDS Church started in Israel. In 1800, two missionaries from Istanbul, Turkey were sent to Haifa. They converted a German blacksmith that one of the missionary had dreamed of. The blacksmith had also dreamed of the missionary. When they met, the blacksmith was quickly converted. The church grew for many years, but eventually the members moved from Israel to Utah or back to Germany, however, the two missionaries had died and were buried in Haifa. In the 1960s, after the creation of Israel, the LDS church was able to become an official religion because the missionary graves were proof that the church was in the area before Israel was created. Haifa is built on Mt Carmel. Mt. Carmel is where the prophet Elijah fought the 400 false prophets of Baal.

After Hafia, we drove to the Galilee valley. This is the most fertile valley in Israel. When the Jews returned to Israel there were no fertile land. Over 100 years they planted over 240 million trees. They had pushed the desert back 60 miles. They grow bananas, mangos dates, figs and other fruits. There were miles and miles of banana fields. They cover each banana bunch with a bag and then the fields are covered with a mesh netting, both the top and sides to keep the birds away.

The next stop was Nazareth, the home town of Jesus. It is a pretty big city now, but was only 150 to 200 people when Jesus was there.

We drove to the top of the Mount of Precipice which overlooks Nazareth. The people of Nazareth tried to throw Jesus off that mount. It is also the site of a historic stone quarry where our tour guide, Kay Godfrey, think Jesus worked with his father as a stone mason.

We drove though Canaan where Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water to wine. We drove by Mount Arbel by the Sea of Galilee. You could see the Goland Heights across the Sea. The Sea of Galilee is a lot like Bear Lake. It is shaped similar and about the same size, but a lot warmer.

Further along the shores of Galilee we stopped in Tabgha and went to the Church of the Multiplication. This church was built to celebrate the feeding of 5,000 with 5 loaves and 5 fishes. They believe there may have been over 12,000 people there, counting the woman and children. The church had a mosaic showing fish and loaves. There is also a mosaic of the measure that they used to measure the water height of the Sea of Galilee. They based their yearly taxes on the water level of Galilee. the deeper the water, the higher the taxes.

Our next stop was the town of Capernaum. There are a lot of ruins to visit. This includes the ruins of a 4th century synagogue. This synagogue is built on the foundation of a 1st century synagogue where Jesus was attended. It is one of a few places that experts agree is a place where Jesus walked. Parts of the floor were from the original 1^st century synagogue. They were the same stones that Jesus was on. Also in Capernaum, is the house of Peter’s mother-in-law. it was another building from the first century.

We ate lunch at the Sea of Galilee Resort. I had what they called a Jesus fish, which is a fish from Galilee. We also had a pita and fries. Eva had pizza. After lunch I went down to the Sea and touched the water.

We then drove south on the west side of Galilee. The south side of the lake is where the Jordan River flows from the lake. We also stopped at a baptism site that a church has preserved. It is not the site of Jesus’ baptism as that was closer to the Dead Sea. The location where Christ was baptized is in a military reserve and it is closed to the public. We stopped at a place where many people come to be baptized or re-baptized. We walked around and Eva put her feet in the Jordan River.

The West Bank is the west side of the Jordan River. It is the border between Israel and Jordan. This are was taken from Jordan by the Israelis. The citizens are not Israelis, but Palestine. There were many battles and issues between Israel and Jordan between 1967 and 1970. This ended at Black September in 1970, which was a coup in Jordon.

As we drove to Jerusalem, we passed the Dead Sea, but it was getting dark, so we barely saw it. We drove on to the hotel. Jerusalem is a confusing city that would be very difficult to drive. We went to the hotel and dropped off the bags. Half of us went on to Jimmy’s Olive Wood shop. Jimmy has come to Lehi as a visitor to Carl Mellor. He has been to our ward several times. We bought an olive wood nativity scene for $180 and a figurine of Mary, Joseph and Jesus for my mom. It was $45. We got lost several times and it was very late by the time we got back to the hotel. We ate dinner and went to bed.

Cyprus

Oct 24, 2012

This morning we landed on the island of Cyprus. We got on a bus that had a Greek Cypriot guide. She sounded just like the father from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” movie. She kept telling the source of words and how they all came from the Greek words. Also, she could not hide her disgust with the Turks. But she did a pretty good job with telling the history of her Island.

We went to Pafos and saw some ruins from the 1st century BC. It was the church where the Apostle Paul was lashed 39 times for preaching Christianity, as described in Act 13. There were also ruins at the same site from the 1200s and 1400s. There was an operating Catholic church that was built in the 1600s.

We then went to a ruins site where there were a lot of floor mosaics. They were pretty good shape given the age of the floors. The mosaics were near the sea shore so we ate lunch at a dockside restaurant. After eating we shopped at the markets along the boardwalk. Eva bought herself a little bracelet.

When we got back to the ship we ate dinner with a ship’s officer. We had signed up for the drawing and they picked our name. We ate with the ship’s safety officer, Michael Christie from England. We also had two sisters from Canada at our table. It was pretty interesting to talk with him.

Alayna, Turkey

Oct 23, 2012

Today was day 4 of our trip. We landed in Alayna, Turkey in the morning. Eva and I had breakfast on the deck and watched the ship dock in the harbor. We bought a tour through the cruise line and they had a bus to take us on the tour. We loaded the bus and went on a 1-1/2 hour ride. It was beautiful weather when we landed, but it started raining, and rained hard for the first half of the tour.

Our first stop was at the ruins of the ancient city of Perge. This was just past the city of Atalanya. It was pouring rain during this stop. Eva had a rain coat, but mine was just a windbreaker. It was interesting to see the stone ruins. The next stop was at a waterfall. It was still raining hand, but Eva and I still walked around while most everyone else stayed in the bus. The next stop was a jewelry store. It was way overpriced for our group. When we got to the store it stopped raining and stayed dry the rest of the day.

We ate lunch at a nice restaurant at a hotel. It was still a buffet, but it was a different buffet from the cruise ship’s buffet, so that was nice.

The next stop was an ancient stone theater from the Roman period. The stone work was in pretty good shape, but after the tour guide ended, everyone but Eva and I went back to the bus. We stayed for 15 minutes and then got on the bus.

We were only 1 hour away and the ship left in one hour, so it was going to be close. However, it took us about 1-1/2 hours to get to the ship. The drive took about a hour and 10 minutes, but the police pulled the bus over. We never understood why. After the police stop, the bus driver missed the turn to the harbor and got lost in Alayna. We were about 1/2 hour late, but the ship waited for us.

After we got on the bus we had to hang everything up to dry. We ate a little at the buffet and watched the shows. We went to bed early.

Our Cruise Through the Mediterranean Sea

This is the report of our cruise around the Mediterranean Sea in 2012. We flew from SLC to Rome and then cruised to Turkey, Cyprus, Israel, Egypt and back to Rome.

Oct 20, 2012

We are on our Mediterranean cruise. Yesterday we left at about 5:45 am. We had Zac drive us to the airport. While waiting in the security line at the airport, we met a couple of sisters who were going on the same tour group. Our flight to Atlanta left at 8:30 am. I slept a little in the flight, but not much. We were in Atlanta for about 2 hours and we ate lunch at McDonalds. Our next flight was to Rome and we left just before 4:00 pm. The flight from Atlanta to Rome was about 9 hours. I did not sleep at all. We arrived in Rome at 7:30 am. Eva and I got our bags and waited for the rest of the tour group. We were the first ones to arrive in Rome. We waited from 7:30 am until about 12:30 pm. Most of that time was standing and waiting. There was a problem getting the buses to the airport, so they were late. We took the bus to the cruise ship terminal to board the ship.

Once we were on the cruise ship, we unpacked and wandered around the ship. That night they had a reception for the tour group.

Oct 21, 2012

Today was a day at sea. After our long day traveling, we slept in quite late. We have not gotten much sleep and since our room is inside we don’t get any light. We ate breakfast and went for a short walk on the deck. After that we sat in the hot tub for a while. I didn’t eat lunch but Eva had something. Later we went to a presentation on Egypt in the main theater and then sat in a lounge and read books.

Later that night we got dressed up and went to dinner. We got a great table w by the window so we could see the sea as the sun went down. After dinner we changed and went to the main shows in the theater.

Copenhagen, Denmark

July 30, 2018

Today was our last full day on the ship. It was a day at sea as we traveled from Stockholm to Copenhagen, Denmark. We slept in a bit, but were up and going around 7:30 am. We did a mile on the track and then ate breakfast. The rest of the day was laying around on Deck 8, and other spots on the ship sleeping, reading or talking. Later in the evening we cleaned up and ate dinner in the Manhattan restaurant. After dinner we went back to the room and packed up. We left our luggage outside the door so they can pick it up and unload it from the ship. Later we went to the club and listened to a rock and roll cover band.

July 31, 2018

We docked in Copenhagen around 7 am and we were eating breakfast around 7:30 am. We left the boat at 8:30 am, picked up our luggage and took a cab from the cruise terminal to the hotel. It was about $40 for the taxi ride, but it was a nice Mercedes sedan. It was too early to check in, so we left the bags at the hotel and left for the downtown district. We bought a couple of tickets on their Hop-on/Hop-off canal boat tour. The rest of the day we rode the boat around the canals and rivers of the city. We stopped at the famous Little Mermaid statue and walked around the boat harbor. We also rode the boat through the main part of the city. They provided a audio tour as we passed the historic sites. At one stop we got off and went to a bakery for lunch. We each had a small pizza and shared a cherry desert. We then just got on the next boat.

Changing of the Guards

After the canal tour we just hung around the waterfront area. There were a lot of people sunbathing and sitting on the wharfs and docks. This year has been unseasonably warm and no rain, so everyone was enjoying it. By 3-4 pm all the cruise ship crowds had left, and that is when the locals came out. We sat on the edge of a dock and watched the hundreds of boats going in and out of the river. Later we ate dinner at an Italian restaurant. We had a Hawaiian pizza and Sprite. Everything in this area is pretty expensive, especially food. Every meal has been $30-50.

After dinner we got some ice cream and found some lounge chairs on the edge of the dock and watch the boats. We were there until about 10:30 pm, and it was still pretty light outside. While we were on the dock it started a light rain, so everyone got up and left. We walked back to our hotel.

August 1, 2018

We were up pretty early as the light from the windows woke us. Also, it was noisy from the city workers down on the streets. Our hotel room was very hot all night long. We did not use any sheet or blankets, and had a fan blowing on us all night long. We had the windows open, so that is why it was so noisy in the room. We got up and showered and then walked down to the dock area, where we were the night before. It was not crowded at all, but around 8:30 am the cruise crowd began to show up.

We also walked around and found the Metro station. It was 1/3 mile from the hotel. We ate a Belgian waffle for breakfast. Two waffles and a bottle of water was ~$18. This time the waffles were fresh and tasted a lot better, but were still small and expensive.

We went back to the hotel to finish packing. Just as we were ready to leave the hotel it started raining. We needed to walk to the Metro station to catch the train to the airport. We waited a few minutes and the rain stopped so we went to the street and started pushing our 2 big suitcases and 2 small ones across the cobblestone sidewalk/street. The cobblestone made it difficult to pull the luggage. We were 600 yards from the hotel when it started raining again. We found shelter under a canopy to wait it out, but it started raining really hard with lightening and thunder. After 5 minutes it slowed down to a normal rain, so we put on our rain coats and continued walking. This time I took the two large bags and Eva took the two small ones. The rain slowed a little bit so it was not too bad.

It only took about 5-7 minutes of walking to get to the Metro station. We finally figured out how to buy the tickets from the vending machine and one of the workers showed us which train to get on. From there it was a 15 minute ride to the airport. While waiting in the airport they notified us that the plane was delayed by 1.5 hours due to an issue in JFK. The flight was actually delayed more than that, so they offered snacks and water while we waited. We finally got on the plane and the flight to JFK was long, but nothing interesting happened. I didn’t sleep one bit. At JFK there was another delay but we got to SLC around 1 am and Zac picked us up and took us home.

Overall it was a very good trip. The weather was very warm everywhere we went. The locals would tell us it was the hottest summer in the last 100 years. It was nice because we weren’t cold, even on the deck of the boat at night, but it was a little too hot walking in the sun and riding in the vans and buses. None of the vehicles had good working air conditioning so we were all pretty hot. The only major rain for the entire trip was on our walk to the Metro station in Copenhagen.

I was a little disappointed with some of the cities we stopped at. They were all pretty modernized so they looked just like American cities, but with a different language on the signs. The only exception was Tallin, Estonia as the old part of town was quite preserved and had a lot of mid evil aspects to it. The tour guide said that was because Estonia was always a poor country, so they did not have the money to tear down the old parts. Berlin and St Petersburg had pretty much been rebuilt in the past 30 years after the fall of the Soviet Union, so everything was pretty modern. Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen were all pretty much westernized cities and while they had some old buildings (castles, palaces and churches), everything was pretty modern. One thing that was different for us, were the rivers and canals that weave through the cities and all the boats that were used to for transportation. I was also surprised how clean all the cities were, with the exception of Copenhagen. The streets were all clean and very little graffiti. Copenhagen was dirty and cigarette butts everywhere. That was a bit of a surprise.

It was great to spend so much time with Eva. We had a lot of fun on the tours. For all the tours she was a fast walker and we were always in the front where we could talk to the tour guides. She is in pretty good shape, so she did not get tired. While we were on the ship it was a lot of fun. The two sea days were nice because we did not plan anything, but just rested and we spent a lot of time talking.

I did get a little tired of seeing only buildings and churches. They all started to look alike, but I do think the churches in St. Petersburg were very impressive. It if funny that in a country that is very atheist, they spend so much money on maintaining churches. Most of the churches a owned by the government and are maintained for tourist reasons. Only a few were working churches that had services.

It was also fun for me to go back to Berlin and Copenhagen. It had been many years since I was in that part of Europe. It was nice to see the changes, but also a few familiar places.

Stockholm, Sweden

July 29, 2018

This morning we woke up as they were mooring the ship in Nynashamn, Sweden. Originally, we were going to dock in Stockholm, but they moved us to Nynashamn. This was about a 45 minute drive to Stockholm. Charolette, our guide picked us up in a bus. This was the largest tour group we had with about 28 people.

Stockholm was a pretty city with a lot of lakes and waterways all through the city. The city itself is spread across 14 islands, but the area around the city has 30,000 islands that extend into the Baltic Sea.

We first went to the city hall to use the bathrooms and take a few pictures. We then rode to the Vasa Museum. The Vasa was a ship that sunk over 300 years ago on its maiden voyage. They design was so bad that it only sailed about 1000 meters from port until it listed to the side and sunk. The ship was not wide enough for how tall it was. The boat sank to the bottom and 14 sailors lost their lives. In the 1950’s and 1960’s they started an effort to salvage the ship. It took 3 years to get it out of the water and then many years to restore. They spend 17 years spraying wax on the wood to keep it from drying out and decaying. After it was mostly restored, they built the Vasa museum to house the ship. The ship is 98% original because the water is so cold the wood did not decay. It is suppose to be one of the best museums in Sweden. It was pretty cool, but very crowded while we were there.

Stockholm Waterfront

Vasa Museum

At every port on this trip, there were the same 5 cruise ships that all docked the same day and all of us went in the town the same time. So every port was very crowded. I don’t know why they did not spread the cruise ships out a bit more, but maybe the locals do not want the crowds every day. But the tourists brings a lot of money into the local economy.

We next went to the old town area and walked around with the guide. She took us to the narrowest alley and the smallest statue in Stockholm. It was interesting to walk the old streets. After an hour of walking and looking at sites, we had some free time. We stood in line to get a Belgium waffle for lunch. It was not very good, not as good a Waffle Luv in Utah. As we were walking it started to rain, but fortunately it was time to headed back to the gathering point to catch the bus back to the ship. At the ship we had a quick snack and then sat on Deck 8 and watched the sailboats and ships go in and out of the port. Later we ate in the Manhattan restaurant and watched a show.

Nynashimn Port

Helsinki, Finland

July 28, 2018

This morning we docked in Helsinki, Finland. We met the tour guide Ritva just outside the security area and loaded into the Mercedes van. And just like the past two days, the air conditioning in the vehicles did not work well. It was hotter than normal and we were all sweating for most of the day. Most of Europe was warmer than normal.

It was a short day as there was only time for the city tour, but the port is pretty close to the city center. We rode the van into town. The summit with Putin and Trump was in Helsinki a few weeks ago and that was all the locals could talk about. It was probably the most interesting think that had happened there in a while.

We stopped in the city center and looked inside the main Lutheran church. 70% of the Finnish citizens are Lutheran, but nobody goes to church. The guide was telling us that the government and the people are worried about their social programs because of the low birth rate and declining population. The birth rate is only 1.3, about half of what is needed to maintain a population. They have many expensive social programs and soon they will not have enough tax payers to pay the bills. The average age in Finland is 49 yo, but the most common age is 62 yo. So they are quickly going to have a problem paying for their social programs.

Helsinki Cathedral Video

Temppeliaukio Church Video

We walked the city center and looked at a lot of statues. It seems that Finland has been taken over by many countries over the years. Though out the years they have been part of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Russia. There are two official language, Swedish and Finnish. All the road signs are in both languages and in the west part of the country, Swedish is used more than Finnish.

We stopped at the market area near the wharf. We had some free time to shop and Eva bought a carry bag. Most of the stuff was really expensive. A pint of Raspberries a was 5 Euros ($6).

Our next stop was the Olympic Park where the summer games were held in 1952. It was scheduled for 1940, but due to WWII, they delayed the games until 1952. We also drove by the Finnish president’s house. It was a large home, but no real security that we could see and you could drive right by it. There is a pre-school right next door.

Next we stopped at an island with an outdoor museum that showed how life was in Finland years ago. We were the only ones who scheduled that tour, so the guide stayed with us while the rest of them rode back to the ship. We stayed about an hour and walked around and saw old buildings that they had moved from other areas of Finland to show how people lived hundreds of years ago. It was interesting how they used wood for everything. After our time on the island, the bus picked us up and we were back to the ship by 2:30.

Restored Finnish Church

Since we had missed lunch, we ate a snack and then went back to the room and took a 30 minute nap and showered. We had reservations for the Cirquie Dream Jungle Fantasy show. It was a dinner show that cost $48 each, but we had $100 of on-board credit, so we used that to pay for the dinner. We had reserved this dinner show earlier, but then we got notice that we were selected to eat dinner with an officer from the ship. So we had 2 dinners for the evening. We went to the Cirquie show at 5:15 pm and ate some of the dinner. We then went to the officer’s dinner at 6:50 pm and ate dinner again.

The circus show was really interesting and fun to watch. They had amazing acrobats, jugglers and other acts that were amazing to watch. It was really fun. It was over by 6:45 pm and we hurried out to meet the group for the officer’s dinner. We ate at the same restaurant that we have been eating at the past few nights. There were two officers for dinner. We ate with Sonja, the customer service manager from Montenego and the art gallery manager, Shaina, from California. The other guests were two couples from Israel. They were both from near Televiv. They were all very interesting and live a difference life than we do. We did not get done with dinner until about 10 pm, so we went to bed after that.

St. Petersburg, Russia – Day 2

July 27, 2018

Day 2 in Russia. We started early the next day and was off the ship by 7:15 am. Eva and I were early so the emigration control line was not bad and we got through quickly.

We made one stop at the park that oversees St Issacs Cathedral and then off for a canal boat ride. This was a fun ride boat ride through the city’s many rivers and canals, unfortunately the boat was so noisy that we could not hear the guide very well. There was a Russian guy that would run to each of the many bridges we went under and wave to us. He must have ran 2-3 miles and he was waiting at the end to collect tips. He did earn a bit of money from our group.

Neva River Video

After the boat ride we went to the Hermitage Museum. This is the second largest museum in the world. It is located inside the Czar’s Winter Palace. All throughout the tour we were taught about the history of Russia, but mostly about the Czars and how they lost power during the Russian Revolution in 1918. We spent a lot of time at the museum and but still did not see all of it. There is a lot of exhibits from all around the world and from all ages. There are several Michel Angelo pieces and an entire room of Rembrandt paintings. They said there are 3 million exhibits in the 5 buildings. The palace itself was a museum as it was not damaged much in the wars and has been restored. The main palace has 1050 rooms in it. Most of the big rooms have a lot of gold leaf on the walls, ceiling and furniture.

Hermitage Museum Video

The next stop was the travel agency office (TJ Travels) to pay for our tours and buy some souvenirs. We ended up paying $630 each for 5 days of touring in 4 different countries. This included all the entrance fees and two lunches in Russia. We also paid about $200 in tips to the guides and drivers.

After our time at the office we went to eat lunch. It was another good lunch with soup, beef stroganoff with mashed potatoes and a desert.

The next stop was to Yusupov Palace. This was the location of where Rasputin was killed at the start of the Russian Revolution. Rasputin as a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Tsar Nicholas II, the last monarch of Russia, and gained considerable influence in late imperial Russia.

It is easy to understand why there was a revolution, when you see how the Czars and royalty lived and compared that with how bad the common man lived at the same time. The royalty were living in gold lined rooms while the common man was starving and fighting the wars for the Czars.

Eventually the citizens became fed up and that’s what started the revolution. The first revolution in 1917 removed the Czar’s from power and killed them and their family. The second revolution is what put Lenin in power and started the Soviet Union and communism. The people suffered under Czars or under communism until 1991. The guide was telling us that the young people love the freedom, but the older generation feel the loss of the security and support from the state.

Our last stops were at St Issac’s Cathedral. It was another very ornate church. It had very colorful paintings and mosaics. All the churches were being restored and were very beautiful. Most of them also had gift shops in the cathedrals. Most churches were more museum than church, but some of them still held services. The cathedral on Rabbit Island had a church service in progress while we were there and they asked us to be reverent while in the building

Our final stop was at a St. Petersburg Metro subway station. We rode an escalator down 250 feet underground. The subways are deep enough underground to get below the Neva river. We did not ride the subway but just visited the station. The cost was 70 US cents to ride anywhere in St Petersburg. The station was crowded at the end of the day.

At that point everyone was tired and wanted to get back to the ship, as it was the end of 2 long days of walking. Once we were back on the ship we ate dinner in one of the restaurants, watched a magic show in the theater.

St. Petersburg, Russia – Day 1

July 26, 2018

This morning we woke up and were eating breakfast as we docked in St. Petersburg, Russia. The disembarkation process was a little different. Those who had booked excursions with the cruise line were able to get off first. We had to wait in the theater until they all had gotten past Russian emigration. They said it was a requirement of Russia, but who knows?

We disembarked the ship around 8:15 and got in the emigration line. The lines were pretty slow as they went through the process of checking to make sure you are not an American spy. They also had to check our visas and tickets. After checking in, we went outside and met our tour guide Iwna. She spoke very well English. We were in a tour group of 15 others from the ship. There were 7 Chinese Americans from across the country, a couple from Canada, a couple from Northern Ireland and one last couple, but I never heard where they were from. We stayed with this group for the two days in Russia, and some of there were with us in Finland and Sweden.

Our first stop that day was at the Peter and Paul Fortress on Hare Island. The is the smallest of the 43 islands that make up St. Petersburg. They had a military fort with a big church, the St Peter and St. Paul Cathedral. The inside of the church was ornate, but it was nothing, compared to the other churches we visited. It was interesting that the people of Russia are mostly atheist, but the government spends a lot of money maintaining the old Russian Orthodox churches. The churches were Nationalized during the Russian revolution, so today they government owns them. After the world wars and the Soviet era, they were all in pretty bad shape, but many have been remodeled in the past 25 years.

Peter & Paul Fortress Video

The next stop was the city of Peterhof, which was about 45 minutes away. This was on the southern side of the Gulf of Finland. This is were we saw the Peterhof palace. This was the summer palace, built by Peter the Great, starting in 1705. The palace and the gardens are recognized a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The palace and fountains were mostly destroyed in WW2, but it has been rebuilt since the war. The grounds has 150 fountains. We walked through about half of the property. The main fountain area was pretty impressive. The have secret fountains throughout the gardens that have existed since the czars lived there. These are hidden fountains do not normally have water, but they have someone hiding and watch the people. When someone is close they will turn on the fountain and get people wet. They really like to do this with the kids.

Peterhof Palace Video

After the Palace, we stopped at a restaurant for an authentic Russian lunch. It was nothing too exotic, but it was good. After driving back to St. Petersburg we stopped at Catherine’s Palace and the Church of the Spilt Blood. The palace was very ornate and large. We spent about 2 hours there, and most of the time was waiting in the rooms for the crowds to file through. The Church of the Spilt Blood was in the older part of St. Petersburg. The church was built to honor one of the Czar’s that was killed in the streets of St. Petersburg. It was built above the spot where the Czar was mortally wounded by a terrorist. After those two stops we rode back to the dock and got on the ship around 8:30 pm.

Pushkin Catherine Palace Video

Church of the Spilt Blood Video

Tallin, Estonia

July 24, 2018

Today was a day at sea. We slept in until after 8 am. After getting up we walked/jogged a mile on the track and then we ate breakfast. The rest of the day we did nothing. We found a round lounge bed that was on the top deck in the front of the boat. We slept and read while laying out on the lounge. We just moved the bed around as the sun got higher in the air. We did a lot of reading. Later in the day we dressed up and ate dinner in the nice restaurant and watched one of the show they have for entertainment.

July 25, 2018

This morning we docked in Tallin, Estonia. We met the tour group on the pier and rode a bus about 15 minutes to old town Tallin. The town is very old, having existed in the medieval times. There was an upper old-town and the lower old-town. The tour guide told us that Estonia has some of the oldest buildings in Europe. This was because the country was alway so poor that they couldn’t afford build modern buildings.

We started in the upper town and walked past the churches and other old buildings. There was an overlook where you could see the rest of the town. There were at least 3 other cruise ships in the port and that made the town very crowded. There were thousands of people roaming around the area. Our tour guide was Ingrek, he was a younger guy who also worked as a journalist. The tour was about 3 hours and then we had about 1-1/2 hours of free time, but it took us that long to get lunch. We got back to the bus around 3 pm and went to an information session on Russia. Later that evening we ate dinner in the nice restaurant.