Klaipeda, Lithuania

Where?

Yep, like you, I have never heard of the place.  But that doesn't matter.  It's a lovely city and we thoroughly enjoyed our time here.

An emblem of the city, except I can't remember what it's called.

It started with a late start.  So late in fact that we missed breakfast, but we did get to see our Comedy Legends play "Just a minute".  PS - if I haven't told you, the entertainment for this cruise has included Frank Williams (Dad's Army), Nikki Kelly, (Hi de Hi), Arthur Bostrum (Allo Allo), Jeffrey Holland (Hi de Hi) and Melvyn Hayes, (It ain't half hot mum).  That was really good fun.

After that it was an early lunch, cos we'd missed breakfast, then downstairs to get sorted to get off ship because it was supposed to be docked by 12.30.

'Cept it wasn't.  I can only compare the efforts to get the ship into the free space available to it to my attempts at parallel parking.  I can't!  And neither could the ship.  After several attempts to negotiate into a slot only just big enough between a little tanker and a battleship, the Pilot gave up and a tug was called in to push the ship sideways into the available space.

So, an hour after intended, we were off the ship and heading for the tourist information centre.  The map we were provided showed a walking route to encompass all the sights.  Since we didn't have anything else planned, we thought we might as well follow it. 

Klaipeda could be described as a city of modern art.  It was everywhere, and our little map took us to a fair amount.  Here are the pictures. 

Mid 18th Century buildings.  There are quite a few old buildings in the city

Art pieces in the Sculpture Park.  There are mo

A war memorial

Other bronze sculptures from around the city. 

Rub the cats tail for good luckj

Whisper int the mouses ear to make a wish come true

Helsinki, Capital of Finland

Before you read the rest of this, just to let you know that when you get to the bottom, you can go on to read all about St Petersburg Day 1, (you lucky people you).  This was because I forgot to post it yesterday.  Sorry 'bout that.

We woke up to the announcement that the temperature outside was -5^o C, and that it had been snowing.  Things were going to improve though, the temperature was expected to rise to -2^o C.

After breakfast we had a quick look out on deck to see the snow.  Anyone would think we'd never seen the stuff.  Well, we have of course, just not in October.

Then we down on the quayside, grabbing a map from the tourist information lady and setting off into the city to see what was about. 

The map was good, telling us where to see what, the only thing we got confused about was the Rock Church.  I couldn't find it on the map, even though I know the TI lady had pointed it out earlier.  Turns out it's called The Temppeliaukio Church....... so  I was close, but not close enough

So today we saw the Uspensky Cathedral

The Bad, Bad, Boy,

 and the Senate Square and Cathedral.  We would have taken a look at the Station, except it was covered in scaffolding, and the Kiasma Museum of Modern Art, but that was closed with loads of boards around it. 

No worries, we went until we got to the Rock Church, which was something completely different.  The space has been hewn out of the rock and left unfinished.  Apparently the acoustics are fantastic and it hosts classical concerts and other musical events throughout the year.  I really liked the place, and thought how I would be very happy to listen to a concert there.

We had plenty of time, so we went to have a look at the Sibelius Monument, quite unusual

We started to make our way back to the ship, first passing the Toliviken Lake and then the Finnish National Opera House.  As we walked, we approached a hooded crow on the path ahead of us.  He obviously didn't want to fly today, (mebbe it was too cold, ice on the wings or something), so he walked along the path ahead of us.  Then, we he got to a zebra crossing, he paused, checked for traffic and crossed the road.  (OK, mebbe the checking for traffic bit was a bit of an exaggeration, but it did seem like that was what he was doing).

But then, just to prove a point, he turned left ahead of us, checked for traffic, and walked across the road again, at a zebra crossing!  A coincidence? Or was it a crow that has learnt his green cross code?  I prefer the latter.

Our last brief touristy thing on the way back was to look at this sculpture outside the National Theatre

Then it was a quick cup of tea in the local M&S. (Yep, we've managed to export Marks n Spencer's to the Finns).  The Finnish don't really do tea, not Tetley's or PG Tips anyway, so we ended up with Red Bush, something I've not tasted before.

It's a short day in Helsinki, so we were back on board by 3pm.  Peter decided to do a painting this afternoon, of the Church on the Spilled Blood.  It's really good.

The ship has decided to make a diversion due to bad weather.  We were due to go to Nynsham in Sweden, but it's going to be a bit rocky, and Nynsham is a tender port.  The crew have worked out that they ain't gonna be able to get all these old fogies (meant in a nice way), onto the lifeboats in rough weather.  They've opted for the safer option and we're going to a port in Lithuania.  Apparently it's really nice there.  I'll tell you tomorrow. 

St Petersburg, Russia, Day 2

Early up this morning, because we have to be ready outside to escort the tour to the Hermitage Musuem.  And it was freezing! 

We loaded up the buses, and then sat listening to the tour guides as they explained how things were going to work out for the tour.  You can't take back packs, large bags, coats or bottles of water into the museum.  Why? Cos some numpty in the past tried to damage the paintings.  They do provide a very good cloakroom service, so it's not so bad and once we'd discarded all the excess, we set off for a 2 hour wander around what used to be the Winter Palace to the Russian Royal Family.

The palace itself is absolutely outstanding.  I would describe it as a feast for the eyes, but that is an understatement.  It didn't matter which direction you looked, the walls, floors and ceilings were covered in beautiful ornate decoration.  It could be a painting, or a mosaic, marble or plaster, it didn't matter as it was all just stunning.

And then there were the paintings and sculptures throughout.  In the two hours, we whizzed past so much - and there was so much that we didn't have time to even see, never mind stop to admire for a minute or so. 

A person would need months, if not years, to look properly at all the exhibits in the museum and we only had a couple of hours.  Words can't really describe it so here are a few pictures.  I didn't bother to photograph the paintings, I wouldn't be able to do them justice. (Except one, that I couldn't resist, and I don't even know who painted it!)

After the Hermitage Museum, we went back to the ship for a quick lunch, and then we were out again on a trip we'd booked ourselves on, rather than escorting.  We wanted a few hours to walk around St Petersburg just to see what we could see, so this trip was basically a bus to the city centre, where we left for a couple of hours to wander.

We set off to see St Isaacs Cathedral, but sadly, it turns out that it's closed on Wednesdays (as is the Church of the Spilled Blood by the way).  We were a little disappointed, but decided to make the most of it anyway and headed towards the River Neva to have a look at the Monument to Peter I

St Isaacs Cathedral

Monument to Peter I

Looking across the River Neva to the St Apostles Peter and Paul Cathedral

From there, it was only a short walk past The Admiralty Arch to the Winter Palace, the Alexander Column and the General Staff Building.

The Winter Palace

The Alexander Column and the General Staff Building.

Then we popped into one of the jewellers for a souvenir from the trip.  I'd particularly wanted a small amber pendant and chain and I'm dead chuffed with the one I now have around my neck.

After a little retail therapy, we started back down Nevskiy Prospect for the bus, with a little diversion to have a look inside the Cathedral of the Icon of Our Lady of Kazan.  It was the building we saw yesterday and didn't know what it was.  It doesn't look like a cathedral. 

But it is, and it was very much in use.  I didn't take any pictures as it just seemed wrong to photograph this place of worship whilst people were praying.  It was lovely though, the altar was quite stunning.  I recommend it.

Then it was back on the bus, back to the ship and back to the cabin - absolutely shattered.  Looking out the windows at dinner time and this evening, we can see large flakes of snow.  It seems quite fitting as we leave the city.

That doesn't mean we have any time to catch up on ourselves though, we have Helsinki tomorrow.  Another place I'm looking forward to.  Awesome.