Baltic, Copenhagen, Photography No comments yet

Copenhagen – Day 9

By on September 14th, 2017

Our weather luck finally ran out in Copenhagen and it drizzled off and on most of the day. It made the day a little dreary buy it also brought out great colors.
The bus made the obligatory stop at the site of the Little Mermaid and I took the required photos. 

We spend most of our time walking through the Tivoli amusement park and gardens. I visited there in 1976 and it brought back many memories. 

We also stopped at Amalienborg Palace and witnessed the changing of the guard. The Danish Royal family still resides here.

Baltic, Photography, Visby No comments yet

Visby – Day 8

By on September 14th, 2017

Visby surprised us. It is the capital of Gotland Island, a popular vacation destination for residents of Stockholm.

This is a park near the university of Gotland with a view of the Visby Cathedral which opened in 1225.

The cathedral is certainly the most significant monument in Visby and is breathtaking in size and scope, especially given the year it was built.

You can also see the preserved walls of the old city dating from 1300. It is a UNESCO site (as was the old town center in Tallinn) and even the small houses inside the walls are protected. 

Baltic, Latvia, Photography No comments yet

Riga – Day 7

By on September 14th, 2017

Riga is about double the size of Tallinn and it feels even larger, likely because we never left the old city of Tallinn. Riga has done a pretty good job of mixing old and new. We started our walking tour near the main terminal on the Gulf of Riga and the mouth of the Daugava River. This is a statue that harkens back to Soviet days recognizing the Latvian Red Riflemen.

Fortunately most of the central part of town was already quite developed when the Soviets took it over and there aren’t many examples of the gray drab Stalinesque style. This is a beautiful part of the old central city called Livu Square.

I was entranced by fantastic architecture everywhere.

Baltic, Photography, Tallinn No comments yet

Tallinn – Day 6

By on September 14th, 2017

Our time in Tallinn focused on the old city center (late thirteenth century). We entered through the Long Leg Gate Tower and wandered the narrow streets. There was no tourist traffic, only local residents and merchants.

 

Many of the main buildings were taken over by the USSR during the occupation. This is a building you didn’t want to visit before 1991.

Much of their architecture is stunning.

We also attended a short Medieval concert in what is left of an old Monastery.

Baltic, Photography, Russia No comments yet

St. Petersburg – Faberge and Canal Tour – Day 5

By on September 14th, 2017

The interior of the Faberge Museum is stunning.

It is a building owned by a “Russian Businessman” aka oligarch who purchased the collection of the Forbes family so that he could bring them home to St. Petersburg. It was noble but not altruistic. They charge plenty for admission. Here is an example of a royal Faberge Egg.

In the afternoon we took a canal tour through part of St. Petersburg. The Peter and Paul Fortress was constructed to guard against a Swedish counterattack. After that it became a prison and housed Fyodor Dostoyevsky (among other high profile prisoners) for a time.

Next we came to the entrance to the Summer Garden on the Neva river. The architecture along the canals was beautiful. We saw the church of the Spilled Blood but unfortunately they were renovating much of it and we didn’t get much of a look.

Moscow, Photography, Travel No comments yet

Moscow – Day 4

By on September 14th, 2017

We rose at o’dark thirty to catch a high speed train to Moscow. We traversed much of  the countryside between St. Petersburg and Moscow at 200kph. We arrived and did a short bus tour through the old city – parts of which date back to the twelfth century. This is a view of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. It is a remake of the original church which Stalin had destroyed.

This is the main visitor entrance to the Kremlin, the Kutafaya (Trinity) Tower.

These walls were built at the end of the 15th century and maintenance is ongoing. There is maintenance and construction all around as they prepare for Moscow’s 870th birthday a week after we left.

Here is the Presidential Executive Office building (Putin’s office). Unfortunately he was in China during our visit and we did not get to meet him.

The churches inside the Kremlin are amazing, here is the Archangel Cathedral.

We were making our way to the entrance to Red Square and our guide had a surprise for us. Even though it is very walkable, we took the Moscow subway just to experience it. We got on at the Kremlin subway station and got off one stop later.

This is Kazan Cathedral and nearby St. Basil’s Cathedral. Unfortunately there was a huge music event in Red Square that evening and it was closed during our visit.

We did take a look around the famous Gum department store. It had just about every high end brand you can imagine.

Baltic, Photography, Russia, Travel No comments yet

St. Petersburg – The Hermitage – Day 3

By on September 14th, 2017

The focus of our day was a visit to the Hermitage. As you can see, it is an extremely popular place. Fortunately our tour entered via another (much shorter) line.

The building is beautiful inside and out, starting with the lobby stairs, beautiful ceilings and elaborate floors. It used to be the Winter Palace and the official residence of the Russian Tsars.

The art inside is amazing but there are better pictures online (especially ones without 10,000 people taking selfies in front of each painting).

P.S. I can’t believe we are in Russia!

Baltic, Helsinki, Photography, Travel No comments yet

Helsinki – Day 2

By on September 14th, 2017

It was great to have a tour where we walked around most of Helsinki. I am guessing we walked about 5-6 miles. We toured the port area with its open market (think lots of Lingonberries) the main train station, and stopped at the Helsinki music center for coffee and a sweet roll.

We then went to the Helsinki Cathedral, and visited the Rock Church (Temppeliaukio) which is built into an enormous slab of granite.

 

We ended with the Jean Sibelius Monument (which the kids also adore). It is a lovely city.

Baltic, Photography, Travel No comments yet

Stockholm – Arrival and Day 1

By on September 14th, 2017

We arrived to a rainy Stockholm after a long day of air travel. San Francisco to Copenhagen and then a short jump from Copenhagen to Stockholm.

We found a local pub that served Mary’s favorite beer, one that I had to try, and Swedish meatballs. It seemed like the perfect way to celebrate our arrival.

The next morning we boarded the ship and sailed through the Stockholm Archipelago (24,000 islands!) towards the open Baltic sea. 

Australia, Photography, Travel No comments yet

The Kimberley – Day 9 – Montgomery Reef

By on May 20th, 2017

Our final excursion was to the Montgomery Reef. We gathered en masse at 5:30 AM so that we could watch this massive 150 Sq. Mi. of reef emerge from the ocean as the tide ebbed.

There is as much as 10M of tidal change in sea level in this area. This exposes as much as 4M of the reef at low tide. This first shot is of an Egret standing on the reef when it is barely exposed.

 

As the tide receeded and the reef emerged we traveled up a “river” in the reef. It is basically a low spot in the reef that turns into a river as the reef grows on each side. What you see in many of these pictures is the water cascading off the reef into the river as it emerges.

The water flowing off top of the rising reef causes hundreds of waterfalls all of which expose prime fishing territory for the Eastern Reef Egret.

What appears to be an expanse of water behind the Egret in the last two photos is actually the side wall of the reef. It this point it is more than two meters high. The receeding tide also exposed a sand bar at the delta of the reef’s river. We hopped off the zodiac and explored this island that didn’t exist an hour before.

 

On the last day we departed the ship in Broome, flew to Perth, on to Sydney and then back to the US (LAX to SFO). This was about 24 hours of actual air time and 36 hours elapsed, 11,000 miles. On the ship we sailed 1685 Nautical miles (1940 miles). It was a trip we will never forget.