Onward to the main attraction we go! Arriving in the dock we park alongside the four other cruise ships and quickly realise that this will be different. The last few stops have been at or near the old city of that particular place. The old city areas have always been very walkable. Not so Saint Petersburg!

Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Saint Petersburg is BIG … five million people we are told. It doesn’t have a convenient old city that one can walk around easily … its main attractions are scattered all over the place, although luckily, quite a few of them are along or near the banks of the Neva river. This main artery runs right though the centre of the city and is a major highway in the months that it’s not frozen over. How different this city must look during the winter months!

Our luck is holding and we have arrived in sunshine for the start of our two day stay. I can’t really say it’s warm sunshine, but none the less, it makes us happy.

Russia requires a visa; either an individual visa, which is not straight forward to get, or the blanket visa for the ship. We can use the ships visa provided that we are on official tours organised by MSC.

At every port of call (with the exception of the UK), going on shore was simply a matter of flashing one’s cruise card and stepping ashore. Here we trot down the gangplank onto the end of a very long queue. Immigration! Dour faced officials seem to take delight in thoroughly checking every detail of the passports handed to them. Hey ho … I suppose it is their country!

Eventually it’s back on those tour buses once more. This afternoon we are to join a tour named “Panoramic City tour and Shopping”.

Russian Orthodox churches love their domes. This is our first through the window of the bus.

As in any modern city, it seems, we spend a lot of time sitting in traffic, which at least gives us a chance to look around.

I have no intention of this being any sort of history lesson save to say that the city was founded by Peter the First, here known as Peter the Great. He fell in love with Amsterdam and created Saint Petersburg in it’s image, including an extensive network of canals to encourage people to travel by boat.

In reality, this proved to be especially difficult in the winter and so as time went on, a number of these canals have been filled in and constitute the main roads through parts of the city. However, there are enough canals left to make it interesting and the architecture looks thoroughly European!

We pass the military museum which reminds us that Saint Petersburg was extensively damaged during the last war.

And here is the man himself … ‘Petro Primo’ or to us Peter the Great,
destined to balance forever on the top of this rock.

The first of our photo stops is by the River Neva, and what a river it is … wide and deep and very impressive. From our stop we can see the buildings on the other bank among them the Admiralty Building and the Hermitage.

Across the river Neva, this part of the Admiralty building reminds me of a grand wedding cake …
Oooo, perhaps I shouldn’t say that.

Ships of yore. This is now a very exclusive restaurant.

Who can afford to eat here?

High speed hydrofoils ply the river in summer. The hermitage is in the background.

Back on the bus after our strictly controlled ten minute stop and onto the next of our three stops. This in one of the most exciting things for us since we spied it on a travel TV program. The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. It’s more of a mausoleum really, dedicated to Tsar Alexander II whose blood was spilled here in 1881. His death goes to show that if someone tries to assassinate you, don’t get out to tell them off so that someone else can have a go!

Standing in front of it, it’s quite an amazing building standing as it does, on the bank of the Griboedov Canal.

Ambition realised. Jacqui in front of the Church of the Savior of Spilled Blood.

It’s all in the detail!

We are warned not to buy from the stalls around the church and to watch out for pick pockets. If they are here, they are not as obvious as they were in Paris.

Come in number 39! I ask our guide why she gives tours. ‘I just love this city’ she replies.

So that’s our second stop … one to go, if you don’t count the shopping. This time its in Saint Isaac’s Square to see the cathedral of the same name … at least from the outside. Once again we crawl through the traffic to get there.

We would like to have stopped … but …

Lovers caress on this bridge over one of the many canals.

Even in Saint Petersburg!

Another golden dome on Saint Isaac’s Cathedral

Amazing three dimensional motif on the monument in the centre of the square.
Lots of grovelling peasants no doubt.

This fellow looks completely out of place sitting in the gutter atop the building

The centre of the square is filled with tour buses

On we go to the last stop of this tour … shopping. We are not really sure what this means but we find out soon enough. Off the bus and into a basement full of tourist tat. Everything is carefully priced in euros so that not having rubbles is no excuse. People seems to love it and even we put a couple of small things in our very big basket.

Shopping! … they know what people want but we manage to resist buying a coffee.

Lots of time spent sitting in traffic jams … a world wide problem it seems

Back on the ship we can see the competition through our cabin window.

Day two arrives and today we go on a tour named ‘Canal cruise and the Peter and Paul Fortress’. Yesterday we learn a few bits of trivia. Did you know that statistically St Petersburg has sixty days each year when it doesn’t rain? Or that on average there are thirty sunny days a year? We feel honoured that we got two of them in a row! Or that most people in Saint Petersburg live in apartments, most of them in high rise buildings? Not enough room for single houses we are told.

And another. Did you know that most of the bridges across the river Neva are opened between 2am and 6am to allow big ships to pass through? A very convenient excuse to stay out all night!

Everywhere you looks, high rise apartment buildings.

Onto the canals we go, rugged up on a sunny but cold day. We are indeed happy chappies!

I’ve been every where man, I’ve been every where! And I’ve filmed it all!

A small house! Must belong to someone rich … since it’s in his summer garden, it was probably built by the Great Peter.

Ornate buildings line the canals

It’s much easier to get around on the canals, although you have to be careful you don’t stand up under one of the many low bridges.

Goodness know where this duck hatched it’s chicks and indeed where it will find a spot that they can get out.

Just dropping in for lunch.

So many buildings – here the Kunstkamera Museum near the old port.

The corner of the Hermitage, part of the winter palace.

The Peter and Paul Fortress. In front are the preparations for the annual sand sculpture exhibition.

We really enjoy our cruise around the canals with the wind in our hair. We arrive at the second part of our tour and start our viewing of the Peter and Paul Fortress, last resting place of many of the Imperial Rulers of Russia.

Getting on and off a canal boat often requires crossing several other boats.

A modern rendition of Peter the Great. Holding his hands will bring you luck!

The main spire of the Cathedral in the afternoon light.

Inside the cathedral the decoration is extravagant in the extreme.

Fine paintings adorn the arches.

An exquisite portrait of Mary and Child.

And then there’s the alter. Gold, gold and still more gold.

The Romanov dynasty lies in State

No tourist tat here. Bejewelled eggs fill the shelves.

Gold on the inside, gold on the outside.

Our tour comes to and end and with it our visit to Saint Petersburg. The long queues for immigration were worth it we decide as we take one more parting look when setting sail.

From the deck of the ship we see more apartment buildings being built. It seems that populations are expanding everywhere. When will it stop I wonder?

Helsinki, Finland

Well, it had to happen I suppose. On waking this morning we find that the sun has disappeared and cold drizzle has begun. We decide to rug up and walk into Helsinki but don’t feel very enthusiastic after the excitement of the last two days. On this part of the cruise, the ports have come thick and fast and we see the benefits of sea days and the chance it gives to take a break.

Into Helsinki we go, through the port and into the town. Jacqui’s back is suffering a bit more than usual and so we take it very slowly.

Jacqui takes a chance to rest her back

In the first square we come to, a second hand market is in full swing.

There are lots of cakes in this window. I wonder if they are real.

Flowering plants brighten up the day.

What every young Finnish schoolgirl is wearing this year!

Ooooh … I’m so COLD!

Cobblestones, light rail, light rain and red brick buildings are the order of this dull day

Anyone here English?

Houseboat with a difference.

I just say … piss on it!

In the tourist shops it seems that Finland and furs go together with the weather.

We leave Helsinki feeling a bit flat and in response the weather worsens and at last we see the Baltic as we imagined it to be. The wind howls and the waves crash … gone are the glass like seas of last week. Luckily the ships stabilisers work extremely well.

Stockholm, Sweden.

We awake to the announcement by the captain that we will not be able to dock in Stockholm because of the weather. It seems that we may get in alright, but may not be able to get out at the end of the day. Instead we are to dock at Nynashamn and MSC will put on a bus into town in the morning and back to the ship in the afternoon. It seems it is about an hours run down the motorway. This seems somewhat odd to us land lubbers until you look at a map.

I never realised just how convoluted the waterways around Stockholm can get.
It no wonder the captain didn’t want to go in there.

It turned out that even Nynashamn was a bit dodgy and it took a while to moor alongside a jetty which was around a quarter the length of the boat.

On this bleak, windy day, the ship is a bit like a cuckoo in a nest moored alongside a minuscule jetty at Nynashamn

While the bus was warm, the day definitely was not, and while we speed though the pine and birch forests of Sweden, I wonder if I have put enough clothes on. After continuous sunshine from Havana to Saint Petersburg it is difficult to think of being too cold. Wrong!

Stockholm is another city with a distinctive old city known as the Gamla Stan. It sits on an island accessed by half a dozen bridges in the middle of Stockholm. The bus drops us at the end of one of these bridges and we walk across and into a medieval city dating back to the thirteenth century. It is Sunday and so everything is really quiet.

It’s Sunday, so except for a few tourists the streets are deserted.

It’s not these beautiful buildings that we can see, but the coffee shop underneath. A chance to get out of the cold!

Here’s the coffee shop … note the blankets for those brave enough to sit outside.

Inside, it’s time for the real thing. Warm Swedish chocolate cake … yum!
Enough to keep us going for the rest of the day.

It’s snug inside. In a slight role reversal, this young Japanese lady takes pictures of her lover.

Meanwhile, an umbrella covered walking tour is reflected in the counter glass.

Back outside, life is appearing and the tourist shops are opening. We wander around the streets and do some window shopping before making our way back to the meeting place for the return bus to Nynashamn. People who live here seem to be hidden away today except for the shop keepers. We will be glad to get back into the warmth of the bus.

There are dragons to be slain here.

This amazing model in a shop window. Do people really buy models?

Santa Claus in full flight, children clinging to his robes.

Ah ha! This must be where the people live – behind hidden doors.

Everywhere is graffiti free, save for this one narrow ally tucked in through a doorway.

Alice must be somewhere nearby.

Oh those selfies are a must have. Bums out and smile please ladies.

This just about says it, really.

Back across the bridge and the Sunday crowds stretch into the distant shopping centre

Oh, I feel so smug today!

Fishing? Really? In the middle of Stockholm? Shouldn’t it be all polluted?

It’s time to leave Sweden and as we return on the bus, we reflect that this trip of ours will soon come to an end. Havana to Saint Petersburg … it has a nice ring somehow. We will pay another visit to Copenhagen and take a canal trip there in the newly returned sunshine, but I won’t go into detail. Then on to Warnemunde once more and an expensive taxi ride to Hamburg airport and the flight home. Well not quite home but …

Dubai

We have booked a break in Dubai on our way home to hopefully lessen the effects of jet lag. We arrive in Dubai in the middle of the night and whisk along the freeway to our hotel … the Ibis – Mall of the Emirates.

We have a day in Dubai and decide to limit our exploration to the Mall of the Emirates just across the road from the hotel. It is a shrine to capitalism and the consumer … if you are into shopping then this is the place for you … no need to go outside, everything you desire is here!

Interesting that there is no clear footpath to get in, just a taxi drop off and pick up point.

Well here’s the plan … where would you like to start?

The hallowed halls of the Mall – shopping paradise.

All that glitters …

A glimpse of the sun through a glass domed roof … it’s 40 degrees centigrade outside.

Shops, shops and more shops!

Toys, anyone?

All sizes of vendors are catered for.

Oh yes … and then there are the ski slopes to get a bit of exercise.

Huge windows make for a popular viewing platform into the world of ice.

In the huge (but almost empty) food hall we tuck into a curry.

With a long flight to Brisbane our little journey comes to an end and we realise that we have been right around the world. Isn’t travel wonderful!

Until our next trip … we wish you all farewell … unless, of course, I decide to do a small piece about life on the ship rather than life from the ship … who knows?

Enjoy 🙂
Alan.