Exploring the gym, sauna, steam room and trying out a bit of the facilities on board.
Better get a good photos of the start of the trip.
First meal on the cruise. I still can't get used to the fact that every single edible thing within my reach was free! Muahahaha. But I think I can adapt easily.
Buffet lunch. The food was delicious.
First night on the cruise, one will think that it'll be smooth sailing from this point on but no, something happened to me. I've never left my camera before and this time, I don't know how I forgot, I left it on the dining table after lunch. I rushed back to the dining hall, asked the waiters there if they saw my small black camera but my efforts were in vain. Last resort, my friends accompanied me to the Lost and Found but nobody has yet to return it. The lady at the counter asked me to return in a few hours time and she said usually things are returned on this ship.
After all that consolation from my friends, I was still devastated as all my photos from Copenhagen were in there and there wasn't any backup. I think I was saddened more by the fact that I lost my photos instead of the camera. Haih....I spent most of that evening till dinner sulking in the room while the rest went to explore the ship. Hopefully I didn't ruin anything for them.
Dinner:
Dinner in the really grand dining hall. Luckily there were so many cameras that I could borrow to take photos of the good food. We even have our own waiters who will be serving us throughout this journey.
Finally, after accepting the worst, my friends accompanied me back to the Lost and Found. The happiest moment for me was when she produced my camera! Yay! She said someone just returned it a few minutes a go. What a relieve. From that moment on, I grew to love my camera even more. The moral of the story is, you'll appreciate something more when you've lost it. Ok, back to the main storyline....
As all of us couldn't apply for a Russian visa in time, we were already planning to just stay on board for the whole day tomorrow when the ship is docking in Russia. Luckily for us, we had good news from the Explorations Desk. We could get down in St. Petersburg provided that we are following an organised tour by the cruise. 2 good things happened to me that day.
Busy choosing tour packages for St. Petersburg.
Masquerade - the place for our nightly dose of entertainment
We were so engrossed into choosing our tour package that we missed the first magician show that night. Oh well.
The many decks on board.
Supper:
Cruise is not the best time to start a diet. The maximum time that they let us starve is 4 hours, which is between 2am till 6am. Hahahhahaha. Other than that, there's always food somewhere.
Time moved 1 hour forward that night as we cruised into Estonian waters.
Breakfast:
Salmon with cream cheese, scones, scrambled eggs and fruits. What more can I ask.
Tallinn:
We got off at the port at Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. With such fine weather, it was time for us to explore.
I like it how close the Old Town is to the port. Within 15 minutes (including photo taking time and getting a bit lost), we reached the town.
First stop was at Fat Margaret's Tower, overlooking the Old Town.
Town Hall Square. It's recommended not to wear any high heels here there are cobble stones everywhere.
We came across this small little bakery selling interesting pastries and cakes, but sadly, our plan to have tea here in the afternoon never happened.
Groupie
On our way up Toompea hill towards Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. While we panted away, at least there was some music accompaniment. Hahaha.
Postcard writing time! We were there for only half a day and time was limited even to send off our postcards.
The City wall.
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral on the top of Toompea Hill. It is Estonia's main Russian Orthodox cathedral built in 1900.
More views of the cathedrals. You'll only find churches with onion-shaped domes in Europe.
St.Nicholas Church
Another groupie.
The many unique doors around Tallinn. The green door with red stripes and golden flowers is the door to the House of the Brotherhood of Black Heads. It is a Medieval guild made up of young, single merchants and foreigners. Not sure what's the purpose of this brotherhood.
The many different architectures of Tallinn.
Interesting things that I came across on my explorations. The clock face is on the facade of the Holy Spirit Church, and it's Tallinn's oldest public timepiece.
An old bookshop where we exchanged for other types of coins from Estonia. They're switching over to Euro soon from Estonian kroon.
So many interesting souvenirs and people in traditional costumes.
Our attempts at making a comic strip. Make up your own storyline. hahaha.
Finally, back to the cruise.
We had a meet and greet session with the captain and crew.
Formal Dinner:
Everyone was so beautifully dressed and made up. Time to be pampered.
The picture describes it all. As usual, everything from service to the food was excellent.
Back to the Masquerade theatre for Boogie Wonderland.
We came back to our rooms to find Elly the elephant waiting on the bed.
Time to retire early. We're losing another hour before we reach St. Petersburg the next morning.
Next: Cruise - St. Petersburg through pictures
2 comments:
very thorough indeed! good job!
it's not easy helen, that's why going at snail speed.
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