Pride AMS-AMS with pictures and comments

[Emperor Norton]

Re: There being too much to look at - yes there was. That first day was a killer for the colors gold/white as well as artwork and sculptures. I think I'm still recovering. On the other hand should I go back my schedule will be a lot less hectic.

 

After our driving tour was essentially over we got to play a game of "Spot the fellow passenger with zero previous subway experience". We went into the Moscow metro and saw some artwork from the Great Patriotic War (thats WW2 to others)

I was surprised at how few hammer and sickle logos that I saw. Those that I did were all from or pertaining to the war.

They had a really interesting looking sconce thing that I thought Tesla or Captain Nemo would have owned

The map display on the train was probably the least helpful I've seen (or there were truely no connecting trains at our stops

These chandeliers looked old but not nearly as neat as the sconces

The signage was not overly tourist friendly. As you descend into the metro you can understand the secondary purpose: bomb shelter. The Metro system here is much deeper than the average American system and seemed to be deeper than Londons Tube. We were not permitted to take photos while on escalators due to a previous accident where someone slipped and found out the hard way that it's a long way down.

[Roxburgh]

Hey .. at least you made it to Moscow. Hitler never did and Napoleon was forced to retreat :D:D

[Emperor Norton]

Hey .. at least you made it to Moscow. Hitler never did and Napoleon was forced to retreat :D:D

 

Too true:D Something the guides were very good about mentioning.

[seabournaddict]

stunning photos, and brought back a lot of memories. Sometimes I do wonder though, just why the starving masses revolted! ;) Haven t tried the "bullet" train, but hopefully it would be a "safer" way to get to Moscow than Aeroflop!!

[josephone]

FABULOUS. Loved every comment and photo! Particularly enjoy your acerbic comments! They are all terrific! Enjoying every minute of this trip!

 

No one has ever remembered our names, even on long voyages! We must not complain enough like some other posters not to be mentioned! Do like Seabourn. Now going to try Regent. Hope it is better than you and others suggest. The price and itinerary can't be matched on this regent trip we are embarking upon.

 

Again, thank you!

[Emperor Norton]

FABULOUS. Loved every comment and photo! Particularly enjoy your acerbic comments! They are all terrific! Enjoying every minute of this trip!

 

No one has ever remembered our names, even on long voyages!

We must not complain enough like some other posters not to be mentioned!

I don't think it takes complaining, but perhaps I was just lucky. From what other's have commented in my Live from/Asleep at I had a very good crew.

 

Do like Seabourn. Now going to try Regent. Hope it is better than you and others suggest. The price and itinerary can't be matched on this regent trip we are embarking upon.

 

Again, thank you!

From what I've heard Regent has upped at least their food quality recently. They've done so by having a near 50% commonality of items between the main dining room and their buffet dining room (On Voyager for example Compass Rose and Setti Mari).

[Emperor Norton]

After exiting the metro (:eek: time. The shops at the exit stocked fishnets and thongs. What exactly do Russians do on the metro that they need these immediately upon exit?) we walked around the Kremlin a bit looking for a say backdoor to the armory. We were ultimately successful in using this alternative "entrance" and therefore skipped some massive lines. The armory itself had some impressive things in it (the carriages were nice but I think the Portuguese have them beat) including Faberge eggs (in Moscow of all places, not the Hermitage). They also had coronation gowns, weapons, crystal, religious bits, serving sets and artwork. I was still recovering from art history overload from my first day in St. Petersburg. Their air conditioning was as non existent as at the Hermitage, and their fire suppression system was just as advanced.

 

Following the tour of the Kremlin armory it was time to once again explore the grounds. We saw the Kremlin, some churches, a rather large cannon that looked like it may have been more dangerous to the loading crew than the enemy and a giant bell that the Russians buried but had lost a several ton chunk.

 

A tower exterior wall

It's a nice courtyard where we lay our scene

It's rather amusing that the communists would utilize something so imperial.

No separation of church and state here. The church is connected directly to the state building.

A close up of the connection.

[Emperor Norton]

I'm not sure if there are enough domes or bells here.

Yet another church

This is the bell the Russians buried. You can see it has a wee crack in it.

While large and impressive I have to question how practical this cannon was

And wonder how many were injured just trying to load the thing

This was built to house the world communist symposium (I think or something similar). It's nice to see that what was probably once the hammer and sickle has been replaced by the double headed eagle

[Emperor Norton]

Next we made our way to the building that was built to be a zany, colorful backdrop for the hit Russian game Tetris. I think it is also known as St. Basil's cathedral.

This statue jumped in front of what was an otherwise excellent shot of the cathedral.

I wonder where they came up with the color scheme

While inside the cathedral we were treated to a choir performance by some local singers.

 

Interior of the cathedral.

The ceiling of the cathedral

[Emperor Norton]

This was it, Red Square. The place where the evil empire had it's parades, the tomb of Lenin and Stalin (well until Stalin got evicted) as well as the former state run department store.

I found it amusing the former state store was now a bastion for hi end American and European brands. I think someone must be rolling over in his tomb.

In the distance you could just make this out

 

One of Stalins Seven Sisters

 

I almost forgot, for lunch we went to Cafe Pushkin. The wine wasn't as bad as I had been expecting, the blini were good, the caviar on the other hand appeared to be the cheap salmon roe best used for bait. Sadly pelmeni were not included on our menu. If I wound up in Moscow again I would go back and try the regular menu. Service was good and the decor, especially the bar looked really good.

[Emperor Norton]

At some point some scheming capitalists got a hold of one of the Seven sisters. It is now a Hilton hotel. As far as I know they left the decor as close to period accurate as possible.

Again, in Russia, look up!

I think the hammer and sickle took a vacation from this chandelier but you can still see the star and wheat wreath

I did like the look, it was rather unique

Proof that even back when Stalin was in charge that communism would fall

Notice the corporate logo hiding behind the chandelier? Even back then it seems McDonalds was more powerful than the USSR;):D

After stopping at the Hilton it was time for another 4 hours of frolicking on the Russian bullet train. At night the landscape looked even more empty. At least in the US you'll occasionally see cities or farms using electricity, we could have been in a wasteland. We did learn that midnight in St. Petersburg is not a super happy fun time for traffic. Actually it was horrid. At least the locals seemed to be having fun.

 

Next: The weather at Peterhoff attempts to kill my camera, resulting photos are mostly junk

Edited August 28, 2012 by baychilla

[seabournaddict]

St Basils is probably my favorite building in the World! Now for a silly question, why is there a parrot in most of your pics? Or is it that I have been drinking too much? :o

[Emperor Norton]

St Basils is probably my favorite building in the World! Now for a silly question, why is there a parrot in most of your pics? Or is it that I have been drinking too much? :o

 

The parrot is like a watermark. When I first joined CC theft of others photos as well as claiming ownership of stolen photos was common. He's added to any photo that I upload via Lightroom.

[mariners]

Great photographs! It looks, and sounds like, a fabulous cruise. Thanks for taking the time to continue posting.

[sultan_sfo]

Baychilla

Thanks for posting the wine list. I think your wine post will become a "Classic" for all Seabourn wine drinkers -- not to mention your entire trip blog. Including the vintages was super.

 

I was very much encouraged by the "Buy" list. Hard to believe that the ships actually have those wine and particularly those vintage. We will definitely splurge on some of the $50 to $70 range (if the Legend has it) some evenings when the menu complements those wines.

 

If either you or Les Picantins have any recommendations for "French" Reds on either Included or Buy list, please make a few suggestions. We will then try those out here before leaving for the cruise in Nov.

 

Thanks.

/Sultan

 

 

This is a repost of the inclusive wine list I was given while on the Pride.

...

[Emperor Norton]

Day 3 in St. Petersburg, or this isn't the best time to discover that your allegedly water resistant camera isn't.

 

The weather report for today called for morning rain. I thought no problem, I have a plastic tarp to keep my camera dry, and the camera is supposed to have weather proofing.

 

When we got to the palace it was already raining. As soon as the bus doors opened vendors jumped on offering 2 ponchos for 10euro or 1 umbrella for 20euro. After people had purchased their wares we were off. We went past several food/drink/tchotchke vendors. We also went past pay restrooms (If you have the currency and feel you may need to use one, I'd recommend these as the lines for the two in the palace were somewhat north of excessive and that was with our "early" admit.

 

The palace itself was another one where you had to wear the shoe covers (also Catherine's palace and Peters retreat). Inside it was much like Catherine's Palace. After the first two days I couldn't really care what I saw in there. They also had a problem with overly large tour groups from Princess that couldn't follow simple instructions. This caused people from the Princess ship to get "stuck" in a room our group was in and block visual access (each group was supposed to stick together in a single room, but the Princess group were too good for that). The lacquer rooms were a nice change, but again the humidity control function was "ok, everyone gather up, bunch up and run through that room". After our tour we had about 30 minutes to kill. It was pouring rain and the fountains had not been turned on quite yet. Hurry up and wait please.

 

The annoying thing was, by the time we'd made it from the bus to the entrance the rain had stopped. By the time our interior tour was done it was raining again!

 

Due to the way the tour worked we never did get a chance to see this fountain working

 

The duck didn't seem to mind the ever shifting weather.

 

The weather outside was frightful

Some of the views were so delightful

I've never seen anyone look for pearls in a fish before

This is about when my sensor started to go south

[Emperor Norton]

A few videos of the main fountains (just click on each image to play the video)

[Emperor Norton]

Of course no palace is complete without its own chapel

You may get the impression that even in the foul weather it was crowded. That would be accurate.

These are one of Peter's "joke" fountains. So called because he'd lure unwary guests near them then have them turned on.

More crowding, but at least the shot came out better than expected

Photographers beware!

After watching the fountains for a bit we went over to Peters retreat. It was much smaller and more homey (and at this point far more interesting) than any of the far more grandiose buildings wed been in before. After a relatively quick tour here we would board a "train" that took us across the grounds to view some other royals houses as well as a gothic inspired church

[Emperor Norton]

From our "train" tour we went into what I'm guessing was supposed to be a traditional country inn. The decor looked pre-fab and I was beginning to wonder if the Russians had come up with the country inn in a box to match the Irish pub-in-a-box concept.

 

At least the ceiling looked nice

Here's the bartender pouring our bubbly (I would've rather had more vodka)

Our initial setup was a shot of vodka and a glass of champagne. For our table this wasn't good enough, we needed a few rounds of the Russian beer. Sadly it was about as impressive as the bubbly.

People seemed to have a good time (although I preferred the food at Cafe Pushkin as well as the service)

 

It was time to head back to the ship and say Do svidanya to St. Petersburg. The only real question was whether or not the weather would cooperate with the sail away.

[Emperor Norton]

At first glance, this is not looking good for sail away

We haven't had caviar in the surf yet. Hrm... It seems the caviar drove the rain away

The decks were wet but the skies were clearing and the staff had the chairs dry about as soon as the rain stopped

More people enjoying the change in weather

I wasn't sure if this was supposed to be a still of some sort or a rocket science project

[Emperor Norton]

People were definitely enjoying the change in the weather

Maybe not this guy

Or the passengers on these ships (IIRC they were 45min out of town so just getting anywhere for them was an hours long process. Cruise lines were: Princess, Oceania and Regent)

The naval base was an interesting mix of rust and gold

Some of their lust rusted out vessels

 

That's it for St. Petersburg, next stop - Helsinki

Gallerys open for general viewing (more images than what's been posted here)

Getting there

Amsterdam

Ronne, DK

Tallinn, ES

St. Petersburg, RF

Moscow, RF

[seabournaddict]

I love looking at the "people" in the photos, as most of us are repeaters, I like to see if I know anyone! Just saw some of our favorite Crew members, Tarus, Leonie, Candy and "maybe" Richard? (its a back view! ;))

[Emperor Norton]

I somewhat regret not taking more people shots on the ships but it seems even in the few I did there were sour looks. Were my next cruise on the Pride I'd like to have the same staff (aside from one bar manager) but realize that it would be highly unlikely.

[CAC104]

I really enjoyed looking at your gorgeous Russian photos!

[Emperor Norton]

Where were we? I don't think asking this guy for directions would work out.

 

How about some of the people coming from around that church?

For a Sunday there didn't seem to be that many people there

The street signs weren't overly helpful

Perhaps this odd looking object would be of use?

 

We were in Helsinki and after the mad rushing for the Russian tours I was looking forward to an e-z mode tour. Nothing that lasted all day or had you walking over half a city. I thought a slightly less than half day tour would fit the bill. I guess time and energy wise it did. However I think either we missed a whole lot of Helsinki, or I should've gone on a longer tour. We saw (drove past) a lot of cultural buildings, government buildings, schools and an Olympic park but I just didn't feel any real pull from anything.