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Sailing through Scandinavia - A Long Review with Lots of Pictures!


jstducky

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If you want more information about bidding, you should check out TripAdvisor and BiddingForTravel

 

Thanks for the trip review. We recently returned from a Baltic cruise, so I'm loving it!

 

Would love to read more. I'm also curious if you got to see everything in Helsinki that you wanted to see. (I did not - went to Soumenlinna, which was great, but not if you have only a short day in Helsinki!! I never made it to the Tem. Church or Sibelius! Oh well - had a great time in Helsinki nevertheless!)

 

There's another site for Priceline people to check. It's betterbidding.com

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Thanks for the trip review. We recently returned from a Baltic cruise, so I'm loving it!

 

Would love to read more. I'm also curious if you got to see everything in Helsinki that you wanted to see. (I did not - went to Soumenlinna, which was great, but not if you have only a short day in Helsinki!! I never made it to the Tem. Church or Sibelius! Oh well - had a great time in Helsinki nevertheless!)

 

There's another site for Priceline people to check. It's betterbidding.com

 

Yes, betterbidding works too! Though, I feel like they don't update their website as much.

 

 

We did not get to see everything. We could have done Suomenlinna at the end of the day, but would have had to sacrifice wandering Market Square, so we gave up Suomenlinna. We also skipped Sibelius Monument

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When we were ready to move on, we walked down the hill to hop on tram

3T, this is the tram that is advertised by the Helsinki Tourism Office as being a good route to take in order to catch all the major sights of the city. We had already decided that we were going to skip Sibelius Monument and take the tram on to the Olympic Stadium so that we could go up the tower. While on the tram, we met another family from our ship who were also headed in the same direction. After a few stops on the tram, we spotted the Olympic Stadium and tower (not hard to miss) up ahead. The other family on the tram decided to wait until the next stop to get off as that would put us closer to the tower. When they jumped off, we did too. It’s a leisurely 5-7 minute walk to the Olympic Tower.

 

Luckily, the tower is reached by elevator rather than a climb upstairs, which we were thankful for as our legs were still tired from having climbed the Stockholm City Hall Tower the day before! The elevator is tiny though and can’t fit more than 4 people at a time, but at least the ride goes quickly. At the top, there are 2 different viewing platforms, reached by a short flight of stairs. The uppermost platform is a little more exposed, so it was kind of windy and chilly, but the view was spectacular. The Olympic Tower has to be one of the highest points in Helsinki, so it provides a gorgeous view of the city. On a bright, clear day, such as we had, you can see south out towards Senate Square and the Lutheran Cathedral; look out towards the harbor and the cruise ship dock, north towards a huge soccer stadium, and everything in between. It’s amazing and definitely worth it. Once you arrive back on the ground floor of the tower, you can take a side door out and into the stands of the Olympic Stadium itself. You’re literally standing right next to the track as you take a seat in the original wooden benches. It’s such a spectacular experience to feel like you’re right there.

 

 

 

Olympic Stadium Tower

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Olympic Rings

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View from the top of the Olympic Stadium Tower

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Looking towards downtown you can clearly see the Lutheran Cathedral and the Uspenski Cathedral

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Another view from the top of the Tower

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Looking down at the Olympic Stadium

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After the Olympic Stadium Tower, we hopped back on tram 3T for the route around the city. The tram ride a great way to see local life, as the tram wound through both residential and commercial districts and away from the tourist crowd. We passed by little neighborhood parks, Helsinki’s amusement park, various statues, and saw numerous locals and school kids get on and off the tram. The tram also passed by the stunning train station with its 4 huge mammoth statues out front. Finally, we came around to Stockmann’s Department Store, Scandinavia’s largest, where we hopped off. Right at the tram stop is the bronze statue of the Three Blacksmiths who have come to symbolize Helsinki.

 

A quick 5 minute walk through Helsinki’s busy shopping district brought us right to Senate Square and the stunning Lutheran Cathedral. As you round the corner and see the Lutheran Cathedral for the first time standing high above the square, it’s rather breathtaking. A large and beautiful white building topped with various green domes atop a set of imposing and steep stairs just hits you. The Lutheran Cathedral stands in stark contrast to the other buildings in the square that are all full of color. The statue of Alexander II in the middle of Senate Square with his arm outstretched seems to call to the pigeons that flock to him. And the stairs in front of the Cathedral seem to be a good meeting place, or resting place for both locals and tourists alike. The interior of the Lutheran Cathedral is as plain and stoic as the exterior is bold and remarkable. Like any other Lutheran Cathedral, the interior is white and muted with a simply decorated altar and pulpit inside a cavernous space. Across from the pulpit is a statue of Martin Luther. The highlight, for me, of the interior of the cathedral is the massive and beautiful organ that rests on the upper floor across from the pulpit.

 

 

The iconic Three Blacksmiths statue in Helsinki

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Walking down the shopping district of Helsinki heading towards Senate Square

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Our first view of Lutheran Cathedral and the statue of Tsar Alexander II in Senate Square

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Lutheran Cathedral sits high above a set of stairs that is a popular meeting point

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From Senate Square, it’s an easy 5 minute walk over to the Russian Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral. Before reaching Uspenski, you cross over the “Bridge of Love” which is a small bridge filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of various locks in different colors and shapes. It was kind of neat to see all the couples, presumably, who have come to place a lock on the bridge.

 

The Uspenski Cathedral is as different as day and night to the Lutheran Cathedral. Where one is plain white with green domes, the Uspenski is a red brick building with green turrets and topped with gilded onion domes. And the interior is also as different as night and day. Where the Lutheran Cathedral is plain and solemn, the Uspenski is filled with gilded icon images, incense and candles, and every inch of the walls and pillars and domes are painted with different religious images and symbols. It’s a sight to see, especially since we knew that we wouldn’t be visiting the interiors of any Orthodox cathedrals in St. Petersburg the next day. And it’s really interesting to see the Lutheran Cathedral and the Uspenski Cathedral one right after the other to really compare how different they are.

 

 

 

Bridge of Love

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Uspenski Cathedral

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The gilded onion domes of Uspenski Cathedral

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The imposing red bricks of Uspenski Cathedral

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Another look at the gilded dome

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When you exit Uspenski Cathedral, you can see Market Square just ahead of you. It’s literally a 3 minute walk until you get to the many stalls that make up Market Square. This would also be where you can catch the public ferry to Suomenlinna, but since we knew we were running out of time we chose to do Market Square over Suomenlinna. Perhaps on a future trip. Market Square is filled with many stalls of vendors selling everything from handcrafted local goods to your normal tourist trinkets. Also, one half of Market Square is also set up with fruit and vegetable booths for locals as well as tourists to pick up snacks. The best part of Market Square is probably the food vendors who cook up and serve all sorts of fresh, local food – grilled salmon, potatoes, reindeer, etc. It’s just a fun and relaxed atmosphere to shop, eat and people watch. We had a wonderful hour or so spending our money and looking at all of the amazing handcrafted goods.

 

 

 

A view of Market Square from Uspenski Cathedral

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Various stalls selling potatoes, fish, reindeer meat, and other Finnish favorites

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Vendors selling local fruits

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More beautiful fruits

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Fresh vegetables as well

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A reminder that most of modern Helsinki was constructed (and once ruled) by the Russians - with an obelisk topped by the imperial double-headed Eagle in the middle of Market Square

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How about a refreshing scoop of banana split (oh, it was good!) ice cream as we walk through Market Square

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Just past 3 pm, we decided to play it safe and begin the journey back to the ship. All aboard today was set for 4:15 pm. From Market Square, it’s easy to hop on the tram 3T back towards Kamppi, where many buses, Metro and trams converge. Since we had passed by the area earlier in the morning, we knew exactly where to go to catch bus 14 back to the pier. Take the bus all the way to the last stop on the line and the ship is a 3 minute walk straight ahead. As long as you do your research in advance, taking public transportation in Helsinki was a piece of cake. As we sailed away from Helsinki, we sat out on our balcony and watched as the city faded away in the distance. We both agreed that Helsinki is a place we’d love to come back to and spend more time at, to see the things we missed like Sibelius Monument and Sumonelinna Island, but also to have time to go out and explore beyond Helsinki, to Porvoo and other parts of the countryside. Perhaps we’ll be back one day in the future so that we can travel north to Lapland as well.

 

 

Sailing away from Helsinki

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Vitality and Alternative Selections Menu

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Starters Menu

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Entree Menu

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Oxtail and Potato Soup

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Fried Camembert Salad

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wow those desserts looks really delicious, especially Wimbldeon.

 

My husband is the one who ordered Wimbledon. He said it was really, really fantastic. He said you could really taste the champagne jelly and the soft lime cheesecake part of it was fantastic too!

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St. Petersburg

 

Of the port cities on our itinerary, I knew in advance that this was the only port stop where I wanted to take a tour. Well, I guess I should say, this is the only stop where I knew I had to take a tour. But, I certainly wouldn’t be taking a ship tour. Private tours through an approved tour company who can obtain a group visa for guests are definitely the way to go in St. Petersburg.

 

When I went to St. Petersburg 5 years ago, I booked a private tour through Alla Tours and had a wonderful experience. In doing research for this cruise, I had decided in advance that Alla Tours and SPB Tours were the 2 tour companies I wanted to reach out to, for various reasons.

 

With only one day in St. Petersburg, I also knew that it wouldn’t be possible to do everything in the city in this short amount of time. So, my husband and I knew that there would be compromise as to what the itinerary would be. My husband indicated to me that The Hermitage Museum was a must. I told him that I really thought that we should do a subway ride. Due to time constraints, we also realized that we would only have time to either do Catherine’s Palace or Peterhof, but not both since they are both out of town. Since I had been to Yusupov Palace before and hadn’t been impressed, I had ruled that out as an option. And since we would be in town on a Wednesday, I already knew that a visit to the Church on the Spilled Blood and St. Isaac’s Cathedral would have to be ruled out since they would be closed, which was a disappointment. After discussing all of this with my husband, he told me that he would prefer we do Peterhof rather than Catherine’s Palace. I was fine with the decision since I had been to both, and since they were both built by the same architect, it didn’t really make a difference to me where we went.

 

I emailed both Alla Tours and SPB Tours and asked them to come up with an itinerary for me based on my requirement to ride the subway, tour Peterhof, and see the Hermitage. Within 24 hours, I received responses with possible itineraries from both companies, and both with comparable prices. Since I was indifferent, I asked my husband to take a look at the responses and the proposed itineraries and choose one. My husband ended up choosing SPB Tours due to their proposal to include a canal cruise, which really caught his eye. In the months leading up to our arrival in St. Petersburg, dealing with SPB Tours was a joy. Viktoria, Anthony and Leila were wonderful to work with. They answered all of my questions in a timely manner and were always professional.

 

My husband and I were prepared to take this tour with just to two of us if we couldn’t find others to help offset the costs. But, that didn’t mean we wouldn’t try and find others. After booking the cruise, I immediately joined my Roll Call for the cruise and started soliciting others to join our private tour in St. Petersburg. In the end, we were able to form a group of 13 passengers for our 18-seat mini bus. It was the perfect tour size, and the group of people in the tour was outstanding!

 

2 nights before our arrival in St. Petersburg, we were all given Russian immigration forms to fill out left in our stateroom by our stateroom attendant. Along with the immigration forms, was a letter from Royal Caribbean stating Russian immigration policies and regulations for entry into Russia. While the letter did initially state that guests either needed to have a Russian visa purchased in advance, tours booked through an independent company that issued Russian visas, or a tour booked through the ship which would handle the Russian visa issue for guests, this became less and less clear in subsequent notifications from the ship. During both onboard announcements and subsequent editions of the Cruise Compass, the ship personnel seemed to indicate that if you did not have a Russian visa purchased in advance that you needed to have been booked on a tour through the ship. All mention of having booked tours independently disappeared. I did start to feel that there were “scare tactics” being employed by the ship to try and pressure guests to purchase Royal Caribbean tours. But, I knew in advance, and had been warned by the tour company that this would happen. In addition, since I had been to St. Petersburg before, I knew I would have no problems getting off the ship. Our head waiter did mention that the ship had record of about 600 passengers who didn’t have Russian visas (I would assume they were counting based upon the number that didn’t book tours through them – I would estimate that probably about a hundred or so people booked private tours and were itching to get off the ship as soon as possible) and would probably be spending the day onboard.

 

What you will need to have with you is your completed Russian immigration form (one per person), your tour ticket issued by the company you booked a tour with (one per person), and your passport. With those 3 pieces of documentation, you will have no problems getting off the ship at all. In fact, the immigration official that both my husband and I dealt with was actually very nice and even smiled!

 

Our ship was scheduled to arrive in St. Petersburg at 7:00 am. We were instructed by SPB Tours to disembark the ship as soon as possible and to meet our guide between 7:00 – 7:30 am. Unfortunately, even though the ship docked on time, the Russian officials were very slow about clearing the ship. We didn’t end up being cleared until 7:20 am. As soon as we were through immigration, our guide was waiting just outside the exit to the immigration area. While we waited for other tour members to clear immigration, we were able use that time to use the ATM at the port to get the Rubles we would need for lunch later.

 

 

 

Wednesday - Cruise Day 5

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The sun rises dramatically over the MSC Poesia as we arrive into the Marine Facade at St. Petersburg. There were 5 other cruise ships in town the day we were there

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Our guide for the day Luba, introduced us to our driver Dimitri. We were all assembled, in the minibus and Dimitri had us on our way out of the port area at 7:47 am. We learned from Luba that she is originally from Omsk in Siberia, where she learned English in grade school. She moved to St. Petersburg for school and has been a freelance tour guide for 8 years now. We all were incredibly impressed with how good her English was. It’s not a stretch to say that it was pretty much perfect, even picking up a lot of English nuances that only someone familiar and comfortable with the language would understand. We are also all very impressed about Luba’s level of knowledge about everything, art, politics, Russian life, etc.

 

As we drove from the port area into the city, Luba began to tell us of St. Petersburg and Russia and pointed out different monuments, statues and buildings along the way. We learned that St. Petersburg is actually made up of 42 islands and 30 canals and is often called the city of bridges due to the 500 bridges that exist in the city. She told us that we were about to see many more of those bridges as the first order of the day was to take the canal cruise. Dimitri drove us to the banks of the Neva River, within view of St. Isaacs Cathedral where we boarded a canal boat that was already waiting for us. For those of us who braved sitting on the outside decks, blankets were provided to keep us warm. We were lucky that rain was not predicted for the day and were going to have good weather, but even so, sailing at 8:00 am on an overcast morning is still quite chilly!

 

The canal cruise started on the Neva River as we sailed pass Vasilievsky island and the Rostral Columns, the Winter Palace and other buildings that make up the Hermitage and Peter & Paul Fortress. From the Neva River, we passed the gated summer gardens and made the turn into the Fountain Canal. We saw the beautiful St. Michael’s Palace near the summer gardens. Further into our canal cruise, we even saw the Church on the Spilled Blood, which was a thrill for everyone, especially since we wouldn’t be visiting it later. We finally turned on to the Winter Canal and sailed underneath the passage that connects the Winter Palace with the Small Hermitage. Despite the chilly temperatures, we all enjoyed the canal cruise which gave us a good introduction to the city.

 

 

 

Gorgeous, classic Russian Orthodox Cathedral we see as we drive into down from the pier

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A look at the dome of St. Isaac's Cathedral that we see before we board the boat for our canal cruise

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Panoramic view of the Neva River waterfront as taken from the canal cruise

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Neva River waterfront

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A look at the Winter Palace, which houses the Hermitage Museum, from the waterfront

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Looking at the Rostral Columns and other Neva River buildings

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Peter and Paul Fortress from the waterfront

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The imperial double-headed eagle, the symbol of the Russian czars can be seen everywhere, even on the waterfront

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Everyone was waiting to see the Church on the Spilled Blood on the canal cruise

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Traversing through one of the smaller canals

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From St. Petersburg, we drove out to Peterhof for our tour of the Grand Palace and our look at the fountain gardens. Our driving route took us on the beautiful, new, and almost deserted new toll road that leads out towards Peterhof. When we arrived at the Grand Palace, there was a line to get in, but the wait wasn’t too bad. Luba took us through the 20+ rooms of the 60+ room palace that are open to the public. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed at all within the palace. We saw some spectacular artifacts (both restored and original), beautiful inlaid parquet floors and rooms that made your jaw drop. After the tour, we went out into the gardens and were given some time to walk around and take pictures of the grand cascade fountain, which is quite impressive.

 

 

 

We drove by the beautiful Trinity Cathedral on our way out to Peterhof

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Our first view of the gorgeous Cathedral at Peterhof

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Stunning in color

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View of the backside of the Grand Cascade Fountain looking out towards the Gulf of Finland

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Grand Cascade Fountain at Peterhof

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Before we left Peterhof, we stopped to have a quick snack/lunch. Luba brought us to a place that served traditional Russian blinis. Luckily they had menus in English so we could all understand what we were ordering. We ordered based upon Luba’s suggestion that 2 blinis per person would be a good snack/lunch. There were both savory and sweet blinis, and I think everyone was pleasantly satisfied with what they ordered and we all agreed that it proved to be a good snack since we could all find something that fit our individual tastes.

 

 

 

 

Menus for the blinis we had to choose from for lunch

 

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There were also salads and other items to choose from

 

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And a menu in English for those of us who couldn't read cyrillic

 

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Thank you for the great review. We LOVE the food photos. Because it sounds like you missed the churches , I will post some photos.

 

Church on the Spilled Blood

 

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The mosaic ceiling

 

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Peter and Paul Cathedral at Peterhof

 

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Saint Isaac's Cathedral

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Saint Isaac's Iconostasis

 

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