July 2015 Baltic on Eclipse - Photos

[texasgirl29]

Day 7

St. Petersburg continued

 

After leaving the fortress, we climbed into our bus and went to the dock where we took the hydrofoil to Peterhof.

 

I'm not sure what was happening with the boat, but we had to wait quite a while until we could board. It was hot! Finally, we walked onto a boat and through to another boat. We continued to the rear of the boat. I wanted to talk just about about the stairs from the upper part of the boat to the area in the back where we sat.

 

It's hard to describe, but the area just in front of the steps was uneven, and if you were not expecting it, you could easily trip and fall down the stairs, a distance of about four feet. In fact, a young woman did just that.

 

 

Additionally, there was this really wrinkled rug, a "trip and fall" hazard if I ever saw one.

 

 

So, if you do go, just be on the lookout for these and be careful!

[texasgirl29]

Day 7

St. Petersburg

Peterhof

 

This is easily one of the most beautiful places on earth.

 

The hydrofoil docked and we walked toward the ticket booth where Viktoria again paid our entrance fee.

 

 

I should also mention, since I forgot to earlier, that we had earbuds and "radios" so that we could easily hear her. There were so many groups and families you might not hear otherwise.

 

We walked along the canal up to the fountains.

 

 

 

 

 

You can certainly get your photo with the "locals"

 

 

[texasgirl29]

Day 7

St Petersburg, continued

 

We continued through the gardens. Photos just don't do it justice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[texasgirl29]

Day 7

St. Petersburg

 

Time for Lunch!

 

After enjoying the fountains at Peterhof and walking through the gardens, we met our bus and drove a short distance to a restaurant. In a separate room, like a banquet or party room (I suspect they did a lot of wedding receptions there), there were many long tables set up for SPB tours. (FYI, there were many SPB tours going on simultaneously.) Lunch was included.

 

 

The server brought several tureens of bright red borscht soup, followed by the entree of a chicken patty with a sauce and some salad. The chicken was a seasoned, grounded patty. Desert was ice cream. We had bottles of water, tea or coffee (Nescafe instant) and of course, vodka.

 

 

 

Stephanie, our newly minted 18 year old, could legally drink in Europe, and tried the vodka, but didn't like it very much!

 

[warm47]

Thanks for telling us about the foods you ate there!

[texasgirl29]

Thanks for telling us about the foods you ate there!

 

Thanks! It was all part of the experience!

JoAnn

[texasgirl29]

Day 7

St. Petersburg

St. Catherine's Palace

 

After lunch, we headed to Catherine's Palace. It was actually Elizabeth's Palace, but she named it for her mother. Frankly, the names were starting to get somewhat muddled in my head...

 

The long blue palace stretched out with a vast empty courtyard in front of it.

 

 

We lined up to go inside, and once admitted, put on disposable "museum shoes." We were stylin', except for Paul, who's feet were really too big to fit.

 

 

We walked through a few smallish rooms, with antique furniture, inlaid floors, lapiz tabletops. Lavish, but not over the top.

 

 

 

Then came the larger, public rooms. Oh boy.

 

 

[texasgirl29]

Day 7

St. Petersburg

Catherine's Palace continued

 

Room after room unfolded -- ornate, gold, incredible workmanship. The Russian Revolution was starting to make sense to me now. This is how the other 1% lived.

 

 

 

 

 

After the gold leaf extravaganza, we walked back to the bus and rested while our trusty driver made his way back to the ship through rain and traffic.

 

At the cruise port, we had to go through immigration again (short line), show our passport and then it was back on the ship.

Edited August 21, 2015 by texasgirl29

[scubacruiserx2]

Thanks for sharing your terrific review and photos . We hope that you enjoyed the Eclipse and look forward to more . :) :D

[texasgirl29]

Day 8 of cruise

St. Petersburg 2nd day

 

Immigration the second day was very easy, in fact, we were ready and met our group after going through immigration and had a few minutes to shop at the stalls in the port terminal. The eager young salespeople all speak English and are happy to help. We bought two small nesting dolls and a "Father Frost" carved figure. Stephanie, who was to start Texas A&M when we returned home, bought an Aggie nesting doll. (They had all colleges and all pro teams.) They were happy to hold our purchases until we returned later that afternoon.

 

Our first activity of the morning was a canal ride. It was sunny and hot but the ride was very beautiful. We were on board with several other SPB tours and one of the other tour guides did the commentary.

 

 

 

 

[TLCOhio]

Brugge is very quaint, as promised, and we walked around the square, the shops and looked at the canals.

 

Appreciate so much your pictures and posting from great locations such as Bruges, St. Petersburg and other Baltics stars that we have been fortunate to have visited in the past. Wonderful memories.

 

Keep up the great sharing!!

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 116,935 views for this posting.

[texasgirl29]

Day 8 of the cruise

Day 2 of St. Petersburg

 

After the canal ride, we stopped off for a bathroom break at another gift shop. (There was never any kind of pressure to buy anything.) Then to the Hermitage.

 

Before I began researching for this trip, I was woefully ignorant of the Hermitage, and then, all I knew of it was from Cruise Critic -- crowded and arduous.

 

We got there pretty early, and yes, it was crowded but no more so than any other world-class museum. But it is a lot of walking and stairs. Viktoria took us through the highlights. The building itself was as great a work of art as the paintings and sculptures.

 

 

 

 

 

There's definitely something for everyone!

[texasgirl29]

Day 8 of the cruise

Day 2 of St. Petersburg

 

Next stop: Church of the Spilled Blood.

 

I was excited to go here because it just looks so RUSSIAN!

 

 

I had erroneously thought the spilled blood referred to Christ but it is actually a Russian czar who was assassinated on this location.

 

The inside of the church just has to be seen to be believed. Mosaics telling the story of Jesus and the apostles and other Biblical characters fill every inch of the soaring space. Every. single. inch.

 

 

 

 

[texasgirl29]

Day 8 of the cruise

Day 2 of St. Petersburg

 

After a long morning of touring, we were ready for lunch. We were taken to a small restaurant where we had what Viktoria described as "perogies". I would describe more as a slice of pie. The meat pie was similar to a meatloaf with a crust, and the dessert was a mixed berry filling.

 

 

[texasgirl29]

Day 8 of the cruise

Day 2 of St. Petersburg

 

After lunch, we went to another palace and to see the place where Rasputin was assassinated. No photos were allowed and the palace, while certainly lavish, paled in comparison to the previous things we had seen.

 

Viktoria announced we would go to St. Isaac's next. I didn't think anything could top the Church of the Spilled Blood. We had started our tour yesterday morning outside of St. Isaac's and now we were going in. It is the fourth largest cathedral in the world, and reminded me a lot of St. Peter's in Rome.

 

 

 

 

 

Our group was deposited back at our ship in plenty of time for our sailaway. We all profused thanked our driver and guide, handed them our tips and made our way back through the immigration station.

[warm47]

Wonderful pictures! I'm taking notes for next year! Thanks!

[bessinfl]

Thanks so much for this great travelogue and the photos. I've been to Brugges and St. Petersburg, although not, unfortunately, on a cruise, and I have so enjoyed seeing some familiar sights. And your food pictures are making me hungry -- which is unfortunate because I won't be on Celebrity again until next April! Anyway, I'm glad you're having such a great experience, and I'm looking forward to hearing about the rest of it.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[frteach]

I have so enjoyed your family's Baltic travelogue! I am doing a similar cruise next July on the Silhouette and you have increased my anticipation. I am fairly knowledgeable about Russian history, but I will definitely need to read up again in order to best appreciate what I am seeing. You have a lovely family and I wish you many more happy voyages.

[texasgirl29]

Thanks, y'all. Great trip -- I think it will be our last hurrah as the girls have years of college ahead of us.

 

Glad you like the food pictures. I tried to take photos at dinner every night but sometimes I forgot. We are in the MDR every night and it was good -- I never felt the need to spend extra for the other venues. Besides, it was supposed to be a family vacation.

 

We had the classic drink package (Paul and I) and enjoyed it. Never got drunk or hung over, just enjoyed getting a drink and relaxing. Rachel had the premium non alcoholic package so she could drink smoothies from the spa cafe.

[texasgirl29]

Day 8 of the cruise

St. Petersburge

 

After our epic two day tour of St. Petersburg, Paul and I sat outside in the Oceanview Bar and ordered -- what else -- a white russian! We looked over all the ships in the port and savored our Russian experience.

 

Dinner in the MDR was:

Fruit plate:

 

Vegetable Wellington

 

NY cheesecake and a latte

 

Paul was feeling the need for a little comfort food and asked for a grilled cheese sandwich. Actually, he had requested one the night before in the buffet. What he got the previous night was 1) two pieces of toast with a cold slice of cheese and 2) grilled bread but wasn't buttered so it was dry. Bless their hearts, they did try but apparently a grilled cheese sandwich was a foreign concept. But tonight's was as it should be. Our server Adriana was pleased that he was happy.

 

Hot tub for me and Stephanie!

[We're The Groupnors]

Day 8 of the cruise

Day 2 of St. Petersburg

 

After a long morning of touring, we were ready for lunch. We were taken to a small restaurant where we had what Viktoria described as "perogies". I would describe more as a slice of pie. The meat pie was similar to a meatloaf with a crust, and the dessert was a mixed berry filling.

 

 

 

LOVED the pies in St. P!! Yummm.

[Harley57]

Thank you for taking the time to post your photos and review. I am really enjoying it and it brings back wonderful memories of our 2012 Baltic cruise.

[texasgirl29]

While I'm thinking about the Great Grilled Cheese event, I wanted to tell you about another time the chefs tried to go above and beyond to please.

 

Especially in the Oceanview Cafe, they ask, "Is there anything special you want? Is there anything you want you don't see?" Stephanie said she'd really love some biscuits and gravy.

 

Biscuits and gravy is a very Southern dish. So Southern, in fact, I don't even make it at home.

 

So we had several conversations with Vladimir, our MDR head waiter, who also seemed to be in the Oceanview Cafe most mornings. We described it was made with sausage, fried up and the drippings were used in a white cream gravy. It normally looks like this but of course, we didn't' have a photo to show them:

 

 

What was produced was not quite it, but they get an A+ for effort:

 

[GranthamMommy]

Thank you so much for your review. When I eventually book a Baltic cruise, you should be the one to receive the commission.

 

My husband is from Texas, so I loved the biscuits and gravy story.

[texasgirl29]

Thank you so much for your review. When I eventually book a Baltic cruise, you should be the one to receive the commission.

 

My husband is from Texas, so I loved the biscuits and gravy story.

 

Ha! I'll put that commission toward my next cruise!

 

JoAnn