Photos from the Baltic Sea Cruise

Photos from the cruise can be found two places. The condensed version (fewer photos) is found on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Linda-Johns-Travels/130736973669522.

More photos can be found on John's web site at http://www.johnofarch.com.

We hope you enjoy the blog and photos!

Baltic Sea Cruise pictures

Check out our facebook page for the pictures! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Linda-Johns-Travels/130736973669522

Day 12 of Baltic Cruise - Warnemunde and Rostock, Germany

Today we docked in Warnemunde, Germany. This is a small town of about 8,000, but it is a resort town so there were a lot of German tourists here. There is a nice beach, but it was way too cold to go into the water (for us). We decided to take the train to Rostock, which dates back to medieval times. We took the train into town, and saw the town square, a couple of medieval churches, and the old city. It was a really beautiful place. We went to the top of one of the tall church spires. I was kind of afraid, but it was really nice to see such a great view of the city.

We had lunch at a nice, out-of-the-way cafe, where nobody spoke English. John decided to be brave and order the daily special, even though we didn't have any idea what it was. It turned out to be some sort of soup with meat, peppers, and other stuff in it. It was very flavorful and good. I ordered something safe (of course) - waffles!

After lunch we walked around the university plaza, which was very lively. It had a nice fountain, and a lot of people were shopping and enjoying the day. I'm glad we made this stop. This is definitely somewhere we would never have known about otherwise!

Day 11 of Baltic Cruise - Day at Sea

Today was our second day at sea. I taught at 9:05 a.m. I had two students – a couple from South Korea. They had only limited knowledge or comprehension of English, but it went well. I would explain something, and she would start telling him what to do in Korean. Sometimes, they would just start arguing in Korean during the lesson. It was so funny! But they knew what they were doing when they left, so it was a success! We played cards for a while, had lunch, and then I taught the second class. It also went well, and a couple of the men asked how to find a teacher, so I believe it was also successful. It is quite cold out today – walking around the deck requires a jacket or sweatshirt, and it is rainy. We are currently passing 5 ships that we can see out of our window – this is a very heavily traveled sea area! Dinner tonight is lobster and steak, and we decided to eat in our room. While eating, we noticed that we were within a few hundred yards of 5 ships, and the security officer is out patrolling the deck. We are wondering if there is any typical danger of pirates or other activity! We are so spoiled and blessed.

Day 10 of Baltic Cruise - Helsinki, Finland

Today we explored Helsinki by first taking a taxi to the LDS temple outside of the main city. This was fun because we got to see the beautiful countryside, and it is filled with trees and lakes. The temple was beautiful. We went back to town and just walked the tourist sites, including a monument to Sibelius (Finland’s most famous composer) and a couple of churches. We decided to go to the outdoor market and look around, and while there got some ice cream. Well, the market has hundreds of seagulls there flying around. We really didn’t think about it much, because the seagull is Utah’s state bird, and we grew up with them. So, we got our ice cream and started to leisurely walk away, when a gull flew from behind John and took a bite of ice cream mid-flight. I jumped, and then I was attacked, as well. Seagulls from all over descended, and I thought I was going to die! They knocked the ice cream off of the cone, and then immediately swarmed to eat it off of the pavement. It all happened so fast, and as many of you know, I am terrified of birds, so this was NOT fun for me! I finally found a secluded spot under a tent that the gulls couldn’t get to, and John was successful at getting me another cone and bringing it to me.

Day 9 of Baltic Cruise - St. Petersburg, Day 3

We got into the city on the first shuttle bus. After our first day going through passport control, the next two days were a breeze. They hardly looked at us. I guess we don’t look threatening. We visited Kazan Cathedral, a mall, and hunted for souvenirs. This time were very successful with the souvenirs, so we were happy about that. We started looking for a specific spot for lunch that the Russian teacher had recommended. We found that Russians just tell you a way to go to get rid of you. Ninety minutes later we still hadn’t found the restaurant, but we did find another very authentic fast-food Russian restaurant. The best Russian meal we had, in my opinion, and the least expensive. We made our way back to the ship and we sailed away for Finland at 6:00 p.m.

Day 8 of Baltic Cruise - St. Petersburg, Day 2

We decided to sleep in a little bit today, so we didn’t get into town until about 1:00. We went looking for souvenirs and went to visit a Russian monastery and graveyard. Not really worth visiting again, but the church was kind of interesting. Afterward we rode the red line of the subway to the end of the line, headed to Peterhov park. The red line is very interesting, because it is very old and artistic. John says it is like a series of 19th century palace entrance halls, with ornate columns, chandeliers, marble and glasswork, and other metalwork. It is really gorgeous, and interesting to find in a subway, especially in a country that is still so “gray”.
We got to the end of the line, then had to hop a bus to the park, with was another 30-40 minutes away. This was really the first time that I was a little nervous, because we only knew of the park through suggestions from the Russian teacher on board the ship. We had no idea where in the city (or country) we were, and if anything were to go wrong, we had no idea where we were. After we got off the bus at the park, we found an authentic Russian restaurant to eat at, where one of the young ladies spoke English very well, so I felt a little better. The park was beautiful, and there are a lot of fountains and manicured trees, shrubs, and gardens. We were kicked out at closing (8:00 p.m.) and started walking toward the next small town to catch the bus back. We couldn’t get on the bus until we found an ATM, as we didn’t have enough rubles to get back. Well, every ATM we found was out of order. We were starting to wonder what to do, but then we found one, so everything was fine. By the time we returned to the ship and got to our room it was 11:15 p.m. Oh, and it was still light outside!

Day 7 of Baltic Cruise - St. Petersburg, Russia

We’re in St. Petersburg today. We did get our individual Russian visas, so we were allowed to explore on our own. We took the ship’s shuttle into town, which dropped us at St. Isaac’s Cathedral. It is huge, and beautiful. We walked around the city, seeing many sites, including the Church of the Spilled Blood (see pictures). That was definitely worth the price of admission – absolutely incredible. We walked the length of Nevsy Prospekt (a long, main street), as well as taking many detours. I think it was probably 10 miles or more. We got to the end of the street and were too late to take the ship’s shuttle back to the ship, so we took the Metro and a city bus. Luckily, the Russian teacher on board the ship had written out the name of our stop at the port so we could get the right bus. Other than that, we didn’t have any problems at all.
The information I read before coming here had scared me a little that we might do something we shouldn’t, and get in trouble. Other than the very serious and stern border patrol people, I didn’t feel uneasy at all, and got my picture taken with some military guys! The city is quite cosmopolitan and in many ways just like other large cities we have visited. Advice for those who are going to visit Russia: No need really to learn the language. Just learn the alphabet and what sounds the letters make. You can sound out almost everything – Restaurant is written in Russian with the same phonetic sounds, so once you know those letters, you can easily find a restaurant, for example.

Day 6 of Baltic Cruise - Tallinn, Estonia

Today we took a cab outside Tallinn to go to church. We were welcomed very warmly, and found out that there are 3 sets of missionaries, 1 set of sister missionaries, and 1 married missionary couple. The church service was really interesting, since it was the first Sunday of the month, where people in our church bear testimony of their faith. One of the missionaries sat behind us and translated for us.
Afterwards, we took the city bus back to the ship, changed our clothes, had lunch, and then went out again. We saw old town, which had a nice onion-dome church and a worn palace. It appears that they are still trying to get things ready for tourism. Again, we were disappointed at how many gentleman’s clubs were there in old town, and it took so much away from the possible charm.
We sailed away that night, headed for St. Petersburg, Russia.

Day 5 of Baltic Cruise - Day at Sea

We spent the day at sea. I taught two classes – one at 9:05 and one at 1:30. There are usually 10-15 people in each class. At 9:05, I had two, and neither were there for class, but wanted to know how to work the keyboards, so I took the time and taught them a little about the keyboards. At the 1:30 class I had about 10. It was a fun class. We went to the Russian class next, to try to learn a little before we got to St. Petersburg in a couple of days. We relaxed for the rest of the day.
We were supposed to arrive in Estonia on Day 6, but the captain came on the loud speaker announcing a medical emergency that required us to speed up and get to Tallinn, Estonia that evening. We docked at about 6:00 p.m. They had a ambulance waiting, but they never actually took anyone off the ship. That gave us extra time, so after dinner John and I went walking into town. We spent a couple of hours looking around, then went back to the ship.
It is really interesting to experience what they call “white nights” here. We were out until 11:15 p.m., and it still wasn’t dark. The hardest part is that we don’t pay attention to the time, and end up not going to bed until after midnight, because it’s still light outside. And we sailed into another time zone, so we lost an hour.
Estonia is full of bars and clubs, and there is a gentleman’s club on every block. It really takes away from the beauty of the country and especially the town.

Day 4 of Baltic Cruise - Last Day in Stockholm

We got up, had breakfast on the ship, then headed into town again. Went to the Vasa Museum, a museum of an old ship that sunk on it’s maiden voyage. The ship was all oak, and had so many elaborate carvings. They call it the worst disaster turned into the best success, because they raised the ship a few centuries later and now have it in the museum. It really is incredible.
After the museum, we took the train out of town about 30 miles to see the Stockholm LDS temple. It was definitely worth the trip! It was a nice ride through the Swedish countryside, and the temple is beautiful.
We returned to the ship, and then sailed away for Estonia.

Day 3 of Baltic Cruise - Stockholm

Still in Stockholm. Today we got up, had breakfast at the hotel. Breakfast was a buffet with many breads, cheeses, eggs, etc. We checked out and stored our luggage and then took the train to a park on the Sodermalm island of Stockholm, where we took a bus to a park. John had read of an architectural installation in the park, so we went looking for it. While we never found it, the adventure was worth it. We had a very nice lunch in the park – I had Swedish Pancakes that were amazing, and John had some broccoli quiche. We walked around the park more and then took the train back to town. We took the train back to town and looked through the really old part, including the Riddarholm Church. They don’t hold services here- this church is where many of the previous royalty are buried. And I mean, MANY! Kind of creepy, and kind of interesting. We returned to the hotel, picked up our luggage, took a taxi to the pier, and boarded the ship, Crystal Serenity. It’s a beautiful ship, and I highly recommend it. There are no inside cabins, and all have at least a very large window. Most have a balcony. Crystal is consistently rated as the top luxury cruise line in the world, and we understand why. All of the staff know your name and remember your preferences from meal to meal. They are really well-trained and very friendly.
After we checked in and had lunch, we took the shuttle back to town and went to look for another architecture site. Didn’t find this one either, but found a really nice area of town. Finally, we went to the festival taking place, similar to the Taste of Chicago and others. There were a lot of restaurants with booths set up in the park, and you could sample their food for a few krone (Swedish money). There was a bandstand, with different bands playing, and you can see from the photo that they called it “Smack-a-pa-Stockholm”.

Stockholm Day 1

Here are some pictures from our first day in Stockholm. The electric taxi was plugged in outside our hotel. Notice on the next picture the license plate. We went to a place called Skansen, which has buildings from Olsen times and people that show you the culture and skills like glass blowing, bread making, etc. Our meal was Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes, Swedish beef strew and baby potatoes, and bread. It was excellent!  Dinner was a hambuger and a hot dog in in sort of a wrap.

Stockholm Day 2

Today we waked all around the city, spending most of the time in Gamla Stan (old town) and the pedestrian streets there and into the city. Gamla Stan is where you find the royal palace, and right across the bridge from parlaiment and the opera house. We were lucky enough to meet our friend, Debbie Skinner, at the opera house and went to the open air market and restaurant fair for lunch. Debbie works for Yamaha as the person who schedules and manages the piano teachers for Crystal Cruises. Had dinner down a small street in Old Town.  Also, yesterday was graduation day for the high school students.  Tomorrow starts a 5-day span of religious and natioanl holidays. All of the students were on trucks, completely drunk, and being driven throughout the city yelling and partying with loud music booming from big sound systems on each truck. It is hilarious to watch and apparently quite the tradition. We even saw a young lady peeing in the street with no cares about anyone seeing her or anything. Then she got back on a truck and kept going!

Day 1 of our Baltic cruise.

We flew nonstop from Chicago to Stockholm easily. We flew on SAS airlines. The economy seats were quite uncomfortable and felt like there was no padding. The flight crew was very nice and everything else was great, including the customer service at the airport. We have found the Swedish people to all be extremely nice and fun-loving. More to follow!

Global Phone

Some folks have asked me for phone advice for international travel. You need to do careful research with your phone company, but here are some little bits of info and advice. Generally, Europe and Australia use the GSM frequency towers, which means that if you have T-Mobile or AT&T, you do not need a different phone. You just need to take the phone in to have it activated for international use (sometimes this is not even necessary, but it is always wise to check). If you have Verizon, US Cellular, or other CDMA phones, they generally work in Asia, but NOT Europe.

There are many ways to get a global phone if you do not have one. We have found the best way is to work with your current mobile carrier. They will generally rent you a phone for a nominal fee. There are other companies all over the world that will also rent or sell you a phone. Just be careful and do your research - the prices vary widely, and a colleague of mine recently had an unacceptable experience with his purchased "global" phone - didn't work in the USA nor in the UK. Basically useless, but too late to work out any other option.

If you already have a global phone through a GSM carrier (it will have a SIM card), you can simply purchase a prepaid SIM card for the country you are visiting. Again, do your research because prices vary, but this is an excellent option.

If you have had really great service with any of these prepaid companies, please let us know! While you're at it, go to our facebook page and hit "like" - the blog automatically posts there, as well!

Scandic Anglais Hotel in Stockholm

This is where we'll be staying in Stockholm. Stockholm is a very expensive city, so we tried to find a hotel that we could afford that is still comfortable. It has good reviews, so we'll let you know what we think!

Testing mobile blogging and Facebook integration.

Preparing for next cruise

So, we are starting to prepare for our Baltic Sea cruise on Crystal Cruise's Serenity ship. The first hurdle was to determine if we need a Russian Visa. We found out through much research that if you are taking a scheduled shore excursion or tour with your cruise company, you do not need a Russian Visa. Those of you who know us know that we usually like to avoid the ship's tours and explore on our own.

Our first stop for anything like this is the US Department of State travel page, which gives a lot of helpful advice for travelers like us who like to do things on their own. Begin by registering with the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) Registering with this program will inform the embassy of your intended visit, and will enroll you for security and other updates.

After researching this site, we found out that trying to obtain a Russian Visa would be complicated and expensive. We looked at the shore excursions and tours offered by the cruise company, and determined that we would spend less by going through with obtaining the visa.

Our cruise company has a travel agency that they referred us to for help. We filled out the appropriate documents, including much background information, and sent off our applications along with our passports. Three weeks later we had our passports returned with the successful Russian Visas included.

We are now looking at booking hotels for our stays before and after the cruise. We will arrive in Stockholm on June 1. We are retired airline employees, so we always fly stand-by, knowing that in itself is an adventure. We are attempting to fly on SAS Airlines nonstop from Chicago to Stockholm, but have a back-up plan of a change of planes in Frankfurt, Germany.

I will update more as we progress. We are getting very excited for this adventure!