Continuing our adventures….

After St Catherine’s Palace we managed a quick dinner before setting out on the St Petersberg Fitness Track aka a private evening tour of the Hermitage. Our guide set a relentless pace to see as much as possible in 3 hours. If you spent 2 minutes in front of every exhibit here it would take over 9 years to view them all ! We saw some amazing buildings, paintings and sculptures but after 2 hours the eyes started glazing over the 20th Rembrandt……however Alexander always managed to highlight something to keep us going. On exiting we found the Russian Army had set up May Day practice with tanks, planes, helicopters and marching cadets. Crowds had gathered and there was a festival atmosphere, despite the temperature being 2 degrees.

Another early morning start saw  Russian immigration followed by a bus ride to Peterhof. It was too early for the gardens, only a few Crocus showing, but the Palace interior and fountains outside were magnificent. Our guide Julie warmed to us as followed and kept on time. An endless stream of knowledge was transferred ! Russia is such an amazing country, slightly frightening but an amazing experience. A hydrofoil ride back to the city was followed by lunch. The Church of the spilled blood was next, whilst collecting tickets Julie nominated me to hold the spray of plastic orchid flowers keeping our group together. Everybody wanted to a photo and said I’d make a good guide. The church interior was over whelming, being entirely covered in mosaics. A shopping stop followed by a traffic jam saw us embarking 10 minutes before departure. Spasibo Julie and Spasibo Russia 

3 names for the one city….I last visited Leningrad as a young student whilst it was under communist control, so saw lots of changes going to Pushkin, St Catherine’s Palace this morning. Boris, our guide, declared the city the most beautiful city in the world. Unfortunately our route took us thru lots of “brutal” communist architecture, it showed how cities, such as Copenhagen, can do so much more interesting modern architecture whilst still using concrete. St Catherine’s Palace was razed to the ground during the Second World War, whilst the then Lenningrad endured a terrible siege. Going past battlefields where 70,000 unidentified soldiers were mass buried emphasised the terrible price Russia payed for its “freedom”. 

St Catherine’s has been restored, or I think more correctly, reconstructed. Fortunately a lot of the interior objects had been saved, thus giving a sense of originality. Pictures show better than words the shear opulence the Russian Royalty lived in prior to the revolution. After the obligatory tourist shop stop we have returned to the ship, readying ourselves for tonight’s private tour of the Hermitage. We should be able to avoid some of the people that swarmed around the site this morning ! 

Well here we are in sunny, old town Tallinn, all 6 degrees with a wind chill factor of something like -6 ! We decided on the hop on / hop off bus tour, offering 3 different routes. The first took us around the old town so we could get our bearings. We then walked up to the highest point of old town, via the largest known number of amber jewellery shops. After the obligatory euros were exchanged for said goods we meandered onto the town ramparts for a spectacular view. The narrow twisting cobbled streets took a toll on Hazels hip, so we headed back down for lunch via 23 Lei Street. This is the old family home for my mate Harry, and as we had talked a lot about Estonia whilst replacing brake fluid I thought I’d pay homage. A great part of town, sadly the little cafe down the alleyway was closed Harry, and not a Jaguar to be seen anywhere. The Tabuli comes in at lunchtime….we needed something hot to warm us up ! After lunch we made it 20 metres down the street before afternoon tea kicked in ! Fresh coffee and local cakes cannot be ignored….The second tour took us out to the botanic gardens, alas by the time we returned it was too late to go on the third one to the Seaplane museum, something to do on the next visit I think. All in all a great day and amazing city, but it must be freezing during winter…..

An early morning start saw a 3 hour drive to Berlin, our shore excursion for today. The coach was only half full, so together with a couple from Sydney (who had also originally booked on Voyager) we formed an Australian sector.  A microphone fault with the coach didn’t bode well to start. However this was fixed by Jonas during a comfort stop, and then things really looked up when Sonya, our other guide, joined us just on the city outskirts. With a German father and British mother she bought the city alive with her personal stories and historical facts. She was easily the best guide of any shore excursion we have done. Icons such as Checkpoint Charlie, The Brandenberg Gate, Berlin Wall and the Reichstag were toured, as well as smaller memorials. A traditional Berliner lunch of cauliflower soup, sausage, beer and bread was followed by a short canal trip. The restaurant was located under a railway, and was decorated in a 1920’s style. An hour of shopping saw a few souvenirs make their way into our bags, and I’m typing the blog whilst sitting in traffic on our way back to MV Copenhagen. It’s 5.30 and the the ship leaves at 10pm, so we should make it. We have a day at sea tomorrow to get over these early morning starts, then a day in Talinn followed by Russia ! For now Prost ! 

Well today we are in Copenhagen, home to Princess Mary, who was of course born in Tasmania. Our shore excursion was very informative, with a great guide. Looking at past and present Royal castles, Tivoli gardens and a cruise on the canals. 

First, compulsory stop THE little mermaid, surrounded by tourists, apparently the Chinese have adopted her after being displayed in China for a time. Second stop the present royal palace. Comprised of 4 similar wings it had a very personal feel and Princess Mary is frequently seen driving out taking the children to kindergarten. This is her accomodation……

Rosenborg Palace seemed tiny compared to other European ones, but housed the impressive Royal jewels and some solid silver lions.

Tivoli gardens were in full Spring bloom, with displays of tulips and crown fritillaries. An open Danish sandwich with shrimp bought back memories of Miss Maud in Western Australia. Sadly no princess cake on the menu, not that we need it. The canal cruise saw some more I mpressive modern architecture, and ended next to MV Rotterdam. Tonight we are dining Italian style, watching a show and listening to some Beatles music (anything but Elvis please….I’m outnumbered 3 to 1). We will have a long day tomorrow visiting Berlin, but I’ll update the blog asap.

Our first day at sea, and it’s smooth sailing so far. We spent yesterday morning exploring the city, known for its amazing architecture. The new market building was spectacular, a big building, but having end walls in glass lightened it. Some amazing pastries and coffee inside as well !  Disaster then stuck, with my camera making lots of strange noises and completely breaking down….Whilst the others went on a harbour cruise I scurried around town exploring options. A service centre had a quick look, several weeks to get a quote, but it looked terminal to him. I needed a new camera now ! Luckily the next door media mart had some options, and I ended up getting an updated Olympus OMD, so that I could use my existing lens collection. It also meant I knew how to use it straight away !

Boarding the ship was easy, bag drop, registration and walk aboard. Less personal than other lines, no smiling French Captain or even English steward to welcome you. Our cabin is very comfortable, and being a larger ship than we are used to we spent the rest of the day exploring. Over the next week or so I’ll post pics of around the ship. In the meantime here are some of yesterday. The first is MV Rottererdam in front of our “cubist” hotel. 

The new market hall

Cube houses

You need to update your house plan Michael and Lexie

And finally MV Rotterdam, a proper cruise ship rather than a block of flats on water

Till next time, rum punch cheers ! 

M & H 

All our travel plans went like clockwork today, and we are currently sitting in the Rotterdam nhow bar overlooking a fabulous bridge and the cruise ship terminal. Leon’s into a Dutch beer whilst the rest of us are drinking a pear cider, confusingly called Apple Bandit…… Tomorrow we will do a little sightseeing before embarking our cruise ship Mv Rotterdam. Cheers ! 

Those winter PJ’s came in handy, with a -2 this morning. We both slept better, waking at 3am for a cuppa and burst of heat. At 6am the frost was heavy, with the marina steaming away as the sun rose. Preparing T42 for her first run of year took a while, but by 9am we were all away. As usual the Wey did not disappoint, with some stunning water reflections. Showing Leon and Heather the first lock at Pyrford set a precedent, all 3 locks up and down were set against us. Leon gave Hazel a hand so by 12 we had made the New Inn at Send. By new they mean not that old as it was built in the 1600’s compared with the “older” one also in the village ! It also happens to be the meeting place for a Morgan 3 wheeler club, sadly none were in the car park. A superb lunch was followed by taking turns at the helm for the return journey. We judged it correctly with rain falling once we had made it back to Pyrford.

Morning frost at Pyrford

Proudly flying the TASSIE flag at Send, on the River Wey.

I’m a celebrity, please no photos…..

Tomorrow we fly to Amsterdam in preparation for the Baltic Cruise ! 

Tasotter and friends at RHS Wisley and Brooklands race track 

Well we are here at last ! After a years planning the 4 of us, and luggage, made it. A fairly uneventful, if long, flight with the usual attentive Qantas service. Heather and Leon enjoyed the club lounge and found premium economy much better for long legs ! The final secteor saw us 10 minutes early, with a spectacular descent right over London. All the tourist features were seen, notably Buck Palace, Tower Bridge and Kew Gardens. Kendall cars were waiting to chauffeur us to Guildford but the traffic on the M25 was an eye opener to some ! Penny has done a super job on T42 cleaning wise, it was much appreciated as by 9pm we were struggling to set up our bedding after starting up and motoring over to the other side of the marina to fill up the water tank. Strangely L&H didn’t want to swap their B&B ? We did, however manage a swift half of Stowford Press cider with fish and chips at the canal side Anchor pub…

At 1am this morning I woke up at freezing cold, so I started the boats heating, which ran till breakfast.. It felt like a breeze from the artic, which was confirmed when it started to sleet at Wisley Gardens ! As usual the Rhodos looked amazing, and Heather was amazed at the sheer number of unusual plants throughout the gardens. After lunch the tour departed for BROOKLANDS race track. As usual some great cars and planes to look at, culminating in a 4D virtual lap, in a D type Jag driven by Mike Hawthorn, around LeMans. The seats moved around in sync with the movie, giving a great feeling to some, others just felt queasy. 

Our final tour stop, at Brooklands Tesco was in order of needs…..a winter set of PJ’s for me ! A phone so Heather can contact us if they lost, and Port so that the fine Jaguar tradition of port and chocolates after a meal can be enjoyed.

We are experiencing some technical difficulties in uploading pics at the moment, so will post these in a later edition….