Baltic Holiday - Richard Russell
On the first flight to Christchurch on Wednesday 4 July, Lyn and I started our trip to the Baltics.
From Christchurch we flew to Singapore, spent a day and a bit there before making our way to London.
From London to Southampton by bus staying overnight before boarding the Cruise ship "Sapphire Princess" on Saturday ih July.
The vessel undertook its first cruise on is" May 2004 and was refurbished in March 2018. It carries 2670 guests, 1100 crew and has 18 decks, a floating hotel.
The first leg of our cruise took us to Brugesin Belgium. A picturesque city in Flanders, once Europe's richest city.
The centre of the city consists of cobblestone paths and streets and the area is well known for its chocolates, beer and lace.
On Tuesday 10 July we arrived in Copenhagen, capital of Denmark. We undertook a three hour guided walking tour, visited the little mermaid, and Nyhavn once the home of Hans Christian Anderson.
This is a colourful 1ih century waterfront district and the area features brightly coloured old town houses, restaurants, cafes, and a canal packed with old wooden ships.
On Thursday we visited Stockholm, Sweden's capital which was founded in 1252. On our way into port we travelled through the beautiful Archipelago.
On shore we had a 50 minute canal cruise where we passedmany historical buildings, museums and beautiful parks.
Friday 13th we visited Tallinn the capital of Estonia founded in 1154 and one of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe. It declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Its "old town" has remained virtually unchanged for over 600 years .
Saturday saw us up at 5am to undertake a four hour train trip from St Petersburg to Moscow. In Moscow we visited the Kremlin, Red Square, St BasilsCathedral. The Red Square had been overtaken by soccer fans gathering for the world cup final on the Sunday.
Sunday, 15 July saw us on a tour of St Petersburg which was officially made a city by Peter the Great on 27 May 1703 . It was Russia'sImperial capital from 1713 until 1918 . We stopped at the Bronze Horseman Statue, and visited the Armoury full the Czars'family's belongings and drove along the river Neva.
On Monday we arrived in Helsinki the capital and largest city in Finland which was founded in 1550 .
At that time it was a major trading post. Our tour was interrupted by the two Presidents Putin and Trump who were meeting that day. When we were in Senate Square I was approached by a TV reporter for an interview. When asked where I came from, that ended the interview.
Wednesday 18 July saw us arrive at the port of Varnemunde . Another early start to see us catch the train for a three hour trip to Berlin. A sober start to day after visiting the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. Our German male guide who had been guiding since 1990 was still emotional when taking us through the camp. In Berlin we visited the Berlin wall, Check Point Charlie, The Brandenburg Gate and the Holocaust Memorial.
Our final visit was to Winsor Castle on our way from Southampton to London.
An interesting and thoroughly enjoyable trip. It is good to be home after a 40 hour nonstop journey from London, which is not recommended.
