Baltics Cruise 2008 - balticscruise2008

Marina Dress.JPG
Marina Dress.JPG 2008-10-01

Central Station, Copenhagen
Bobby is in Central Station, Copenhagen.

Hotel View
Bobby checks out the view from the hotel. Hmm... what's that across the street? Something called a "cathouse"!

Visiting Tivoli
Bobby (and his new Auntie Gayle) visit Tivoli.

Tivoli
Bobby 004.jpg 2008-08-17

Canal Tour
We went on a canal tour. No, not on this boat, Sillies! This is the Royal Yacht.

Bobby visits The Little Mermaid
Bobby 007.jpg 2008-08-18

The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid is 90 years old!

Copenhagen Canal
Typical Copenhagen scene

Stroget, Copenhagen
This is the pedestrian street where most of the stores and shops are located.

Bobby visits H.C. Anderson
Did he write any cat stories?

The Queen's Palace
We went to visit, but the Queen was not home.

Crown Princess at dock
Our home for the cruise

Stateroom View
We had an obstucted view, which for us was a lifeboat that hung below the window. Not bad, and a very good price.

Bobby in bed
Bobby checks out his bunk bed. It's not a cat tree, but it will do.

Bobby and NNGM
Yikes. I hate having my picture taken.

Stockholm Harbor
Coming in to Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm
We took a Hop-On Hop-Off boat to go sightseeing.

Getting run over by the Royal Guard...
I didn't see him coming! I don't know if he would have run me over or not.

Back in position
Palace in Stockholm

Gamla Stan, Stockholm
Old Town Stockholm, with lovely canals

Fountain at the entrance to Stockholm
This fountain marks the entrance to the harbor.

Cruising out the Archipelago
The Archipelago consists of thousands of islands. Very beautiful.

Bobby on the Helsinki #3 Tram
For 6 euro you can get a day pass that covers all public transportaion in Helsinki. What a deal!

Church In The Rock, Helsinki
This church was built inside a blasted out rock bed. The acoustics are amazing.

Orthodox Church, Helsinki
The first (of many) Orthodox churches visited on this trip.

Lutheran Cathedral, Helsinki
The cathedral is located on Senate Square

Bobby visits the Sibelius Memorial
This is one of the stranger memorials I have seen. It looks like a bunch of pipes but doesn't play music.

Mr. Sibelius doesn't seem impressed
The really strange thing is the disembodied head!

Bobby tours St. Petersburg, Russia
We are off on our whirlwind tour of St. Petersburg.

The Catherine Palace
Built for the wife of Peter The Great. Located in Pushkin, this palace was occupied by the Germans during WWII

The Gold Room, Catherine Palace
The Czars really knew how to spend money!

A Dining Room, Catherine Palace
I loved those huge blue and white tile fireplaces. The tiles probably retained a lot of heat.

Hermitage, St. Petersburg
The Hermitage is one of the world's great art museums. We covered 3+ miles here and still didn't see it all!

Hermitage, St. Petersburg
The columns in this room are made of malachite.

Hermitage, St. Petersburg
The art and architechure were stunning.

Chapel at Peterhof
Peterhof was probably my favorite place that we visited on this trip.

Grand Cascade at Peterhof
These fountains do not use pumps! The force of gravity does all the work.

Grand Cascade and Palace
Peterhof was (no lie) the summer cottage of the Czars. It is located on the Bay of Finland.

Sun Fountain at Peterhof
Just one of the many fountains on the beautiful grounds of Peterhof. I would have spent my summers here too!

St. Isaac's Cathedral, St. Petersburg
These magnificent columns are made of solid granite.

St. Isaac's Cathedral, St. Petersburg
The interior of the cathedral was breathtaking.

St. Isaac's Cathedral, St. Petersburg
These columns are also made of malachite.

Church Of The Resurrection, St. Petersburg
Also known as the Church On Spilled Blood. Amazing architecture.

Church Of The Resurrection, St. Petersburg
An incredible interior.

Church Of The Resurrection, St. Petersburg
These are not paintings. This interior is made entirely of mosaics.

Church Of The Resurrection, St. Petersburg
More stunning mosaics.

Bobby in the van
We had a wonderful custom tour for just our small group through DenRus tours. They were great!

Bobby and Maria, our guide
Maria has a cat, too! Hers walks on a leash.

Bobby has a new friend!
Normally the cabin stewards on Princess don't make towel animals. Cristopher was different!

Bobby at lunch
Lunching in the buffet on Lido Deck.

Tallinn, Estonia - Fat Margaret Gate
Tallinn is an authentic medieval city. Yhe old town is walled. This is one of the gates.

Tallinn - Big Kitty
I have no clue why there is a huge cat on top of this building.

Tallinn, Estonia
We loved Tallinn. Unfortunately, it was very rainy and windy. All those cobblestones were a foot-killer!

Tallinn, Estonia
View from the top of one of the walls.

Irony
One of my favorite pictures: 1,000 year old city wall, with the Golden Arches in front. They're everywhere...

More friends!
Bobby is joined by Mr. Elephant, Mr. Swan, and Mr. Doggie (who belongs to new Auntie Debbie)

Bobby tours Gdansk, Poland
Gdansk was almost completely destroyed during WWII. Not only did they rebuild it, but...

Gdansk, Poland
Gdansk was rebuilt to look the way it did before the war, using old pictures, blueprints, etc. Very impressive!

Gdansk, Poland
Looking through the St. Mary gate, at the enormous St. Mary's Church - capacity 25,000!

Gdansk, Poland
St. Mary's

Gdansk, Poland
Typical street in Gdansk

Gdansk, Poland
The Neptune Fountain. They were filming a movie when we were here; no idea what it was.

Solidarity Monument, Gdansk
The Solidarity Movement was started in the Gdansk shipyards in 1980 under the leadership of Lech Walesa.

Bobby views the Solidarity Monument
The Movement led to Poland's freedom from the Soviet Union. Lech Walesa became the first elected president.

Bobby relaxes on the Lido Deck
Ah, relaxation after all that walking!

Bobby relaxes on the Lido Deck
Actually, it was pretty chilly on the Lido Deck, which is why the pool chairs were empty.

Bobby, Aris and Tsenya
These were our favorite waiters

Where is Bobby?
Can you spot Bobby? Bad Aris was trying to sneak him home.

Vigeland Park, Oslo
Vigeland Park was one of our favorite places - once you got over the fact that everyone was naked. LOL

Vigeland Park, Oslo
Rumor has it that Vigeland gave the model some candy - and then took it away - to get the reaction he wanted.

Bobby checks out a Viking ship
Those Vikings were either very brave or very stupid. This was an ocean-going ship.

Gol stave church, Olso
A very interesting church (no windows!) dating from the 1200's, relocated to the outdoor Folk Museum.

Akershus Fort, Oslo
We loved the fact that the fort's cannons were aimed directly at the Crown Princess - the cruise ships dock right next t

Akershus Fort, Oslo
One last, very steep, cobblestone street in Europe...

Leaving Olso - and the end of our trip (Sob)
Goodbye to the Baltics! We had a wonderful and memorable trip.

Gdansk, Poland
Gdansk 002.JPG 2008-09-08