At Sea.

After stopping off in Tallinn we had a couple of days at sea, its a mixed blessing really because if the weather is good it great to sit out by the pool and sip cocktails, if its bad you have to sit inside and amuse yourself !! As it happens we had a mixture of weather, one day we could sit out and the other we couldn't.  Beth and I visited the spa area on one of the days to use our free sauna and steam bath voucher. I much prefer the steam bath but poor Beth couldn't cope with it, she said she felt like she couldn't breathe! So she went and had a chill out in the relaxation area instead!

I have a couple more photos of the Tallinn stop, the photo above tickled me, 'Decent bowl of Elk Soup' not something I have tried!!

I am not really sure what this life sized model of a doll was all about, but lots of people had stopped to have their photos taken with her!

My hip has been so much better, but I carry a fold up stick with me just in case. I find that I am more 'limpy' when I get tired, so as I am trying to avoid limping its best to be prepared! Here are a couple of photos of us getting back on the ship. In the background you can see the lovely MSC Opera and our cabins were four decks from the top at the back, we spent a lot of time sitting out the back watching the world go by!

Our next stop was St Petersberg in Russia. I had prepared well, or so I thought! I had booked us all on a day trip around the city. To enter Russia you need a visa, the tour company had arranged them for us and we had to bring along printed confirmation to show to the border control officers. The night before we arrived, I got out my paperwork only to find that I had forgotten to bring the visas!! Luckily I had sent a duplicate set of paperwork to Sue and she had bought hers with her. It didn't end there, once through the controls, I got the ticket out only to find that I had picked up the Copenhagen tour and not the St Petersberg tickets!! This time the tour guide confirmed us on her list and we didn't actually need the tickets! t wasn't my finest organisational hour! Once under way we finally stopped for lunch at this wonderful bakery. A lovely old building with the most intricate of cakes, biscuits and pastries, we had to try some for our lunch.

They were so beautiful! Russia is a place of contrast, the centre of the city was quite affluent with nice shops and plenty of evidence of money. On the outskirts there were some very grim looking blocks of what I think of communist flats, thousands of people living in bleak grey buildings. single glazed draughty windows which would not be adequate in the harsh winters. 

These blocks went on for miles people living on top of each other. The churches on the other hand were opulent and covered in gold. Its a strange place. 

I am glad  that we were able to see this fantastic city, I will post some of the churches and cathedrals later in the week.