Month: May 2015

Good Sunday morning dear friends. As we drove around yesterday our guide pointed out great onion domed churches and said, "During the Soviet times, the domes were destroyed and … that church was a roller skating rink, that church was used to care for old people, that church was used for…." Churches are being restored and indeed today we will visit a grand church, St Issac… but I think I will miss Mass as we are on tour from 7am until probably like yesterday…. 6pm. So my dears, please offer a little prayer for Susie and Chuck as we pray today in thanksgiving to the Lord God for sending the Advocate as he promised! The coming of the Holy Spirit is celebrated today as we end the Easter Season: " The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Spirit of God dwelling within us… Alleluia" (Romans 5:5)

I was in this same place at this time yesterday, got Chuck a cup of coffee, told him, "hit the decks!" and then got hot chocolate for myself and headed off for blogging. Sun is shining but it reads 46 degrees on the TV. bbbbrrrrr. We got off the ship and queued up for Russian Immigration… Present passport and tour ticket and get a stamp for the day. … About 1 1/2 hours after meeting time in the Pacifica lounge we were on our tour bus, 30 bright eyed travelers with Galina, our excellent, perky, full of energy host and guide. She kept counting us because I’ll bet if she loses one of us… she will be roller skating in one of those closed churches (no! She says the Soviet regime is over and all the churches are back in service….) St Petersburg is celebrating what they call Victory over the Nazis (our VE day is their liberation from Nazi Germany) and they are celebrating the birthday of St Petersburg 350 years ago (?) when Peter the great decided he needed a warm water port and he built the port at St Petersburg. The city is clean and with lots of buildings, and with the occasional Palace and onion domed church. We went first to Peterhof, the summer Palace of Peter the Great. Cream color and gold and white. What a maintenance nightmare and very clean and well kept. We had to put on little booties to protect the amazing parquet floors. Every window is curtained with gold and white. Many rooms are covered with silk wall paper and the gold!!!!! One whole gold room, Chinese "lobbies" rooms that are for walking through only! Dancing rooms, and finally "The Throne Room". What great egos these Czars and Czarinas had! Apparently the Nazis did a lot of damage. The Nazis invaded through Poland and tried to get to Moscow but never made it. When they invaded the Palaces (and later the same with the Hermatage) they burned many of the panels and paintings for fuel. Even with that loss and damage, the palaces and art museums have been restored to great wonder. Miles and miles of gardens with fountains. Now our guide told us, the fountains at Peterhof are filled by underground springs that Peter found and he developed a system of locks to get the water "up" to the top garden with no pumping stations, all natural. The water then flows into the Gulf of Finland (and then the fertilizer polutes that gulf…) Oh well remember the grand egos. Let me tell you… It is Grand Gardens and it is called the Grand Cascade. We left Peterhof after looking at the great beautiful gardens and church there and headed for lunch in an "Americanized" restaurant (my evaluation. I wanted sausages and Russian black bread and we got soup, salad, and chicken). Oh well. Went to the Neva River and the Hermatage which is really 4 Palaces spliced together to form an amazing museum. I stood spell bound before Rembrandt’s Prodigal Son, and Leonardo, and many many Madonnas. I’m blank here on the artist who painted Christ being taken down from the Cross and while the background is almost black, the light in the painting comes from the body of Christ… Beautiful! Czars collected great works from France and Italy and then the works were stolen by the Nazis but recovered after liberation. The museums were full of people so at least the art is being seen. We finally left and walked along the Neva towards our tour bus. I think we were sleeping by 8:30 pm and here I am… I have to go get some more coffee and make sure Chuck did not crawl back into bed! Happy Happy Sunday dear friends. God bless you!

My dears! The sun "set" at 9:30 pm and was back up at 3:30am this morning! It was bright daylight at 5am so I poked my head out…… brrrrrr at 50 degrees but clear skies and sunny. We should be OK for touring today. We have Shore Excursions for 2 days. Cannot get off the boat without tour ticket and passport. Will go through passport control leaving and entering the ship every day. Will stick very close to tour guide. When I went for coffee two ladies were talking: "My mother said don’t go there … Stalin is horrible." The speaker said she grew up during the Cold War, but her mother vividly remembers Stalin and WWII… It is eerie entering the home of those who don’t like us. I can feel Debbie shaking her head… nope Debbie wouldn’t go here. We will stick very close to tour guide. I’m still remembering yesterday and as friend Andy said: "WOW we got it all back." Who ever thought we would be picked so easily? It was right out of Oliver Twist! Chuck’s wallet with driver’s license and credit cards is in the safe with my wallet, and Chuck is wearing his credit card on a bag around his neck today… It’s hard for him to give up that big back pocket bulge! OK that’s it for now. I delivered a book back to the library and I’m headed upstairs for more coffee. We are entering the port at St Petersburg now. God bless you.

Today we woke up to a sunny day. The window was warm when I leaned against it, but it’s still "jacket weather". Finally made it off the ship by 10:30! and caught a shuttle bus into the heart of Tallinn, Estonia. I intended to go directly to the Monastery of St Catherine, but our maps are in Estonia language which is a mix of Germanic, Dutch, etc. hard to compare to street signs so we missed Katerina Kaik and headed into town a block or so south… Saw a wonderful little cafe with lovely young people authentic Hansa clothed people inviting tourists to eat, so, determined to return we headed "up" the hill towards the St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. We climbed up a windy cobblestone narrow road past artists displaying their paintings on the town walls and emerged at Cathedral square. I visited the magnificent Orthodox Cathedral. Walked around a bit and then decided to go down and find our little cafe. That’s not as easy as it sounds…. We’re up on the top of a walled hill and keep coming out at overlooks of different sides of the city! We finally found our way down and to the little cafe and had wonderful salads with herring and smoked salmon… yum. And snaps and beer. burp. After a while, with the sun still shining, it was time to go so I led us to Katerina Kaik which is on Vene 12. Found it! We entered St Catherine’s passage hoping to find the Monastery and the "Energy pillar" thought to be a source of physical and spiritual healing. I walked on Chuck’s left (his wallet side) and he was carrying a small bag with his jacket and some other small stuff like sunglasses on his right. I got joggled and a skinny tall guy was trying to give me some papers. Suddenly Chuck yelled "Sue" and I turned to see him with hand on his pocket, "They got my wallet!" I ran and took the bag from him and he ran back out the way we came in… It was absolutely calm on that street. No one around. It’s like we got hit by maybe three guys who made a distraction by bumping me away from him, picked the wallet pocket, and flew away. "They’re gone." Chuck said a guy grabbed his pants leg and another must have picked his pocket… "They got my badge and patrol ID, he said." I said, "They got the credit cards." We hesitated a few minutes scanning the street and then headed back into the alley… All I could think of is how sorry I was that this happened. What a violation of our privacy and rights. and how I would handle cancelling the cards. We gave up the search and headed back down Katerina to the ship but in front of us came running 2 boys with Chuck’s wallet! We were stunned. The boy with the wallet tried to talk to us. I thought he sounded like a deaf person speaking and Chuck said he just doesn’t speak English… Chuck gave him what looked like a few $20s maybe Euro bills, I’m not sure. I was near tears, when I said, "Look where we are! At the Monastery!" I took a photo, but we headed back to the ship without going in. I think this just took the stuffing out of us. And so I offer thanks to St. Catherine. She knew my intentions. What can I say. This was a surreal event! Try to explain getting the wallet back with everything in it? Were the robbers stopped when they saw the badge and there was no money, and two boys saw it all and brought the wallet back? … we will never know. Can you imagine losing Chuck’s driver’s license and we have rental cars booked for 30 days? YIKES. Bad things happen; good things restored us. Thank God.

It’s after dinner already and I haven’t written about Copenhagen which is about to be supplanted by Tallinn… How fast this goes. Like a herd of turtles, Chuck and I were off YESTERDAY at 8:27 am. Onto the bus that waited at the foot of the pier to whisk us off into downtown Copenhagen of which there is no "old city." Within 10 minutes within a concert of Danish, French, English, Spanish among other languages 2 young men collected money and tickets (Euro, pounds, dollars) with elan and laughter. The top came off the bus and we were off! Copenhagen is a clean, modern city with palaces, gardens, and tall modern buildings and squares. There is a living queen who has her own palace and her own little building that she waits in while her boat comes to take her to the Royal Yacht. … We jumped on a boat to tour the canals and our guide was (ladies … this is right out of Under the Tuscan Sun) the tall, thin, blond son of Danish gods… standing tall with his blond hair in a pony tail and speaking English and Danish … His name was Viktor (of course) and he advised us to "mind our heads" as we went under low bridges… The boat tour (I bought it with the hop on hop off ticket) took an hour and it was amazing. Like Venice … We got off and chose to spend some time in Tivoli Gardens. (You can’t do everything and rather than a church or museum I chose a place Chuck thought he remembered from 1967) … We went in and asked the young lady (could be our granddaughter) if the garden of life was still there… she said, "a long time ago there was a garden with statues…" and I knew we were lost. Not there anymore. So I asked where we could get good Danish beer and open faced sandwiches, "Ah! now that she can help us with!" So we enjoyed real Danish food and beer at Grafton … which has big heaters and blankets (we saw them everywhere) "in case the sun goes behind a cloud…" After an excellent snack of open faced herring sandwich, beet root and beer we went back to the bus and to the ship. You know with all this amazing splendor, my heart is full of home. My friends and family with whom I correspond daily about illness and needs, pray with and dream with, are so far away… I’d like the freedom of my own kitchen and bedroom… OK! I’m the one who plans all these trips, but then I get here and keep looking homeward. Today was a day at sea with some excitement in the middle…. On the Norfolk day 2 people were taken off for medical emergency and today the Swedish Coast Guard visited the ship and helicopter air lifted off a crew member to the hospital. The Captain told us he is Ok. But thanks to modern technology and communications. We went to shore talks and listened to a lecture about Russia… Then the Captain talked to us. Here’s some facts: We traveled 5200 nautical miles on the Atlantic crossing and will travel 3400 nautical miles on this Baltic crossing. Other facts included why waves are so much more powerful in the Atlantic (ask Chuck) and the fact that the propellers on this ship turn 360 degrees. There are 2166 guests on this Baltic trip. OK! Tomorrow is Tallinn named after a Norse goddess Linda! Poor Tallinn was taken over by the Swedish and the Russians so … who knows what we will see? Currency is the Euro. I’ll write more tomorrow as Chuck and I are doing an independent tour (self guided). God bless you!

My dears! I hope your sunny day is as brilliant as this one. It’s warm too. Leaving England, we wondered if it would be misty and chilly all the way, but the warmth on our balcony suggests no need for jackets and scarves, although it could change and might be breezy, so bringing them. Heard while walking, 2 ladies walking too…. "I had a bit of bread with butter and a bit of cheese." I laughed and just kept walking… Our friend Sally says "bits of things" and I have to pause and wonder…. I guess we Yanks say "bits and pieces" and Jesus did say he did not leave out a "jot or tittle" of the Old Law. Aren’t we all different and funny! When I hear for example "A bit of cheese"… I think guiltily of the "hunks" of cheese I’m eating… "Real cheese" not the weak American stuff. Enough musing. I painted yesterday with a lady named Lisa I’ve seen drawing with colored pencils we sat together in the Solarium after my walk and swim with our water colors and painted … It was fun and even though mine look like 6 year old stuff, I’m capturing the joy of color that, for example, we see on Brugges, Belgium post cards. yes they really do paint their buildings those bright colors! OK! Off into Copenhagen and The Little Mermaid. I bought a Hop on Hop Off bus and canal boat tour like we have in Key West, Boston etc. Got room service and am full of hair curling coffee. Probably won’t sleep for a week. God bless you! Susie checking out at 7:20am.

At sea days can be awash with laziness or one could select activities. Unfortunately the activities I selected were before our wake up time of 1045am! well. so much for planning. I walked outside and discovered it is very brisk and windy, but the Captain advises it is calm and tomorrow in Copenhagen it will be warm and sunny! Yes! I drank coffee and a whiled away time with bit of standing at the balcony to watch the Explorer of the Seas pass by to port and then to the computer to write that we are doing… nothing. Actually yesterday the view of Harwich as we pulled away and all the wind farms in the water was interesting so I took a few pictures. Went to bed early and slept! I was having a hard time sleeping with all the energy on board the ship and Chuck just goes to sleep immediately. So… Hopefully I’ll be able to walk upstairs and then jump into the Solarium pool. The water in the Solarium pool was cold two days ago but I stayed in for 45 minutes. We both have books to read and I want to go over our maps of Wales as we met a lovely couple from Wales who recommended several places to "must see." If I see them again, I want to be able to pin point what they recommend. The upper coast of Wales including Conwy is recommended. I also met three ladies with a picture of a 4th who had to cancel… her husband had emergency surgery (so she stayed by his side). Chuck said he thought I would go on the cruise he would be OK – he would just call Dave. I thought I would miss him terribly. Jury is out on that one. Anyhow I took the ladies picture at the rail with Harwich behind and … wished them well. Off to do walking and pool bouncing. Love and God bless you!

Travel agent just sent an additional $75 credit. That’s more than 2 bottles of wine. I think I’m just going to give up on saving my brain. Love and God bless you! Time for life boat drill and… the sun is shining!

Good day dear friends and family. Here’s an update: We are very happy with the cruise so far. Chuck got over-tired with staying up every night to after midnight in the King and Country Pub… and I am normal trying to run up and down the stairs but not getting any better with the exercise. So I just hump and huff along out of wind! I will be blogging all along but let me give you a snap shot of today. Cold and rainy… I got off the ship with my new sail and sign card and I checked out the terminal here at Harwich and found the rental car place which tells me I will be able to get a porter to carry our (many) bags of luggage to the car rental site…. Should be no problem (as the Italians say… "Normale") Back on the ship without troubles and at noon we get a fancy lunch in the Chops Grille. For now, it’s sit and read while we wait for the thundering hoardes to get on. So far Brilliance staff has been wonderful and food great. Love to you and God bless you.

A prayer in the church at Saint Mere Eglise begins … "Our Lady of Peace, in this place where so many people have given their lives for freedom and human dignity…" In the church where American soldiers died and one hung from the bell tower while his soldier companions were slaughtered below him… in this place of fighting and death, the French people have placed a mile marker. Zero. From this place… peace begins. Each mile from there is marked as this is the first place the Allies liberated. As we drove around Normandy the announcer kept referring to Saving Private Ryan and The Longest Day. So those two movies really paid homage truly to D Day and the events that ended the war in Europe. While we fight with politics and greed we must remember that these men fought for freedom and peace. I was very affected by seeing and walking on Omaha Beach and the American Cemetary and I hope all of us will go to visit our soldiers. I read some markers and found Walter Baker and other names that are so close to family that I felt the brotherhood… So many men from a generation and then we went and did it again in Viet Nam and now the middle east (Afganistan). Thank God I got to make this trip. I would definitely return. In Brugges, Belgium the weather was grand. The town is lovely and peaceful. Someone said, since weather has been recorded; this is the nicest day of weather recorded! Still need light scarf and jacket as I am a Miami flower… We headed out and towards Harwich, England at 9:30pm and woke up to a somewhat cloudy day… with a little headache. Perhaps 2 Belgium beers, chocolate and several glasses of wine at Vintages made that headache!!!! Saving Private Ryan might become Saving Susie’s brain if this Vintages thing continues…. My dears, as of last night we had covered 5132 nautical miles. This ship is now empty except for about 250 who are "continuing" on the Baltic cruise. I need to go get my sail and sign card updated. Paid the last bill and will start a new bill. need coffee and will take a little walk outside to see if the rental car is near by where the ship will dock again in twelve days. Eventually (in twelve days) we will have to pack up and get off for good… but for now we are looking forward to swimming every day, walking on the upper deck, visiting Baltic countries, and doing new things… We have been invited to lunch at the Chops Grille at noon so … moving on I salute you my friends and family and wish you blessings and beauty. God bless you.

This is our Latitude/Longitude this Saturday morning… interesting, and we are headed for 0 degrees W. I remember studying latitude and longitude in school… So every day we look at the map and see our numbers and where we are. We will "land" at Cherbourg, France at 2pm and begin our tour to the beaches at Normandy at 2:15. We will travel through the first town that the allies liberated (we needed to take the road to keep the Germans from getting to the beaches when they found out they were being invaded). We have received our passports and passed through English immigration already and we still have France and Belgium on this leg of the tour. At 8:30 am there was little wind (8 mph), 55 degrees air temp. and 4796 nautical miles traveled so far. Blue sky! I’m off to the pool for bouncing exercise! Happy Saturday and God bless you and God bless our American soldiers.