This year for our anniversary we decided to go on a Baltic cruise. This gave us the opportunity to check off some other places I never thought we would go to while over here. I was beyond excited! We decided to go with MSC for one of their 7 day cruises, where we started in Kiel, Germany then went to Copenhagen, Denmark; Stockholm, Sweden; Tallinn, Estonia, and St. Petersburg, Russia. So many cool places we got to go to!!
Our cruise did not leave until Saturday afternoon, but we wanted to make sure we had enough time to get to the port as there were no direct flights into Kiel, Germany. So we got off work early on Friday and left for the airport.
This time we fly KLM, which we had never done before, but I highly recommend them as you can get free snacks and alcohol on your flight! Best way to start off your vacation :)
Saturday, July 2
In the morning we had to go back to the airport to figure out the best away to get to Kiel, Germany. We ended up taking a bus that was not that expensive at all!
Finally, we made it to the port! Drop off our bags, as they will bring them to our room for us!
The line to get on the cruise went super fast, I was actually surprised. This is where we got our cards for on board to let us in our room, off and on the boat and allow us to purchase whatever drinks and snacks we wanted, as we got the inclusive drink package! Unlimited drinks, snacks, ice cream, can't beat that!
Of course right when we got on the boat we had to see what our room looked like. It actually wasn't bad at all! We decided to get a balcony, as it was super cheap for 2 people! About $2000 for the week! Plus we had to spoil ourselves since it was our 3rd anniversary! :)
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| (Looking out our balcony at port) |
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| (Pool Deck) |
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| (Smallest "promenade" I've seen on a ship hehe) |
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| (Outside the sushi restaurant on board) |
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| (Casino) |
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| (Outside the theater on board) |
And eventually stop for another drink break ;)
A little before dinner there was a welcome briefing about what is offered on the ship. Of course we had to wait for the English version ;)
Back to exploring.
Our room was the first room at the bow of the ship. Which was nice because not many people would make noise down there plus, we had access to this amazing view when we walked through 2 sets of doors right outside our cabin. I don't even think many people even knew they could go through them. So glad we did. We got to stand up there while the ship set sail.
The dinner's changed every night, along with theme and dress attire. Preston thought he would try and fit in with the European's and their popped collars hehe :)
And again I was lucky, we got a window seat! (Picture out the window will come later in the blog)
I swear they were trying to make us fat as there were multiple courses to choose from and of course you want to try them all!
Today I got decided to try 4 of the courses they offered.
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| (Caprese Salad) |
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| (Rissoto) |
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| (Chicken) |
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| (Dessert) |
After dinner time to explore even more until the first show that night. Every night there was a different show put on. The time you went also depended on what time your dinner reservation was at. we did the early seating of 6pm as neither of us wanted to wait until 8pm every night to eat dinner. Therefore, that meant that our show time was 9pm.
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| (Top deck/pool area) |
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| (Mini golf) |
Show time!
After the show it was finally time to relax in our room until the real adventures began in the morning. Plus enjoy the amazing sunset from our balcony! (It was still bright on the Baltic Sea until close to 2200 and usually rose around 0430 or so)
Next stop, Copenhagen, Denmark!
Sunday, July 3
Today's cruise stop was in Copenhagen, Denmark. We got to watch us coming in to port, very pretty!
This tour included a few of the major highlights throughout Copenhagen. We got to see The Little Mermaid, stopped by the Gefion Fountain and St. Alban's Chruch, saw the Amalienborg Palace (Danish Royal Family's winter residence), walked down the Nyhavn district (colorful houses/cafes/restaurants) walked around Tivoli Gardens (famous amusement park), and walk around Christiansborg Palace (Danish parliament).
First stop The Little Mermaid.
This statue was a gift to Copenhagen in 1913. Over it's time on it's rock in Copenhagen, the sculpture has had some rough patches. Where the head was cut off 3 different times, one in 1964, 1990, and 1998. Eventually they filled her neck with cement to try and get people to not cut it off. Also, in 1984 she had one of her arms cut off. In 1961, 1963, 2006, and twice in 2007 she was covered in paint. And only once in 2004 was she knocked off of her rock.
Very cool to be able to say that I have actually seen The Little Mermaid in person.
Next we drove down the road a little bit and stopped at Gefion Fountain and St. Alban's Chruch.
I wish I had enough money to make these only my winter residence. Also, each Palace around the courtyard was designated to only one family member. Or if you were a guest, you had your own palace as well.
Right when we were about to start walking back to the bus, one of the palace's started doing their changing of the guard.
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Walking back to the bus you could see the Opera House across the water.
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| (Opera House) |
Best 5-star hotel in Copenhagen. Can I stay here please!
Right outside the Tivoli Gardens was a Build-A-Bear Workshop. I thought it was pretty funny as I did not know this was a worldwide store, so I just had to take a picture of it.
In 1914, the park opened it's first roller coaster, which is now actually called Rutschebanen or in English, The Roller Coaster. This is one of the oldest and still operating roller coasters in the world. To add to that, it is one of only seven to still be operated by a brake man for each train. Unfortunately, Preston and I did not go on this ride, we went on one of their newer roller coasters. It was called Dæmonen (The Demon). This ride was built in 2004, it was a lot of fun!! Unfortunately, Preston and I went on separately because they had signs up saying you could not put your bags anywhere when you got up to the ride and that you had to buy a locker. But then of course when I went up first I saw there was actually a place for our stuff. Oh well, we both had fun!
I think it was pretty cool we got to say we went on a ride in one of the oldest amusement parks in the world. We would of gone on more rides, but here every single ride you go on you have to pay. So it can definitely add up when wondering around this park.
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| (Me waving on the roller coaster) |
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| (Baby firetruck) |
After enjoying the Tivoli Park for a while, it was time to go to our next destination, Christiansborg Palace.
Time to relax before dinner and get a drink, or two!
Tonight's theme was Italian. I was very interested to see what the food tasted like since I know what good Italian food is now.
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| (View out our window at dinner) |
Even though not all my food was typical Italian meals I usually get, they weren't bad.
Before dessert, all the waiters walked around dancing with one of the desserts of the night and waving their napkins.
Then after the show to enjoy the view before the sun would finally go down. Usually it was about 11 or so before the sun would be gone. And then it would be back up about 4:30am.
Monday, July 4
Happy 4th of July!! (Even though that is only an American thing, they cruise ship still recognized it at certain places on the ship. One was the all-you-can-eat dinning hall. They had a massive American flag cake. Too bad it wasn't cut when I was there.)
First stop, the hot tub to relax on this perfect day!!
I only went up and danced after the activities since one of the cruise entertainers pulled me up there to join everybody in the dancing. Definitely still need to work on my dancing skills hehe :)
After an eventful morning, we decided to be lazy and go lay down for a while.
Late afternoon on the schedule was poolside Bingo. For some reason I love playing Bingo and hadn't in forever, so I thought why not.
I got my Bingo cards and of course my Piña Colada!
Today to win you had to get blackout. I was so close to winning, I only needed one more number to win. Oh well, I had a lot of fun playing.
Today was formal night. I was so excited to wear one of the dresses I brought, as I don't get to dress up very often.
Before dinner, got decided to get a drink at one of the bars outside the restaurant. We liked coming to this bar as we ended up having a favorite bartender who would usually be working at this bar before dinner.
Time to enjoy dinner now.
After dinner I wanted to go enjoy the view before going back inside to see what the show was going to be for the night.
As usual, the show was very interesting. I have noticed that the names of the shows do not always go with what you think is actually going on. For example, tonight was Cat Women, it was more Batman and Robin and some acrobats dancing around. Still interesting to watch though. Some of the routines and movements they do I have no idea how they do it!
Back to the top deck to enjoy the sunset.
Time to rest up for another adventurous day, this time in Stockholm, Sweden!
Tuesday, July 5
Happy 3rd Anniversary to Preston and I!! :)
For our 3rd anniversary our shipped docked in Stockholm, Sweden, another place I had always wanted to go to.
Today, we had a tour planned but, unfortunately, we were told we had to pick a different tour because there were not enough English speaking people who signed up for it. I almost forgot to say something about that. Since being in Europe you will obviously have many different languages being spoken, but of course they do not have the option to do a tour for every language. Therefore, they had the 5 main languages that were spoken on board, English, German, Italian, French, and Spanish. It was always very interesting to hear the announcements on board as they would run through every language for the same announcement. Also, if you wanted to work on this cruise ship you had to know every one and be able to speak it fluently. I was truly shocked at how well some of these cruise employees spoke every language, a lot of them did not sound like it was a second or even third, fourth, or fifth language! I wish I was that good at learning languages.
Back to the tour part. We decided to change our tour to City Tour, Vasa Museum, and Royal Palace. I am actually kinda glad we had to switch to this, as our other tour did not take us to the Vasa Museum and I think this is one place in Stockholm you should definitely go see!
The first stop for us was actually the Vasa Museum. Our tour guide walked us around briefly explaining some of the main highlights and information about this museum and the Vasa ship. After we were able to walk around by ourselves and go see the rest of the floors.
In 1625, the Swedish king, King Gustav, requested that he have 4 new ships be built for him, as they were currently in a war with Poland-Lithuania. At first it was supposed to be a small ship to replace some of the ships that he lost during battle. But with the never ending requests by the King to change the design, the Vasa ended up being the biggest ship ever built for the time. It ended up being a 135-foot ship. To add to this already massive ship, the King wanted extra gun space and also had them cram as many guns and cannons as possible on the ship.
When the ship was finished, which was built way too quick for a ship this size and with all the changes that kept occurring, the ship sank.
The Vasa had only one voyage, probably the shortest one ever. On August 10, 1628 the Vasa ship sank after only traveling 1,300m (less than a mile)! The ship caught a huge gust of wind through the cannon holes in the ship and then took on water, which eventually made the ship sink. 30 people died on this ship, with thousands of people watching. As everyone in town wanted to see this great ship set sail. Little did they know, they would be watching this massive ship sink right in front of their eyes.
It was not until 35 years after the sinking, that someone wanted to go down and get all the cannons that were on board. But it was not until 331 years later that efforts to bring the ship back up to the surface would actually happen. Workers spent over 2 years digging tunnels and putting cables under the ship to help it float back to the surface. On April 24, 1961 the Vasa ship finally reached the surface! 333 years after it initially sank.One thing that I think is truly amazing is that over 98% of the original structure of the ship was still intack when brought up to the surface!
The palace is the official residence of His Majesty the King of Sweden, with over 600 rooms between 7 floors. There used to be a castle where the now Italian Baroque style palace is, as the "Tre Kronor" castle burned down in 1697.
When walking through the palace you can notice all the different themes and styles the previous Kings or Queens had, as most of them left things behind to show their style.
First, we stopped at the smallest public monument in Stockholm. It is called Järnpojke or the Iron Boy but it's actual name is "Little boy looking at the moon." It stands only 5.9 in high. It is said that if you rub its head or leave a gift, you will have good luck.
One of the many monuments in the city.
We walked around the city of Stockholm for a little bit, but then it was time to go back to the ship.
Since this was one of the shorter tours that was offered, we still had time to go back on the boat and relax and enjoy the hot tubs!
Then time to watch us set sail to the next destination.
Time for dinner!
So thought I would post some of the silly pictures Preston and I took that show our true personality; we love being goofy and silly!
Then of course I wanted a normal one.
The many dishes of the evening.
Then our own photoshoot, as it was another formal attire dinner night. And some more of us being our goofy selves :)
I love this guy to the moon and back, would be lost without him! Happy 3rd Anniversary to us!
Time to rest up for the next day, in Tallinn, Estonia!
Wednesday, July 6
Today's destination was Tallinn, Estonia.
I honestly did not know what to except or think there would be much in this city, but somehow this ended up being one of my favorite places I have been too, as well as Preston. Definitely recommend visiting this city if you can and make sure you get a tour as that is where you hear some pretty cool things.
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| (Getting ready to dock in Tallinn) |
Multiple concerts and events take place here, but the grounds are best known for the hosting of the Song Festival that is held every 5 years. This is a massive event, as there are almost 25,000 singers taking part in this event, with almost 100,000 people attending. There is even a tower located to the right of the arch where anybody can go up and watch. From up there, you can see the whole city and the bay.
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| (Statue of the designer) |
This church has the most powerful church bell in Tallinn, as it consists of 11 bells, including the largest in Tallinn.
Then we continued on down past the cathedral to see the Kiek in de Kök Tower and then continued on towards downtown Tallinn.
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| (Building next to the old KKK building) |
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| (The yellow part is where the old KKK building was) |
Another house we passed was called haunted, as multiple people say the top room is possessed by the devil and people have seen weird things happen in that room or figures appear up there.
Once we made it to downtown, there was a market going on. We actually ended buying a few souvenirs from some of the stands.
Time to relax before dinner.
Enjoying the view from our balcony.
Dinner time!
After the first 4 dishes, before dessert the waiter's walked around with small Baked Alaska. I had actually never seen Baked Alaska before, I thought it was pretty cool that it is on fire before you serve it.
Then they had all the chefs come out so we could see who they are.
We decided to go to the show tonight. Wasn't bad, but again did not have to do anything with the title of the show.
Thursday, July 7
Today was our last destination stop. Never did I ever think I was going to get to go to Russia. But today I finally got to go somewhere I never thought I could, St. Petersburg, Russia!
We decided to do an all day tour of Russia, cause who knows if we would ever come back. The tour consisted of going to Catherine's Palace, St. Isaac's Cathedral, then enjoying a typical Russian lunch, the Hermitage Museum, and then to end our day off at a shop where we could purchase some Russian souvenirs, such as the matryoshka doll.
When we first got off the ship this is what we saw. Run down looking apartments everywhere.
Our bus dropped us off and we had to walk up to where Catherine's Palace is. We passed a random band playing in the middle of the street.
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| (Church) |
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| (Old school house) |
First stop Catherine's Palace. Since we had to be on the bus super early to start the all day tour, we ended up being the first people in line to go into Catherine's Palace. So nice to not have hundreds of people in one of my pictures.
Catherine's Palace was built for Catherine I by request of her husband, Peter the Great, in 1717. The original design was only supposed to be a two-story building but that all changed when their daughter, Empress Elizabeth decided to make some changes. She wanted it to rival the Versailles. The "new" Palace was completed in 1756. Elizabeth also loved gold! She had the whole outside and a major portion of the inside all decorated with gold.
There were two different times when the Palace had parts of the home destroyed. One was in 1820, when there was fire set to part of the palace and Alexander I asked Vasily Stasov if he could restore his grandmother's home. And then again during the 2nd World War, the Germans intentionally destroyed about 58 of the halls in the Palace were destroyed. Still only about 32 of the rooms have been fully renovated again.
To help pay for the costs of the reconstruction, they rent out the Grand hall for events. They even had Elton John perform a concert in this hall; you can actually see one of his pianos still in there.
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| (First people inside Catherine's Palace) |
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| (Entrance where they used to come in) |
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| (Grand Hall) |
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| (One side of the room) |
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| (Other side of the room) |
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| (The ceiling in the Grand Hall) |
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| (The white piano belonged to Elton John) |
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| (The initial "M" was above most doors) |
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| (The "Gold Hall") |
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| (The whole room's wallpaper is all hand-painted paintings) |
Now we headed in to the more modern rooms, that are not all covered in gold.
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| (Pictures of the destruction done to the Palace) |
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| (Behind Catherine's Palace) |
This church was built between the years of 1818 and 1858 and was originally the city's main church and also the largest cathedral in Russia.
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| (Outside doors on one side of the church) |
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| (Mosaic tiles) |
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| (Inside of one of the doors) |
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| (The back doors to the church) |
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| (McDonald's in Russia) |
We first started with some tomatoes and cucumbers with some spices. And of course they had to have some vodka on the table as well. I couldn't drink it all, I tried. Way too strong for me!
Then we got to try the Russian soup, borscht. Very interesting, it wasn't bad, but I wouldn't get it again.
Then for our "main dish," a small bowl of stuffed pasta. This actually was pretty good, wish we had a bigger bowl though.
Now for dessert. The smallest scoop of ice cream I have ever seen!
Well that was an interesting lunch, now back to exploring more of St. Petersburg.
When we were driving around I thought it was interesting to see all the American fast-food restaurants and see how they write them.
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| (Blurry Starbucks) |
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| (Blurry Subway) |
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| (KFC) |
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| (Pizza Hut) |
Now it was time to go see the Hermitage Museum, which is one of the world's largest and most prestigious museums. This museum was founded by Catherine the Great in 1764, but has only been open to the public since 1852.
If you wanted to see everything in this museum, it can take you up to 11 years! There are over 3 million items inside the Hermitage. I would highly recommend a tour of this museum, so they can show you some of the major and most important pieces most people want to see here. There are so many famous works of art in here that is almost mind blowing to have everything all in one place to see.
If I ever go back to St. Petersburg, I will definitely want to come back to the Hermitage and see what else there is to offer in this museum!
This was the coolest clock I have ever seen! This peacock clock used to run all the time, but now it only gets turned on a few times during the year. But when the clock goes off the peacock spreads its feathers, the head owl in the cage spins, and then a few other parts to the clock move around as well.
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| (Leonardo Da Vinci painting) |
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| (Leonardo Da Vinci painting) |
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| (One of the most controversial paintings in the Hermitage) |
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| (Massive tapestry) |
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| (The ceiling) |
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| (Raffaello painting) |
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| (Michelangelo sculpture) |
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| (I thought this one was funny) |
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| (The ceiling) |
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| (All mosaic tiles on the floor) |
Preston and I were both beyond hungry by this point! I will say I was a little hangry, as we forgot to bring any snacks and the lunch was the smallest lunch ever! And of course to make things a little worse, there were massive lines to go back through customs to get on the ship.
Once we were finally back on the ship we had to change and then go straight to dinner since it was already that late. Perfect for us as we wanted food badly!
After dinner went up top to just enjoy the view. Even though it was very cloudy, it was still nice to just look out.
Tonight we decided not to go to the show, but to go down to one of the bigger bar/lounging area to have a few drinks and just relax. We also got to watch some people dance with some of the cruise entertainers, which was really funny.
Friday, July 8
Today was an at sea day. So we got to sleep in and enjoy doing basically nothing if we didn't want to. Which is basically what we did.
We did eventually go up to the pool area to get some soft serve ice cream. Which was really tasty!
After a super lazy day, it was time for our last dinner on board the ship.
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| (View at our table for dinner) |
Then to the last show to the cruise. And of course I had to bring in my usual strawberry daiquiri's.
I liked how at the end of the show they thanked everyone for being there and had a lot of the entertainers and workers on the ship say a huge thank you and goodbye to everyone.
Saturday, July 9
I did not want this cruise to end! We went to so many amazing places I never thought we would make it to while living over here.
Today we decided to try one of the other breakfast locations on the ship, which actually turned out to be really good. Wish we would have tried it sooner.
And then to wait until the ship finally docked. And then the mad dash to get off!
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| (Goodbye MSC Musica, it has been fun!!) |
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