Belgium - Brugge

Day 15


The final stop

Today was our final port of the holiday, I cant believe the trip has gone so quickly. With it being the last day we got up nice and early had some breakfast. Despite our early rise, we were unable to leave the boat until mid morning and this caused no end of problems. The main problem was everyone else, all 3000 of them had time to get breakfast and get ready to leave the ship. This meant we were all heading to the gang plank at the same time, which caused a queue half way round the ship.


After 2 hours of waiting around we eventually left the ship and onto the shutle bus to Blankenburg. From there we caught a train to brugge and after a 20 minute we were in the city centre.


There were lots of river ways

Old interesting buildings

Eventually we all met in the Brugge town square, where me and my dad had one beer each. Costin approximately £10 per drink this was rather expensive, especially for my dad as I had no money left! However, each drink had nearly 3 pints in it! I had a whole nights drinking in one glass.

After a long hard look round Brugge we headed back to the train station and got absolutely soaked.



In the evening we all went for one final meal together and then off to the planet bar for one last drink.

Sea Day

Day 14


Rubbish Weather


I actually quite like sea days because it gives you time to relax and visit the buffet section mulitple times. However, when the weather is bad there are no outdoor activities such as deck quoits, shuffle board, cricket, football and table tennis to keep you entertained. This can make the day drag along a bit, not that I am complaing or anything. If I had my way I would have a pool competition and bring the table tennis table inside, there are plenty of rooms big enough to hold it.


The Gym (where I have spent loads of time!!!)

Moving on (its not like me to complain or anything), after having a full english breakfast we headed back to the cabin to start the horrible task of packing. After a hour and half stuffing 2 of the 3 cases to braking point we headed to the gym for a good hour and half. After a trip to the steam room and a brief swim, I headed to buffet for some lovely food.


After running out of things to do and far to full to eat anything else, I headed to the planet bar for a afteroon beer.


It is Belgium tomorrow and I am off buy some good quality chocolates

Germany warnemunde and Rostock

Day 13

Surprisingly Very Nice

we woke in the morning and it was gloriously sunny outside, this meant I could work on the old tan as we walked round Germany. We had read the P&O brief on warnemunde and it said there was not much there, so it was best to go stariaght to Rostock on the train. After a 40 minute train and tram ride (absolutely gratis!), we made it into the centre of Rostock.

It was a very pleasent place, quite quiet but with a variety of shops and markets. After ages looking round the city centre taking the standard photos of all the tourist attractions, we headed into a local bar for some local German beer.

After riding around on public transport all day, we decided to go back to Warnemunde via a local ferry. On route to catching the boat we came across a street vendor selling currywurst (curried sausage), trust me it tastes better than it looks.

Eventually the boat reached Warnemunde and we decided to to have a look round the village. The place was amazing and had a real buzz about it, loads of shops, bars, coffee shops and floating markets. We should have stayed here all day, it was so much nicer than Rostock. We can only assume that the P&O brochure had slammed the place because they had wanted to sell Tours to Rostock.

some cool sandsculptures we came across

In the evening we ate at Sindu, this is a Indian restaurant onboard that we had to pay exra for (£15 per head). The food was absolutely amazing, we all had 5 coures and we were absolutely stuffed by the end of it. Even though the food was great, It is only a place you would at once while you are on board.

Sea Day

Day 12

Still no sun


We awoke to find it was cloudy outside, I could almost feel my tan fading by the second. Wth no sunbathing to be done I headed to the gym again!!!!!!!!!! for a very very long workout, followed by a sauna and thena dip in the heated outdoor pool. After feeling very refreshed I headed to the Buffet zone and absolutely stuffed my self full of food.

　
after a quick game of deck quoits, which I won!!!!! In fact I destroyed the opposition. A couple of us headed to the planet bar, where I helped self to couple of beers and typed up the old blog.

The Planet Bar

　
In the evening it was another black tie event, I had to dig out another shirt tie combo. In fact, the clothes situation is getting pretty bad now, especially in the sock department. May have to do some laundry soon, or I could be really really lazy and just buy some more!

Estonia - Tallin

Day 11


Where has the sun gone?
　
After another early start, we headed onto th deck to find we were in the middle of thunderstorm and it was absolutely lashing down. After a full english beakfast we caught the shuttle bus into the old town of Tallin.
　

The Old town was very beautiful, with multiple coloured houses and variety of buildings. Lots of the women were dressed in traditonal dress, trying to tempt you into the local bars. After wandering around for about a hour we ended up in the old town centre.
　

As we passed through the narrow winding streets there were plenty of nice churches and buildings.
　

After stopping for a taste of the local beer saku (really good quality beer and pretty cheap too), we headed to the city view points take some more photos.
　

After several hours looking round the city in pouring rain, it finally ground us down and we headed back to the shuttle bus. As we walked back I came across a local shop selling cheap alcohol and cigarrettes. After purchasing some saku I had a look for some menthol and super king blue smokes for some people at work, however there were none anywhere.

　
In the evening we went to watch another comedian called Peter Piper, he was not my type of comedy. However, everyone else qiute liked him.

Ship Day

Very lazy Day

Day 10

Today we are curently anchored in St Petersberg in the glorious hot sunny weather. Unfortunately not having a visa to get into russia and with no decent tours on offer it meant we all spent the day on the ship.
The hot weather meant it was probably meant it was my lasiest day yet. After a quick trip to the gym in the morning I basically basked in the sun till about 8 and had a couple of beers as well.


In the evening we al headed to the buffet and then on to watch a comedy magician called Manuel Martinez.

Here are some pics of St Petersberg as we sailed from the harbour.

Russia - St Petersberg

Day 9


Midnight Sun

Prior to arriving in St Petersberg you had to book on to a organised tour if you wanted to visit the city. The russians are very tight on visas and they dont let every tom, dick and harry into the country, that is unless you are willing to pay £100 for a visa. Anyway, the whole familiy was booked on a walking tour of St Petersberg. After negotiating customs we all headed to the tour bus.

Military Building

On entering the city we were greeted with typical eastern european high rise flats, that looked very dodgy and somewhat intimidating. As we entered the heart of the city it was getting more and more beautiful and you could see why the city was known as the jewel of the baltic. There are lots of wide open waterways and palaces on every corner.

We began our walking tour at Palace Square . The place was litterally filled with newly married couples in their wedding gear. Apparently it is good marital luck to walk round the various mouments of the city. However, our Russian guide said it was a load of nonesense, because in all marriages there are three rings, the engagment ring, the wedding ring and the suffering!

The Bronze Horseman

　
St Isaacs Cathedral ( Gold Dome)

　
The next place we visited was the Cathedral of Spilt Blood, quite magficicent building full of colour.

　
Not far from the Cathedral was the local flea market. As well as selliing the usual tourist nonesense, it was also full of weaponary ( knives and replica guns)

　
The final place we visited was a old Russian Warship, unfortunately we had just arrived too late to have a look round it.

　




As we headed back to the ship, we thought that th days fun was over however we were wrong. All of a sudden a voice from the middle of the bus (i was sat on the back seats, because I am seriously cool! or more likely the back seats were a far walk for all the elderly on board and they where the only ones left when I got on the bus) said we are on fire!!!! Sure enough there was black smoke billowing from a water machine. My mum was in full blown panic mode and was ready smash the back window of the bus with a hammer. The driver quickly sorted the problem out and we were on our way again, with all the bus windows intact.


During the summer months Russia basks in daylight pretty much all night. Here are some photos of the mdnight sun
　

A couple of hours later here it is rising again.



　

I can honestly say that St Petersbergh is one of the greatest cities that I have ever visited. I just wish I could have explored the city more, I get the feeling you could spend weeks looking round and never getting board. It is definitely somewhere I would like to come again.

Sea Day

Day 8

Mid Holiday Weigh In

At the beggining of the cruise there was a introductionary talk, and peraphs the most interestinrwng fact was 'the average person puts on between 1 and 2 stone over the course of the holiday'. So today i headed to the gym for a weigh in. I have managed to put on 4pounds so far, it looks like a upgrade to brown scrubs will be inevitable when I get back to work.

As for the days goings on, it consisted of the usual sea day activites, deck quoits (usual poor performance), gym, tanning ,swimming. and couple of beers

Here are some pics of the boat in the evening time.

The Sea Screen, where they play movies on deck

One of the three pool areas



Finland - Helsinki

Day 7

Another Scorcher

After another very early start we all headed into Helsinki to hire some bikes. However, due to the very hot temperatures we decided this would be a bad idea as it would be far too exhausting. The first stop was the local market. The place was full of the usual tourist crap you find at all the port markets " i love finland’ type stuff!

Next on the agenda was some obligatory photo snaps of the local attractions

The presidential palace

　
The Rock Church



　
Senaatintori Tuomiokirkko ( senate square), home of the lutheran Cathedral of St Nicholas



　
After walking through a beautiful park ( kaivopusito park) and a variety of shops we stopped in a small cafe that had free wi-fi. This gave me the opportunity to update my blog finally. I have been unable to put anything on it so far due to the extortionate cost of satellite wi-fi on the ship (£100 for 60 minutes). Anyway, after sampling a couple of the local beers we headed back into town. You have to be careful wandering around Helsinki due to all the trams; you literally cannot hear them. After a couple of near misses we headed back to the ship for some relaxation and a bit of tanning.

One of the rules of the boat is no throwing anything overboard, this obviously includes throwing food. However, after raiding the buffet cart I noticed there was one digestive biscuit left on my plate that I could not stomach. So I thought it would be a good idea to throw it overboard to the seagulls. After launching it with some effort, it looked like a Frisbee heading to open water. However, much to my horror a gust of wind brought it back towards the boat right towards the balcony decks several floors below. Luckily it landed on a unoccupied deck and I thought I had got away with it. Unfortunately every seagull in the dock had spotted the digestive and they descended on some poor sods balcony! People in surrounding headed for cover because they did not want to get crapped on. I made a sharp exit, having learnt my lesson, make sure you throw it harder next time!

After In the evening the whole family headed out for a couple of beers and into the casino. I did the usual and lost all my chips, I am down to my last £10 now.

Sweden Stockholm

Day 6

Hot Hot Hot

We arrived in Stockholm nice and early and much to my surprise some seriously hot weather. After leaving the ship nice and early, Claire, Stuart and my sister headed into town via the free shuttle bus. My first impression was that Stockholm had a big city vibe, however not the manic crowds that greeted us in Copenhagen. However, the Swedish shop opening times were 11 till 5, not sure if I could cope with that in the UK.

The first destination was Gamlastan, the old part of Stockholm, situated on a small island. This part of the city was full narrow winding streets, with houses painted in a variety of colours. Gamlastan is also home to the Royal Palace, and Stockholme Cathedral after taking the obligatory pictures we all headed back over the bridge into the modern area of the city.

Back in the main area of the city, there were lots of shops. After being dragged around many shops, Stuart and I decided to stop off in a nice little pub and have a couple of beers, very expensive ones! After about an hour the girls returned with their multiple purchases and we headed back to the coach pick up point. Where there was a giant queue and we almost missed the boat back!

One of the best parts of visiting Stockholm is the scenery sailing out. The surrounding sea consists of over 24,000 islands which makes for some picturesque scenes.

There is always one island that spoils the show though! In the picture below, the islands has been taken over by cormorants. They all nest together and due to the amount of bird waste they produce it destroys all the plants on the island. Apparently after about 10 years they move to a new island and then destroy that. I bet some Swedish millionaires are hoping the birds don’t nest of their island.

After another god meal we headed out to see the evening’s entertainment, a comedian called Ray Turner. He was excellent, he was taking the Mickey out of all the elderly on board the ship.