Baltic Ports

It has been hard to find the time or a decent internet connection in order to update our blog. Today in Warnemunde, while more than 1000 passengers are in Berlin, I will take a stab at updating all that we’ve been seeing and doing. After a relaxing day at sea on Monday, we spent Tuesday in Oslo. Utilizing the Hop on Hop off Bus, we visited a most unusual sculpture park. Gustav Vigeland was famous for his designs of the human body. His sculptures are of babies, children, teens and adults posed in many different contortions. Vigeland shows the male and female body in exact detail.

  Wednesday we visited three different castles in the North Zeeland section of Denmark. Our inside visit was at the Frederiksborg Castle, otherwise known as the “castle of Frederick II”. The second castle was called Fredenborg Castle or the “castle of peace”. The Danish Royal Family uses it still today as their summer residence. The last castle, called Kronberg was right on the waterway that separates Denmark and Sweden. Because of its distance from Copenhagen and northern latitude, the Royals of old never wanted to visit or stay there. It was used by the military for over 200 years, until 1924. It s now a UNESCO site and a public museum.

Frederiksborg Cathredral

Frederiksborg Castle

Today we chose to stay around Warnemunde and do a Disney excursion that visited the Bad Doberan Monastery and took us on a 100+ year old steam train. The “Molli” Steam train was so named because a lady was trying to catch her dog (named Molli) who was chasing the train. The conductor thought she was calling the train, and ever since the train has been called “Molli”. We had apple cake and coffee in the resort town of Kuhlungsborn and afterwards walked around the quaint seaside shops before returning to Warnemunde. The rest of the sunny afternoon was spent browsing the shops in Warnemunde and watching all the ferry and boat traffic go in and across the canal. As the Disney Magic left Warnemunde tonight we had a flotilla of boats with passengers following us to waive goodbye. This is the last time this season the Magic will sail out of the port of Warnemunde and they wanted to wish us well.

Friday is a day at sea to rest up for our two very busy days in St. Petersburg, Russia. Till next time.

Chanted Tallinn and beyond

Livonia, Estonia

Our hike to Toompea

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral-Tallin

Monday, July 26th dawned bright and sunny. Temps went up to the mid 80’s so our self-guided walking tour turned out to be a great day of exercise. Our tour took us up to Toompea, but because we took a wrong turn we climbed up 6 flights of stone steps to reach the top as opposed to walking into town via the front gate. Toompea is where the first stone fort was built in Tallinn and is the highest land point in the historic part of the city. We looked around the area, visiting the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the Dome Church and the fort before gradually making our way downhill to the Old Town with its many shops and restaurants. I had researched where we wanted to eat prior to our arrival in Estonia and we found the restaurant Balthasar which specializes in garlic dishes. The restaurant was named after a notorious writer, Balthasar Russow who wrote his masterpiece “Chronicle of Livonia” while residing in the very rooms that now house the restaurant. Balthasar overlooked the town square so it was pleasant watching all the tourists while we enjoyed a delicious garlic laced meal. We walked around the quaint town square and soaked up the history of what used to be called Livonia before making our way back to the ship. Estonia is steeped in history and was one of the main reasons we chose this itinerary for our cruise, so we were very glad to visit here.

Our next and last port of call on Tuesday was Stockholm. We did a Disney excursion here that showed us the Gamla Stan (old town) section of the city and other city highlights of this town spread over 14 islands. After a short bus ride out of town we came to Sigtuna. Sigtuna is an idyllic little town with wooden houses, narrow streets and the smallest Town Hall in Scandinavia, dating back to 1744. We enjoyed some free time here where we were able to pick up the rest of our souvenirs for folks back home. We enjoyed a Swedish lunch of meatballs and boiled potatoes with the rest of our bus group before heading back to Stockholm. From the quick visit we had of Stockholm, it is definitely a city worth more exploration.

Historic Stockholm-Gamla Stan

Sigtuna Town Hall

Main Street in Sigtuna

Our last two days of the cruise are spent at sea as we make our way back through the Baltic Sea and into the North Sea. An interesting tidbit we learned about why our time in Stockholm was cut short has to do with the amount of ship traffic expected in the English Channel and the docking times in Dover. The dock times are 5:30am and 11:00am and the Magic has to be in port by 5:30am so passengers flying out on Friday can catch their flights. We are spending an extra night in London so we plan on hopping on the tube and exploring some more of the city.

Till then……

From Russia with Love

Greetings from St. Petersburg. As we sailed into St. Pete it was raining and gray, kind of befitting as we sailed past their naval island where we saw some old dilapidated battleships but also many of their newer members of the naval fleet. However, by the time we docked in Petersburg, the rain had ceased and the sun was starting to appear. Everybody was very anxious to get off the ship and begin their tours. We made it through Customs without any problem and emerged on the other side to look for our private guide. There were about 25 different guides waiting, all holding name boards of different passengers who had booked private excursions. We found our guide and proceeded outside to meet our driver. Nadia was our tour guide and Vladimir was our driver. We set off for our tour of the city. How amazing it was to see what is called one of the “most beautiful cities in the world”. On Saturday we saw 2 Egyptian Sphinx that were a gift to Petersburg in 1830. We toured the Peter and Paul Fortress where the walls are 12 meters thick and where prisoners were kept inside those walls. We saw the Baroque style Peter & Paul Cathedral built between 1712-1719, the battleship Aurora, which fired the first shot of the 1917 Revolution, the beautiful Church of the Spilt Blood, the green Triumphant Arch built to recognize Russia’s victory over Sweden in 1721 and St. Nicholas Cathedral built by Elizabeth in a Russian Orthodox design. Around 5PM we went to a traditional Russian restaurant where we enjoyed a very typical Russian meal in a beautiful setting. After dinner we went to a traditional folkloric show before heading back to the ship.
Sunday dawned bright and sunny with temperatures eventually getting into the low 90’s for the day. Nadia and Vladimir were waiting for us at 9AM and we headed off to see Catherine’s Palace. The crowds were many as we walked up to the entrance but being on an independent tour with a knowledgeable guide has its benefits. Nadia took us right to the front of the line and said “stick with me lie glue” and she meant it as we pushed (with permission) through the lines and into the palace grounds. Utterly amazing and breathtaking is even not enough to describe the grandeur and gaudiness inside the palace. The palace grounds were beautiful as well, Our tour included a 5 course Russian lunch at a popular country restaurant.
After lunch we enjoyed the scenic drive to the Peterhoff Palace and Fountain Gardens. On our visit to the gardens we saw a majority of the 180 fountains that are on the grounds. Amazing to see the technology that was used when these fountains were built hundreds of years ago. The designs themes are something to behold. After our walk thru the gardens we took a hydrofoil back to the city center of Petersburg where Nadia gave us some free time on our own to walk around and have a bite to eat before our evening canal cruise. We successfully chose little café and ordered something to eat off the Russian menu which turned out to be quite good. The canal cruise was interesting and we were grateful that Nadia was along because the narration was all in Russian. Nadia and Vladimir delivered us back to the Disney Magic where we bid them farewell and thanked them for a delightful visit to their city.
Two very long, sunny days in Petersburg, but it has been the highlight of our shore excursions thus far. I will try and update on our next two ports before we get back to Dover on Friday.

To Dover and The Magic

After spending a sunny, breezy day on Saturday with 9 of our English cousins, we are off to Dover where we will board the Disney Magic.  The 5 hours we spent with famly at Kew Gardens were precious and have created some beautiful memories.

Gary and I also took time to ride the London Eye, do a Thames River cruise and enjoy dinner at an English Pub. I will post more as I'm able.

Traveling Day

Well we're off today to jolly old London.  Hope the thunderstorms and hail that are predicted don't delay our flight. Can't wait to taste that yummy airline food ya know'.  Tomorrow we are doing a Thames River Cruise followed by a flight on the London Eye and dinner at Porter's Pub. We will be meeting others that I have been chatting with on the Dis-boards at the London Eye and Porter's so we are looking forward to it.

Saturday, our English relatives, probably about 10-12 of them are coming into London to meet up with us at Kew Gardens. We are really looking forward to seeing them all again.

Till next time....
Sandy

Getting Ready

Can you say BUSY???  That's how our lives have been this past week as we make final preparations for our departure to London later this week.  We are looking forward to doing some sightseeing in London, visiting with our English cousins at Kew Gardens this weekend and meeting some of our fellow travelers on the BallyHoo Bus to Dover.  We will be sailing on the Disney Magic to the Northern Baltic Capitals. Ports of call include Oslo, Copenhagen, Warnemunde, St. Petersburg, Tallinn and Stockholm.  I will try and post as often as I can while we are gone.

Sandy

Abu Dhabi Day

Our time in UAE is almost over. Monday we arose bright and early for an all day excursion to Abu Dhabi. Located 100 kilometers away from Dubai, it took about 2 hours to get there by bus. We traveled on a well maintained multi-lane highway all the way, often times with some construction. Our guide, Tony kept us well informed along the way with interesting facts about Abu Dhabi and the UAE as well as history about the Sheik Zayed Mosque we would be visiting.



The building of the mosque began in 1996 and even though construction is completed, they are still working on the landscaping. Some statistics about the mosque that I learned were: there are 80 domes, 1097 pillars in total, wit 97 of those pillars directly inside the main prayer room. These 97 pillars were made of marble and inlaid with mother of pearl. All of the marble used in the mosque was imported from Macedonia. The main dome of the mosque measures 35 meters in diameter on the outside. The turrets around the mosque are each 107 meters tall. The walls of the outer room are marble with beautiful inlaid mosaic floral design. Inside the main prayer room a handwoven Persian rug spreads from one end of the room to the other and is the largest handwoven Persian rug in the world. The large Swarovski crystal chandelier hanging in the center of the prayer room is reportedly the largest of its kind. There are two other smaller Swarovski chandeliers in the side rooms as well. The 99 names for Allah are calligraphed on a Kibbah wall inside the mosque. The Kibbah wall points in the direction of Mecca. In our hotel room there is an arrow on the ceiling which also points in the direction of Mecca. Sheik Zayed Mosque is the largest machine made mosque built is comparison to the Taj Mahal which was man-made. The mosque was built at a cost of 3.6 billion US dollars.

Quite a sight to see! The rest of the day we spent driving past Presidential palaces, and the Emirates Palace Hotel. The Emirates Palace is a 7 star hotel and a lot of the rich and famous put in frequent visits to this hotel. Abu Dhabi was a fascinating city, even larger than Dubai, and with even more construction cranes than Dubai. We made a quick stop at a date market as well where we made some purchases.

Later that evening was our OSSN farewell dinner, which we followed up with a walk to the Old Souk. This was a very authentic feeling souk and we got some unbelievable deals. The little pathways we took back to the hotel were crowded with people, adults and children even at the late hour of 10PM. The shops were still open and the area seemed more alive than during the day. One thing for sure... we have felt TOTALLY safe walking around Dubai. With a 1.5% crime rate who wouldn't feel safe. This has been a wonderful experience and we are so glad that we had the opportunity to make this trip. Tomorrow we pack up and head home, but not before going to visit the Palm Jumeirah island and take a tour through the Atlantis Hotel.

Stayed tuned for our next adventure....

Our Day in the Desert

Saturday started off with a 1/2 day to ourselves, so we walked down to the creek and took an Abra (water taxi) over to the gold and spice souks on the other side. Wandering around on our own gave us more time to take in the whole flavor of the area. We didn't feel so rushed in looking for some special souvenirs and practicing our bartering skills. After lunch in our hotel lobby restaurant we gathered up our Safari gear and met everybody in the lobby.

There were sixteen 4x4 SUV's lined up outside our hotel waiting to take all of us out to the desert for our Safari. They had warned those with back or heart problems that this desert safari could be too rigorous for them. We decided to just ask our driver to take it easy at first so we could see how rough it really was. The SUV's caravaned about an hour outside of Dubai to one of a handful of "businesses" that offer these Safari tours with a Bedouin camp experience. Upon arrival to the desert base camp we were given an opportunity to souvenir shop and use the restrooms while our drivers deflated the air pressure in the tires.

The time had come--we piled into the Land Rover, made sure our seatbelts were tight and our stomach's settled before Ishmael took off. We were 12th in a caravan of 16. This is the sort of dune ride that you WILL NOT experience on the Lake Michigan sand dunes. This was dune bashing at its best--sand flying, tires spinning, rocking back and forth as Ishmael skillfully took us up one dune then spun into the next dune all while avoiding the other SUV's that were so close by or worse yet not rolling our vehicle. Gary looked a little nervous at times. I would not really compare this to a roller coaster as it wasn't as steep or as fast. And it was NOT as rough or bouncy as one of those simulator rides at Disney. A couple of times we would see a vehicle stopped and were told - oops, somebody got sick to their stomach. The Safari made two stops, one for pictures and scenery, the other a beverage stop (no it wasn't a McDonald's in the middle of the desert) before arriving at the faux Bedouin camp.


We arrived just prior to sunset and we were anxious to try riding a camel. This was a real camel ride, starting with climbing onto the camel while it was kneeling on the ground, having it stand up while you're seated, being led on a short stroll around the camp and then back to starting point. To be honest, when the camel starts to kneel down, you had better be holding on for dear life because you are not expecting it to lunge forward and down all at the same time. This part of the camel ride was more jostling than the dune buggy ride and actually a bit scarier.

Afterwards we went into the camp where they had low tables with cushions to sit on set up in a square around a Persian carpeted performance area. We had a choice of having our fortune told, smoking a Hookah, having our picture taken in traditional garb or getting a henna tattoo. I opted for the tattoo. Then it was time to enjoy the Arabian style meal that had been prepared for us...fresh breads, lentil soup, rice, stewed vegetables, kabobs, a local fish, chicken sausage and an array of desserts. They make a very tasty version of bread pudding and we have had it served at almost every meal since arriving here.


Once our belly's were filled it was time to watch some belly dancers. The performance was on the Persian carpeted area and we were all mesmerized by 2 belly dancers as they moved in ways I could never dream of moving. They even got some audience involved which was fun to see how much we didn't know about moving our belly's. It was great fun, but soon it was time to get back in our SUV's and head out of the desert. A short 5 minute ride brought us to the air refill station where Ishmael reinflated the tires so we could get back on the road to Dubai. All in all I would rate this as an A-1 excursion for the entertainment, adventure and dining value it provided.

Next time we're off to visit Abu Dhabi....

The City-Sites, Sounds & Smells

Friday afternoon our group of 66 climbed onboard two coaches and had a 4 1/2 hour tour of Dubai. The origin of Dubai goes back to 1830 when traders from Oman came here to make a life for themselves. At that time the city was called Al Wasl. It is fascinating to ssee how the old and the new Dubai live side by side (or across the creek) from each other. Our first stop on the tour was to Jumeirah Beach. Jumeirah means "Land of the Moonlight". Along this stretch of beach is where the luxury hotels and resorts are built up as well as palatial size homes and villas. Along this same stretch of Jumeirah Road stands the Jumeirah Mosque. This mosque is one of the few places where they have on display a copy of the Koran translated into English. As we headed towards the Dubai Creek, which is 14.5 km long, you can see the obvious difference between old and new Dubai and its way of life. Our guide pointed out the large blue Dhows which still ply international waters, sailing to far off ports with their wares. In contrast luxury yachts are moored near by. Our Dhow Dinner cruise in the evening was a great way to experience the culture from the creek all while enjoying traditional Indian and Arab cuisine.


Another stop in our city tour was the Dubai Museum and fort. This structure was built in 1785 originally as a residence for the ruling family, then it became a dungeon, a place of refuge during the was and eventually this museum. It was interesting walking thru the gallery and seeing displays of what used to be the way of life in old Dubai. After the museum we were off to visit the Souks, or markets. A note of explanation is necessary-Friday and Saturday is the "weekend" for the people here in Dubai which means that it is a day for all the Indian people to be bussed into town for shopping, visiting with relatives, eating and just congregating in LARGE numbers. Therefore, the Gold Souk was exceptionally crowded today, with people bartering, buying, selling and telling you anything to get you separated from your dollars. All the gold was pretty to look at, lovely to touch, but definitely not in our budget at this time. Upon leaving the Gold Souk we walked over to the Spice Souk where our guide took us into one shop to complete our purchases and get us all back on the bus in a timely manner. The bus literally crawled through the hundreds of Indians milling about in the streets, on the sidewalks and everywhere! Unbelievable to witness!


Some interesting facts I learned about Dubai:

Population of Dubai Emirate is approximately 2 million, of which 80% are Ex-Patriots. Of those 80%, 43% are from India, and one particular province within India. The other 20% of the population are domestic residents.

UAE is the 5th richest oil producing nation in the world

The tallest building in Dubai iis the Burj (means tower) Dubai at 818 meters. It is not totally completed yet due to the building slowdown here.

The Burj Al Arab hotel is 321 meters tall which makes it 1 meter taller than the Eiffel Tower.

Residents of UAE pay NO taxes. Dubai is a duty free shopping zone.

Ex Pats are treated with more respect and hospitality in Dubai than they would be in their home countries.

Dubai is 98.5% crime free, and in Dubai women enjoy equal rightswith men.

Just thought I'd share those tidbits with you all. More about our Desert Safari tomorrow.

Flight-Fantasy-Food

Flight-

We arrived in Dubai after a 13 1/2 hour flight on one of the new Delta 777 aircraft. This flight, though long, was smooth and uneventful. The two meals & snacks that were served were better than many we have eaten on airplanes. There was a long list of movies to select from if one chose to stay up and view them. Fortunately, we had exit row, bulkhead seats so we had plenty of room to stretch out and sleep. We actually got more sleep than anticipated so once we got to Dubai, cleared customs and reached our hotel at 8:30PM, we went out for a walk. Our body clocks didn't seem to be too off kilter.


Fantasy-

We pinched ourselves the next morningto make sure we really had woken up in the "City of Sunshine". After breakfast we took off walking and exploring the area around the Radisson Hotel. It was located right across from Dubai Creek, so we strolled along the creek and looked at all the Dhow's. We will be taking a Dhow Dinner Cruise on the Creek during our time here. It was fascinating seeing all the fishing boats at the wharf-watching the men hose down the boats and hang their laundry out to dry. I love visiting new places and experiencing new adventures, so being able to visit Dubai is a fantasy dream come true.


Food-

An early highlight of our trip was being able to partake in an afternoon High Tea at the Burj Al Arab hotel. I had reserved it prior to our departure from home. We arrived early so we could explore this famous hotel before taking the express elevator to the 27th floor to the Skyview Bar where they served High Tea. The view from the top was breathtaking, looking off in one direction to see the Jumeirah Palm Island where the Atlantis Palm Hotel is, then off in the other direction to see the coastline which boasts an expanding number of luxury hotels and high rise buildings.

To say that High Tea was an indulgence is an understatement but one SO well worth every calorie eaten and every dollar spent. From the fresh berries and cream, the Salmon Wellington, a variety of finger sandwiches, chocolate Cream Brulee' and other sweets, to the fresh scones with clotted cream and jams, it was 2 hours well spent enjoying every morsel and crumb. Our server even packaged up some petit fours for us to enjoy later in the evening.


After Tea we decided to take a taxi over to the Mall of the Emirates seeing as how we were so close at this point. Plus, we wanted to walk off some of the calories we had just enjoyed. This gave us the chance to see Ski Dubai - the indoor ski mountain inside the Mall. Quite something to witness, snow, chair lifts, ski runs, tubing slopes etc. After a couple of hours of walking the 3 levels of this Mall, we were ready to head back to the Royal Ascot Hotel, our host hotel for this OSSN Conference.



More to come as the conference activities begin later today (Friday)....

Off to Dubai

Well, tomorrow is the big day! When I first heard about this opportunity to visit Dubai with OSSN, I told Gary that I wanted to be on that bandwagon. That was almost a year ago and so when the conference registration opened in December of 2008, we began our plans to attend. From compiling frequent flyer miles into one account to finding a hotel to stay in for our early arrival, all things came together nicely.

We fly out Tuesday from Detroit to Atlanta and then a 14 hour flight from Atlanta straight over to Dubai. That is a LONGGGG time to be on a plane, so sleep aids, reading material, snacks and more sleep aids are all part of our packing list. We are supposed to arrive in Dubai on Wednesday, April 15th at 7:50 PM, so our body clocks should be totally confused. However, that is not stopping us from jumping right into exploring this fascinating city. Thursday afternoon we are scheduled to go to the infamous Burj Al Arab hotel for High Tea. Having a reservation of some sort at the hotel is the only way of gaining entry into the property. Even our scheduled city tour the next day is just a drive by of the Burj. I will try and post some pics from our view from the Skyview at the top of the Burj.

More from Dubai....

Hawaii is Great in 2008

ZIPLINING---still Fun!


Praise be to God for another beautiful sunny day here on Kauai. This is the day we've been waiting for, when we do our zipline excursion. We returned to the Kauai Back Country Adventure camp near Kapaa and signed our life away by filling out all their waiver forms. We weighed in and then were given our equipment. After a 15-20 minute ride in a German made military vehicle up to the start of the Zipline course we got our first look at what was in store. 7 different zips that would gradually take us down to a lower elevation from whence we started. At first, we were comparing the equipment and the procedures to our adventures in Barbados back in January of 2008. After leaping off the first platform and arriving safely at the next, we realized that even with differences in procedure, this was still a blast. I found out at the end of the day that Gary's semi-fear of heights was kind of an impediment to his total enjoyment of the course. During the zips, he was breaking out in a cold sweat, which he later said was because of that GIANT leap of faith he had to take to get off each platform. Overall though, we did both have a great time. I've included some pictures for you to laugh at.


This afternoon we head back to Honolulu to catch our mainland flight back to the continental US. Hopefully, our return flights will be less adventurous than our flight over, and Lord willing, we should be back in Michigan by early afternoon. Everybody should make it a priority to visit our 50th state and all her beauty. Hawaii truly is Paradise.
Till our next trip...ALOHA!!

Coffee, Chocolate & Sugar Cane

Well since I last made an entry, we have covered half the island of Kauai seeing many new and interesting places. Monday was pretty much a wash-out, there was so much rain it caused flash flooding in many places. We used that time to look at hotels, souvenir shop and eat in local eateries. We also prayed for SUNSHINE! Tuesday burst forth with blue skies, tradewind breezes and sunshine. This was cause for seeking out the surf and sand in front of our hotel and soaking it up for a few hours. After eating lunch at a local diner we paid a visit to the historic town of Hanapepe. The one street thru town looks like time stood still here, which has played to its benefit in that it is often used in movies. We took a walk over the famous Hanapepe Swinging bridge. I love doing these suspended bridges, be it on a playscape with my granddaughter or over the Hanapepe River with my honey, Gary. On our way back to Poipu we stopped at a new visitor attraction, from which the Coffee part of my title comes from. The Kauai Coffee Plantation is new within the past 10 years, since we were last here. With a small museum, a coffee sampling showroom, a gift shop and a self-guided walking tour explaining the coffee growing process, it was an interesting, free way to spend the dwindling hours of sunshine on Tuesday.

Wednesday morning was warm and sunny as we headed out early for a 9AM tour at the Steelgrass Chocolate Farm. While Gary drove thru "rush hour" traffic for all of 10 minutes, I watched and listened to a webinar on my laptop in the car. YEAH! for modern technology that enables one to travel and learn at the same time. We arrived at Steelgrass with time to spare. This is a family owned and operated business and they wear their hearts on their sleeves when it comes to sharing their passion for organic fruit, spice and chocolate farming. Throughout the walking tour we learned about and tasted some unusual fruits, ie: "lon-gone", "hairy eye-ball" and Tahitian lime, along with sugar cane, bananas and star fruit. Everybody was VERY anxious to get to the chocolate part of the tour. Did you know that the theobromines in dark chocolate caused chocolate to be called the elixir of the Gods? Cacao has one of the highest concentrations of antioxidants of ANY food and so with that in mind, the tour ended with a taste sampling of 10 different types of dark chocolate. Hey, somebody has to do this for you, so I hope you appreciate the sacrifice we made in tasting all these samples. The picture is of Cacao pods as they grow on trees. These are almost ready to pick. Immediately following our Chocolate tour we headed off to the Sugar Cane fields. This is where we "flumed the ditches", otherwise known as floating down the irrigation ditches that were built approximately 150 years ago to facilitate the watering of the sugar cane fields. This activity is not for the faint of heart as you ride in a large, sturdy inner tube, in 69 degree water that flows swiftly down hill, thru 5 different tunnels and two gurgling waterfalls as you try to not bump into the rock-walls and outgrowths of greenery. The tour ends with a nice picnic lunch at the Backcountry Adventures Camp. The picture shows a participant entering one of the tunnels. Tomorrow we take our rescheduled Zip-line excursion.