Yesterday afternoon we visited the Fabergé Museum in St Petersburg.  The weather was still very unpleasant but we parked close & did not have to queue. It was well organised. We were in small groups of 12 & we had a specific time to enter so that was great.

Here’s the Fabergé story:

This is the first egg which is made of gold & coated with white enamel to look like a hen’s egg. The surprise inside was the golden yolk.

Here is the coronation egg. The little carriage, every part of which actually works, was the surprise inside & it is an exact model of the actual carriage. It was beautiful.

What do you think of this punch set?  It’s solid silver. I can see us all drinking punch out of it at a party, can’t you?

David loved this beautiful silver samovar.  His great aunt had a lovely one the family brought out when they emigrated. Not solid silver like this one, though.

We enjoyed our visit. There were so many beautiful things!

Last night we ventured out again to visit the magnificent Hermitage. There were only 3 bus loads from the Marina there. We had the place to ourselves. Wonderful. When we drove past it in the morning the queue was so very long. But we went straight in!  We had a tour of some parts of the museum. They have 3 million items in their collection. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t see the Impressionists but we did see the Madonna & Child by Leonardo da Vinci

And The Crouching Boy by Michelangelo

I really liked this sculpture

We entered through Catherine’s Winter Palace which,of course, was magnificent.

At the end of our tour we were treated to an hour long concert by a symphony orchestra in the large Italian Skylight Room. They played a number of short pieces by Rossine, Mizart, A piece from Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky & others but my favourite was Radetzkys March by Johann Strauss.

We had booked another tour to the Hermitage this morning (Wednesday) but we cancelled when we got back last night deciding, wisely, the queueing in the rain for a long time & then sharing the experience with thousands of tourists (20,000 per day) would only taint the pleasant experience we had last night. So we’re quietly resting in the magnificent library until we brave the weather this afternoon to go to the Faberge Museum.

What a day!  The weather was atrocious!  Rain, wind, cold but we can’t complain because we have had really good weather over the rest of the trip. We’re really pleased to be in port at the moment as the boat is moving quite a bit even in harbour.

However, it is not the best when we’re out & about!

Yesterday morning we went on a “Highlights of St Petersburg” tour. There are 5 million people living here & up to 2 million tourists (5 ships are in port) & they were all on the road yesterday. I thought Brisbane traffic was bad but we have nothing to worry about.

That aside, the tour was interesting. We drove past numerous palaces owned by different noble families back before 1918. We stopped for a picture of St Isaac’s cathedral with its gold dome (about 80 kg of gold).  (Sorry, my pictures didn’t turn out).

We visited Peter and Paul Cathedral which has a gold spire & sits within a fortress across the main river here, the Neva River. We had to queue for about 20 minutes in the wind& rain which was not pleasant. The fortress was the first part of St P to be constructed in 1703  when Peter the Great decided to build a new city.

Inside there are the tombs of the Romanov monarchs including this one on the right here which is that of Peter the Great himself.

Like all cathedrals there are many very splendid rooms filled with gold & chandeliers:

I can’t help wondering about the poor peasants who were freezing & starving while all this grandeur is being built & maintained!

That’s the sunset from last night.

Flower market in Oslo.

Remnants of the old city wall in Tallin, Estonia & the work being done on the tram tracks. There were many tourists here as there were 3 ships in port. Apparently there are often 5 in at once. What a boost to their economy!

It’s been busy. We had very little time in Oslo, arriving by train around 3pm Saturday & flying out at 10:55 yesterday (Sunday)but we were staying in the centre of town & walked around to get a feel for it. We found a flower market in the middle of town. (Was this where you used to sell the potted flowers & herbs you grew, Kylie?). It was a shame that we had so little time but we did see a lot of Norway in the time we had there & it has got to be one of the most beautiful countries in the world. We loved it!

We then flew to Stockholm & caught a taxi straight to our ship, the Oceania Marina which is a lovely ship – so luxurious & we are really enjoying it.

Last night there was a magnificent sunset around 10:30.

This morning we’ve done some jobs, haircut for me in a lovely salon with full length glass beside the chairs allowing an ocean view, washing, ironing etc.
We docked in Tallin the capital of Estonia at midday. It’s the smallest of the Baltic States with just 1.4 million people in the whole country. We caught the shuttle bus into the old town & had a walk around – some lovely old buildings. They are ripping up huge amounts of road to lay down cement foundations for new tram lines as they have upgraded their trams & the old tracks won’t hold them. The old trams & tracks were Russian. Enough said.
In the main square in front of the town hall there are many restaurants with girls in national dress out the front trying to get you to enter. One girl we spoke to was wearing a Russian national dress as she said that 20% of the population are Russian.

The food on the ship is, of course, wonderful. Everywhere you look there are eateries & bars. So much choice. Tonight we are booked into Jacques, the French restaurant so we’re looking forward to that!
Tomorrow morning we dock in Saint Petersburgh & we are there until Thursday night. Plenty to see there!

Sorry, no photos. The WiFi won’t load them. Bit annoying!

Norway in a Nutshell was the name of our independent travel tour; Bergen, Voss, Flåm, Myrdal to Oslo. Our travel agent, Lolo had trouble getting information on this from the wholesalers & the tickets seemed a bit weird but everything worked perfectly, thank goodness. We’d recommend it if you’re coming this way. It was great & certainly worth doing.

This morning we were up early for breakfast & onto the Flåm railway for our 20km, 1 hour ride from Flåm to Myrdal where we changed trains & headed to Oslo, arriving here about 2:45 after a further 5 hours on the train. The train ride to Myrdal is amazing: steep with a gradient of 1 in 17, winding, many snow covered peaks, ice lying in the valleys. The Bergen – Oslo ride is also fantastic. Again we had incredible scenery for much of the way.

I’ve used all the superlatives so many times. What can I say?

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This morning we caught a train from Bergen to Voss where we changed into a bus to Gudvangen & then a ferry to travel to Flåm on an amazingly steep fjord. It all seemed to be chaotic; there were mobs of people some of whom had to stand on both get train & the buses. It seemed like they didn’t have enough. Fortunately, we were early & found seats.

Once again the scenery is stunning & I’ll let the pictures speak.

Whilst we were on the ferry we spoke to a couple from Hong Kong, a family from Ontario now living in Norway for work, & their parents who live in Canada but have been in Swindon visiting family who also worked at Great Western Railway as my Alley family did. Small world, eh?

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It’s been quite miserable drizzly cold weather today but we’re staying at Flåm in a very lovely hotel right beside the fjord. We have a lovely big bath tub so I’m off for a good soak before dinner.

The bus part of our journey today was over an incredibly windy road. Pictures of that to follow later.

Here is David with Olav & Bjorg chatting & watching the scenery out of the front of the ship. They are a very interest couple who worked in Tanzania teaching physics, maths (Olav) & English (Bjorg) for a couple of years. They then returned to live in a central area of Norway. They built their own home when they retired – they didn’t manage the project they actually built it by themselves. They love Criss country skiing although Bjorg has had 2 knee replacements so she has had to stop. They have a hut in the mountains where they go for skiing with their family of 2 boys & an adopted Vietnamese daughter who was 5 when she came to live with them. They have 10 grandchildren too. Olav also worked in Antarctica as a glaceologist. Fascinating people living a very different life from ours.

More scenery from the last 24 hours (Kylie has requested more pics). Hope you like them.

After so much excitement last night with seeing the midnight sun we needed an easy day today. At midnight last night, out on deck, we face timed the Wangs so the kids could see the sun shining brightly at midnight. Sharing that moment with the grandkids & Sally was a highlight for us. They were really excited about it. I didn’t think the WiFi would work as it is fairly haphazard in places (understandingly) but it cooperated excellently for a few minutes.

This morning, after we washed (that needed doing …. A woman’s work is never done) we were docked in Honningsvag for a couple of hours so we wandered through town. It was just a little fishing village. David wasn’t impressed with the smell of fish. We found a half-way decent coffee & sat in the sun to drink it. It was really quite warm & we needed no coat at all.

However, I just went out on deck to do my laps to bring my step count up to 10000 & it was freezing & raining. I reckon you could call it sleet. Tomorrow morning we arrive in Kirkenes where we turn around & head back to Burgen calling at different ports along the way.

We’re waiting for 8:30 for our dinner. We were allocated the late sitting. Our table mates, Jo & Brian, disembark at Kirkenes to start heading home. We will miss them. They’ve been good company.

No photos tonight. The WiFi is very weak at the moment.