8th Unlock the Past Cruise: Day 7 & Day 8 St Petersburg, Russia
The 8th Unlock the Past cruise continues, and the Day 7 (Friday 17 July 2015) and Day 8 (Saturday 18 July 2015) stop at St Petersburg, Russia marked the half-way point.
I know that St Petersburg is the highlight for so many, both those on this cruise, and others in general. However as Russia was never a place I wanted to visit, and we weren’t allowed off the ship without being part of an orgagnised tour, I choose to save my money and have a quiet two days on the ship. Trust me, that felt wierd. I’m used to having to keep track of where I have to be, at what time. So to wake up in the morning and have no talks to think about until the evening on both days was really was bizarre. I’m not sure I like this “no plans” thing. I’ve always said that I reckon that going on a regular (non-genealogy) cruise would be boring, because what do you do? Sleep, eat, read, wander around, play games, sunbake, oh and swim. Anyway I wondered if I’d be able to fill my days. Surprisingly I did. A bit of reading, some interneting, some blogging, exploring of the boat, and a massage – and suddenly the day is gone.
As I never foot on Russian soil, my photos for my St Petersburg days are going to be very different to everyone elses, including the other geneabloggers. They have photos of museums, cathedrals, castles and other elaborate over-the-top buildings galore, so be sure to keep an eye for them when they get back and write about the cruise.
You’ll see that my photos are from views from the ship. Photos of things on the ship, and also photos of Kronstadt, the Russian fort islands, which we passed through as we left Russia. For more on these, check out Wikipedia. Unfortunately the weather turned grey by that time, so the photos aren’t very pretty, but I still wanted to share them with you.
view of the sea arriving at St Peterburg, Russia – taken 17 July 2015
we’ve arrived at St Petersburg
buses taking tourists on tours at St Petersburg – I loved the centre of the roundabout
is was Russian Day in the Oceanview cafe – so amongst the regular range of choices int he buffet, there was a number of Russian dishes
red, white or blue martini anyone?
St Petersburg from the ship
everyone else was onshore, so I had a choice of the lounge chairs, deck chairs or a hammock
afternoon tea
some of the shops on the Celebrity Eclipse. They were closed as the ship was in port. Also expect lots of zero’s on the prices of most items
Helen found some chocolate for me onshore – so I have Russian chocolate
our ship was one of 7 ships in port at St Petersburg
more of the 7 ships in port at St Petersburg
Alan Phillips, Rosemary Kopittke and Eric Kopittke after the evening talk while docked at St Petersburg
old naval ships at Kronstadt, Russia
Naval Cathedral of St Nicholas at Kronstadt, Russia
one of a number of dilapidated buildings on the Kronstadt islands
warships left in a scrap pile
a fort at Kronstadt, Russia
another fort at Kronstadt – this is a complete island in itself
our ship passed this tiny little boat at we left St Petersburg, and it looked tiny all the way down there, though it doesn’t look it as this is heavily zoomed in
Next stop Day 9 Finland …
What’s on?
Free Stuff
Proud to have my blog on
Leave a Reply