From Russia With Love - Our Baltics Cruise on Celebrity Eclipse

I started writing these blogs in December of 2014, so it’s a little hard for me to believe that this is the 15^th installment, in only 2 and a half years.  If the Boss (Esther) had her way, there would be at least 30 blogs, but as I continue to explain, the blogs don’t write themselves and the creative process cannot be rushed. 

Blog #15 is about our recently completed 14-night Baltics cruise on Celebrity Eclipse, with two extra nights in London at the end.  Some of you may know that Esther’s specialty is organizing small (or large) groups to travel together to amazing destinations, and arranging excellent private tours and excursions along the way.  This trip was no exception – a great itinerary with outstanding tours and a great group of people!

We departed from Southampton, England on July 16 with a group of 16 people, including me and the Boss.  Our entire group was in concierge class on Deck 9.  The Celebrity Eclipse is one of their Solstice-class ships, which have a capacity of 2,850 passengers.  This size ship provides an abundance of dining, entertainment and activity options, at a decent service level, without the more crowded feel of the mega-ships with 4,000 to 5,000 passengers.  If you read some of my previous blogs about our cruises on Paul Gauguin, Crystal or Windstar, you may notice that I’ve become a fan of smaller ships, because the service level is considerably higher and you rarely wait in line for anything, but that comes with a corresponding reduction in activity and entertainment options. 

Our staterooms were pretty standard, although the balconies were larger than most.  We had two reclining lounges and a table on the balcony.  The bathroom was functional with plenty of storage.  As usual, we had to ask for additional hangars in the closet. Concierge class provided a couple of extra benefits, such as priority boarding and a welcome aboard lunch in the dining room.

We chose select dining rather than the early or late seatings, but made a reservation the first day to have two tables together at 6:45 each evening, so we could all sit together and change seats from night to night.  Our waiter, assistant waiter, cocktail waitress, and sommelier got to know us quickly.  Unfortunately, the sommelier had 30 tables to cover, and was often nowhere to be found for long periods of time.

The Eclipse has four specialty restaurants: the Tuscan Grille (Italian), Murano (French), Qsine (quirky small plates to share) and Sushi on Five.  Esther arranged a complimentary dinner for the entire group at Qsine on one evening.   Some of the group booked other specialty restaurants on different nights, but we usually had at least 10 or 12 of us together for dinner in the main dining room.  The food was good to very good most nights.

Esther and I, along with Mary Jo and Bonnie, also paid for the Chef’s Table one night, a private dinner for 8 held in a separate room in Murano.  This included champagne and a short galley tour.  The Executive Chef prepared a seven-course meal with wine pairings, and it was excellent. 

The Chef's Table in a private room in Murano - Bonnie (seated on left), Mary Jo (seated on right), Esther and I (behind Mary Jo).  The other four were from the UK.

In addition to eating, shipboard activities included the nightly shows in the main theater.  Most of them were pretty good, but because of our departure port of Southampton, the majority of the entertainers were British, as was Sue, the Cruise Director.   The British comedians were funny, but clearly we missed a lot of the humor (or should I say humour?) due to the different English they speak and the accents.

We also gathered in the Sky Lounge on most sea days for afternoon trivia, usually a music theme first, followed by general knowledge.  When enough of us were there, we split into two teams, and though we never won, we had fun competing. 

Gathered in the Sky Lounge for trivia - from left: Sharon, Mary Jo, Deke, Dale, Pat S., the Boss, Bonnie, Chris, Ann, Patrick, Millie and Pat G.

Ann represents the team in a tie-breaking music question, but alas....

...the other team is a split-second quicker.

On a couple of nights, the Sky Lounge was also the venue for “Silent Disco,” a dance party where you put on a pair of headphones, and can pick from three different tracks.  Without headphones on, you don’t hear any music, but it’s pretty amusing to watch everyone dancing and singing along to the songs they chose.  Even the non-dancers in our crowd (i.e., the men) participated and grudgingly admitted to having fun.

Chris and Ann at Silent Disco

Even Deke got into the act!

When we weren't dancing, we were singing along! From left: Chris H., Sharon, Diane, Patrick, Tom, Ann and Chris I..

Sharon shows Chris her appreciation for dancing with her! We threw cold water on them before it got out of hand.

Another group event planned by Esther was our bocce tournament. Celebrity’s Solstice-class ships are the only cruise ships that have real grass lawn areas on their top deck, and that’s where we held our contest.  It was the first time for many of our group to play bocce, so it was not a surprise that the winning team was made up of me, Esther, Chris and Jack.   The first three of us live in the same neighborhood, which has Sunday afternoon bocce almost year-round.

Chris tosses a green ball while Pat, Deke, Chris and Tom watch.

Sharon demonstrates her unique bocce form as Dale and Pat look on!  (There is another leg behind her somewhere.)

Esther and Jack discuss bocce tactics and strategy, which must have been effective, because.....

.....here is the winning team - Jack, Esther, Tom and Chris. 

The lawn on the top deck is also where they have the glass-blowing studio, staffed by employees of the Corning Glass Company in New York.  They held many glass-blowing demonstrations, sometimes ending with a raffle of the some of the pieces made on the ship.  One evening, Esther and Millie from our group won two of the three pieces raffled off.

Esther and Millie show off their raffle prizes at the glass-blowing show.

The daily list of events was extensive, and included archery, game shows, port lectures, movies, wine tasting, cooking demos, health seminars, art auctions, shopping events, and more.  

After leaving Southampton, we sailed overnight and docked in Bruges the next day. Bruges is a charming city in the northwest portion of Belgium, and because it has a series of canals, is sometimes referred to as the Venice of the north.  Esther arranged a private tour for our group and we were picked up at the port (called Zeebrugge) by our guide Marianne, with a 16-person van.  We drove into Bruges and had a walking tour of the city, including a stop at a chocolate store, followed by a canal boat tour.  Bruges is one of the most well-preserved medieval towns in Europe, and you got a sense that a lot of what we saw had been that way for hundreds of years.   

This building in the town square is a great example of medieval architecture, with the decorated window arches.

Old St. John's Hospital, dating back to the 11th century.  Now has a museum inside.

The brick spire on the Church of Our Lady is just over 400 feet tall,making it one of the world's highest brick towers/buildings.

This sculpture in the Church of Our Lady is the Madonna and Child, by Michelangelo.  It's believed to be the only one of his sculptures to leave Italy within his lifetime.

A different view of the Church of Our Lady.  Note the beautiful weather, one of the trademark benefits you get when you travel with Esther and Tom!

Life isn't all about history and architecture - this is the beer wall in Bruges, with a quote by Benjamin Franklin above it: "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy!"  Amen.  Unfortunately, we did not have time to sample any.

We DID sample chocolate, however, another of Belgium's best products. After a demo of how it's made, we got to taste several kinds, and our group definitely boosted the store's profits on that day.

We lined up for a group shot in front of  a museum, and everybody moved out of the way except for this one woman in front of me on the right, who was oblivious to everything except her phone. That's why we are all smiling so much!

The Belfry of Bruges, in the town square, built in the 13th century.  It has a carillon of 48 bells, and Bruges still has a full-time carillonneur who gives free concerts.

The ladies of our group - top row: Pat G. and Bonnie.  Middle row: Mary Jo, Millie, Ann, Pat S.
Front row: Esther and Sharon.

A view of the town from the canal boat - many of the group said they would like to come back and spend a couple of days in Bruges.

The next day was our first sea day (no port), so we held the “Poker Run” event.  Everyone had to visit three bars on the ship at designated times, and at each bar they received a sealed envelope with two playing cards.  At the final bar, Tom opened everyone’s envelopes, and made the best poker hand out of the six cards.   Ann took first place and won $100 with an amazing hand of 4 aces (she had two wild card jokers)! 

Ann's winning hand - 4 Aces!

Pat (left) and Diane (right) took 3rd and 2nd, respectively.  Cash prizes compliments of Dream Vacations!

That evening was the first night with “Evening Chic” attire.  Celebrity no longer has official “formal” nights, but evening chic is supposed to be a step up from “smart casual.”  We found out that our group can clean up pretty well.

Part of our group wearing Evening Chic attire, and being photo bombed by the bartender.  From left: Chris, photo bomber, Ann, Dale, Millie, Pat, Deke, random handsome guy, Pat, and Jack.

Our next port was Copenhagen, which is the capital and largest city of Denmark.  Again, we had a private guide and minivan for our group.  The tour included stops at the iconic Little Mermaid statue and the Gefion Fountain, both near the port, and then a drive around the city.   Points of interest included the Amalienborg Palace, the new Opera House, Tivoli Gardens (the world’s second oldest operating amusement park), and the Rosenborg Castle.  Our guide (whose name no one could later remember) was good, and provided a lot of interesting insight into Danish history, culture and customs.

The Little Mermaid statue is the symbol of Copenhagen, and was inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, that also inspired the Disney animated film.

The Gefion Fountain, the largest monument in Copenhagen, features oxen being driven by Gefion, a Norse goddess. It was donated to the city by the Carlsberg Foundation on the occasion of the brewery's 50th anniversary.

The Copenhagen Opera House was completed in 2004, and at a cost of over $500 million dollars, is one of the most expensive opera houses ever built.

This is Amalienborg, the home of the Danish royal family, and it includes four classical palace facades around an octagonal courtyard, at the center of which is an equestrian statue of King Frederick V, the founder of the palaces.

The Rosenborg Castle, built in the 17th century, is relatively small compared to the palaces we saw later in our journey through the Baltic region. 

Our guide called this "the secret," located in a side room of the castle, and told us all the tile was original.

What boy wouldn't have loved to have this collection of gold toy soldiers?

The treasure room in the castle included an impressive collection of the Danish Crowns and Crown Jewels.  All the women wanted to go shopping after this.

The castle was surrounded by Kongens Have (the King's Garden), the country's oldest royal garden.  Does the USA have ANY royal gardens?

After departing from Copenhagen, we enjoyed another relaxing day at sea before we arrived in Stockholm, the capital and largest city of Sweden.  The city stretches across fourteen islands where Lake Mälaren flows into the Baltic Sea. The area has been settled since the Stone Age, in the 6th millennium BC, and was founded as a city in 1252. Celebrity recommended that passengers get up early to watch the ship sail into port through the island chain of the Stockholm archipelago.

The ship sailed through the beautiful archipelago on its way into Stockholm.

We had another private tour set up for our first of two days in Stockholm.  Our first stop was the amazing Vasa Museum, which displays the only almost fully-intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged.  We were amused by our guide as she continuously shooed away anyone not in our group that tried to overhear her very interesting commentary about the ship, its history, and the salvage operation.

Full disclosure - it was hard to get a decent picture inside the museum that captured the magnitude of the ship so I borrowed one from the internet.   This 64-gun warship sank on her maiden voyage and didn't make it out of the harbor.

Other stops included the very touristy (but fun) Ice Bar, the Stockholm Palace, the lake waterfront, and a stroll through Gamla stan (the old town).

We had to stop at the Icebar - everything in the bar is made of ice - walls, glasses, furniture, etc.

The visit includes one free cocktail, served in an ice glass.

Bonnie, Esther & Mary Jo were all reluctant to put on their hats.  

Diane and Patrick - cheers!

A nice view of the lake from downtown.

Stockholm Palace, the official residence and principal workplace of the Swedish monarch.

The main square and fountain in Gamla stan, which dates back to the 13th century.

The Iron Boy, a tiny sculpture located behind a church in Gamla stan.  We all dutifully rubbed his head for luck.

A typical cobblestone street in Gamla stan.

The Stockholm Cathedral, the oldest church in Gamla stan.  

The ship stayed docked in Stockholm overnight, and since we had no group tours scheduled, people continued exploring this wonderful city in smaller groups or on their own.  Chris and Ann came with the Boss and me to the ABBA Museum, which wasn’t high on my list of must-sees, but you know what they say about a happy wife.  It turned out to be fairly interesting and I learned more than I really wanted to know about the Swedish singing sensation.  The museum had several interactive exhibits, and we sampled a couple.

The Boss steps in for Agnetha, next to Bjorn, Anni-Frid and Benny.

Chris got to sit in the helicopter.

None of us got up on stage with ABBA holograms to be filmed singing with them, but we saw others do it.

Unfortunately, on the way out of the museum, Esther had a bout of vertigo, and we cut our day’s exploration short to take her back to the ship.  Uber is alive and well in Stockholm, as we took it twice that day.  Esther was lucky that Ann had a prescription drug for vertigo with her, which seemed to work like a charm, as she was back on her feet later that evening.

Esther, who always likes to lead, also was the first member of our group to be struck with some kind of virus causing congestion and coughing.  We soon found out that Ann and Chris had brought virtually every kind of medication known to man with them, and they became the drug pushers for our crowd.  In short order, the virus passed to Deke, Dale, Jack, Bonnie and then Dr. Chris himself.   Fortunately, it only seemed to last for a couple of days, except for Chris, who had it the longest and most severely.  

Every blog needs an obligatory sunset photo - the cool thing about this one is that it wasn't until about 10:40 PM, after leaving Stockholm.

From Stockholm, we sailed to Talinn, the capital of Estonia.  Estonia lies across the Baltic Sea to the south of Finland and east of Sweden, and is bordered by Latvia to its south and Russia to the east.  We had a private tour with Karin, who told us that after hundreds of years of alternating German and Russian rule, Estonia became an independent democratic state in 1991.

Tallinn’s Old Town is one of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe (weren’t we told that about Bruges too?) and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  And file this under “I did not know that” – Skype was founded in Tallinn. 

Our tour included a walk around the Old Town, which has an upper and lower section, lunch at a medieval theme restaurant, and shopping in the town square craft market.

We went first to the upper town, surrounded by castle walls, and got a quick history of Estonia from Karin, left.

 

This odd gentleman was singing "Hotel California" unlike any of us had heard it before.  

A view of the lower town from the upper town - the tall spire is part of St. Olaf's Churh, built in the 12th century.  The spire was added later and for a while in the 16th century it may have been the tallest building in the world.

We saw numerous warning signs about pickpockets in Tallinn,
but no one got picked.

We came through the tower on our walk from the upper town down to the lower town.  (Note the beautiful blue sky - weather brought to you by Dream Vacations!)

The more adventurous eaters in the group had lunch at the Olde Hansa, where all of the dishes on the menu, including wild game delicacies, are cooked using 15th century recipes and methods.  Funny, our guide Karin chose to eat at another place.

We toast to a great trip with honey beer!

Chris poses with some of the authentic period musicians at the restaurant.

The Tallinn Town Hall is the oldest town hall in the whole of the Baltic region and Scandinavia. It has been in this location in some form or another since the 1200's.

This weather vane was put on top of the Town Hall spire in 1530.  It is a figure of an old warrior called Old Thomas, and has become the symbol of the city.

After lunch, we walked through the lower town along the city walls and past the shops.....

....until we reached one of the gates to the old city.  The medieval towers frame the modern hotel building just outside the city walls.

After Tallinn, it was off to St. Petersburg, probably the destination the majority of the passengers were most excited about.  The Eclipse docked in St. Petersburg for two days, which gave us plenty of time in the second largest city in Russia.  This was the only port that required us to wait in long lines with visas and passports upon disembarkation, but only on the first morning.  We had a wonderful guide named Nina and a private mini-van for 16 to take in the sights.  On the first day, we drove through parts of the city, stopping for some photo ops, and then took a 30-minute hydrofoil ride out to Peterhof Palace, known as the Russian Versailles.

This was the only port in which we saw a submarine.  Other warships were in the Neva River as well, apparently for a parade of ships scheduled for later in the week.

St. Isaac's Cathedral, undergoing some renovation, is the largest Orthodox basilica and 4th largest cathedral in the world.  And full disclosure, the weather this day was not quite up to Dream Vacations standards, but it wasn't horrible.

Every now and then, the Boss and I pose in front of a landmark to prove we really went on these trips.  This is the monument to Nicholas I, emperor of Russia from 1825 to 1855, in St. Isaac's Square. Interesting fact: it was the first equestrian statue in Europe with only two support points (the rear hooves of the horse). 

At the Peter and Paul Fortress, Patrick was so happy when he got to hold the tour guide sign.....

....but only until Nina, the professional guide, got back from getting our tickets for the Peter and Paul Cathedral inside the walls of the Fortress.

The Peter and Paul Cathedral is the first and oldest landmark in St. Petersburg, built by Peter the Great in the early 1700s,  It has the world's tallest Orthodox bell tower.

The inside of the Cathedral - ABC, Another Beautiful Church.  But it really is gorgeous. 

The "Russian Versailles" - Peterhof Palace and the Grand Cascade, laid out under the orders of Peter the Great in the 1700s.

Another pickpocket sign for our collection.

In addition to the palace and Grand Cascade, Peterhof is known for its numerous gardens and....

.....fountains, which are all gravity-fed.  No pumps.

The Grand Cascade, which was modeled after one constructed for Louis XIV of France and contains 64 fountains, is something to behold.

After our tour of Peterhof, Nina took us to a small restaurant in the town for a traditional Russian lunch: borscht, stroganoff and, of course, vodka!

After lunch, our next stop was the Catherine Palace, in the town of Pushkin.  It was the summer residence of the Russian czars, and was originally commissioned by Catherine the Great.  Empress Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great, didn’t think it was grand enough, so she had it rebuilt in 1756 to be 325 meters long (roughly 1,070 feet). ).  It’s pretty darned grand now!

More than 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of gold were used to gild the facade and statues on the roof.

All of that ornate architecture throughout, and they say this is the actual bed the Czar slept in.  Could have at least gone with a double.

This is the Hermitage Pavilion in the great formal garden of the palace.  Visiting dignitaries often dined inside.

Next it was back to the ship to get ready for our evening dinner in a Russian’s home, another private excursion booked by Esther.  Upon seeing a huge line to get back into the cruise terminal, Nina told us to come with her as she ushered us to the front of the line, spoke to the guards in Russian, and had us waved through in front of about 300 other people, who were not pleased.  But we made it back off the ship by our 7:00 PM tour time.

This time our guide was Kristina, who took us in the van to her mother’s home, a small apartment on the 15^th floor of a 30-story building in the suburbs of St. Petersburg.  To me, this was a highlight of the entire trip!  The food, the hospitality, the cultural exchange, and especially the vodka made this a unique and delightful experience.

Our hosts - Kristina (26), her mother (46), and her mother's husband (36).  The mother and husband spoke no English, but I'm pretty sure they had as much fun as we did. 

This gives you an idea of the size of their apartment.  You can see everything except for two tiny bedrooms and the one bathroom.  They set up tables in the living room to accommodate their 13 guests.

Of course we had borscht, a soup made with beetroots, with a little sour cream added.  Much better than at the Russian restaurant earlier in the day!

Kristina explains about the vodka.  I think Jack and Chris liked her.

Kristina's mother's husband was Vladimir,but she told us his nickname was Vulva.  They didn't quite understand why we thought that was funny.  He loved his dog, who enjoyed licking Pat G.'s feet under the table.

Here is Pat after her fifth or sixth shot of vodka.  She said she was getting numb by the third one, so she's feeling no pain by this time.  I love the puzzled look on her husband Jack's face.  "Who is this woman?"

Diane was also pretty numb by this time, much to the amusement of Kristina and the rest of us.  Did I mention that we also drank wine, Samagon, and some kind of  berry liquour in addition to the vodka?  According to the internet, Samagon is "Russian moonshine. It comes in many flavours, is distilled from many ingredients and is often of near atomic strength. It holds a special place in Russian drinking culture as a kind of Robin Hood of alcohol."

Dessert was potato pancakes with honey - delicious. They also put out a plate of assorted Russian chocolates.

We had an amazing time with our Russian hosts! Thankfully, our private minivan was waiting to drive us back to the ship.

Day Two in St. Petersburg started with a tour and trip on the St. Petersburg Metro, which is filled with decorations and artwork, making it one of the most attractive metro systems in the world.  It's also one of the deepest systems in the world. Sure is nicer than the New York City subway.

We are taking the escalator down at the system's deepest station, 86 meters (over 280 feet) below ground.

You don't see this kind of artwork in the DC Metro system.

This is a statue of Alexander Pushkin, who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of Russian literature.

After riding the Metro, we spent most of the day at The Hermitage, the largest and oldest museum in the world, and the most famous attraction in St. Petersburg by far.  The collections occupy a complex of six historic buildings, with the most impressive being the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors.  The museum has the largest collection of paintings in the world, and has been open to the public since 1852.  As awesome as the art collections are, the buildings are just as stunning.

This is just the entrance to the museum, but it is part of the Winter Palace, which explains the grandeur.

Amazing ceilings throughout the palace.

Almost every room in the Winter Palace is an exhibit unto itself.

The Peacock Clock features three life-sized mechanical birds and was acquired by Catherine the Great in 1781.  Very unique!

Benois Madonna (Madonna with a Flower) is one of two DaVinci paintings in the Hermitage. It was painted in 1478.

This is the largest vase in the world, and even Esther agreed she wouldn't be able to get this in her luggage.

The Crouching Boy, by Michelangelo.

The room is as impressive as the art.  

We also had a private visit to the Gold Room, which has hundreds of pieces of jewelry, clothing decorations, and weaponry dating back to 3000 to 4000 BC.  Pictures were not allowed in this room.  Although the collection was remarkable, the guide was dry and the lecture was far too long.  

The Hermitage is truly a “can’t miss” attraction, but in July, the place was jammed with people, with a lot of elbowing, pushing and shoving to get closer to exhibits or just to get by.   That many people also meant the rooms were quite warm, and after several hours in the museum, we were relieved to get outside and grab a bite to eat at a local café.

Our last sight of the day was the Church on Spilled Blood, another iconic landmark of St. Petersburg.  This church is truly one of a kind, with dazzling mosaics covering the walls – over 7500 square meters (over 80,000 square feet).  The church is built on the site of the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in March of 1881, thus the name.

The Boss and I in front of the Church on Spilled Blood.

We returned to the ship after a stop at a souvenir store, and did some very last-minute shopping at the store on the pier.  Typical purchases in Russia are the nested dolls, amber jewelry, and replicas of Faberge eggs. 

The following day was a sea day, and our group activity was a martini tasting event at the Martini Bar.  The bartenders put on quite a show of tossing the shakers around and filling a pyramid of martini glasses with six different flavors of martinis.  Each person received a sample of all six flavors, and by the time the tasting was done, everyone seemed to be pretty happy.

The ice-topped Martini Bar is set up for our group tasting event.

Although we have seen it before, the pouring of the different martini flavors into the pyramid of martini glasses never gets old!

Everyone got six martinis to taste, from traditional to lychee flavored.

After six martinis, even if they weren't full-sized, everyone was pretty happy.

Our final stop before returning to London was the port of Warnemünde, located near Rostock in northeast Germany.  This was the departure point for our private tour to Berlin. which was a 2 and 1/2 hour drive down the autobahn.  We had a marvelous guide named Rugi (not sure of the spelling) on board our full-sized motor coach.  Rugi was born in East Germany before the Berlin Wall came down and she had some fascinating stories about what it was like to grow up in a communist society, and how things have changed since then.   

Rugi, who is also a school teacher, filled our 2-1/2 hour bus ride with stories of her childhood, along with some historical and cultural information about a divided Germany.

Upon arrival in Berlin, another guide boarded our coach to guide us through Berlin. Our sights included the the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Checkpoint Charlie, and a remaining portion of the Berlin Wall.

The Reichstag, the meeting place of the Gernan Parliament, known as the Bundestag. 

The double row of bricks in the street marks the former location of the Berlin Wall.

The Brandenburg Gate is one of the best known landmarks in Germany.  The gate was completed in 1791 and was part of the Berlin Wall when it was built in 1961, standing between East and West Germany.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is on a 4.7-acre site, and consists of 2,711 concrete slabs arranged in a grid pattern on sloping ground.  The slabs are all the same length and width, but vary in height from 8 inches to over 15 feet.  The bunker in which Hitler committed suicide was located nearby.

Our guide Luta gives us some history about the Cold War in front of photographs on a wall near Checkpoint Charlie.

Checkpoint Charlie was the best-known crossing between East and West Germany during the Cold War.  Today, the area is filled with souvenir stores and, to the right, a McDonald's, of course.

A replica of the original sign that marked the border crossing was placed in the same location.

This is one of only a few areas where original portions of the Berlin Wall remain.  Today they are big tourist attractions and the walls are covered with murals.

Like all good tours, time was left for the ladies to go shopping.  This is the Kaufhaus des Westens, known as KaDeWe, the second largest department store in Europe, after Harrods in London.  We bought candy for the bus ride back to the port.

Our final stop of the day was the Charlottenburg Palace, the largest palace in Berlin.  It was completed in 1699.  Interesting fact: it once housed the Amber Room, which had its wall surfaced in decorative amber.  The room was given to Tsar Peter the Great in 1716, and is in the Catherine Palace outside of St. Petersburg.  We saw it during our tour there, but were not allowed to take pictures. 

Found a picture of the Amber Room taken in 1931.  It still looked a lot like this.

On the way back to the port, Rugi handed out pictures to remind of us the tour highlights and then gave us a collective quiz about the photos.  Being the good teacher that she is, she said we were all very smart.

Berlin was our last stop, and we had a final day at sea before returning to Southampton.  I asked everyone at dinner on our last night what the highlight of the trip had been, and as you might expect, I received a variety of answers.  However, the most popular answers were St. Petersburg, Stockholm and meeting and traveling with a great bunch of people.

Headed back to Southampton after a memorable cruise.  Weather courtesy of  Dream Vacations.

 Upon arrival back in Southampton, six of our group flew home to the US, but the rest of us spent another two nights in London.  Esther arranged a private tour that started at the port and took us to Stonehenge and Windsor Castle on the way to our hotels in London.  

It's hard to believe that Stonehenge was constructed over 4,000 years ago!

Our guide Derek teaches Esther how to use the divining rods to detect the magnetic fields that may have influenced how the stones were laid out.

Windsor Castle, originally built in the 11th century, is the longest-occupied palace in Europe.

St. George's Chapel, on the castle grounds, has been the site of many royal weddings, as well as funerals and internments.  Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, and many other kings of England are buried here.

The State Apartments in the Upper Ward are where Queen Elizabeth II stays when she spends weekends at Windsor Castle.

After checking into our hotel, we got a recommendation from the concierge for a nearby pub, where we had pints of beer and, of course, fish and chips.  Sharon, Chris, Millie and Dale toast to a successful journey. 

The next morning, several of us bought tickets for the Hop-On, Hop-Off Big Bus and river cruise.  We boarded the Red Line, which includes a guide on the bus providing commentary and answering questions.  We passed all the major sights on our way to the Tower of London, where we hopped on a boat for a cruise back down the Thames to Westminster Bridge.

Our guide on the hop-on, hop-off bus had a typical dry British sense of humour.

Since the coronation of William the Conqueror in 1066, all coronations of English and British monarchs have been here in Westminster Abbey.

Big Ben is at the north end of the Palace of Westminster.

Our bus slowed down so we could get this picture of Big Ben inside the London Eye.

St. Paul's Cathedral, where Prince Charles and Lady Diana were married, was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and completed in 1710.

The Tower of London, a castle used as a prison between 1100 and 1952, is also where the Crown Jewels are kept.

The Tower Bridge is often confused with London Bridge,which is far less impressive.

The Boss in front of one of the distinctive red telephone booths of London. 

This kind of typifies London - the omnipresent red double decker bus, in front of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square. Admiral Horatio Nelson is one of Britain's most heroic figures.  

We hopped off the bus at Trafalgar Square to get tickets to the theater for that night, which were surprisingly inexpensive.  Millie, Dale, Esther and I saw "Kinky Boots."  Ann and Chris went to 'Beautiful: the Carole King Musical," and Patrick and Diane saw "The Book of Mormon."  All were excellent!

We found out that Uber works quite well in London, as we took it to and from the theater.  We all met up in the lobby the next morning after breakfast for our private transfer to Heathrow Airport. 

Esther and I often say it’s more fun to travel with friends, and this trip was a blast not only because of the fantastic itinerary but also because of the old and new friends that went with us.  Can’t wait to do it again. 

This sculpture in Trafalgar Square expresses how Esther and I felt about the trip - hopefully, the rest of the group felt the same way!

Please leave comments and/or questions below – that lets me know that I didn’t spend countless hours putting this together without any readers!

P.S.

After our return to North Carolina, on behalf of all of our group that benefited from drugs provided by Chris during their bouts with the virus, Esther made a special visit to Chris and awarded him with a doctor bag full of pharmaceuticals, a lab coat, stethoscope, and official doctor badge.  Thanks again, Chris!