{"id":492,"date":"2016-08-21T23:40:28","date_gmt":"2016-08-21T23:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/waynemorrisoz.com\/?p=492"},"modified":"2016-08-21T23:48:48","modified_gmt":"2016-08-21T23:48:48","slug":"a-baltic-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waynemorrisoz.com\/index.php\/2016\/08\/21\/a-baltic-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"A Baltic Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"WP_20160803_09_01_30_Rich<\/a>
Our ship the “Windsurf”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alice and I managed to get away for a couple weeks’ Windstar cruise from Copenhagen through the Baltics, St Petersburg and back to Stockholm.\u00a0 We had a fantastic time and spent a couple of days in Copenhagen before embarking and an extra day in Stockholm before heading home.<\/p>\n

Copenhagen is a wonderful city. I had been there a number of times for business end enjoyed the experience so it was great to introduce Alice to this great city.<\/p>\n

\"WP_20160801_11_39_17_Rich<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Visiting<\/a>
Visiting the little mermaid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We had a blast touring the city including a canal cruise which provides a different perspective of the city and we were pleased to see some houseboats on the canals. We would certainly consider living in Copenhagen for a few years.<\/p>\n

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\"Houseboat<\/a>
Houseboat on canal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"We<\/a>
We had some rain for our canal tour<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN0300\"<\/a>
We climbed this church spire – great view from top<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"DSCN0306\"<\/a>
View from church spire – our ship in the distance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"Interesting<\/a>
Interesting spire on old Stock Exchange<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Changing of the guard at the palace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Our first stop on the cruise was Bornholm in Denmark which is actually an island at the bottom of Sweden with an interesting history of how ownership moved from Sweden to Denmark.<\/p>\n

\"WP_20160803_12_22_56_Rich\"<\/a>
Traditional herring dish. You have to debone and remove the skin – we passed!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"WP_20160803_11_36_27_RichWe visited an old round church, a glass-blowing workshop, a fortress and\u00a0sampled some local beer but gave the smoked herrings a miss.<\/p>\n

\"WP_20160805_10_00_33_Rich<\/a>
Alice touching the rat for luck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Then it was on to Gdansk, Poland where we visited the medieval part of the city including the very large St Mary’s gothic cathedral, and once again sampled the local beer (yes, there is a theme).<\/p>\n

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St Mary’s Cathedral – largest brick church in Europe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"DSCN0375\"<\/a>
Old town Gdansk – totally rebuilt after WWII<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"DSCN0501\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next up was Klaipeda in Lithuania.\u00a0 Here we visited the “Hill of Witches” so that Alice felt in her element.<\/p>\n

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There were certainly some interesting creatures in the woods.<\/p>\n

\"DSCN0493\"<\/a> \"DSCN0480\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"WP_20160807_09_04_14_Pro<\/a>
A “selfie” from upper old town Tallinn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After that it was on to Tallinn, Estonia where we had a truly\u00a0fantastic day, exploring the old\u00a0town, hearing of the history and folklore, listening to local music and sampling some local food and schnapps.<\/p>\n

\"WP_20160807_08_37_47_Rich\"<\/a>Along with beautiful old churches and buildings and a rich history, Estonia has been very progressive in developing their economy following the Soviet breakup and is\u00a0now a strong technology center (Skype was invented and developed here) and we really appreciated the fast, free Wi-Fi throughout the town.<\/p>\n

\"WP_20160808_09_10_48_Rich\"<\/a>
Helsinki’s Senate Square<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"WP_20160808_11_58_27_Rich<\/a>
Inside the Rock church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After Tallinn, we visited Helsinki, Finland.\u00a0 We did a walking tour which was very interesting and educational and decided this was a city where we should revisit and\u00a0spend more time.<\/p>\n

\"WP_20160808_13_25_42_Pro<\/a>
Leaving Helsinki through a narrow channel guarded by a fortress<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then it was on to a highlight of the trip – St Petersburg, Russia.\u00a0 This is truly a magical city with a rich history.<\/p>\n

\"WP_20160809_11_14_59_Pro<\/a>The first day we visited the Grand Palace in Peterhof, which was the summer home of Peter the Great and then expanded by his children.\u00a0 It is a very impressive building and grounds all glitter and built on a very large scale.<\/p>\n

\"Waiting<\/a>
Waiting for the ballet to start<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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That evening we went for a private ballet event of Swan Lake which was very memorable.<\/p>\n

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The next day I hired a private guide and driver which turned out to be a great idea.\u00a0 We were able to get into the Hermitage (a very large museum second in scope only to the Louvre in Paris) before the crowds arrived and could enjoy room after room, basically by ourselves.\u00a0 \"WP_20160810_09_35_32_Rich\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"WP_20160810_10_38_50_Rich\"<\/a>
Lots of glitter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"WP_20160810_10_11_23_Rich\"<\/a>
Detailed art on ceilings was amazing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We also visited many other palaces and historical locations throughout the city in a very packed day.\u00a0 One of the highlights was having lunch in a local establishment with our guide.<\/p>\n

She\u00a0also told me during lunch that I looked very much like a Russian pop star and so had to have my photo so she could tell her friends – very funny!<\/p>\n

\"Our<\/a>
Our Hotel Reisen from across the river<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After two fabulous days in St Petersburg it was a day at sea before arriving in Stockholm – another magical city.\u00a0 The entrance to Stockholm by boat is through a beautiful waterway filled with islands – it reminded us of the San Juan Islands, only more of them and closer together.<\/p>\n

\"WP_20160812_13_20_51_Rich<\/a>
The Royal Palace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While I had been here previously on business,\u00a0I really hadn’t had the opportunity to look around.\u00a0 So Alice and I did lots of walking as we explored the old town and surrounding area.<\/p>\n

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\"WP_20160812_10_55_32_Rich\"<\/a>Alice lit a candle in the cathedral for Luke’s safety in Afghanistan.\u00a0 Of course she also made the last forays into souvenir shops for chotskys.<\/p>\n

We were\u00a0lucky that\u00a0the hotel staff booked us into dinner at Fem Sma Hus a traditional Swedish restaurant that had been operating since 1700.\u00a0 This was a great dinner and tremendous way to celebrate a wonderful vacation.<\/p>\n

\"WP_20160812_18_16_34_Rich<\/a>
Our final night on the Baltic vacation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Alice and I managed to get away for a couple weeks’ Windstar cruise from Copenhagen through the Baltics, St Petersburg and back to Stockholm.\u00a0 We had a fantastic time and spent a couple of days in Copenhagen before embarking and an extra day in Stockholm before heading home. Copenhagen is a wonderful city. I had … Continue reading A Baltic Adventure<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/waynemorrisoz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/waynemorrisoz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/waynemorrisoz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waynemorrisoz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waynemorrisoz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/waynemorrisoz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":561,"href":"https:\/\/waynemorrisoz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions\/561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/waynemorrisoz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waynemorrisoz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waynemorrisoz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}