Baltic cruise

Wednesday June 20. Tai chi. Docked at Warnemunde and got trains to Bad Doberan. Nice walk to the enormous Minster and an added bonus was  organ music and meditation at 11.45 a.m. We saw the Molle steam train 3 times – it goes down the main street. At Rostock walked to the Mariekirche via the Rose garden and got the tram back to the station from the Town Hall. Tai chi. Rostock brass band next to the pool for BBQ and beer. Saw the film The Artist which was excellent – it started 30 minutes late.

Thursday June 21 at sea. Tai chi. 3 sessions on digital photography and movie making. Talk about St Petersburg. Mass at 5. Formal dinner in DJ and a long wait for dessert so we missed part of the show. String quartet.

Friday June 22. Tai chi. Talinn  what a lovely place. Got Talinncard from hotel near terminal. St Olav church very high, Orthodox and Catholic churches, visited City museum and Guildhall – excellent displays. Holy Spirit church had lovely paintings and British Navy memorial. Olde Husa. Adamson-Eric museum very good and nice display by sculptor Dora …. Dominican monastery into a cellar by poorly lit stairs! Long wait for bus back to ship. Talinn card not good value as we walked everywhere and could have got student rate in the musuems. Nagaliste art museum shut early so missed it. Lovely day. Mass. Digital camera session. Excellent dinner. Russian dancers quick change and magic very slick.

Saturday June 23. 8 .15 off ship and through passport control. St Petersburg. Sunny Long wait on coach and finally got to Peterhof where we again waited ages to go in. A brilliant reconstruction after the war paid for by a German company. The fountains were lovely. We took hydrofoil to town to get coach to St Peter and Paul fortress where we had lunch. Then a souvenir shop so more time wasted! Eventually got into Church of the spilled blood at 5 p.m. Interior better than exterior! Mosaics everywhere – Western influence. Ship at 6 time for meal upstairs and then off to the Hermitage. Because it was end of year youth festival long walk in the rain from the coach. Freda was a much better guide than Elena and knew a lot about art. What an amazing place and loved the Rembrandts especially the Prodigal Son, Leonardos, Raphaels and impressionists. Then Picasso, Cezanne, Renoirs …. Amazing collection. Back at 11 p.m. tired but happy and so glad we took the evening tour as the queues everywhere are horrendous and the attitude to the tourists dreadful.

Sunday June 24. Another early start and the weather more rainy. Irina a good guide and hour’s drive to Catherine’s Palace with a very large park and we had lunch there. Flea market. Then to Paul’s palace which had small  and the inevitable slow progress to get in and go round. Mass and ate upstairs. The Broadway tribute show was excellent and went to bed exhausted. However did not sleep very well. Ship left late because of wind.