St.Petersburg, Russia - Day 1

The highlight and the moment we were all waiting for was arriving at St.Petersburg, Russia. I was filled with excitement, not just because of the hot russian guys *winks* but also because i have heard a lot about St.petersburg and from watching Anastasia..it gives you and idea and expectation. I had very high expectations and I'm happy to say that St.Petersburg certainly lived up to my expectations *yay!!*.

St. Petersburg is situated on the eastern shore of the Gulf Of Finland and is considered the most european of all the great cities of Russia.Built by Peter the Great in 1703 as russia's "window to the west', St.Petersburg is Russia's biggest port, a huge industrial center and truly an international city.The city has a population of over 5 million inhabitants and is rich of its italianate palaces, ornate cathedrals and broad boulevards. It has a network of 60 rivers and canals criss-cross the city and have about 400 bridges.

There were so many places to see and so many things do, thus the cruise was docked at the port for 2 days. St.petersburg is not a place where you can do your own touring, there was so many details, history and information which was important. We as well as 90% of the people on board the cruise signed up for tours. The disadvantage of the tours is that we had to get by 6 am and have breakfast because we had to gather by 7.45. You really cant complain, cause there was so many things to see and so little time. On day 1, the tour we booked was the tour around St.Petersburg with Hermitage.

The Saint Nicholas Naval Cathedral

Mariinskiy Theatre named after Maria, the daughter or Emperor Nicholas I

Premi at Isaakievskaya Square. The statue behind is the monument of nicholas.

This is St.Isaac's Cathedral. This Cathedral was built between 1818 and 1858. It is the largest church, situated on the side of Decemberists square. It is decorated with 14 kinds of minerals and semi- precious stones as well as mosaic paintings.

The details of the work is magnificent.

This church is known to Petersburgers as the Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood - or even just the Church on the Blood - as it marks the spot where Alexander II was fatally wounded in an assassination attempt on March 1, 1881.

This is Peter and Paul Fortress.In the middle of the fortress stands the impressive Peter and Paul Cathedral, the burial place of all the Russian Emperors and Empresses from Peter the Great to Alexander III. The Cathedral was the first church in the city to be built of stone (between 1712-33) and its design is curiously unusual for a Russian Orthodox church

The Alexander Garden is located in the very center of St. Petersburg, next to Palace Square and behind the Admiralty. Until 1806, the area was covered by the Admiralty's fortifications, but after these were removed it became Admiralty Square.

The Hermitage Museum is Russia's best gallery of world art, one of the most prominent art museums in the world and definitely the main tourist attraction of St. Petersburg. The museum was founded in 1764 when Catherine the Great purchased a collection of 255 paintings from the German city of Berlin. Today, the Hermitage boasts over 2.7 million exhibits and displays a diverse range of art and artifacts from all over the world.

The Hermitage museum

Alexander Column located in the middle of the square. The building is the General Staff Building.

Inside the Hermitage :

The art work on the ceiling of the rooms

Sculpture by Michelangelo

On the right is a sculpture of Peter The Great.

The Winter palace.The main building of the Hermitage Museum is the Winter Palace, which was once the main residence of the Russian Tsars. Magnificently located on the bank of the Neva River, this green-and-white three-storey palace is a marvel of Baroque architecture.

Helsinki, Finland

Day 7, and the port of call is Helsinki, Finland. Helsinki the capital of finland, is finland's largest city. However it is relatively small compared to other scandinavian capitals. Finland is the seventh largest european country. It has a population of 5 million. Helsinki is surrounded by water on three sides. It has a natural seaport and thanks to its powerful ice breakers is kept open during winter. Arriving at helsinki, the clear blue sky, fresh air and the bright sunshine it was just a perfect moment. Helsinki is beautiful during summer time and bares a certain resemblance towards oslo (norway).

The first place we visited was Temppeliaukio Church also known as Rock Church. Well im sure you know very well why its called rock church....because its made out of rock *duh*(hehe). This particular church us carved out of solid rock and this unique building is one of the city's most popular tourist attraction. The simplest way to describe the shape of the church is that it is a shape of an iglu.

Mum and sis outside rock church

premi inside the rock church

The interior of the church, its pretty small inside.

After seeing the rock church, my family and i headed to The Lutheran Cathedral which is located on the northern side of the senate square. It was built between 1830 and 1852, this cathedral is also known as Tuomiokirkko.

The lutheran Cathedral

Standing outside the beautiful cathedral

Inside the cathedral with sandya

Next stop was Uspenski Cathedral.This cathedral is of orthodox denomination and it is dedicated to the "eternal sleep of the virgin mary". Another beautiful cathedral.

Inside Uspenski Cathedral, its amazing.

The view outisde the cathedral, overlooking the lutheran cathedral

Moving from the amazing cathedrals, we went to the flower market or the market square.

More beautiful flowers!!!

The famous statue of the naked woman situated at the end of market street.

I just cant get enough of the flowers !!

Interesting dolls dont you think?????

The streets of helsinki, finland

Stockholm, Sweden

After having a day at sea, on day 6 we arrive at stockholm. Stockhom, the capital of Sweden is arguably one of the world's most beautiful national capitals, unfortunately we were greeted by a cold and gloomy weather. So much for seeing the most beatiful place in the summer. The gloomy weather did not stop my family and i from venturing out and exploring stockholm on feet.

Stockholm is often called " the venice of the north" or " beauty on water". It is built on 14 islands which are connected by over 50 bridges. Stockholm's harbor opens into a archipelago of 24,000 islands and islets. It is a popular area for holidays, there are about 50,000 summer home and chalets that are reached by some of the 250,000 private boats.It is through this passage that the cruise ship and enters and exit on their visit to Stockholm. The journey which takes approximtely 3 hours shows a visual feast of ever changing scenery. So you can imagine how interesting and beautiful sailing into stockhom is.

This is my most favourite picture yet.. its so pretty, an example of people owning their own private island.

There are 2 parts of Stockholm, the oldest part known as Gamla Stan and the new part. Gamla Stan is a popular tourist attraction.This is because of its narrow streets which are lined with beautiful buildings dating from the 14th- 19th century. This is basicly where we were throughout the entire time in stockholm, due to minimum time we were not able to go to the new part of Stockholm.One of the highlights in stockholm was the changing of the guards at the royal palace. It was interesting but it was an hour long and their uniforms were not as exciting as the british royal guards. Nevertheless it is a must see when in stockholm.

The changing of guards

Dad, sis and mua at stockholm

Welcome to stockholm

Copenhagen, Denmark

We reached copenhagen the capital of Denmark on day 4. The weather was not as good as it was in Oslo, but nevertheless we still did our own touring. Every night before we arrive at the next port of destination, the cruise directors deliver a shopping guide map to the cabins. This makes it easier for the tourist to move around the places and visit the important sights. It also saves time because there is a certain time we have to be back on board and if you miss it...well the ship waits for no one..you'll get a good view of the back of the ship *lol*.

A few things you need to know about Copenhagen is that its Scandinavia's largest city. The name Copenhagen or Kobenhavn means "Merchant harbour" and was founded in 1167. Copenhagen has a metropolitan population of 1.8 million.Denmark consist of more than 400 islands many which are uninhabited and its the smallest nation in northern europe.The Krone is the national currency and they are 6 hours behind time.We should be thankful to Copenhagen for beer ( Carlsberg and Tuborg), im sure the guys are smiling..., butter, biscuits and bacon (raehan's fav) *lol*.

The main attraction is Copenhagen is Tivoli's Garden. It is a famous and century old amusement park located at the heart of the city. We just saw the outside cause well you would have to spend a lot of time at an amusement park and we only had 8 hours in Denmark. We decided to just walk around and do some shopping. It still turned out to be a great day.

One thing i love about cruising is the view, the sight of the ocean and watching the sunset is really amazing. It so calm and relaxing. Sailing into copenhagen was beautiful, this is because you have to sail through the Fjords and as you know there are many islands. On this islands are houses, most of them are summer houses and vacation homes..but its really beautiful.The ship sails between the fjords and on both sides you can see different types of houses and the yachts and boats.

We took a shuttle into town which was about 15 mins drive away from the port. The famous shopping street called Ostergade was the starting point of our walking in copenhagen. Halberstadt is a famous shop on that street. The reason its famous is for their amber jewellery. Just to let you know, copenhagen is famous for their amber jewellery.Halberstadt is also reknowned for its little train. This little train is embedded with millions of diamonds and carries all the different kinds of stones.

The train which carries sapphires, ruby;s and diamonds.Its made of gold.

The Ostergade street

Premi standing all alone in the middle of the street. (looks gloomy)

Im not too sure what this building is *hmm*

Premi at Hard Rock Cafe, Copenhagen!!

I wonder what you call that instrument the guys holding???

At the centre of the town where the market square is

The little mermaid statue and me

The little mermaid statue is one of the popular attractions in copehagen.The bronze statue of the famed little mermaid or as the danish call it " den lille havfrue", was commisioned in honor of author, Hans Christian Andersen. It is located on the waterfront and is a 15 min walk from the port where the ship was docked. It only looks big in pictures, it a small statue.