Helsinki to Southampton

Post Day 6 to 12 on Cunard

Day 5: Helsinki:  Started off overcast and about 12 degrees, but nowhere near as cold as Stockholm.  We didn’t have much time in Helsinki, and discovered that due to the time of year –that is Midsummer – Helsinki was basically on holiday and very little was open. 

We took the shuttle bus to town – the architecture was really interesting – a mixture of eastern European rather than Scandinavian, and Russian. The language Finnish has more in common with Hungarian than any of the Scandinavian languages according to our expert, Monsieur Renoir (who jus loves languages and has a wonderful habit of writing down the basics in a little book – things like hello, goodbye, yes, no, please, thanks, I am allergic to… just enough for the locals to appreciate you making the effort).

We visited the markets and by the time we had finished, the sun was out and it had warmed up considerably. We bought a couple of gifts in the markets, enjoyed looking at the fresh fruit and veggies (all the berries were out and they were so brilliant in their reds and purples!) and the truly beautiful silver jewelry with semi precious stones – took a great deal of willpower not to treat myself!  The markets are at the river mouth which is such a lovely location, and to the left was Helsinki’s answer to Flinders Street station – seriously, the railway station was exactly the same, if on a smaller scale, as the Flinders street building with it’s striped brick.

After the markets we wandered up to St Nicholas’ cathedral, then around to the library which is a stunning building and considered the most beautiful in the city.

We wandered back to the shuttle through the lovely gardens which create a wonderful avenue full of brilliantly coloured flowers through the middle of town, and back to the boat for a spa.

It became so warm we all got burned in the sun!  And while I was sunning myself on the deck chair, a young lady joined Renoir and Stevie in the spa – and it turned out she was the girlfriend of the second doctor,  and had been a performer in the shows that had appeared on the Pacific Dawn around New Zealand in February – the exact same boat at the exact same time that we travelled! Talk about a small world!

Later another superb meal and another trivia game and crashed.

Days 6 & 7: St Petersburg: Well this was what we have been waiting for – the chance to see the Hermitage, Catherine Palace and the Peterhof Palace. Two days in St Petersburg and the first start was 830am and spending an age waiting to the go through Russian customs – of course we got the slow queue.

First was a tour of the city and some of the highlights. The weather was cool but fine, so the pictures came out well – you can see some of these on Facebook.  The church of the Spilt Blood was a traditional Russian bridge – just stunning, and still used as a church. Many others have been deconsecrated after the Revolution, and have been turned into other things such as swimming pools, diving pools and ice rinks!

After touring the city in the morning, we lunched in a building that had been the old law school – and where Tchaikovsky had trained as a lawyer before he turned to music composition full time.  I am a firm believer in doing what I call the ‘cheesy touristy dinner and show’ everywhere I go, and this was our chance in St Petersburg! We had a singing group dressed in traditional costume with traditional musical instruments – it was great fun. Lunch was a starter which comprised egg, mayonnaise, peas, carrots, and small bread circles with salmon roe (it was fabulous!). Then a beef stroganoff (fortunately without mushrooms), rice and cabbage, followed by a sponge with cream and chocolate. This was accompanied by a glass of bubbles which was so palatable that the three of us requested another glass, for which they wanted payment – no problems. They agreed on a price in Euros, brought the sparkles and we had already  started drinking when the waiter came back saying he couldn’t accept it so there we were, free drinks!

Then it was off to the Hermitage – an old Palace that had been turned into a museum. It was mind blowing – the entry was all gold and opulence – once again, photos are on Facebook. There was so much to see, and we only had a couple of hours we ended up called it the hundred yard dash through the Hermitage!  Picture giant malachite and crystal and lapis lazuli vases as tall as a man, a silver funerary construction for Princess Elizabeth’s architect that took an entire year’s   supply of silver to create, and was the size of a small car.  An impressive array of old Masters paintings – Rembrandt, Da Vinci, Matisse, Picasso, Renoir (yes, I got a picture of the two of them!) Next time we come we’ll do a private tour and have more time – there is just so much to take in and we were literally running to keep up on more than one occasion.

After the Hermitage we went to a church (St Peters) that had been reconsecrated from a swimming pool back into a church for a choral performance. The bleachers were still around three sides, and you could still smell the chlorine!  The choral performance was so beautiful, 6 women and 6 men singing acapella, and the acoustics in the church were perfect for it. By the time we left the performance, which was only about 40 minutes, the weather had turned from quite warm to raining and cold (perhaps the Melbourne of the north!) and we had to wait in the street for the bus to return – much to Renoir’s disgust just two doors away from an Irish pub which he had to try and ignore!

Dinner that night featured, of course, Russian food including borsch (mmm delicious!)

Second day in St Petersburg: and an even earlier start. No huge queues at customs though so we got moving much more quickly.

We made directly for the Catherine Palace – you’ll see some of the photos on Facebook – and it was awe-inspiring. Completely restored it was a study in gold and opulence that almost left the Hermitage in the shade.  We had to put on little booties over our shoes – the sort that are worn in operating theatres – to protect the parquetry floors, and moved slowly through each of the rooms. Each room seemed to feature more richness than the one before – and if this is how the aristocracy lived, then it’s no surprise why there was a revolution! Catherine was a poor German woman who had been chosen by the existing empress to marry the king-apparent (sorry memory bad here and can’t remember who) –and bit off more than she could chew when Catherine’s true colours showed. She never wore the same dress twice, and changed her dress three times a day. They called her the Diamond Queen because she was so fond of both diamonds and gambline – and apparently she never lost a game she played.  She also had voracious sexual appetites and her bed was big enough for six people – and apparently this was not unusual.

The Catherine Palace is the home of the famous reconstructed Amber Room – if you’ve seen the film The Ark you’ll have just some idea of what it looks like. Imagine a room which on three sides, is COMPLETELY covered in amber which makes pictures. I think one would look very nice in Prior Street, but bringing it home might make our luggage a bit heavy! (No photos as we weren’t allowed to take any – and believe me, you don’t want to  mess with those Russian ladies who guard each and every room in the Palace!)

After visiting the Palace, we wandered the gardens, which were really lovely – incredibly green and, like everywhere else we had visited, awash with brightly coloured flowers.

Off to lunch in a former summer palace belonging to a duke (long since dead). This place was beautiful, decorated in a classic style.  The place is often used for functions, and was being set up for a wedding. You could imagine how elegant a wedding would be – although, as Renoir observed, if the bridge chose to wear a white dress, she might well disappear into the decorations which were white on white!

Lunch was a lettuce, tomato and cucumber salad; Borsch with sour cream; bread rolls; sparkling wine (not a patch on what we had the day before); an unusual chicken dish which was chicken mince, rolled into an ellipse shape and covered in bread, not crumbs but imagine the size of small crouton then baked; mushroom sauce which I am assured was delicious, and mashed potato. This was followed by a small ricotta cheesecake on a lightweight sponge with coffee. I spied that the restaurant had a bar and pointed out to Renoir that it appeared beer was available – he was started to fear he would never enjoy a Russian beer! But a nice young waiter (complete with mullet!) brought him a beer and he was most content!

The next stop was the Peterhof – and first to the gardens (which gave us the chance to walk off lunch thought the Catherine Palace was opulent – Peterhof just set a completely new standard.  I look back on my diary and see I was struggling for words to describe more and more richness and opulence. 

It took 2o years to restore after the Nazis trashed it and the result is truly spectacular. First was the most stunning fountain – all gold statues cascading with the water (once again, see FB for pix).  Peterhof is right on the coast and was much enjoyed by those who had the privilege of escaping the heat of the city. It was incredibly crowded for two reasons – firstly it is one of the premier tourist attractions for the locals as well as tourists from overseas; and secondly it was a Sunday, and the gardens offer a fabulous place to have a family picnic.

2.30pm was our turn to enter the palace – so we fought our way through the queues to get in – if you miss your time you miss out completely – as half our bus discovered poor things. I wouldn’t have missed Peterhof for anything. If Catherine Palace put the Hermitage in the shade – Peterhof  kicked it out of the park! No photos as we weren’t allowed to take any inside (the cynical side of me thinks this is because it forces you to purchase one of their books). But each room was unbelievable in its beauty; reproductions of dinner settings, art painted directly onto the walls and ceilings, silks, velvets in rich golds and reds and blues. I just can’t do it justice!

We were running a bit late back to the boat because we were all so gobsmacked with the Palace we took a bit longer than the time allotted, but our driver got us back in time and we prepared for our regular 8pm quiz and dinner.

This was a formal night’s dinner (which required a tie and if you don’t know Renoir’s attitude to ties, let me describe the three he brought with him in case they insisted he wear one – what he calls his obseni-ties  – a Celtic football club – bright green; San Francisco 49ers – red and white and my particular favourite – Marvin the Martian). Fortunately,  while in Kuala Lumpur we  had found a couple of chinese silk jackets – one reversible, black on one side and gold on the other; and a black one with a gold dragon appliquéd across the front – absolutely gorgeous and a wonderful way to get out of wearing a tie!

An early night (a bit of a mistake after such a rich dinner!) while the midnight sun glowed in the sky.

Day 8: Tallinn (capital of Estonia). Poor Estonia has been invaded almost as much as Korea! We took the shuttle into town and explored the old city. Estonia is a walled city, and fortunately treasures its mediaeval past. We had only a few hours here so did a lot of walking and just absorbing the old city. The people are just lovely, friendly and open and most of them speak very good English (which is wonderful as our Estonian is pretty poor!) 

The central square in the old city has the odd distinction of having more cafes in one place than anywhere else in Europe and it was a wonderful place to sit in an Irish pub and have a drinks and a snack of cheese balls. Many of the cafes played on the mediaeval theme by dressing in costume, and it looked wonderful to have a square full of these wonderfully colourful  costume. The architecture of the buildings was just lovely, and amazing that so much had escaped being bombed in WWII.  We wandered back to the shuttle bus via the Pushkin café/restaurant, where we sat outside and Renoir enjoyed a local beer, Saku, and I had a sweet red wine. Alright, I had two – it was delicious. We had to be back on the boat early, so caught the 330pm bus back, and then wandered down a small set of markets which had set up next to the wharf.  Estonia is known for its knitwear (beautiful thick jumpers not much use to us in Brisbane),linen, leather and jewellery.

We didn’t eat in the restaurant for dinner, but tried the buffet, which ended up being  a Mexican night, which was ok. Then photos of the midnight sunset on the deck, before enjoying late night trivia (which we won in a tie breaker) and then off to bed.

Days 9&10; At Sea. At sea days are lovely, but they do tend to disappear as there is much laying on deck chairs, or sitting in pubs watching Wimbledon if the weather is inclement.

Day 11: Zeebrugge, Belgium:  Another quick visit to a port city, this one was Blakenburg. We could have rushed into Bruges, but really just wanted to enjoy our last day rather than rush around. Blakenburg is a pretty little coastal town, and we took the shuttle bus into town. We spent a bit of time trying to locate a handibank, as we had taken a wrong turn and missed a strip of them! Once we were cashed up it was off to the beach so Renoir could have a dip in the North Sea.  It  was a lovely day, so he wasn’t the only one, and joined a bunch of kids and other adults in the water (although no-one else managed to body surf! Then a well-earned thirst quenching fruit beer in a bar on the beach before wandering through the town (where you’ll see pictures on Facebook of Renoir standing in front of an Australian ice cream bar, and enjoying another ale in a little Belgium bar). We didn’t have enough time to enjoy a bowl of mussels so will just have to do something about that when back in Brisbane (or maybe Paris!).

Back to the boat for a final trivia and a total of our little golden cards – the prizes for which we claimed later that evening (things like key rings, glasses cases, baseball caps etc..)

Day 12: Disembark at Southampton: Couldn’t believe how easy it was to leave the boat – just collected our bags which had been collectd the night before and walked out of the terminal.

And there ends our Cunard adventure!