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PHOTO REVIEW! Zuiderdam's Baltic Adventure

Bostonjetset

By Bostonjetset,
in Holland America Line

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Bostonjetset

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What were the temperatures for you? We laugh that we picked the wrong year to go -- in the 90's everywhere and we were told it was highly unusual. This was a few weeks later than your cruise and included a 10-day northern Europe cruise immediately before the Baltic. So 90's from London to St. Petersburg.

 

St. Petersburg is definitely a port best seen with a private tour. We toured with SBP a total of 22 hours over 2 days. :eek: I know how tired you were! Thanks again for the great review!

 

Funny you should mention that because our trip was quite warm as well!! It was in the high 60s to low 70s in St. Petersburg which was PERFECT. We lucked out with the sunny, and not too warm, days. However, it got into the high 70s and low 80s in many other ports. I was personally downright hot in Stockholm and was not expecting it. I'm not a fan of hot weather so I would have been miserable if it was in the 90s. It's been in the high 80s and low 90s here in Boston [and muggy! yuck] since I've returned so I have been staying in the aircon. haha.

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Day 7 [st. Petersburg, Russia]

 

06/15/2017 - 11.01pm

Another fantastic day in St. Petersburg. We started with a subway ride so we could witness the beautiful mosaic interiors and what is allegedly the longest escalator in the world [3 min. from bottom to top]. Then we did a river cruise along the Neva River for an hour so got to see all the lovely palaces from a different viewpoint.

 

 

The Church on Spilled Blood was truly spectacular with mosaics even more beautiful than those we saw in Ravenna, Italy last year. Terribly crowded but worth it. We also went to the wonderful Faberge Museum with their extensive collection of objets d'art including 9 Imperial eggs. The St, George egg that the Czar's mother took with her to Denmark when she escaped the revolution was included.

 

 

After lunch [borscht and meat pie] we went to Peterhof to see the fabulous fountains. This was lovely and I wish we had more time than an hour to spend there but such are the limitations of short visits to any city. Even with the go-go-go nature of this tour, it was a wonderful experience with our guise Alexandra and our driver Jyanni [sp?]. I would easily recommend Alla Tours to anyone. Leaving St. Petersburg we got to pass by the old Soviet naval base with the remains of the Baltic Fleet. The ship had commentary as we sailed by.

 

 

Dinner was a delicious Dover sole tonight. Tomorrow is Helsinki, Finland!

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Bostonjetset

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Thoroughly enjoying this. We are doing the Jewels of the Baltic next year so this is really giving us an idea of what we will see. Beautiful photos

 

Thank you for reading and I'm happy you are enjoying it. You will love the Baltic. We've cruised [and traveled by land] a fair amount and IMO this is one of the best itineraries out there [save for a World Cruise or some of the more far-flung ports in Asia]. This itinerary is pretty easily accessible both financially and time-wise and it really packs a lot of great places into one trip.

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Day 8 [Helsinki, Finland]

 

06/16/2017 - 11.06pm

Our day in Helsinki was much more relaxed than the past two days. We started with a visit to Church of the Rock [Temppeliaukio] and it was pretty unique inside but I'm not sure it's a place I would need to visit more than once. Just to note, they now charge 3 Euros to enter. It used to be free [as Rick Steves' book states] but the ticket agent said they started charging in January.

 

 

Then we walked to the VERY cool train station to take a look at the fabulous art nouveau / art deco exterior. We did a quick walk-by of the Lutheran Cathedral and Senate Square before continuing to Market Square where they had a bunch of stalls selling fruits and local crafts. All I bought was a magnet though mom bought some jams. We stopped for a coffee and cinnamon bun at Cafe Kappeli and then walked around the design district before catching a taxi back to the port.

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Day 9 [stockholm, Sweden]

 

06/17/2017 - 10.53pm

Our first day in Stockholm was wonderful. What a gorgeous city! We woke up around 8.00am to watch the sailing through the Stockholm Archipelago...stunning! So many small islands with charming houses on them. After debarking the ship, we walked to Gamla Stan to watch the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace. It was nice to see but once is enough.

 

 

We then walked to the Hallwylska Museet which was the former home of Countess Willhelmina von Hallwyl. She donated her home and massive art collection to the country when she died in 1930. What an amazing home filled with glorious artworks, china and tapestries. After, we walked back to the old town for some Swedish meatballs and some more window shopping. So many stores have such cute things! We took a taxi back to the ship around 7.30pm for 150 kronor.

 

 

We had decided to eat in the Lido buffet tonight as to not have to rush back from town for our 8pm dinner seating. We went up to the Lido at 8.30 and everything but the pasta station [and the mediocre pizza] was closed!! They really should have the buffet open a little later as 8.30 is quite early to shut down. Oh well, now we know. We got our laundry back this evening as well. It was nicely done and only cost $20 to stuff the bag [not $30 as others have mentioned].

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Day 10 [stockholm, Sweden]

 

06/18/2017 - 10.17pm

I truly love Stockholm! After St. Petersburg, I'd say Stockholm is my favourite port of this trip which says a lot since they are all wonderful. Today we went to the Vasa Museum to see the 17th Century warship that sank on her maiden voyage. It is amazing how well preserved she is for being almost 400 years old! We took a taxi there and arrived at 8.15am for the 8.30am opening time. We were among the first 10 people inside so really got the chance to get some nice pictures without a lot of crowds. By the time we left about 75 min. later, the entrance line wrapped around the side of the building.

 

 

After Vasa, we walked to Skansen. It was a nice atmosphere but I was expecting a bit more people in various costumes. We only saw a handful of them. There were some adorable brown bears in the zoo area though; about 4 younger bears running around together and playing in the water.

 

 

From Skansen, we took the ferry across to Gamla Stan to spend our last couple of hours in the city. I went back to the small jewelry store and bought the silver star brooch that I saw yesterday.

 

 

When we got back on board we had some lunch in the Lido and then took a short nap that ended up being 3 hours! We woke up just in time to get ready for dinner. Tomorrow is a much needed relaxing day at sea.

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All those pictures bring back good memories. Our Baltic cruise our favorite port was St Petersburg, that had been on my bucket list for many years. Nice to relive that cruise through your review.

Allan

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