Baltic, Iceland, Norway and the U.K.on a cruise

[scubacruiserx2]

12 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

So cool.

 

Literally . It's always been cool and rainy when we've visited . Good trekking weather !

[MicCanberra]

41 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

Literally . It's always been cool and rainy when we've visited . Good trekking weather !

When we were there, it was July and around 45 Celcius, a few beers were consumed to make sure we stayed hydrated.😋

[scubacruiserx2]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

When we were there, it was July and around 45 Celcius, a few beers were consumed to make sure we stayed hydrated.😋

 

Yikes ! We applaud your effort to remain hydrated .

[scubacruiserx2]

When I met my wife in 1976 the lilacs were in bloom . When drove back to Florida I took a bloom home as a car scent and so I still associate that smell with her . The lilacs were in bloom outside of the wall .

 

 

 

 

And so was the Baltica festival

 

 

It included music and Folk dancing

 

 

[MicCanberra]

34 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

Yikes ! We applaud your effort to remain hydrated .

We must look after our selves, especially when travelling.

[scubacruiserx2]

13 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

We must look after our selves, especially when travelling.

 

That's for sure !

[scubacruiserx2]

 

 

 

 

 

 

and donuts !  Thumbs up for Tallin , Baltica and Donuts .

 

[scubacruiserx2]

The Zuiderdam

 

 

The NCL Pearl

 

 

The Pearl sail away

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 

 

Large log seat

 

Heading toward St. Petersburg

 

Something that we missed this time from our previous visit to Tallin was a balloon ride

 

 

We had hoped to get a balloon cam shot of the Zuiderdam . Will you settle for the Eclipse ?

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2019 by scubacruiserx2

[MicCanberra]

The Eclipse is nice, I will be on her in April 2021.

[scubacruiserx2]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

The Eclipse is nice, I will be on her in April 2021.

 

One of out favorite ships ! We've only been on her thrice . An east bound TA , Baltic cruise with our oldest grandson and a trip to the ABC islands for our anniversary . We booked the Zuiderdam for another trip to the ABC's on December 10th so will be going Dutch all the way . The Japan to Canada looks great and sounds like one that we would like to do . 

[scubacruiserx2]

At this point in the cruise we were sailing to Saint Petersburg . I recently reviewed this portion of the cruise on another thread . If you wish to see or read about it you can find it here beginning with post # 341 .

 

 

 

We will continue with Helsinki , our next stop after Saint Petersburg .

[MicCanberra]

You are certainly welcome to join us. Still not sure what itineraries it will do after our cruise but most likely Alaska.

[scubacruiserx2]

 

We arrived in Helsinki before 7 but the shuttles didn't run until 8:00 . We couldn't see where to meet the shuttles from our cabin so we went forward for a better look .

 

 

They were beyond the dirt pile at the end of the blue building

 

 

 

They let us off near this statute that reminded me of Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still .

 

 

It also reminds me of a line from a song , Like Klaatu's robot man , your looks have killed again  from It's the eighties where's our rocket packs ?

 

[scubacruiserx2]

11 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

You are certainly welcome to join us. Still not sure what itineraries it will do after our cruise but most likely Alaska.

 

We will look into it . We would love to see Japan and return to Alaska .

[scubacruiserx2]

33 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

You are certainly welcome to join us. Still not sure what itineraries it will do after our cruise but most likely Alaska.

 

Are you planning to also do the cruise between the Transpacific and the Alaskan cruise ?

[MicCanberra]

Our plan was to tour down the pacific coast either by train, car or coach for two weeks, visiting some friends in Oregon and mainly seeing some of the landmarks/national parks and San Francisco. I am still not sure what the Eclipse does after it gets to Vancouver in May. I am assuming Alaska.

[scubacruiserx2]

We were comfortable when we found the waterfront and Market Square

 

 

It had been 13 years since we were last here and some things had changed

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

The Helsinki Cathedral looked closed

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsinki_Cathedral

 

And so we hiked to our farthest walking point , Uspenski Cathedral  , which is suppose to be the largest Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Western Europe .

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uspenski_Cathedral

 

 

 

There was a service so we didn't take photos inside 

 

 

We walked past The Bridge of Love which is covered with locks 

 

 

 

[Hezu]

16 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

They let us off near this statute that reminded me of Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still .

 

 

 

This scupture in Kasarmintori is the National Memorial for Winter War. If you look on those portholes you should see see some historical pictures from the wartime.

 

1 hour ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

It had been 13 years since we were last here and some things had changed

 

 

 

 

Although, there are now 70 of these modern Transtech Arctic units roaming on Helsinki tram network, there is significant number of those older Valmet trams from 1970s and 1980s around, although not exactly as pictured in your photo as now these have been extended with a low-entry middle section.

[scubacruiserx2]

3 hours ago, Hezu said:

 

This scupture in Kasarmintori is the National Memorial for Winter War. If you look on those portholes you should see see some historical pictures from the wartime.

 

Although, there are now 70 of these modern Transtech Arctic units roaming on Helsinki tram network, there is significant number of those older Valmet trams from 1970s and 1980s around, although not exactly as pictured in your photo as now these have been extended with a low-entry middle section.

 

Thank you for sharing this information .

[scubacruiserx2]

 

 

 

We bought a plate of Moose sausage and meatballs here

 

 

Which was great with the mustard and lingonberries

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

We took the tram to the Rock Church

 

 

The tram ride was $5 each and admission to the church $6 each

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was quite noisy and busy inside and some people had to be hushed up .

 

[Hezu]

24 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

The tram ride was $5 each and admission to the church $6 each

I wonder if you remember the prices right or paid too much since the single ticket for Helsinki region public traffic's AB zone is just 2.80 € (or 4 € if bought from a bus driver) and Temppeliaukio church entrance is 3 €/person.

 

Also worth a mention for those who are going to visit Helsinki: the single public transport tickets are valid for 80 minutes, so in many cases you might be able to travel to both directions with one single ticket. And zones A and B cover the whole central Helsinki and adjacent parts of the neighbouring cities Espoo and Vantaa, so that should be sufficient for most destinations if you arrive to Helsinki on a cruise ship and are interested in the most commonly visited sights.

[MicCanberra]

Good to know, cheers.