Dubai is an incredible city. There are more cranes here than anywhere in the world. The number of buildings with a hundred stories is beyond belief. BurjKhalifa is the tallest building in the world today. They have so much money here that nothing is impossible. They took 7000 million tons of rock and made a breakwater so that the Jumeirah never has to worry about the sea affect the area around the Palm Jebel Ali, a man made area fashioned after a palm tree. On our second day in Dubai we started the day at the Museum of the Future. It tries to predict what it will be in like 2071. How the Earth will be able to repair itself from the depletion of the rain forest. How we will inhabit the Moon as launching point to travel in the galaxy. Later in the day we went to the Mall of Dubai. More stores than any other mall in the world and a food court that had ever food franchise in the world. We went to KFC of all places but of course Pam needed chocolate chip at Baskins and Robbins. We then ventured to the BurjKhalifa. It is 828 meters above the ground. We gave an arm and a leg to go to the 148th floor. The elevator moves at 10 meters a second. We go to level 125 and change elevators to go the rest of the way. The view was incredible. We could almost see New York. We were fortunate that all went well and it was a relief to be back on the ground. Then we needed to get back to the hotel so we ventured on the local Dubai Metro. We went back to the Museum of the Future where we could get a taxi to the hotel. Taxis rides in Dubai are so inexpensive that it cost only $6 to go to the Mall of Dubai from our hotel. I think the gas in Dubai cost the drivers 10 cents a gallon. Tonight at about 10:30 we will venture to the airport in Dubai for our 2:00 AM flight back home.
Early morning arrival into a port in Dubai.On and off bus first day to get a view of Dubai.various unusual shaped buildings through out the city.This is the Museum of the Future. You need tickets months in advance. We had them for the next day.The Dubai Frame is an observatory, museum.The city was very clean and well kept.Tallest Ferris Wheel in the World and each seat holds 8 people at $30 each person.Arrived at the museum of the future!Three finger hand sculpture outside the museum.Lance checking things out.Cousin Cherry and Pam posing with the three finger sculpture behind us.We could have stayed in this exhibit all day.Every animal, plant, insect or anything else was in each glass. You had a thin bar you carried and when held close to it, it would tell you about it.Pam in future space travel.Meet Burj KhalifaPhot of it from further away and shows in partly in the clouds.Last chance to change your mind. Cost was $150 each to go to the 148th floor.I have a bit of fear of heights, so not ready to turn to look.Doesn’t it look like you are looking out the window of a plane?
The next stop on our journey is Muscat, Oman. Oman is a very wealthy country due to an abundance of oil and gas. We visited the National Museum that is relativity new and spectacularly done. We walked around the area that appears to be government buildings. The sidewalks are done in granite and the lawns are manicured. One picture shows 3 men sitting on the ground under a tree well pulling out weed in the flower bed around the tree. After the museum we were dropped off at the Souq, a shopping center that is over 200 years old and has over 1000 shops. Much of what they sell is the same things. Every store sells Frankincense and the accompanying equipment to burn it. Supposedly it has some health benefits. Some stores specialize in scarfs made from cashmere and silk. We couldn’t leave without buying a Christmas ornament and a jar of Frankincense. We are now headed for the final port of call, Dubai. We will disembark December 8 and spend a couple of day in Dubai taking in the sights. Talk about a wealthy country Dubai has a year around snow skiing indoor arena. We have tickets to the Museum of the Future that are hard to get. We were able to get them a month ago online when they first became available. We plan to visit the Burj Khalifa that is the tallest building in the world today. I heard that Saudi is building one bigger just north of Jeddah.
Our next stop on the journey is Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The Saudi’s just opened, a short time ago, accepting tourism. This is completely new to them. It was quite an eye opening experience. The ship had to stop serving alcohol … Continue reading →
Day 8 of our journey was a stop in Jordan. Aqaba is a port on the gulf of Aqaba that is connected to the Red Sea. Aqaba is the gateway to PETRA the incredible Petra is quite amazing. It is about a two hour drive to reach Petra by bus. It is quite a scary ride because if the bus was to go over the side it would stop 5000 feet below. The topography makes the Grand Canyon look small. Once you reach the site it is straight downhill about 1.5 miles then after you have seen the entrance to the temple you get to walk uphill 1.5 miles on cobble stones. They do have golf carts that will take you up and back for a small fee of $40 each. The last 600 yards of the walk you can ride a horse to the top and we did that. Lunch was provided at the Movenpick Hotel that was very good. Then back on the bus for the scary ride down the hill. Day 9 is a day at sea heading for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. When we returned from dinner the other night a memo was in our cabin that talks about how we should react if we encounter pirates. After we leave Jeddah we will have a couple of days they want us to avoid going to the outside venues. The ship will begin evasive action by swerving right and left and we should leave our rooms and huddle in the main hallways. I think it is just be aware of what could happen. The US and UK navies patrol the southern Red Sea to make sure that ships don’t encounter problems. Hopefully we won’t. This may be our last report.
Arrived and started our walk of 2 1/2 miles to Petra.Looking up you can see high walls and a narrow walk way to Petra.Then we made the last turn and look what we saw!This was much brighter in person but an unusal sky.
The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. We slept through most of getting through the canal. Day 5 of our cruise is a stop in Safaga Egypt. It is the gateway to Luxor. To get to Luxor from the ship is a 4 hour drive each way so we didn’t want to spend that time on a bus. We instead went on the Aquascope Semi-Submarine ride to the coral fields. The boat has windows in a compartment under the main deck and the water is quite shallow so we got to see many different types of fish. We saw some very interesting looking fish and turtles. A great dinner and the night ended with Pam and cousin Cherry dancing the night away out by the pool. Please click on link for video. Been having trouble with Internet service.
Our first stop on the voyage is Alexandria Egypt. It is a 3 hour drive to the Giza where the Great Pyramids are located. One of the earliest formed countries in the world is still a third world country. Driving thru Alexandria and Cairo made me very thankful that I was born in America. The place looks like, what you see on the news, is happening in the Ukraine. These buildings have been abandoned and in rubble without being hit by missiles. We finally reach the Giza where we got the opportunity to see the Pyramids and Sphinx and Pam got to ride a camel. Getting on a camel is difficult enough but when the camel gets off their knees they almost flip you off over their heads.
After a lengthy day of traveling from Phoenix to Athens we finally reach our destination just slightly after our targeted time. We joined the SilverSea Spirit ship the next afternoon and set sail at 7:00PM. We had a wonderful dinner with our cousins Cherry and John from Australia that joined us on our voyage to the Middle East. We slept all night trying to finally catch up on the sleep we miss on our traveling. Tuesday at the grill for lunch was a surprise in the buffet they had grilled lobster tails. They were done extremely well and after a couple of beers to wash then down we returned to our room for a little siesta. Lance played bridge, for the first time in 30 years, later in the afternoon partnering with cousin Cherry.
Pam beginning to relaxLance counting his pills.Our plane is getting ready for us.All ready for take off.Our ship the Silver Spirit!Lance and Cherry playing bridge.Cousin Cherry is enjoying the game.
On our last day in Germany we took a tour of Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Some 100,000 people were executed there. About half of every person that went through the facility was executed.
We left Berlin early Sunday morning and flew to London Heathrow. By the time we got to the hotel it was lunch time and we had a fun ride around the English country side to find the hotel. After a lot of heartburn we found it. On the next day we ventured out to Windsor to see if we could get a look see of Archie the new Prince. The town was full of people touring the castle and hanging around the streets of the town. The town has changed considerably since the last time we were there. We did see Harry and Meghan looking out the window. They waved at us and we were so busy waving back that we did not get a picture of them waving. Another fun ride back from Windsor to the hotel was also stressful. I think the IPhone GPS system is a little off because of the right hand drive. So when it counts the number of exits on a round-a-bout they count from the left hand drive side of the road.
Where you see gravel is where other barracks stood. There were only two remaining in their original state.
The bunks were 3 beds high and held muliple people in each bed.
We arrived in Berlin on Saturday afternoon and having been on the road for 10 days we needed to do some laundry. Finding a self-serve laundry without a car is a fun thing to do. Lance learned the underground so we took a couple of trains and found the laundry. After an hour or so we were good to go for the remainder of our trip. Having been in Berlin two years ago gave us an advantage of what to expect. Bruce and Laurie arrived on Sunday afternoon from Chicago. We started by getting on the Hop on Hop off bus and quickly saw the top attractions of the city. We went back to the Holocaust Memorial, the Brandenburg Gate, and Check Point Charlie and did some new things like climbing up the Victory Column stairs to the top, 270 steps. We also visited the Jewish Museum. It is extremely hot in Europe this summer so it had an effect on our stamina. We rented a car in Berlin and headed to Dessau to visit the Bauhaus Museum where in 1919 Walter Gropius established a college that affected the design style still utilized today. The Nazi’s shut down the college in 1933.
The Bauhaus style later became one of the most influential currents in modern design, Modernist architecture and art, design, and architectural education.
The Bauhaus movement had a profound influence upon subsequent developments in art, architecture, graphic design, interior design, industrial design, and typography.
We then ventured to Dresden to see the city that was severely damaged during WWII. The Allied forces bombed the hell out of the city that burned for 5 days and killed some 25000 people. Dresden was a major industrial complex that was building German war materials. It was also a transportation and communications center for the German war effort. The British and U.S. Army Air dropped 3900 tons of high explosive bombs in February of 1945.
Thursday night was a special night because of the birthday celebration for Pam and Bruce. We had a fabulous dinner at an Italian restaurant. We took a cab to the restaurant because then we could cab it back to the hotel and not have to worry about driving. The cab driver, who did not understand English, took us to the wrong restaurant dropped us off in 90 degrees heat and drove away. Fortunately we were able to get another cab in a few minutes and made sure he got us to the right place.
On Friday we took a tour of the VW factory in Dresden. It is a factory that builds an electric version of the VW Golf. They build 74 cars a day that are mostly going to customers in Europe. It is a final assembly plant that is in an all glass walled building that is located in the middle of town and has complete transparency. Very interesting what they have on the drawing board for future cars.
Check Point Charlie!
There are over 10,000 metal faces in the shape of disks. When you walk on them they have the sound of a train going down the tracks much like the trains carrying many captured Jews during WWII. They titled this exhibit “Fallen Leaves.”
LISTEN TO SOME OF THE SOUNDS
The victory column was built in 1873 to celebrate Prussia’s victory in the Franco-German War. It was moved to its present location in the Tiergarten in 1938. You can go to the top via 270 steps to see great views of Berlin. We made it to the top!
Bruce and Laurie standing in front of the Bauhaus Museum.
We had a Birthday Celebration at an Italian Restaurant where I was met with a Birthday surprise. I’m sure Bruce had something to do with it. We actually celebrated Bruces’s birthday as well beings it was just a few days from mine and we would not be together at that time. Fun evening.
Happy Birthday Pam
We visited the Volkswagon Assembly plant in Dresden. It was very interesting touring the plant and getting a view of some cars of the future. One will be like an Uber driver without a driver which shown in a photo below.
The next leg of our journey is to Napoli. We rented a car, a Fiat 500 that is the Italian version of a Porsche 911, and drove to Sorrento for a couple of nights. A beautiful place that has an unbelievable amount of traffic but a wonderful little town with plenty of restaurants all of which are great. We then wasted a couple of day driving down to Cosenza to see if any of Pam’s relatives where there. We couldn’t find a single one. So we made a correction and headed back to Napoli/Naples and stopped on the way at Pompeii. Pompeii is a city that was covered in lava when Mount Vesuvius erupted and covered the entire city in 79AD In about 1959 they determined that the city was there and archaeologist excavated the site and created a huge tourist attraction. We stayed in a great place in Pompeii right across the street from the entrance to the ruins.
The next couple of day where spent in Napoli/Naples and Capri. We connected with a tour to Capri that started with a hydrofoil ride to the island. A beautiful day but Capri is one of those places that everyone want to see. There were several big ships in port that had in total of about 10000 people in town. Very busy but quite interesting. Capri is known for Limoncello and they have lemons there that are in the range of 2 pounds each. It is quite an E ticket ride going up the mountain in a bus when a bus is coming down the hill the mirrors touch. Coming down isn’t as bad because your on the inside of the road against the mountain and not hanging over the cliff. Leaving for Berlin on Saturday AM to hook up with Bruce and Laurie.
Sorrento
Restaurant dog wondering why we are looking at him. In Sorrento.
In Sorrento we saw the genius of their Italian lounge chairs. You could have the shade so you can see your cell phone screen.
It was like our secret garden. Just lovely
Dinner down in the Garden in Pompei. Loved it and I could have stayed there several days.
Pompei our room balcony
The volcano out i the distance as I stand in the burned out ruin in Pompei
Lunch in Sorrento
Looking out over the ruins of Pompeii city. The volcano eruption happened in 79 AD
Interesting bark on the trees. Haven’t found out yet the name.
Amphitheater in Pompeii
Lunch in Naples
View of the Capri harbor from AnaCapri
Restaurant in AnaCapri, and Lance looking back to make sure I am coming.
Interesting sculptures done with bicycle chains.
Cute man jumped into a photo Lance was taking of me. He was a handsome photo bomber.
We began our journey in Vienna for 4 days. We did a couple of short days due to jet lag. Took the Hop on Hop off bus and got an introduction to the city. Beautiful buildings and palaces all over … Continue reading →
We spent our last couple of days in Ireland at the little town of Killarney. A very nice little town with lots of tourists. They must have 40,000 rooms that they rent out as B&B’s and hotels. They have plenty of places to eat and drink. The attraction is the Ring of Kerry along with the large national park that is close by. The Ring of Kerry was our purpose for visiting. We took a tour on a 16 person bus that pointed out all the top attractions where we stopped for pictures of the beautiful countryside and the coastline of the Atlantic Ocean. Of course our guide took us to his favorite gift stores and places to stop and eat. Unfortunately it rained a little on our journey. Take a look at the photos. Ireland has been experiencing a drought so until a few days ago the emerald island was a bit brown but the couple of inches of rain in the last couple of days has done wonders for the colors. Here are some sights and sounds of our visit. We are leaving in the morning to head back to Dublin for our last afternoon and evening. I know we will be celebrating Bruce’s Birthday and polishing our last night off with Irish Coffees!
The clouds were so wonderful. I will use this as a sample for a future painting.
All I can say is this little dog does not look like he is in a hurry for anything.
My first Guinness.
Another Pub. You can always find another just a doorway away.
Some sounds of Ireland and drinking a pint of Guinness.
A photo with our tour guide. We are holding a piece of Bog. If you don’t know what it is. Google it. Interesting.
That sheep was ineresting with his four horns. Two that curled down and two that curled up.
We arrived in Dublin on Sunday evening and were met by our friend Bruce and Laurie at the Hotel. We spent the next day touring around Dublin checking out the pubs and sites. We jumped on the Hop on Hop off bus to see the important places and then stopped at St Patrick’s Cathedral. We then proceeded to the Museum of Art that had a special exhibit by Roderic O’Conor and Van Gogh. Laurie knew about a place called the “Queen of Tarts” so on the way back to our hotel we made a detour and had a scone for dessert. The next day we drove to Cork with a stop for lunch in the seaside town of Kinsale. Very cute little village with plenty of places to eat and drink. We then went on to Cork and stayed at a 200 year old hotel that has slight uneven floors and was reminiscent of the Winchester Mystery House. Lance drove and Bruce was the navigator and we made the 250 KM without incident except for a few times hitting the bushes on the tiny roads. Remember the Irish drive on the left side of the road. Our first full day in Cork was Pam’s birthday. We toured the city on the Hop on Hop off bus that takes about an hour and a half to complete the circuit. One of the main attractions in Cork is the old prison so we spent an hour going through it with a guide that told us about the history of the place. After a nice lunch we drove to Blarney Castle. It is fairly close to Cork. To get to the top of the Castle where the Blarney Stone is located you have to navigate about 4 stores up on a spiral staircase that is very narrow and steep. Once on top Pam and Laurie kissed the Blarney Stone so the walk was well worth the effort. It is a bit scary because you have to lie on your back to kiss the stone while someone is holding you. Our next stop is Killarney.
Lance in front of rememberance tree in Saint Patricks church.
A brightly painted store front in Kinsale/
Not good at it but a selfie with a selfie stick. Does anyone behind us look familiar?
Flowers throughout were so nice to see every where.
Laurie had a friend who told her about Queen of Tarts and we stumbled on it and went in for a scone and coffee.
Women’s prison
The guard at the women’s prison in Cork is watching me very carefully.
The Castle in Klarney.
On my 67th Birthday I am kissing the Blarney Stone. It wasn’t easy climbing to the top of the Castle. While being assisted I didn’t dare look down.
We anchored in the sea just off shore of Santorini. What a beautiful island and well worth the visit. This extraordinary island is the fragmentary remains from one of the biggest volcanic eruptions in history, which occurred around 1600 BC. Santorini’s beautiful villages are perched on top of steep cliffs overlooking the bay and offer some of the most stunning scenery in Greece. Standing atop the highest peak of Santorini, the Profitis Elias Monastery offers wonderful views of the entire island, approximately 6 miles from the town of Fira. Much mythology has identified Santorini as the last remnant of the lost city of Atlantis. Regardless of legend, there is no doubt that Santorini is a magical place to visit. We hired a private guide to take us around the island and show us the important spots to see. Santorini has about 15,000 population and on any given day there could be upwards to 200,000 people on the island. We were lucky that our ship was the only one there on the day we visited. Many people arrive by ferry from the neighboring islands. Having a private guide was a real bonus.
We are coming to the end of our cruise heading back to Athens where we catch a flight to Dublin for the next phase of our trip.
Stopped for lunch with our tour guide Roland for some good local Greek Food. It was at a black sand beach.
Our ship is awaiting us.
This picture I took looking down at the water from our ship. I could not get over the beauty of the color.
The tiny island of Patmos is a place of deep importance for Christianity. It’s where the last book of the New Testament was allegedly written and where an air of mystery still hangs over the island, not unlike the misty fog that seems to be ever-present just off the shore. We had to take a tender from the ship to shore as there is not place for a cruise ship to dock. A very clean little city full of shopping and good Greek restaurants. Lots of trinkets to buy which I didn’t leave without. They had some painted rocks done by artist of this town and as our family has been into recent projects of painting of our own rocks I had to purchase one to bring home. Tomorrow we arrive in Santorini where I plan on taking just the right photo to Paint.
The city of Patmos. A tender taking us to shore.
Tender taking us to the shore of Patmos.
This little boat was having a party and lots of fun.
Lance looking for a sports bar so he might find a TV with the British Open on.
Many little streets with lots of shopping and eats. They are really into Herbs in Greece.
Interesting Palm tree with a passion vine growing on it.
A seamstress shop with lots of sewing machines inside. Very small.
This is so good I bought some to bring to Ireland to share with Bruce and Laurie when we meet up. I’m worried it won’t make it if it gets open.
Our original plan was to make port in Ashdod which was interrupted by a skirmish at the Gaza strip. The boat was unable to dock and waved off to move on to a different port by the name of Haifa. We arrived Haifa 1:00 in afternoon and spent the afternoon visiting interesting sights in Haifa. We traveled the Baha‘i Gardens, Golden Dome, went to the highest point of the city to look at a Panoramic view of Haifa. Interesting enough we could actually see Lebanon. On our second day in Israel we had a 12 hour day private tour through Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Our first stop in Jerusalem as Mount of Olives. It is a mountain ridge east of and adjacent too Jerusalem’s old city. The mount has been used as a Jewish cemetery for over 3000 years. From the lookout you see the Eastern wall of the old city where the Eastern gate originally was and is now closed.
Our next stop was the Western Wall (aka) the Wailing Wall. The Western Wall is considered holy due to its connection to the Temple Mount. Because of the Temple Mount entry restrictions, the Wall is the holiest place where Jews are permitted to pray, though the holiest site in the Jewish faith lies behind it. Pam was able to place a note in the wall.
Our next stop was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. While it is archaeologically impossible to say that the tomb recently uncovered in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the burial site of an individual Jew known as Jesus of Nazareth, there is indirect evidence to suggest that the identification of the site by representatives of the Roman Emperor Constantine some 300 years later may be a reasonable one. There
is a picture of Pam at the spot of the 14 point star that is the tomb.
We entered the city from many of the gates and saw many churches of different denominations. The city has four quarters: Muslim, Christian,Jewish, and Armenian. The Muslim quarter is the most populous of the quarters. All the quarters are accessed thru different gates.
Interestingly, Bethlehem is occupied and run by the Palestinians. It seems that the Palestinians and the Jewish people of Jerusalem get along fine. We had to switch guides to enter Bethlehem because our guide was not able to tell us about the city. Our guide was a young Palestinian that spoke excellent English and showed us the city. The people of Jerusalem encourage tourists to spend money in Bethlehem as the only source of income is tourism. So we stopped for lunch in Bethlehem and also went to
a store with many religious things to buy.
Our last stop before returning to the ship was at the new U.S. Embassy. Of course we wanted to get a picture standing in front of the Embassy that was just recently moved to Jerusalem.
On day three in Haifa we were supposed to go to Nazareth. We missed our time slot as we slept right thru the alarm. So we spent the day catching up on sleep.
A peaceful day at sea and time to reflect on our journey to Israel.
Entering Baha’i Gardens in Haifa
Panoramic view and can see far in the distance Lebanon
A Panoramic view and our ship in the back ground.
Attempt at a selfie on the beach of Haifa.
Mount Olive where are the cemetery’s faced the East Wall.
Jerusalem, love the donkeys are so small.
Entering the Jaffa gate heading to the Western Wall/AKA Wailing wall.
I was able to leave a note in the wall.
Bethlehem
The 14 pointed star is suppose to represent the exact place Jesus was buried.
Where the manger was.
These steps into this small space is wear the manger was waiting the birth of Jesus.
Painting depicting Jesus on the stone being prepared for burial.
Our Palestinian tour guide in Bethlahem.
Our end of our tour. We asked if on our way out if the van could go by the new USA Embassy in Jerusalem.
Lance and I arrived in Athens last night. Athens is the oldest European city with a history of more than 4,000 years. It is the birthplace of Democracy, Philosophy, Theater, Music and Poetry and there is not better way than walking to discover this glorious city and its monuments. We took a hop on and hop off bus to get a view of the city. We got off to take quite a hike up the big mountain to look over the Acropolis. The buildings were built 2000 to 2500 years ago. A couple of years ago a fellow artist sent some pictures of paintings done all over the world that would be considered I guess street paintings. One was an Owl done on a corner in a intersection in Athens, Greece. Two years later I am here and now on the hunt for that intersection. A cab driver was taking us to the address we had of where it was located. He had not seen it but introduced us to few more he new about and were quite famous in Athens. I think he had as much fun as we did.
After viewing the Acropolis we headed for a badly needed lunch. Had to try a Greek salad in Greece.
Here I am. It was a very cool street painting.
Painting of Plato
The Hands
The name of this is “Crisis!” Depicting their money crisis for the last eight years and still not over.
We had a sea day planned because of the distance between Lithuania and the German port of Warnemunde is quite far. We met some people the day we arrived in St Petersburg and spent a little time with them at the nightly shows. Turns out they were celebrating their 40th anniversary and she had a surprise for him. She had it set up with the Captain and crew that they would re-new their vows. The cruise director and the Captain did the honors and Lance gave the best man’s toast. Pam was the maid of honor and official photographer. Their Butler, Ronny, gave the bride away. Our Butler Mishra was also involved doing the champagne honors. Crystal coordinated the whole thing. I have no idea who was steering the ship because all the crew was in attendance. We arrived in port early today. Very cute little port town with lots of people out on a sunny Sunday afternoon. We also went to Rostock that is a very cute University town about 8 miles away. The University is the 3rd oldest in Germany founded in 1419. Tonight is our last night on the ship as we head home tomorrow morning. Looking forward to getting home and seeing the pups.
Attended Wine Tasting which was very interesting. We learned a lot about each of the 5 wine and pairings we had.
Wedding Cake made for Don and Barbara Waters
Husband Don walks into the Library where the event was held.
Barbara’s Butler gave her away. It was so charming.
Best Man Lance gave the toast!
The handsome man on the left was our Butler on the cruise and his name was Mishra. It was so fun.
Guitar player was the cruise ship band played a beautiful song of Barbara Striesand.
The whole crew was there and it finally dawned on me…who was driving the ship?
Getting ready to go Celebrate in the Polo Grill.
This renewing of Vows certainly made this cruise memorable. Don and Barbara are from Miami, Florida.
Interesting mime.
When I dropped money in her hat she changed slightly with a wink and a nod. Interesting face.
Likely a painting.
A very unique shoe store. From the sculpture in front, the knobs on the doors and the shoes inside.
Day 6 was a stop in Helsinki. It is a nice little town that held the 1952 Olympics. Today the town is so small and the Olympics are so big that there is no way that they could hold an event like that now. We passed by the Olympic stadium but it was closed for renovation. The streets are very narrow and the bus had trouble getting by the parked cars. Cute little port town.
Day 7 was a washout. We were going to dock in Riga, Latvia but with 12 ft swells and 40 knot winds it was to dangerous to dock the ship. So instead we had a day at sea on our way to Klaipeda, Lithuania and got there 5 hours earlier than originally intended. We had a full day here and will be leaving at 8:00 PM on our Warnemunde, Germany. Day 9 is a day cruising the Baltic. The weather on this trip has not been the best with very little sun shinning through the heavy clouds. The good news is that we have had little rain so we have been able to see everything we were interested in seeing. Klaipeda is a small shipping port on the coast of Lithuania. The thing we continued to hear about was the fried bread covered with cheese and garlic. We were able to find a shop that had it on the menu and gave it a try. It was very good and the fries were also good. We saw a very interesting thing on our way to town. A video is attached for your viewing. A bit of an archaic way to move the bridge but effective.
Cute little Tug coming up behind us to guide us to the Port of Helsinki.
Klaipeda, Lithuania
Just as we got to the bridge it was in process of moving. Quite interesting.
Saw many weddings going on in the port of Klaipeda during our walk.
We heard one thing we needed to try while here is Fried Bread. Found it!
Called Kepta Duona in Lithuanian.
Deep Fried bread with cheese and garlic pour over it.
Interesting Sculpture on the moving bridge.
Back on board relaxing on our deck.
Watch this Video Clip of the turning of the bridge so boats could go by.
St Petersburg is a huge city. Much like all big cities in Europe it has a history that is one of opulence. When I think of Russia I think that it is poor with people under soviet rule that … Continue reading →
Heidinger Happenings 