European Vacation {Day 16} – Helsinki, Finland

Today was our latest port arrival time of the week slated for 11:15am.  We were excited to sleep in.  I almost didn't set an alarm, but thought I'd set one for 10am just to be safe.  Good thing I did cause not a one of us budged until then - who knows how long we would have slept.  Vacation is exhausting!

Disney had shuttles from the port into the city center of Helsinki.  We were dropped off right by Esplanadin Puisto, a park that runs through the city which led us through Kauppatori (market square) where you can purchase souvenirs, fresh fruits, fish and flowers.  We boarded a ferry to Suomenlinna, the "fortress of Finland".  Justin is a sucker for old forts.  We explored old bunkers, fortress walls, cannons and drawbridges.

After we'd had our fill of old stuff we headed back to the city to see more old stuff {wink, wink}. 

   

We walked up to Uspenskin Katedraali, which is a red-brick cathedral towering above the island.  Unfortunately it is closed on Monday so we couldn't go inside, but it was a fun photo opp to get a picture of the kids atop it's large rock base.

We walked back through the market to another Helsinki landmark easily seen from all over the city – Helsinki Cathedral, a white hilltop chapel.  We climbed up the steep stairs to get a peek inside.

I would have loved to venture through the city of Helsinki more.  I'm drawn to their Scandinavian culture and could walk through the city for days (preferably not with five kids and a husband).  It felt so much different from other European cities that we have visited.   So while I, for the most part, enjoyed our excursion over to the fortress I didn't feel like I got enough of the Finnish lifestyle and culture that I would have liked.  Let's be honest, by this point in the trip I think we've all seen enough cathedrals and palaces (except perhaps Justin).

Back on the ship there was a Frozen party on deck.  It even snowed bubbles.

We all rejoined for dinner in Rapuzel's tonight.  Having late dinner has been tricky.  We thought it would be good to have some time between getting on the boat on port days and dinner; however, since we're not eating in port we always get back on the ship and head straight to the food.  So we're not super hungry when 8:30pm finally rolls around, but it's dinnertime and there's so much food so we order it and try to eat as much as we can even though it leaves us quite stuffed and slightly sick.  In addition, we're all so tired at that point that wrapping up dinner at 10:30pm feels really late.  Tonight Katie and Drew had apparently eaten enough and we're asking to go to the kids club before the rest of us had even been served our main courses.  So off the two of them went and the rest of us ate, and ate.  The dining rooms have a little program each night, which is fun to watch, and tonight the dessert was pretty impressive - yum!

European Vacation {Day 15} – Saint Petersburg, Russia

I was most excited about visiting Russia on our vacation.  My Dad traveled to Russia in 1992 just after the Soviet Union fell and he fell in love with the Russian people and history.  Because of strict visa and travel requirements we had to book a tour to be allowed on shore in St. Petersburg.  I wanted to see it ALL so after some research we booked a full day tour and it was amazing! 

I took over 600 pictures in Russia alone so you can perhaps understand why it’s taken me so long to document this vacation.  One amazing place after another!

We were up early this morning.  Drew woke up with a fever and was pretty out of it.  Poor kid hates taking medicine so getting that down wasn’t fun.  Not much else we could do for him – we had a big day ahead of us.

Getting through Russian security wasn’t nearly as crazy or difficult as I’d expected and once we were given clearance we quickly met up with our tour guide and were in our tour van by 8:45am.

Drew slept when he could and was AMAZING when we needed to be on the go.  He’s such a trooper!  Our first stop was at the subway where our guide proudly showed us how beautiful the Russian subway is.  Without question it was much cleaner then the subways in the other countries we’ve visited and I was impressed with the beautiful mosaics on the walls and arches. 

There were an alarming number of security cameras (can you spot a few in the ship mosaic above?).  I kid you not; there is not a corner of the underground that is not being watched.  Instead of making me feel more secure and safe I felt very uncomfortable with all the “eyes” on us.  We also rode the one of the longest escalators in the world as we made our way out of the depths of the underground.

Next stop was the Hermitage Museum.  We were able to skip most of the long admission lines since we were being admitted as a group.  Our guide was pretty put off how long the group line was and tried to sneak us by, but she was severely put into her place by some of the other tour guides.  We were a bit disappointed that we didn’t have any time to take pictures outside of the museum.  That’s one of the drawbacks of guided tours is that you are on their timetable.

We quickly learned that the subways aren’t the only place in St. Petersburg that has taken embellishment to a much higher level.  We’ve seen a lot of palaces and castles, but as we learned today Russia takes their décor to a level I’ve never seen before.  The Russian leaders saw what the rest of Europe had to offer in places like the Palace of Versailles, etc… and trumped them all.  Gold everywhere, expensive, unique materials and rare stones were used unsparingly.  Fancy, shmancy to the extreme.

It was interesting that in most of the places we visited today our guide said something to the effect of it having been destroyed during some war or conflict and then being restored (or that there are plans to restore it to it’s original brilliance).  I suppose it’s not surprising.  I don’t know much about Russian history, but I do know that they don’t have the friendliest reputation with the rest of the world. 

This was a view of the “non-group” line from inside.  Glad we didn’t have to wait out in the rain for hours.

We only got a small glimpse of some of the gardens – they were meticulously maintained.

Hermitage has lot of art and jewels on display.  This one is a Michelangelo.

Our next stop on the tour was Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood.  The architecture of Church on the Blood is just as I picture when I think of Russia.  So colorful and ornate and I love the domes on the top of the pillars!

The inside was truly spectacular!  The walls and ceiling are entirely covered in mosaic artwork. 

Next up was visiting the Peterhof fountains and gardens.  It rained off and on throughout the day.  Our guide had some bright pink ponchos for us to use while walking around Peterhof.

The Great Palace

There’s some fun history regarding the fountains.  According to our guide, Peter the Great was quite the jokester and created the fountains as a bit of a prank to his guests.  The fountains weren’t constantly running as they are now.  His idea of fun was for the fountains to spray water on guests when they weren’t expecting it.  Some of the fountains you wouldn’t even guess were fountains at all.   

Our final stop of the day was Catherine’s Palace including the Amber Room (where you are strictly prohibited from even touching your phone or camera so no pictures of this amazing room covered in rich amber panels, gold leaf, gemstones, etc...)  The Amber Room is sometimes dubbed the “Eighth Wonder of the World” and is valued at over $500 million – just for one room.  Again, another room that was destroyed and since reconstructed.

I think everyone (except me, of course) fell asleep on the way back to the ship.  It was a long day but full of amazing sights.  I’m so glad we decided to book a full day tour. 

We ate dinner in Cabanas – the buffet dining area.  Drew didn’t even make it through dinner before he was out cold… again.

Our ship was actually in port until nearly midnight.  I went to the gym after dinner and worked out and then sat our on the deck until the ship pulled away.  A day to remember for sure!  Russia!