HELLSINKI

Forgot to mention yesterday about the Hermitage palace & museum. We were just finishing up, going to the loos and ambling off, we just got outside and discovered we had 2 extras with us. Two women from the P&O Arcadia had left their tour & joined ours. Now they couldn't get back in to the Hermitage. Luckily our guide recognised the description of their guide & phoned him. Sergei was lucky to get them back!

Back to Helsinki, not much to say really. Pretty quiet, v windy, not too warm, but sunny. Don't like drones, Rock Church overrated, Sibelius music & park nice. Off to Stockholm now.

St PEE - LOTTA GOLD

2 long days here in St Petersburg, up at 6am and not back on ship 'till 6pm. Weather still fantastic. Ruski immigration nightmare, took one hour to get off boat. Zsars loved their gold - it's all over the place. Crowds of people, 5 ships in port, including a sister Celebrity boat. We left together to a great trumpeting of ships hooters. Been sampling the transport - the metro is very arty - hydrofoil boats were pretty quick, but look like they were built in the seventies. Had local food, beetroot, beef & tom soup, a sort of a shredded beef brawn, cold pickled herring, potatoes & onion and beetroot, alioli, egg & cheese salad. Old commy buildings are falling apart - older imperial stuff seems OK. The horses with the knights were real - dead and stuffed. The football Fed cup is here, so got tangled up in FanZone events, you know big screen areas where you can view matches in a mob. Lodda fountains, one of these is trick one where if you stand on certain cobbles, you get sprayed. There were a few of them, the Czars had a sense of humour. Saw Putin's place, not sure if he's got a sense of humour!

TALLINN

Beautiful day here, went on a tour, both coach & walking through the 2 levels of the historic town. It is summer solstice so loads of shops shut and really quiet. The stadium is their singing Festival where up the 33000 people will sing in choirs. The old town was really lovely with historic churches, museums, cafes in the squares and lots of tourists, even though we are the only ship in port. They are prepared in the outdoor cafes for all weather. They all had rugs or fleecy things and one had a strange pink smock you pulled over your head if you were cold. Not needed today, tho'. Tomorrow starts 2 days in St Petersburg, gonna be knackering. Anyway, must get back to the trough, haven't put enough weight on yet!

COPENHAGEN, DONE & DUSTED

On our way to Estonia in a couple of hours. Spent some time in town last couple of days. What did we learn - Danes used to be the happiest people in the world, the military are really sloppy, on guard at the palace shuffling around holding their rifles with arms folded in front of them, with bearskins on too. Tax is horrendous here, 160% on cars, 40% on income over £6000pa, VAT 25%. No one lives here, 5 million in whole country, weather dreadful - 0 degC for winter, rains 178 days a year. Grub still good, just off to afternoon tea & cakes as we set sail.

SOUTHAMPTON TO COPENHAGEN

2 days sailing, due to arrive Co'hagen Tuesday at 2pm. Sailings been great,  calm and pretty warm for the N Sea, you could actually sit outside with no problem. Food great, shows great. They have changed the ship since we last said with a gastropub (never sure about this title, makes me think enteritis) and sushi restaurant. We have been eating in Blu, one of the specialty restaurants that comes free with our booking, as does drinks & tip. Trying not to drink ourselves sillier than we are. Met up with a variety of nice people over dinner. Chilling wonderfully, not getting up until 10am, how decadent. Sounds just right for Des! Pictures are of Elsinore castle, Shakespeare stuff & the usual rubbish. Nice sail away, drinks and good band by the pool. BTY, the free Euro roaming seems good, so you should be able to Email us OK.

SOUTHAMPTON, READY TO GO

Farters day - too much Peroni last night does that to you. Cards great, ta v much. The pictures on the cards are good, the likeness to Des is especially good. It's a Dad's duty to teach his daughters a full vocabulary, don't you know. Nice stroll round Southampton last night, historical stuff from the 1500's, modern shopping malls ended up with a nice meal at Zizzi's. Ships getting ready, hope to be boarding @ 11 - let's see. Traffic yesterday was a nightmare, M25 - M3 junction closed, accidents everywhere, 30 deg C, thank goodness for AC. Next stop Copenhagen.

GETTING READY TO RUMBLE,

and that's not just the result of a high fibre, veg rich diet. No, we are cruising through the Baltic to Russia & back. Getting ready to travel and stop in so many places is a nightmare. So much planning, shopping, packing that it makes your head spin. Lin looked at the pile of stuff and said we got to get a bigger case. We did. To get some relief I went catfish wrestling. I beat him with 2 ippons to 1 waza-ari - slime everywhere. Ah well getting ready to leave for an overnight in Southampton prior to boarding.