Mea Culpa

Boy am I in trouble. I've already been scolded twice for not blogging at all last week. I don't really have any good reason, other than being a bit travel weary, although the internet connection was awful towards the end, and our last 2 days did not allow any time for writing. However, I should have updated earlier this weekend... Sigh...

I'm awake early this morning - still jet lagged - so will take a half hour or so to do some catching up. I still want to edit the blog with some photos now that I have the necessary internet speed to do so. That may have to wait for a bit as this week is going to be rather hectic. We'll see...

So last you read I was basking in the afterglow of a lovely 2 days in St. Petersberg. That remains the highlight of the trip for me, but the next day, Monday, was also lovely. We arrived in the port of Tallinn, which is the capital and largest city in Estonia. It lies on the Gulf of Finland, which probably doesn't mean anything to you, but it's kind of fun to say - Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea, North Sea... who'da thunk I'd ever have sailed those seas?

Anyway. Apparently the old town in Tallinn was the inspiration for the drawings of the town in Shrek. We learned this fact before arriving, and I thought, "uh huh", but when we walked through the gate of old town - wow, one expected to see Shrek and Donkey walk down the street. I can't possibly describe how picturesque this place was - it's a Medieval town, so you can picture stone gates covered with climbing ivy, cobblestoned streets, large town squares with rounded towers at the corners, gargoyles, dragons, protective walls, orange slate rooftops, Lutheran churches, another palace for Peter the Great (he got around)... suffice it to say, it's gorgeous. In fact, UNESCO has named it a world heritage site, which I'm sure is helping to grow the tourist industry there.

Our group of 11 wandered through the old town (I should say there is indeed a part of the city that is new and modern and decidedly uninteresting, so we didn't even bother with it), and thanks to my trusty guide book we were able to see most of the major points of interest, take oodles of pictures, and have a snack at a cafe in the old town square... garlic bread, local cheese, lemon cake, and beverages. We also had time to shop and look at all the linen and knitwear, art and jewelry. The weather was glorious, sunny, and at least 25, and we were all walking slowly and enjoying the ambiance.

We walked back to the ship - smart decision after paying 4 Euros for the shuttle into town, which turned out to be a 5 minute ride. We felt quite "ripped off" by that, so we walked back through the old town, past some parks, and through the rather extensive port area. The wind was picking up by now, and as we walked along the pier we were lucky not to be blown into the Gulf!

The next two days were at sea, and were just lovely. The first day Cheryl and Jenn and I plopped ourselves on the deck for most of the morning and part of the afternoon. We were warm enough to wear our bathing suits, and had a really relaxing time. Afterwards we played cards, Jenn & Marjie learned to play cribbage (with Leo, Betty and Cheryl acting as supreme coaches), and of course had the obligatory ice cream afternoon snack.

The second day was a bit colder at sea, but Jenn and Marjie and I found a spot on deck 10 that was out of the wind so we were there for close to 4 hours. The girls got up and down and played mini-golf and wandered the ship and got pizza and played cards and read their books and generally had a lovely time.

Those days are hard to write about because they blur into each other - activities (other than sun bathing) included laundry (a 2.5 hour ordeal), movies (one in our room and one on the deck late at night - Casino Royale, actually), trivia games, shopping on board, another formal night with more picture taking, Bingo, after dinner shows, card playing, and the occasional nap. Very relaxing and a great way to revive yourself before the final location - Amsterdam.

Time to get ready for work, so I will add another blog on Amsterdam and our trip home soon... I promise.