Traveling through the waterways

Our trip is progressing through several different waterways. After leaving St. Petersburg, we were on the Neva River then Lake Ladoga which is the largest lake in Europe. This crossing was at night so we did not see anything. We exited the lake and entered the Svir River. We had gone through a lock on Lake Ladoga, but did not realize it, now we entered another lock and hydropower stations. We stopped to visit the town that operates the power station and were divided into groups of 16 people to go to individual homes where the hostess shared about her life, gave us tea, pastries, and candies. Our hostess had grown up in this town and her husband worked at the hydropower station and his father before him so they were given a house. Their older son worked there as well and when he married, got the grandparents house. The younger son continues to live with his parents and is working on building a new lock for cargo ships. The process takes quite a while since only one ship can go through at a time. We continued on the Svir River with another lock taking us into Lake Onega which is the second largest lake in Europe. That night as we moved thru the lake a couple of musicians played and sang Russian songs, the DJ was funny. We went to the end of the lake which has about 1300 islands to the island of Kizhy which has very amazing churches built of aspen trees and without nails. This island is very small and a UNESCO sight where they are preserving this type of architecture. They have also a small village with old fashioned homes where several generations lived in one house, had a place for their animals,workshop areas, places to keep their boats and sleds and rooms for both summer and winter. They also had a bathhouse that is built on the side of lake in case it catches fire and also so you can jump into the cold water or snow. There was a small little wooden chapel with a belfry and a bell ringer gave a mini bellringing concert.The people who live there today are part of the restoration team including growing rye, oats and barley. There is a special mineral of very dark color that somehow produces heat to make it possible for them to grow rye. The lake also has fresh water pearls which they make necklaces to sell. There were three other boat waterways tours as well.
Our boat has a lecture series by a guest lecturer who is a guide and university professor of ancient history as well as Russian history. The assistant cruise director has given a couple of Russian language classes, but can only remember a couple of words and cannot tell you all the letters of their alphabet. Today we had a lesson on how to make Russian pancakes and vodka tasting. The pancakes are used for snacking while drinking vodka and served with caviar. Bill liked the pepper flavored.
Our weather has been very good with mostly sunny days with just a couple of days with rain showers. Today we did have fog and had to stop for about 30 minutes before it lifted. The trees are turning color each day more and more. There are two more trips before they stop for the season--the weather might be quite different in a week.




- Bill and Marilyn
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St. Petersburg from the AMA Katarina ship

Hello,
We got on our ship, the AMA Katarina on Sunday afternoon. On Monday we had a full day of sightseeing. We started out on buses. We were divided into different groups by colors. We took in several churches and palaces. We went to the cathedral of St. Peter and Paul where most all of the tzars are buried. We heard a magnificent choir of five men in a little chapel. After lunch, we went by hydrofoil to the Peterhof or the "Versailles of Russia" the workman were taking down all the scaffolding from the laser show for the G20 conference. Peter the Great built a small get a way house, but his daughter Elizabeth liked everything to be very big and build another beside it. Peter the Great was a very tall man and it is said that he slept sitting up because he thought it was healthier. Empress Elizabeth like parties and clothing. It is said she never wore the same dress twice and when she died she had 18,000 dresses. Peterhof is a ways from St. Petersburg in the bay of Finland. Several wars have been fought for this section of land.
On Tuesday we went to Pushkin where Catherine the first had her palace and park. This palace has huge amounts of gold gilding all over the interior and a park with a lot of water features surrounding the palace. There is also a room that is done in Amber. Milky white, honey, red and a couple of other kinds.The older the Amber is, the more valuable it is. This palace had a lot of destruction by the Nazis in World War II. In the afternoon we went to a museum on the siege of Leningrad (the name was changed to Leningrad after the revolution.) It is a grim reminder of how devastating war is. During the war they wrapped their statues in wood and put grey cloth over domes so they were not as easy to spot. Now during the winter, they put wood over the statues or bury them to protect them from the snow and wind.
They also store the plants in buildings over the winter months. After dinner we took the hydrofoil to see the ballet Swan Lake in the Winter Place opera house.
Today was the trip to the Hermitage again by hydrofoil. Miles and miles of painting and anything else that they considered art.

This evening we leave St.Petersburg for Moscow, six days away.





Statue of Catherine the great and her men

- Marilyn and Bill
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Greetings from Russia

Hello
Bill and I are traveling in Russia with Pam and John Roeth. We had a good, but very long flight from LAX to Moscow. It seemed just as we fell asleep they turned on the lights to serve chips and a little bit of water. We were dreading customs, but it was uneventful, thankfully. Hope we can safely keep that little customs paper. You keep your passport handy because everyone wants to register them. We had a ride arranged to the Moscow Hilton of course it was rush hour. It was a little tight with us and our luggage in the Mercedes but we made it! It was a rainy day that day and the next as well.
About noon we walked to the train station to take the high speed express train from Moscow to St. Petersburg. We were told the train would be there 40 min before hand,it was there 15 min ahead time. The train was completely full, but we left on time and got there two min early. The train was a good way to see some of the country and to get a feel of the people. It turned from rainy to sunny and about 5 hours later we were in St. Petersburg and the hotel picked us up and took us to the hotel. At the end of the street, there was a London Pub so we decided to try that for dinner. It was a bit of an adventure because there were not any usual foods on the menu and our language issues did not make it any easier. We got some snacks and beer, wine and coke and called it a night. Some people that worked the G20 conference were saying at our hotel. They brought back all sorts of goodie bags, but we didn't get any.
Today the police that had been brought in for the conference were gone and the hotel was quieter. After breakfast, we took the bus and found the street with shopping, historic points and took a boat ride through canals and on the Neva River.we then found a Baskin Robbins and had an ice cream cone and toured the Church of the Spilled Blood and strolled through a couple of parks. There are many palaces in St. Petersburg. We decided to go for Georgian food and asked at the desk where we should go, she wrote out the name of the restaurant in English and we headed out. We could not find it after walking all round looking for it, we saw a place with Georgian food and decided to eat there. After we sat down and started looking at the menus that we were at the right restaurant after all, that the Russian spelling which was on the outside sign was completely different. The food was good.
Tomorrow we get on the Anna Katarina ship for our cruise, but stay 2 more days with a full itinerary in St. Petersburg.
T'il the next time.
Marilyn and Bill








Photos from the top floor of the Ambassador hotel in St. Petersburg, Russia 9/8/13 -Marilyn
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Visiting Hawii

Our first island stop was Honolulu, Oahu. We arrived at the Aloha Tower at seven am and proceeded ashore. Bill and David went to the airport and got a van. They came back and picked us up and we drove through Waikiki up past Diamond Head and watch the wind surfers making it looks so easy! We went out to Sandy Beach and then started back to see the Arizona Memorial. The traffic was at a standstill so it took us a long time to go a short ways. We finally got to the Memorial and visited the new museum and then went in to see the film and took the shuttle out to the Memorial. This is always a very moving experience! After our visit we found a siamin shop for a great lunch and then went to the national cemetery at Punchbowl. It too is a very impressive experience! Bill needed to check on his old haunts in Kailua and its surrounding areas. We had a snack at Zippy's in Kaneohe, a very local place. The ship did not leave Honolulu until 11pm, but we were back a little earlier than that.
We sailed to Maui. We arrived at 8am and on this island they don't have a dock so they use the life boats that are called tenders to take us in to the dock. We had decided to visit the small island of Lanai and so we boarded the ferry. It was a beautiful ride and we got to see so many humpback whales. There are many mothers and babies. Lanai is small and use to be Dole Pineapple's main plantation. Now pineapples are grown as landscaping plants to show how pineapples are grown. Tourism is the main industry now with a Four Seasons down by the beach, a golf course and then another Four Seasons up past Lanai City called the Lodge. It is very beautiful and we went for a walk and visited their orchid house and through a bamboo forest and back to the Lodge for a great lunch. We headed down the hill to catch our ferry back to Lahaina. The ferry was very full because they were having a Jazz Festival for the weekend! We finally got on and the ride back was very rough so no whale watching on the return. We really enjoyed Lanai and look forward to going back again.
Our next port was Nawiliwili, Kauai. We again rented a van and went to the north-west part of the island. Stopped at a local grocery store Ishigawa's for Hawaiian Plate Lunches to eat at the beach. David took us to a beautiful state park near the end of the island and we took a dirt road out to the beach. Kauai use to grow sugar cane and the people in Kauai are growing it again as well as coffee. We loved the beach and the plate lunches. Our adventure for the day was helping three cars who got stuck in the deep sand get out of where they park.
Our final day was in Hilo, Hawaii where we got another van. We decided to have breakfast at Ken's a local restaurant ( they served 10 different types of Loco Moco ) before we went to visit waterfalls! The first two were in Hilo and then we went to Akuaka Falls and walked the path through all the lush greenery. The main falls is 442 ft. There were many visitors there. We took in Hilo Hattie's and then went back to the ship.
Bill and I decided to throw leis as we left Hilo. We threw them in loving memory of his sister Patti, then one for all that have lost their breast cancer fight and finally one for Michelle. Michelle's birthday is Saturday, March 9th and this would be her 39th year. We sent the leis with all our love, they will never be forgotten!
We are now on our trip back and we have a new captain because the contract package was up for the former captain, we hope he knows the way home!
Aloha
Bill and Marilyn





- Marilyn
Posted from my iPad

Sailing to Hawaii

We set sail for Hawaii on Saturday, Feb. 23rd a little after 4 from our berth in San Pedro. There are 19 in our group. Toni and Jim have the Grand Suite and Toni's Mom and sister, a suite and Robert and Melanie the last suite so we have access to the complete rear of the ship. It is a beautiful place to be as we took off. The channel
was beautiful being escorted by two police boats and many sailboats sailing in and around us.When we got out in the open ocean the wind picked up and later in the evening after we sailed by San Clemente Island the waves were about 20 to 25 feet so the ship was bouncing around. Unfortunately some of the group got very seasick, but we did not. The rough water continued through the day on Sunday and then the waves started getting smaller. We enjoy our days on the ship tab sea. On Sunday evening the captain came on asking for someone with A+ or negative blood for a passenger. Then on Monday evening, the captain came back on and told us it had been reported that someone was in the water. The ship stopped and everyone was sent back to their rooms to stay until you were told that you could leave. The room stewards checked to be sure that everyone could be accounted for. It took almost two hours to be sure all passengers were accounted for. It threw off the reserved dining and shows,but fortunately everyone was accounted for and the evening activities went on. The air and water are now warm and you can feel Hawaii coming up over the horizon. We will be in Honolulu tomorrow and start our tour around the island.



- Marilyn
Posted from my iPad

Last days on Celebrity Solstice

We had a rather quiet day on our next to the last day at sea. It was the last formal night and as we were outrunning the cyclone storm it was cloudy with periods of rain and some wind. We went to hear the naturalist talk on marsupials. I thought they had originated in Australia, but found out differently. The show last night was similar to a Circus de Sol Celebrity Solstice version on December 21st for summer solstice. We have not been able to see The Southern Cross star formation in the night sky.

We woke to a beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky. The waves were calm and many people were out and about. The pool was the busiest of the cruise. This cruise had many cooking demonstrations, but today they are having a Star Chef Cooking Competition. The competition was between the head sous chef and the Cruise Director with assistants and judges. It was a fun interaction.
Bill is going to a program about the workings of the ship and a Science Cafe with the Naturalist hosting the science discussion. The women are going to the staff talent show. We have glass blowing studio on board that uses electric furnaces that were built especially for this and two other Celebrity ships and in partnership with Corning Museum of Glass in New York.

The cruise ship is one of the monster cruise ships with 3200 guests and about 1250 staff. It is 127,000 tons. They have many casual seating areas both inside and outside and a good size real grass area on the top deck.The buffet has many stations with huge food selections. On this cruise we are on a select dining, but eat at the same time each with the same waiter and assistant. Our waiter is from Honduras and our assistant is from the Philippines. There are also several specialty food restaurants as well.


- Marilyn
Posted from my iPad

Our last New Zealand Port Bay of Islands

The Bay of Islands was a beautiful port. This was another port where we were tendered in. This is the area that the treaty was signed between the Maori tribes and England. There are still many issues between the two. This seems to be the case all across New Zealand. We took the tender in and were shuttled to the town where we looked around, took in a craft faire and listened to some children sing Christmas Carols. We thoroughly enjoyed sitting on our balcony and watching all the sailboats, jet boats and seadoos out on the bay. We now have two sea days and the Captain gets to try to stay in front of the cyclone.


- Marilyn
Posted from my iPad