Baltic Cruise!

How about a little break from kitchen pictures!!! We were so very blessed to be able to go on a WONDERFUL trip through Brian's job.  This year for those who qualified, it was a Baltic Cruise.  We were so excited to be able to go.  We had an opportunity to travel to 5 different cites in the Baltic. 

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

We arrived at Copenhagen at 7am on Sunday which allowed us to take a tour of the city before the cruise ship left port at 5:30 PM.  Besides it being pretty and clean, we noticed that most people got around by way of bicycle! (Probably because gas is around 8 bucks a gallon!).  We saw the changing of the guard at town square (at noon sharp) and also strolled down "Stroget" which is impossible to pronounce. Some people sounded like they were saying "Strockel" and others "Straw-zuh". Whatever! It was a really cute and clean city. We were so tired, we went to the Kings Garden and Jennifer was able to take a nice snooze!

TALLINN, ESTONIA

This was a GREAT city. We loved it! It was like we were in a Medieval time warp. "Old Town" was not just a place tourists go, but it was still a functioning city with shops, living quarters and hostels. One of the areas that peaked our interest was the city wall and how there were living quarters within them. It reminded us both of what Rahabs home might have looked like within the Walls of Jericho... 

Not only are the people of Tallinn very nice, but they were found to be very knowledgeable.  For instance, we asked "Mihkel and "Roman" what sports team they liked best...and they proceeded to whip out the yellow "Terrible Towel" and proclaimed; "ZA STEELERS...OF COURSE!!"  What great people!!!

ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

St. Petersburg was very interesting. One of the things Brian noticed as we pulled into port were the numerous nuclear power plants on Russia's coast.  We were not allowed to be without a tour guide and go explore on our own, so you knew you were not in a free country.  We visited the Peterhof Palace, which was nice...however when we traveled from the palace, you were able to see how obscene it was that the people lived in such poverty while the upper class lived in luxury.  Our tour stopped for lunch to a place our tour guides thought was "an excellent restaurant."  It was a Sheraton!! The lunch was pretty good...and Jennifer loved the Chicken Stoganoff...even after she found out she ate a whole bunch of MUSHROOMS (which she normally hates!) It was a great experience, but visiting Russia made us appreciate America all the more. (The weird red sign is actually "McDonalds" in Russian!) 

Brian saw a thunderstorm forming in the distance from the cruise ship and got a really cool picture of it...enjoy.

Our tour guides (Anton and Polina) were very nice and were a lot of fun!  They were pretty laid back and enjoyed some of the new freedoms they had in Russia as they were old enough to know what it was like before the fall of the Soviet Union.  (Polina was a little "careful" in her answer when Brian asked what the general feeling was toward Vladimir Putin...but you could tell she was hungry for more freedom from her answer.)

HELSINKI, FINLAND

Helsinki was a very cute city. It was unique in some areas however, some spots reminded us of areas in San Diego (with all of the rocky hills) while other parts of the city reminded us of places near home.  We visited the Rock Church...which has NOTHING to do with music (ha ha) but is a Church that was literally built in the rocks on the side of a hill.  And...what do you know...another McDonalds!  We didn't eat at any of them, but it really is interesting how a burger joint in the USA has turned into an international symbol...

While our trip took us from a  beginning point of Copenhagen and wound up in Stockholm, Sweden, we really didn't have any time to see Stockholm (bummer).  We did, however, catch a nice picture of someone's sailboat off the coast of Sweden!  What a great reminder...

We had a WONDERFUL trip...and since we didn't get to SEE Sweden, Brian and the boys made Swedish Meatballs when we all got home! Delicious!!