To Russia with Love

Peggy and I just completed a trip to Scandinavia and Russia. We had a wonderful time. We joined a cruise ship in Copen-hagen, sailed to Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Gdynia, Oslo, and back to Copenhagen. Passengers and crew aboard the Star Princess represented 60 countries. We met many wonderful people and saw the sites in each of the ports of call. From a mini-van to jet planes to cruise-ship to motor coaches to canal boat to taxis, all told we traveled 10,000 miles, spanning 10 different time zones, eight countries, and we listened to at least nine different languages -- not that we understood all that we heard. At one point Peggy broke into a rousing dialect of German, while conversing with a couple of Estonian men, who spoke perfectly good English.

In each port of call, local tour guides explained their cultures and took us on various museum visits and city attractions. Just remembering the names of the guides has been a head-scratching process: Josephine in Sweden, Erno in Finland, Anna in Russia, Assa in Estonia, Ewa in Poland, Kari in Norway, Selfa in Denmark, Wesa in New Jersey, and Cabba back in Texas. In Sweden the joke was on me, as I asked Josephine, who was originally from China, what brought her to Sweden. Her succinct answer, “Immigration,” stopped me cold. The rest of the tour group just laughed at Josephine’s innocently sharp response.

With jet-lag almost behind me, I can finally think clearly enough to get this posted. Our vacation was a trip of a lifetime, and I can highly recommend a Baltic cruise to anyone, especially to those that can survive a 26-hour day for the return trip.

Dasvidania, Auf Wiedersehen, Hej hej, Ciao-baby!


P.S. Watch for photo highlights on Awestruck.