Baltic and Kids |
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Cover for "Baltic and Kids"
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We are ready to head to London for our trip.
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My cute kids....Adam and Erica.
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Sunrise as we approach London.
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After a wild taxi ride, we made it to our hotel. The doorman looks a little short next to Adam!
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Our hotel was typical of the older London hotels, but it was really nice.
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We made it....we made it! My funny kids!
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We are ready to start sightseeing, but Adam looks a little tired.
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That's Parliament in the background.
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This is Big Ben, the famous clock in London.
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We made it over to Buckingham Palace in time to see the horse guards.
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That is Buckingham Palace in the background.
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We are waiting for the changing of the guard.
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The wait was worth it. The changing of the guard was awesome.
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We were able to see the horse guards up close.
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He doesn't bite, right?
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There are so many beautiful cathedrals in London.
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We decided to take a bus to see more sights around London.
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There were so many people hanging around Trafalgar Square.
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We should have ridden the bus from the beginning. It was so much fun, and a lot easier on our feet!
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We decided to have a traditional English meal, so we picked out this pub for dinner.
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This is Shepherd's Pie. It wasn't that bad but we had to wait over an hour for it.
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We went to Victoria Station for a train ride to Windsor Castle.
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It wasn't hard at all finding our train.
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It took us about an hour to get there.
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After our fun train ride, we had to walk up to the town to get to the castle.
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We are finally at Windsor Castle, the largest occupied castle in the world.
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We are in the central area of the castle. The place is amazing.
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The Queen's Guards are also here at Windsor Castle.
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After spending several hours touring the castle, we decided to go get something to eat.
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Erica decided to get some video of Windsor before we left.
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We are back at the train station waiting for the train back to London.
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The next day we went to Madame Tussauds, a very popular tourist spot.
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Mel Gibson.....well, I USED to think he was "hot."
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Erica with Indiana Jones.
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Adam with the big "Ali."
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We rested at the hotel for awhile then headed to the London Hard Rock Cafe.
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We were there for quite awhile enjoying the food and music.
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We were there for quite awhile enjoying the food and music.
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After three great days in London, we got on the bus and headed soutn for Dover where we would board our cruise ship.
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It was a fairly long ride, but we enjoyed seeing the English countryside, and watching cars driving on the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD! =()
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We finally arrived at the seaside town of Dover.
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We were fascinated by the hovercraft leaving for France. This is a craft capable of traveling over surfaces while supported by a cushion of slow moving, high pressure air. In this photo, it is just beginning to turn around.
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In no time, it was at the shoreline. They hold almost 400 passengers and 60 cars.
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Wow.....they really move fast. Several years ago, I was on one of these with my mom and sister. It was tremendous fun, but I'll have to admit that I got very seasick by the end of the trip.
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I loved this photo for three things: the boat, the White Cliffs of Dover, and the castle up on the hill.
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They took our photo as we boarded the ship.
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This was our first view of the ship's foyer. Beautiful!
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We found our deck, now we just have to find our cabin.
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Erica found it!
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One of the first places we went was the dining room. Nice!
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We went out on deck so we could watch the ship leave the port.
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Our captain getting the ship ready to leave.
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About an hour out, we had to get ready for the life boat drill. Of course, this gave my son a chance to CHOKE his mother! )
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Our first sunset on board the ship.
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AS we were getting ready for dinner, Adam, being so tall, broke the light!
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The dining room was so festive.
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We soon found out that you get a lot of food!
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Adam is in heaven.
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Yum...baked Alaska the first night!
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The following day was a day at sea, and it was so rough. Fortunately, none of us got sick.
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It's not "watch" your step, it's "mind" your step!
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Toward evening, the weather cleared and it was smooth sailing.
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This photo was taken from one of the reading spots aboard ship.
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That evening we decided to take advantage of being able to eat in your cabin. This is just Adam's food!
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Lobster, no less! Wow!
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Our first port is.............yes, Norway!
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This is our ship in the port of Oslo, Norway.
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For a couple of hours, we just walked around town looking at everything.
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They sure look Norwegian!
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Most people we saw didn't dress like this. She had on a folk costume and was on her way to the restaurant where she worked.
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Our first tourist spot was at the Viking Museum.
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This is a photo of the Oseberg ship. It is the most famous Viking ship that is still completely whole. Pretty amazing!
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We've headed way up the mountain to the Holmenkollen Ski jump, and this is the museum next to it.
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I have such silly but fun kids!
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This is our first view of the ski jump. It was used in the 1952 Winter Olympics, but is still used each winter by the Norwegians, who have a passion for skiing.
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From this angle it doesn't look so high and not very scary.
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This is our "been to the ski jump" photo.
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Now it's starting to look a little scary....no, a LOT scary! I can't begin to imagine what it must be like to ski jump!
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This shows where the spectators sat.
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The summer view of the ski jump.
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This is one of Norway's infamous trolls like the ones used in fairy tales. I just had to buy a couple...small ones!
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The next day we went to the Vigeland Sculpture Park.
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This fountain was the first sculpture we saw.
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Most of the sculptures were pretty erotic. We had to try hard not to get one in the background.
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Most Europeans are used to sculptures like this. It is so part of their culture.
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Notice how dirty her boobs are. I wonder how they got so dirty! = )
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We are back on the ship and Erica has just woken up from a nap.
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Mom.....stop!
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Do you think this is a good hairdo for dinner?
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My beautiful girl all dressed up for dinner.
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I took this one of her on the staircase.
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After our delicious dinner, we went out on the deck to watch the sun set.
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Time to read a little before nite-nite time.
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Our next port is Copenhagen.
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This is The Little Mermaid, the symbol of Copenhagen.
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This is the town hall in the center of Copenhagen.
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One of the first things you notice about Copenhagen are the unusual buildings.
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This is the spire on top of the town hall.
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I LOVE these buildings!
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Copenhagen is such a beautiful city.
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Near Town Hall is the beautiful Palace Hotel.
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Erica looked so cute walking through town. She got lots of looks from the guys.
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We stopped a bit by these bicycles before we visited Tivoli Gardens.
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Tivoli Gardens is both an amusement park and a garden where a lot of people stroll during the day.
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We made our way back to the ship and Erica had time to write some cards home.
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I just had to get some pictures of Erica out by the pool. She is just so cute.
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My kids made the trip so much fun.
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One of the pleasures of being on a cruise is relaxing on the deck.
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We were still in Copenhagen the next day so we headed over to Amalienborg Palace, home of Danish Royal family.
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The Royal Guard is an elite force of the Danish army, and their main responsibility is to protect the Queen of Denmark.
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Each guard has a two hour duty.
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This is the changing of the guard, but one of them couldn't quit laughing. I guess they aren't as strict as the guards have to be in London.
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I had fun taking this picture. The red coat inside the guard house is used when it rains.
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This guard was biting his lip trying not to laugh.
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We have gone over to the main part of town.
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Look how close these boats are to the side of the bridge!
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The boat didn't look this big when it started out from under the bridge. That's a lot of people.
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After watching the boats for awhile, we decided we wanted to take a ride on one of them.
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This is the word for toilet! Seems appropriate! = )
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Here we are starting our boat tour.
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My two cuties.
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After going through the canals, we went out into more open water. That is our cruise ship we are passing.
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Waving before they got off the boat.
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These were jellyfish right beside the boat.
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We walked back over by the canal to look at all of the boats.
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We all loved being here in Copenhagen. It's just so quaint and pretty.
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Our last view of Copenhagen as we head to our next port.
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Just another beautiful evening on board ship.
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It was such a peaceful evening laying out in our beach chairs and watching the sun go down.
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It doesn't matter what Erica wears she always looks so adorable.
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We've stopped in Stockholm, Sweden, and are walking along the street going toward Old Town.
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But first it's our stop at the Hard Rock Cafe.
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I got this picture of them inside the Hard Rock.
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Next to the Hard Rock was a McDonalds.
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Erica found a clothes store she wanted to check out.
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Adam and I just waited outside and watched people.
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Strolling down the pedestrian walkway to the Old Town.
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They are just acting like they are drinking the water. I told them not to get any of it in their mouth because they might pick up some heebie-jeebie germs.
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In Old Town there were a lot of musicians and dancers. This was one of them.
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I hope he finishes what he is doing before the ice cream starts to drip!
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This man was playing something like a flute.
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These were Russian kids here in Stockholm trying to make a little money.
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We have walked our feet off today, and have a long walk back to the ship, unless we can figure out the bus system.
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We've left Sweden, and now we are getting ready to tie up at the pier in Finland.
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We couldn't resist taking this funny picture.
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We didn't have that long in Helsinki, so we headed over to the famous market place.
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There were a lot of nice, handmade things to buy.....and we did.
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I bought a real fur hat from this man. Unfortunately, it never gets cold enough here in Tulsa to ever get to wear it much. It's a nice souvenir, though
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Erica didn't seem to like what she saw cooking there.
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This lady made these beautiful dolls, so both Erica and bought one.
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There was an abundance of flowers at the market.
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Even though it was just a short time in Helsinki, we had a great time. Here Erica is video taping some of the other boats in the harbor.
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I went up to the top deck to get this picture of her way down there.
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I took this picture of Erica from the other side of the swimming pool.
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It's dress up night and Erica is wearing a dress she got in Israel.
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Both of them look so good.
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Our dress-up night photo taken by the ship's photographer.
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I got up early so I could watch us come into the port of St. Petersburg, Russia.
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We still have some canals to go down before we arrive.
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It was daylight by the time we arrived in port
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There was a small band there to welcome us.
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We decided to walk around and get a feel for the city.
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We noticed there were many large plazas like this but with very few people in them.
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It seemed that this was the way most people got around.
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We couldn't figure out the name of the movie that was showing. Gee...I wonder why!
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We found a market we could visit.
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Lots of stacking dolls, also called Matrushka dolls. I bought one that was of Bill Clinton. Really funny.
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We bought several things from this nice girl.
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There are so many canals here in St. Petersburg. Like Venice, in a way.
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I thought this window was photogenic.
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A group of Russian women waiting for a trolley.
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We are in the house of Rasputin. He was known as the Siberian mystic heealer.
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Adam is walking into one of the rooms.
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This is a photo of Rasputin and his family.
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This board gave you a lot of information about him.
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Adam is peaking through at Erica as we head to the basement.
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It was creepy down in the basement. There was a table with a wax Rasputin sitting at the head of it. It was also pretty dark in there making it more creepy.
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This was Erica looking up as she headed down to the basement.
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This is the very strange, dark bathroom they had there.
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The church in the background is called the Monastery Church of St. Petersburg.
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This is a closer view of the church. I loved the blue.
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Adam decided to buy this car when we were there! Nah! Not really!
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There are boat trips you can take through the canals.
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This canal goes by the Church of our Saviour.
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This canal goes by the Church of our Saviour.
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This place is so beautiful from every side.
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This shows a close-up of the spires. So amazing!
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Adam and Erica in front of the church.
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I am sitting on another side of the church. No matter where you stand or sit, the church is still gorgeous.
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This is The Hermitage. Formerly, it was the home of tsars, but now it is a museum that holds some of the finest art collections in the world.
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These are the main steps that go up into the museum.
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These magnificent chandeliers were everywhere.
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This is the gilded coach used by Catherine the Great. It was unbelievable!
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I'm standing on the stairs getting ready to go into one of the great art exhibits. It would take days to go through the whole thing.
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That evening we were taken to see a Russian performance.
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This was the orchestra.
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Now the dancing has begun.
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He is dancing the Russian peasant dance.
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The music with these dances was great.
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Adam with one of the dancers.
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Erica had her picture taken with the same girl.
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The band played on as we boarded the ship.
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We have left St. Petersburg and have made our way to Tallinn, Estonia.
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Here we are watching the ship get closer to the port.
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This is the pilot boat that came in with us.
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These cranes are so huge.
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We have finally been tied up to the pier.
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We have finally left the ship and are headed into the city of Tallinn.
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This a government building in the center of the city.
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It has started raining, and you can see Erica peeking out from a building.
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Tallinn is surprisingly beautiful and is one of the Baltic's greatest surprises. It is proud of being one of Northern Europe's best preserved medieval towns.
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We are in the oldest part of the town. The buildings are so bright.
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This is the tower called Tall Hermann. Pretty soon you won't be able to see it at all.
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Some of the buildings looked like they were from a fairy tale.
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We are headed to the Town Hall Square that has been there since the 11th century.
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This cute little building was our shelter for awhile from the rain. Turns out there were a lot of Estonian things for sale.
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We made it to this Russian antique shop. I looked for old books and Adam looked at the coins.
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Wow........those steps were steep! As you can see we had been poured on, but we were still having so much fun.
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Another "gingerbread-looking" building.
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Here we are in this 11th century town and we see a McDonalds umbrella!
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This is the Town Square where all of the markets had been set up before the storm came through. A few brave people, probably tourists, stayed around to have lunch.
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Fortunately, before we finished touring around the town, the rain stopped and we got dried out.
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This was the actual McDonalds in the town.
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It's a few hours later, and we are back on the ship having an afternoon snack.
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Overnight we have sailed to the port of Gdansk, a major international transportation hub situated in the central part of the Southern Baltic coast.
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Gdansk, Poland is where the beginning of World War II began.
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There were several tugs along side of us as we headed to the pier
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We saw this sign as we left the ship for our sightseeing.
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McDonald's restaurant is even in Poland!
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This is the arch that leads into the town of Gdansk.
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Just having a little bit of fun in front of the sign.
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You can see the spire of the Town Hall in the background along with the colorful buildings.
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We are still in the same area, but I wanted to get a photo of these buildings.
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This is just one of the beautiful fountains we saw in the square.
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I thought this lamp was so decorative and picturesque.
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We were there when all of the flower boxes were full of blooms.
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Time to call home.
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It took a a little while to figure out how to use the phone.
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After our phone calls, we found this great market.
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Erica tried on these boots, but they didn't fit. Too bad because everything there was quite inexpensive.
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We were all thirsty so we found this stand that sold Coke.
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It was also a nice place to sit and relax.
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I loved the decorations on this building.
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Such beautiful architecture.
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These building were also along the town square.
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This was the prison and torture house built in the 14th century. In the beginning it was a defensive tower, but when it lost it's importance as a protector of the city, it became the prison. The Torture Tower had many rooms they used just for torturing.
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This street was almost destroyed during the war, but now most of it has been restored back to it's original state and look.
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A lot of medieval plays were being enacted along the square.
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Many of the locals were out enjoying the day.
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We came across these musicians and listened to them for awhile. They were excellent. When they played, you knew you were in Poland.
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You could tell by his face that they were playing a sad piece of music. I wondered what it was.
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Even the little ones were out playing music.
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I felt somewhat sorry for this child. I wish she could have been outside playing with her friends.
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On the way back to the ship, we saw a lot of buildings like this that were still in pretty sad shape. It was hard to believe that people were actually living in them.
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These housing units seemed a lot better, although I heard many families lived together in one unit.
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The ship is heading out the other side of the channel. There were a lot of these old boats laying around.
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Sweet photo.
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There were a lot of waves from people as the ship went out. These guys were doing some fishing and swimming.
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Once we pass this lighthouse, we will once again be in the Baltic Sea.
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We had a day at sea before we reached Dover. I got this photo of Erica looking at the map that showed the route we had taken.
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This sure caused some excitement. We came across this empty boat, but no one knew what had happened to the people that were in it. The ship made a huge circle looking for anyone that might be floating in the sea, but no one was found.
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My girl loves to sing.
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One more plum for the road!
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As the saying goes, "All good things must come to an end." This was our last night to watch the sunset from the ship.
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Our bags had to be packed and put out in the hall.
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The following morning we left the ship, took the drive back to London, on to the airport, and are now flying home. Adam lucked out with three seats to sleep on.
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It was nice to see land after that long flight.
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So the sun sets on a wonderful, fun and memorable trip with my two kids. It couldn't have been any better, and we will always cherish these great memories we had together.
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