walkofflunch

we went walking around the city and thru a botanical garden.lots of sun. great weather.

lunch

thebeer,we found out, isbrewed in latvia, not copenhagen...but it was good...

copenhagen

we left the shiptoday at our last port,copenhagen.we dropped the bags off atthe hotel, at the airport,and took the train into the city, 5 min away. metros are awesome. when done properly...
a break in the city center...

the baltic

the skies are blue and so was the water, but it ain't no hawaii. cold stuff... our tour guide pepe, who moved to rostock to marry his wife, but who was originally from mexico, has been there for 4 years, and still has trouble going in over his ankles...

german afternoon

we took a tour to the mecklenberg countryside on a real life working train,but one from the 1850's era. it was cool. except for thesmoke coming in the windows when we went around the bend. we stopped at the baltic seaside and had apple streudel cake and coffee.

joe in rostock

our last stop was warnemunde germany, where we caught a short train to rostock and walked around.

best apple crisp ever

i am about 10 pounds heavier, and i wasn't even the one who ordered 2 entrees or 2 desserts nightly....

formal nite

ok . we had a awesome dinner and it was formal nite on the ship. noah had a greattime dressing up with his tie and looking like dad.

biking 2

we conquer thehill.... notice aunty erin's gloves....

biking

visby,gotland

it was a lot of fun, probably the besttour, and not beacause nonni had the kids... but we did 9 miles around this little island off the coast with about 22,000 people. it was chilly, and we biked in long pants and sweatshirts. but we went out in the hillsides, saw windmills, they have so many roads dedicated to biking, and in germany too... its awesome. uncle vince would be drooling.... biked to the princesses summer home and had coffee.... and then back to the port. we had to take the tender to and from the boat.

in the oldest apothecary in eurpoe, which iguess also means the world... there were jars of worms in oil, hedgehog, mummified hands, deer weenies....all for display of course... this was still in tallinn, estonia.

princess sammi

back to the ship

navigating the streets of tallinn...

chocolate making

yes, for those of you who know my kids... they do not eat chocolate... but they had fun making some here at a tour we went on. stuffed nougat, rum chocolate, coffee chocolate with nuts and cherries, dipped inmelted white or regular chocolate and had an assortment of stuff to put on top. rose and lavendar, nuts, driedbananas.... all sorts of stuff. dad will have to fight uncle darren and nonni for the goodies.

tallinn, estonia

catherines palace

thise was like the summer palace, outside about 1 hr away from the center of st. petersberg. this was catherines palace, and i guess each tzar went and built their own palace about town. her grandson alexander had a palace near hers out in the country.

winter palace, hermitage

spent the nite in port at st. petersberg. next day, got a good pic of the outside of the hermitage. which used to be the winter palace.

11pm

not a typo.... on the ship.

hermitage

we sped thru the hermitage, seeing some of the great renaissance masters and the gold room , where there are fabuolous jewels and gold things from throughout the centuries. missed out on the famous impressionists and contemporary stuff though. saw a real mummy though...

st. petersberg

we have been crusing on the ship in some calm waters, thankfully, but still a bit woozy... we made it from helsinki and now to st. petersberg. it was founded by peter the great, based more on the western civilizations he visited, and built upon many little islands. there are big and small canals all over the city, with the main river being the neva. beautiful. but they are strict on letting visitors in. you have to get a tourist visa or be on an organized tour. cannot just walk around on your own.

on the boat.... bored

On the boat fling cold french fries at the birds!(scary since the birds so close).

helsinki

shaka from helsinki... we went on a boat tour around some of islands..... its crazy how many islands are here... about 200, they call it an archpeligo.... some are inhabited and others are not... this was us fooling around near the docks

port of helsinki

uncle neal insisted that aunty erin was the small one....

we think this was in a library/cafe of some kind... but really not so sure....

stockholm

this is our friend chris, who we are travelling with. he looks good with the swedish flag in old town stockholm. it was cold there for the beginning of summer!

thoughts of home....

stockholm

Outside our hotel there is a cool breez bloin. We went to the old town.

Welcome to stockholm.We go on the cruise tomorrow. waiting for dad to arrive! yea!

After the walk

Chris and Noah after the walk. It was a pretty cool place, they compared it a little to Pompeii. This place had shade and a cool breeze and ice pops though...

Divo

Divo is the male form of diva....

Diva

The baths floor

The amphitheater

Ostia antiqua

We we ton a great adventure today, not for the faint of heart or those with a good sense of smell.... We travelled by train to Ostia antiqua, which is about 20 min outside of Roma and on the way to the sea. It was a old port town, and is a big set of ruins, with an amphitheater and a bar, a restaurant, with walls, and mosaics, and cool tiles. We had a fabulous lunch, and a great walk, missed the train, and waited for the next, where we were packed in like sardines, with no air conditioner, and did i mention it is about 90 here?

Sistine chapel

Highlight of the day

Fresh water

They have these around the city and it's fresh water from the mountains

Lunch

Contemplating life and buchatini

One of the Egyptian obelisks....

Cars.... I mean the vatican...

Colosseum

Bus tour via Roma

We took a bus ride on a double decker bus to see the sites. It was hot in the sun.... But we went past the colesseum, the wedding cake building, piazza de popolo, a couple of oblisks, lots of things I didn't get to hear about from our tour guide scot cause we were up on the top.

Moon rising outside our window

Came back from dinner and torn found this outside our window.

Neptune and Noah

A fountain outside our hotel as we went walking for food last nite.

Hotel elevator

It's the oldest in Rome... You open the gate and the doors and get in.... I like taking the stairs....

Spanish steps

After lunch, we walked to the Spanish steps and to the hotel. It's hot in Roma, about 95 degrees... So it'll be a couple of rough days. All the sites tomorrow! Ciao.

Ducati

We found dad's bike....

Trevi fountain

If you stand there and throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain, they say (we dont know who exactly) you will return to Rome. They didn't say what happens if you thow it and it hits the head of someone else standing in front of you....

Roma