28 June 2019: Gdynia Poland
Last night we had our dinner date in Ocean
Blue with a beautiful view over the ocean and in a quiet corner, which was
great. Hubby got stuck into the Alaskan king crab and i had Halibut which was
delicious it came with a mango sauce, vrek lekker gewees. Should have stopped
there, but no, went on to glass no 2 of wine, dessert and cappuccino!!! Had a
great night.
While having our dinner we noticed that we
did not leave on time and then hubby got a phone call to hear if i was on
board, said yes i am sitting here with him. The next day the captain told us
that the train to Berlin had broken down and that 600 of the ship passengers
were on the train on a ship excursion and he had to wait for them to get back
to the ship, well that was enough to make me decide no trips to far away places
on my own, who thinks that a train is going to brake down in these countries.
If i had been on my own and not back in time for sailing i would have been left
behind,ggggrrrrrrr,scary thought.
The next day it was time to see what Gdynia
in Poland looks like. Must say so far the cruise terminals in America, Canada,
Caribbean are top class but in these countries not great, do not cater for the
tourists on cruise ships. So some have
nothing, no terminal, no tourist information places, no magnets, no toilets,no
place to just sit around,no free Wi-Fi, no nothing, so very disappointing.
See that this company hubby works for is
going to have new itineraries to Africa called African Safari in 2020/2021, so
just hope PE and Mosselbay are going to be ready for these hundreds of tourists
and show them what we can offer. Blow them away with our beautiful country.
Grab the opportunity, just be organized.
Well i got off ship and because there was
nothing but busses and taxies and hundreds of people it was a bit chaotic, so
just followed my nose again and had to laugh when other passengers asked me if
i know how to get to down town, because i looked like someone that knew where i
was going, only to tell them do not have a clue, am just walking.
Another family with kids were in front of
me so i just followed them and thank goodness we did find our way to down town
after a walk through a not so nice area with lots of building and road works.
Eventually i saw a Starbucks, and decided
well here i can get free Wi-Fi and just sit for a while. Decided to not
exchange any money just for a magnet and a coffee for this is a once off stop, so
het maar droe bek daar gesit,,die internet was ook vrek stadig maar kon darem n
paar dinge post en aflaai.
I though that in all these countries you
can use your euros but not so. Even in Russia some places accept euro and $
which makes things a lot easier and then you tend to buy a lot easier.
Then the heavens opened and it started
raining hard but i had a window seat in Starbucks and stayed there until it
cleared. I never leave the ship without my umbrella and plastic poncho, have
leant my lesson, reen net eenkeer pap sop nat en nie weer nie!
Today we at sea and tomorrow we will visit
Helsinki for the 2 nd time so will see where we get too.
Think would advise all potential passengers
to plan for the trip and all the extra’s on the ship like dining in
restaurants, booze, excursion’s, spar
treatments ,taxi to town if to far to walk ect, the hidden costs that
you not think about, go big or go home and have a blast, want to have wine at
night or a beer after a long day walking around but this all comes at a cost
and is not included in your trip.
Kan dalk net flou raak as jy na die week
sien wat al die ekstra goed jou gekos
het,om die kaart aanboord te swipe maklik of moet ek se baie maklik, koop nou
en betaal later.
Dink ook om met die toere uit te gaan baie
makliker en minder stressvol maar dis duur, jy betaal vir daai gerief.
Booked my ticket to the Russian Ballet for
Saturday night on our first night back in St Petersburg, so very excited wish i
could take my mom with me, she would love to see it, but mom i am afraid no
videos or photo aloud so will see what i can do.
29 June 2019: Helsinki Finland
Today i had to wait for my dear hubby for
first on the list was a crew drill and only then we could hit the streets.
So only got off after 12 in a chilly
Helsinki 14 degrees outside, so after the heat wave this was not too bad after
all, but no wonder people are sick the
temperatures go from cold to very hot in 24 hours.
Got hold of some town maps so am ready for
our next visit, want to take the bus to the market and the stone church and
just see this city.
We ended up at the restaurant not far from
the ship and had a lovely cup of cappuccino and some croissants with a
beautiful view over the bay. Here they have knee blankets and a huge fire place
in the middle of the place , geared for cold days!
We had to be back at 3 for another meeting
awaits, and we are not on holiday i am told,haa haaa so work comes first, speel
tyd daarna.
Had to leave at 5 and sure enough there
were passengers missing , so from 4.30 when all passengers are supposed to be
on board names were called over the PA system and when i saw a officer walking up and down on
the pier i knew people were missing and then 2 appeared, if only they knew how
close they had come to being left behind.
Then off we went for our night crossing to
Russia, sal more aand moet opdollie vir my besoek aan die ballet
opvoering.Vertrek die volgende dag 10 uur die oggend en weet nou nog nie hoekom
ons so vroeg vertrek nie maar moet n goeie rede he! Verlede week het ons eers
op die 2 de dag laat middag vertrek so is maar bly ek kon laas my volle toere
bywoon.
Het ook gehoor dat die maatskappy se
besoeke aan Kuba opgeskort is, so daar moes ook iets gebeur het.Seker weer een
of ander politieke gedoente.
So tot volgende keer
30 Junie 2019: St Petersburg Rusland
Gister weer terug in Rusland vir 2 dae en eers 6 uur van die skip af om die ballet
te gaan bywoon. Nadat ek deur immigration is, het ek eers rondgeloop tussen die
winkeltjies en besluit om met my laaste
besoek vir ons lekker cherry vodka te koop wat ek op my eerste besoek geproe
het. Vodka glad nie vir my lekker nie maar die een is vir my lekker! Hoop net
hy kom heel en in een stuk by die huis aan want sal moet tas toe vir die reis
huis toe.
Toe is ons met die bus weg vir ons aand uit
by die ballet. Was so opgewonde toe ek hoor ons gaan die ballet Swan Lake kyk
in die Hermitage Teater waar daar net plek is vir 250 mense en die teater is
waar die konings hul konserte gehad het. Ongelooflik om te dink die adelstand
het in die presiese teatertjie hulle opvoerings gekyk.
Ons bus het ons reg voor die deur van die
teater afgelaai,en dit lyk glad nie na iets van buite nie ,maar wat n
verrassing het op my gewag,,ons is op teen die trappe met die mooiste giet
yster reelings ,tot by die cloak room waar alle jasse,sambrielle gelos moet
word en toe ons heel bo is toe het ons die pragtigste saal binne gegaan. Heel
onder in die vertrek was die groot deure wat die ingang van die klein teater
was.
Alles het vir my oorweldigend gevoel soos
aspoestertjie in n kasteel.Die orkes was besig om op te warm met al hulle
verskillende instrumente en net dit was ook soooo mooi
Klok slag 8 uur toe lui die klokkie en die
teater raak skoon stil en toe die
oomblik waarvoor ons gewag het, die gordyn gaan op en toe begin ons aand van
die mooiste ballet wat ek nog gesien het.
Die back drops was ongelooflik en sommer
alles, die dansers ,musiek. orkes ,alles
Jy kon n speld hoor val en almal is in
vervoering asof jy in n ander wereld ingaan.
Eerste pouse was dit tyd vir Russiese
shampanje maar die keer was dit nie vir my so lekker soos die laaste lot wat
ons gehad het nie maar nog steeds gedrink natuurlik!!!
Ek so dankbaar het die geleentheid gehad om
die opvoering te kon sien en sal dit beslis vir almal aanbeveel wat ooit St
Petersburg besoek.
Wat ook vir my spesiaal was toe ons uitloop
kom baie van die orkes lede verby met hulle instrumente en hier en daar n
danser ken hulle sommer dadelik uit met
hulle stywe bollas en grimering en natuurlik mooi lyfies, almal haastig ,wou
seker by die huis kom nes in die flieks.
Wel ons is eers na 23h00 daar weg en
duskant 12 weer by die skip aangekom.
Toe is dit eers tyd vir n koppie tee voor
slaaptyd maar lyk my die passasiers was nog vol energie daar word gedans en
gesing ,sien sommer more hang die oortjies van vele.
Wel vanoggend was ek self nie te bright
eyed en bushy tailed nie,die gym poging was so poer poer en later besluit ,nee
wat los die en gaan eet eerder n lekker ontbyt en wees rustig, more weer stert
in die lug!!!
Ons is 10 uur weg uit St Pepersburg en 5
passasiers skepe was vandag in die hawe ,so jy praat van min of meer 12 000
mense,,amazing.Ons het 4400 net op ons skip.
Die see rof en ons aan die rondrol so dit
was nes n slaapil die gewieg en n lekker
middag slaap ingekry, liefie was op en af want hy aan diens vandag en lyk my
vinger afsny dag op die skip want 5 keer geroep vir crew wat hulle vingers raak
gesny het ,dit wil gedoen wees
N stoel het ook met die vreeslike wind van
een van die booste dekke afgewaai op iemand verder onder toe.
More is ons weer n in ander dorpie in Swede
nie ver van Stockholm nie,ek verkies die kleiner plekkies dan kan jy orals stap
so ons sal maar sien,tot more.
Comments
Post a Comment