A gorgeous day in Edinburgh

The two blue of the sky and the sea gave us a warm welcome. Before we reached the floodgate of Leith we had a perfect view to the famous Bridge of Forth, a landmark of Edinburgh.

Approaching the berth at the Ocean Terminal we could listen to a Lady piper. Close to Fram the Royal Britannia is placed, former yacht of the Royal family.

The first excursion started in the morning. We visited the castle of Stirling right in the middle of the country and important since the middle age and the residence of the Stewarts for 300 years. The castle is beautiful located and all of us enjoyed the view over the hilly landscape.

After having lunch in a nice local restaurant we headed to Scone Palace, where all Scottish kings were crowned. Although the six rooms which are open for the public are impressive, for example Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert spent a night in the castle, the loveliest and amazing part of the castle is the park with its old trees and some peacocks. On our way back we stopped in Queenferry for taking photos of the two famous Forth Bridges.

Most of use drove to Edinburgh either on their own or on the other excursion. This was a panoramic sightseeing through Edinburgh, passing Arthur’s seat, the beautiful shaped mountain in the town, from where you have an excellent view over the city. Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland since 1437, today live around 525 000 people in the town. The so-called New Town, designed and built in the 18th century is perfect example of town-planning. We stopped at the Palace of Holyrood, which is the Queen's official residence in Scotland. The Royal Mile is the famous road from Holyrood to the Castle with a lot of small shops.

Edinburgh Castle was the home of Scottish kings and queens for centuries. Today, the Old Royal Palace from the 15th century houses the crown jewels of Scotland. From the castle there is a great view and you can walk right into the Old Town with its lovely narrow streets. Here are shops and most important: the pubs.
Our first day in Scotland was really an excellent start.

Good Bye, Lenin – grad

An exciting day in an overwhelming city and again sunshine which was surprising because there are only 60 sunny days in the year. Do you know that the famous Hermitage housed more than 3 Million paintings? Unbelievable! It would take years to look at all of them. Also the palaces and residences seem to be countless, nearly in every street in the old part of the town, the area between Newa and Fontanka, stand these beautiful buildings. St. Petersburg is the city of images and impressions, the city of wealth, opulence and decadence, the city of baroque style, classicism, art nouveau and soviet realism.

Today we went on excursions to the Hermitage, but you hardly can describe the former palace and the collection.

Another visit was in the famous Catherine Palace built by Empress Elizabeth in 1752-1756, well known for the legendary Amber room.

In the afternoon we finished our stay in St. Petersburg with a panoramic tour.

Back on board all of us were tired and happy – and maybe a little bit sorrowful for leaving St. Petersburg the former Leningrad.

с прие́здом!

Welcome! Welcome to Russia, to Saint Petersburg, to an ambience packed with history!

Early this morning FRAM sailed into the Neva River to go alongside the English Embankment situated directly in the heart of the old city centre. Golden cupolas and pompous palaces gave us an idea of the splendor and luxury of previous times when St Petersburg was the home of tsars and centre of the Russian Empire.  

During the morning excursion we had the opportunity to explore the daily (modern) life of this busy metropolis. We started with a stop at one of the market halls, where we found sausages, meat, fish, vegetables or fruit from the area as well as from abroad. Really delicious are the Russian honey and the pickled vegetables, we could taste them all. After this visit we started the ride with the underground, founded in 1955. The underground, called metro is really deep, and therefore the escalators are unbelievably long and quite fast. Back on earth we walked from the Admiralty over the Palace Square to one of the former residences to have a cup of tea and eat some traditional Russian cake.

In the afternoon another excursion took us to the Peterhof Palace where we saw the splendid apartments of the 18th and 19th century. Afterwards we explored the huge beautiful garden with the famous fountains - unfortunately under the typical St Petersburg rain.

Wet was also the boat tour through the channels. It was a pity that the sun which had been with us since the beginning of our trip abandoned us today, but all the passengers took it with good humor. After cruising for one hour along monumental buildings, vividly described and explained by our tour guides, we took again the bus to proceed to the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral. Here we saw the graves of the tsars and were offered a demonstration of a Russian a capella choir.

The day concluded with an unforgettable concert in our own Observation Lounge by the State Symphony Orchestra. This was not only a wonderful end to our first day in this amazing place, but also a perfect celebration of the Norwegian National Day!

Did you ever visit Gdansk and Malbork?

If your answer is ‘no’, you should join us on a trip to Poland. In the morning we enjoyed the calm sea, the view on the narrow coastline and of course the lectures. The first lecture was about the art in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and the second about Tsar Peter I.

We arrived in time and with sunshine in Gdynia. It seems to be the first summer day, because some of the people wore short trousers and tank tops. Indeed a warm and nice welcome.

 

For those of us who went on the excursion, before reaching Gdansk, we had a stop at the cathedral of Oliva. There we had the pleasure of listening to an organ-concert of 20 minutes. It is one of the most important organs of Poland and from time to time the carved wooden angels moved their trumpets. Later our guides led us through the old city center of Gdansk with its beautifully restored buildings. The amazing St Mary’s Church is the largest brick church in the world. It was completely destroyed during WWII, but was luckily rebuild in its original form.

After strolling through the picturesque streets our visit concluded with a demonstration of how to distinguish real from fake amber in one of the jeweller shops.

A smaller group went on the excursion to Marienburg or as it is named: Malbork. The fortress Ordensburg Marienburg was founded by the Knights of Teutonic Order in 1274. It is the world’s largest brick castle and one of the most impressive of its kind in Europe.

The construction continued for 230 years and is today an impressive building. In 1309 Marienburg became headquarter of the Order. From 1457 the Fortress was the residence of the Polish Kings for 300 years. During the Second World War more than 50% of Marienburg was destroyed and still nowadays the restorations go on. The amazing building is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

We left the illuminated harbour of Gdynia at 9 pm after a wonderful day in Gdansk and Malbork.