End of the cruise

We are back in Amsterdam getting ready for our 26 hours of flights
before arriving in LA before driving back home.

Yesterday we had very high seas from Copenhagen to Amsterdam and a lot
of people remained in their rooms.

We made very good friends and saw some fabulous sights on our 3000
miles of cruising.

Web site with all the photos coming soon.

We are home at 3 am on Labor Day

Copenhagen

A very early arrival allowed us a lot of time to explore this
wonderful city. Once again, Brenda and I elected to take in the city
on foot and we viewed many of the splendid sites including Rosenborg
castle, Tivoli Gardens, city hall, the Royal Palace, the little
mermaid, and many others.

One the highlights of the day was enjoying a traditional Danish lunch
of open-faced sandwiches and Tuborg beer.

We've just departed the harbor en route back to Amsterdam via our
last full day at sea

We've had a great trip and look forward to sharing our adventures with
you soon.

Tallinn, Estonia

One of our favorite days on the trip so far brought us to the
beautiful old city of Tallinn. Founded in 1154, Tallinn was at one
time part of Denmark, Sweden, and Russia. In 1991 they finally
declared their independence.

It's a mix of old and new here. It appears to be fairly wealthy here
with Masserati's and other fine cars in large quantities.

A short time in port today. We set sail at 2 pm en route to
Copenhagen with a day at sea tomorrow.

Helsinki & St. Petersburg

It's been a whirlwind couple of days.

We visited the beautiful city of Helsinki and toured the sites with
our new Scottish friends, Annemarie, Bernadette, Joel, and Jerry.

There were many great historical sites there but one of the highlights
was visiting the public craft market. Brenda bought a few souvenirs
and we dined on salmon and reindeer sausage.

The next two days we were in St. Petersburg Russia. Our first day took
us to Katherine's castle in Pushkin and to the summer palace in
Peterhof. Both amazing castles were destroyed by the Nazis in WW2.
However, they are completely renovated to their original splendor and
are truly something to behold. In Peterhof there are more than 300
gravity fed fountains on the grounds that exceed the beauty of the
ones at Bellagio.

Yesterday, we took a brief tour of the Hermitage museum (not nearly
enough time) and later in the day we took in a tour of the city.

Nearly each day there are hundreds of weddings going on. The
government is looking to grow the population. We beard that there is
an incentive of $500 for the first child and $10,000 for the second!

We also heard that there is a ratio of 3 to 4 women for every man.
Many of the young women are very beautiful and really dress up with
micro mini skirts and high heels to snare their prey.

It's early in the morning. We just docked in Tallinn, Estonia and are
soon off to visit this Hanseatic city.

--
Steve Gebler
Encinitas, California