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• Suddenly, we’re in Paris.
• The Baltic Cruise 2010: Friday and Saturday, St. Petersburg
• The Baltic Cruise 2010: Thursday, Tallinn
• The Baltic Cruise 2010: Wednesday, Stockholm
• The Baltic Cruise 2010: Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday at Sea
• Minor Calamities
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Travelogue

Saturday, August 14, 2010

The Baltic Cruise 2010: Friday and Saturday, St. Petersburg

Hello, Russia! For this port-of-call, we bought tickets for the formal excursions. We thought it would be easier than arranging for our own visas, and the itinerary listed a number of places we thought we wanted to see.

Day 1: a full-day trip starting with a bus ride to the Peterhoff, where we spent the morning snaking through the palace in the longest conga line of tourists I’ve ever seen. Then, a hydrofoil back to town, where we rendezvoused with our bus for a trip to the Church of the Spilled Blood. As a chaser, our tour guide Ruslan brought us to one of the seven sanctioned souvenir shops in the city where they guaranteed that every item we might purchase was truly Russian-made. Back to the ship through customs and straight to Neptune’s Lounge for canapes before dinner.

Day 2: a half-day excursion solely to St. Catherine’s palace in Pushkin. More crowds, more lines, more waiting, more walking through gold rooms and green rooms and pink rooms and the amber room (which was spectacular). Another shopportunity awaited us as we headed back to the bus. And back to the ship for lamb burgers.

On Saturday afternoon, we stood on our veranda and heckled fellow passengers who showed up an hour late for departure and yet insisted on stopping by the duty-free shop. Amateurs. We drank champagne and toasted our leaving a city that none of us had quite enjoyed.

Yes, I was disappointed ... in the tours, undoubtedly, and in the overall visit, but also a bit in myself.

As we hopped from spectacle to spectacle in our air-conditioned charter buses, the most interesting pockets of the city went by us in unidentified blurs. I wish I had taken the time to research St. Petersburg, apply for personal visas, and visit the parts of town alive with people and commerce and culture. I wish we’d had dinner in one of the best restaurants the city had to offer. Gone to a museum or a church for which there was no surcharge for taking a picture of the ceiling. Shopped in stores that didn’t sell lacquered boxes, nesting Santa dolls, or shirts that read “Vodka, Uniting People.”

Our experience of St. Petersburg was akin to going from the United Center to the Shedd Aquarium to Great America and then back to the best hotel at O’Hare and having dinner at Gibson’s. For some, that would be great. But for me, in retrospect seeing the biggest things a place has to offer isn’t really seeing the city at all.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

The Baltic Cruise 2010: Thursday, Tallinn

The part of Tallinn inside walls of the fortress walls reportedly held all of the charms necessary for us to see. That area was also home to Old Hanse, recommended to us by both a friend who grew up in Tallinn and the ship’s cruise director. So away we went, in the morning rain, up the cobblestone path and into the town square, where we searched the nearby sidestreets for the restaurant’s sign.

We hadn’t made a reservation, but they found room for us in the back, up a half flight of stairs, it what was the hottest and darkest area of the restaurant. How dark? My iPhone shed just enough light to make my menu legible.

The restaurant itself on the whole was cool in an upscale Medieval Times sort of way. Heavy wood tables, tapestries, menus written in old-world language-ish and calligraphy, lute music, and cute young waiters and waitresses dressed in tunics and tights and milkmaid dresses.

We ordered the local beer, which came to us ice cold in earthenware mugs. We placed our order. And waited. And waited. And waited. An hour later, the meal arrived. Parts of it, amazingly good--the spelt bread and fresh cheese, the barley and lentils, yummy. But by then, we were sweaty, cranky, in need of fresh air, and desperate to see the rest of the town before the ship again set sail. We asked for the checks immediately, ate quickly, and bolted for fresh air and the early afternoon sun.

Cobblestone streets led us up up up to the two cathedrals in the town, as well as the ramparts from which we could get a view of the city below. At least theoretically--we found the entrance to the rampart cafe. Search, search, search, give up, head back down to the square to look for a pharmacy. When ask for a topical antiseptic (Neosporin or the like) The woman behind the counter offered our friends something that looked suspiciously like a feminine hygiene kit. Uhm, pass.

Back to the ship, no lamb burgers necessary today. Ye nobleman’s smoked fillet mignon, in fact, remained with me a jolly long time.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The Baltic Cruise 2010: Wednesday, Stockholm

First stop of the cruise. The shuttle dropped us at the Opera House, and we headed for Gamla Stan, the oldest part of the city, and a most charming place. Most of the shops were still closed, but we amused ourselves by wandering through the side streets and snapping pictures. Honey P. found a wonderful Dale of Norway crewneck sweater (picture a Christmas print, but with viking-type clasps instead of buttons. We had pastries midday in the town square, and then we headed into working downtown and made our way to the Absolut Ice Bar, where Buck and Jeff had a drink while we watched our gear. The idea of going in seemed really cool until we got there, at which point we’d cooled to the idea. Cooled. Get it? I slay me.

We weren’t due back to the ship until 4:00 p.m., but by lunchtime we were ready to return to the Eurodam--lamb burgers on the Lido!

Monday, August 25, 2008

Manistique and Chanticleer House

The drive home from the UP, much the same as the drive up. Long, long, long, but beautiful with the nearly cloudless skies and the cool air. It was cool enough, in fact, that I tested the seat warmers for the first time. Two things of note. First, the Upper Crust Cafe in Manistique, Michigan. It’s right off the highway, and it was the best reuben sandwich I had since the last time I was at Zingerman’s.

Second place of note is The Chanticleer Guest House in Sturgeon Bay, where we stayed for the night. It’s a lovely farm with an outdoor pool, sprawling garden, sheep safely grazing. An early dinner back at Sage, where the cheese fondue was so good and so filling that I barely touched my pizza, and then back to the room to watch Michelle Obama.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

On a Cloudy Day, You Can Still See Canada

Joe and Barb have taken to rating sunsets. Five criteria: spread, intensity, duration, presentation, and chutzpah. Their home in the UP is beautiful, with large windows facing the water and the daily sunsets. They’re steps from a pristine beach that stretches for miles in either direction from their home, and across the water you can see Canadian shore and rows of white turbines turning in the wind.

It took us roughly seven hours to get from Sturgeon Bay to their place. But much of it was, indeed, with the top down and the music playing. At 60 miles per hour, we could still hear the stereo and each other, though I will confess that the MX-5 prefers being driven at 85 and as much as I could, I obliged. Zoom zoom.

We didn’t really have much time--Saturday night through Monday morning. But it was time enough to take a long walk along the beach, share a couple of wonderful meals in their home (Joe’s a fantastic cook), venture out to Tahquamenon Falls, and catch up over some good wine. See my Tahquamenon Falls photo album ...