Cruis'n the Baltic
It had been planned for 18 months and I was just looking forward to getting on a plane and getting on the ship. I wasn't sure what to expect ... which made the trip even more spectacular. From a few days in Amsterdam to the beautiful Celebrity Reflection to new discoveries in every port, it was a spectacular trip.
A few of the highlights:
Amsterdam, Netherlands: The I AMSTERDAM sign ... while it has moved from it's original location (right next to our hotel), I found it. I had visited Anne Frank's House on a previous visit to the city, so we were able to do a few different things including just walking around the city (I also took a few runs), a canal cruise, and a hop-on-hop-off bus tour of the countryside. It's a beautiful place.
Celebrity Reflection: From the food to the service to the amenities of the ship, everything was amazing. Some of the shipboard highlights ... the lawn, yes there is real grass outside and even a tree growing inside.Warnemunde, Germany: While some use the port of Warnemunde to take a very long train ride to Berlin, we decided to stay closer to the ship, taking a tour of Rostock (including a brewery, where we enjoyed a few beers and a pretzel), followed by a cruise back to Warnemunde. The coastal town of Warnemude was beautiful with boats along the canal serving fresh seafood right from the dock, bright flowers and so much more.
Helsinki, Finland: The home of saunas ... lots of them. It was already warm enough outside, so we didn't go inside any of them, but we did take a bike ride around the city, checking out some of the sites.
St. Petersburg, Russia: A spectacular city and my first visit to Russia. The Hermitage Museum is an obvious highlight including seeing the Return of the Prodigal Son painting by Rembrandt. I was also stunned by the amazing parquet floors (which actually match the ceilings in most cases). We also visited a church which has more than 7,000 square meters of mosaics lining the walls, ceiling and floor. On our second day we went to Peterhof Palace, to see their gardens and famous gravity fed fountains (all the water starts from uphill, which means that there are no motors helping the hundreds of fountains on the grounds).
Tallinn, Estonia: A mid-evil city, fun to walk up and town the streets, enjoy fish and chips and just explore.
Stockholm, Sweden: Tied with Russia for my favorite port city. The journey to get to the harbor is stunning as you go through hundreds of islands, then the actual city is just as magical. Beyond the Nobel Prize Museum, the true highlight was the Vasa Museum. While the ship only sailed for a few minutes before it sank on it's inaugural voyage, it's truly is a work of art and the museum is impressive (it was literally built around the ship).
Copenhagen, Denmark: The home of the Little Mermaid (the story and the statue, the Disney movie came later). The city is bright and colorful. A boat ride through it's canals was fun, walking through the streets offered some fun stops and the hop-on-hop-off bus provided a great narration to give us a little bit of history and context of what we were seeing.
All-in-all it was a great cruise and I'm looking forward to the next one ... Australia/New Zealand in 2021 on the Celebrity Eclipse.
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