St. Petersburg Russia

Yesterday we visited the Hermitage. It is in the centre of St. Pete and is the state museum. It was the Winter Palace of the Russian emperors. The collection incorporates works of art of over 3,000,000 items, from the stone age to 20th century. Rembrandts, Picasso, Da Vinci, Monet,. The architecture of the palace is incredible.
Last night we went to the Alexandrinsky Theatre for a production of Swan Lake. Magnificent.

St. Petersburg Russia 5' Celcius

Boarded our ship last night for Waterways of the Czar.

We spent yesterday wondering around enjoying the sites. Very windy and chilly, we are glad we have packed longjohns.... Climbed up the Bell Tower of the Cathedral at Peter and Paul Fortress. The metro is fairly easy to use, the elevators are so steep and fast.

The taxi ride from our hotel to the ship took us over 1 hour in horrendous traffic, almost grid lock.

St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great as his window to the west. Canals were dug to drain the marshy south bank and in 1723 Peter made this place his capital. Architects and artisans came from all over Europe and the result is a city that remains one of Europe's most beautiful.

St. Petersburg Russia

Spacious avenues, colourful low storey buildings, soaring catherdrals with onion and pear shaped golden domes greeted us this morning. Our preconceived visions of austere Soviet Russia evaporated quickly. People are willing to help with directions and our newly acquired knowledge of the cryillic alphabet was indispensable as we navigated the streets of St. Petersburg. The temperature has pulmated with the higher latitude of St. Pete's and the onset of fall. We had to bring out the warm jackets and mittens. Weather remains sunny and bright.

We enjoyed a Georgian dinner and feel asleep counting our remaining rubles. Good Night.

Grandpa's Map

Ella and Ben are following us on the map Alan gave them. Ella is realizing that when we sleep she is awake and vice versa. So the teacher in Alan never ends...

Arriving in Kiev

We have spent the last 2 days cruising up the Dnieper River. The river is covered in green blooming algae in places. Lots of industry along the river. Pollution is a concern. There are many people fishing in small pontoon boats, some with lawn chairs, no life jackets.

We visited Dnepropetrovsk a vital industrial centre of Ukraine. It is one of the key centres of nuclear arms and space industries of the former Soviet Union. Because of its military industry it was a locked city until 1991. Being flat the land has proven easy to utilise and thus explain why the city has been able to grow to such a great extent over the past 200 years.

Kremenchug another city we stopped at was founded in 1571 as a fortress. The inhabitants of the settlement took part in the peasant's revolts. Modern Kremenchug has dveloped important metallurgical and engineering industries that produce steel castings, heavy trucks, rolling stock, and harvesters. Iron Ore is mined in the vicinity. A large hydroelectric station was built in 1959, thus a large reservoir was created. This is one of the 5 locks that we went through.

As we approach Kiev we see the golden domes and towers of the Cave Monastery. It was founded in the 11th century. The caves served as subterranean tombs for the monks. The monastery is divided into 2 parts. The Upper Lavra on the mountain and the Lower Lavra consisting of the so called Near and Far Caves. The Mongolian Tartar attack did a lot of damage to the monastery. The mummies of the monks are laid out in the passages of the caves.

Kiev is one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe and has preseved its charm over the centures. The magnificient palaces, churches and monasteries stool on small grounds in contrast to the small timber houses. Nowadays there are wide, traffic packed roads and huge new house complexes right next to the historically significant ruins. The Dnieper river divides the city in half. On the right shore is the old Kiev.

Cossacks

Woke up to see 2 Nucleur Reactors. Also many people fishing in small boats. Interesting going through the locks especially the one that was 37.4 metres.

Today we visited Zaporozhye, home of the Cossacks. Cossacks is derived from the Turkish language and describes an independent man, an adventurer and vagabond. When a new law intorduced the serfdom of peasants in 1647 many abandoned their land and became Cossacks. They founded their camp on the an island called Khortitsa in the middle of the Dnieper River. The Cossacks despised material goods, lived in simple soil cottages and only cared for the valuable weapons and horses.

The cruise has lectures on history, Ukranian language and cooking lessons. We have also been treated to traditional Ukranian music and dancing.

We are given a briefing the day before of the next port. Tomorrow is Dnepropetrovsk, try finding that on your map.

Dneiper River

We left Yalta Monday on route to the Dnieper River. This river is the 3rd longest in Europe. The river cuts the Ukraine in half, the west side is very rich in agriculture and the east side developed into more industrial. There are 5 locks from the mouth of the river to Kiev. The first city we stopped at was Kherson. Very industrial and lots and lots of cranes for cargo ships.

Our weather is continuing to be sunny but not as humid as it was on the Black Sea.

Commandant Vladimir Novchenoff alias Alan Todd

Well our Russian alphabet came in handy as Alan won the contest "Russian Speaking by doing"

After 2 shots of vodka for the contest and 4 glasses at dinner and a screw driver or 2 before dinner. He was most eloquent in Russian.

Livadia Palace and Swallow's Nest

Two beautiful places to see in Yalta.

The Livadia Palace as I spoke of before was the site of the Conference to set the boundaries after WWll. It is also called the White Palace and was the summer home of the Romanoff family until their kidnapping and execution.

The Swallow's Nest was castle constructed by a Russian Count for his German bride. It is now an Italian restaurant. It hangs on the edge of vertical cliff over the ocean.

Yalta

Yalta in the 19th century became a fashionable health resort and today is a popular destionation for native and foreign tourist. In 1883 it was granted city rights and a road was built to join it to the rest of Crimea. Within a few years it became the centre of administration for the entire south coast.

It is nestled in the hills. Our ship docked in the middle of the city. There is a huge public square with amusements for the citizen. Yesterday was Sunday and lots of families were enjoying themselves. A band was playing, people ballroom dancing and children riding around on small motorized vehicles. Very festive.

I think also the fact that our ship was there but the big draw was the Cunard ship Queen Victoria docked about one hour after we arrived. Now that is a huge boat. Luckily they were only in port for 8 hours and we were here 2 days.

We went up the funicular in the centre of town to enjoy the view. Did some walking around. A very charming city.

Balaklava Submarine Base

The Crimea

The pennisula Crimea is situated in the Southern part of the Ukraine and is also known as the pearl of the Black Sea coast. The is the holiday destinations of the Tzars. During WW ll it was occupied by the Germans for 3 years and was a site of bloody battles. In February 1945 the city of Yalta in Crimea was made the focus when Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin met there for the Yalta conference, to decided the geographical boundaries after the war. The was held at the Livadia Palace which was the summer home for the tzars.

Yesterday we visited the site of the Charge of the Light Brigade. Now a valley of vineyards. They have an incredible panorama museum with 360' painting of the charge.

Also a visit to Bachtschisarai the Crimea Tartar's former captial is situated between Simferopol and Sevastopol . The city is a reminder of the fairy tale of 1001 nights with the palace. The interior is bathed in light by the windows made of coloured glasswith Tartian ornaments.

Following there we went to Balaklava a significant Greek trade centre in its early days. During WWll there was a top secret submarine base carved out of a mountain for arming and repairing the Black Sea sub fleet. Felt like we were in a James Bond movie.

Cheronese

Sevastopol

Good Bye to Odessa

The Viking Lomonosov is very well run ship. The food is great. Presented very artistically, probably not to the caliber of Ocean going cruise ships but lots of selection and local dishes. We sailed away last night from Odessa. Arrived in Sevastopol population of 400,000, highly developed fishing and shipping industry here as well as a strong naval presence. It was closed to all; even Crimea's inhabitants until a short time ago. People would need a permit to visit.Arriving here we had a pilot boat guide us in and we tied up to another ship as the berths were full. We took an excursion to Cheronese this afternoon. 3km from the city are ruins of the ancient Greek, founded in 422BC; these ruins sit on the edge of the Black Sea.Weather is alittle humid but we get a nice breeze off the sea.

On board Footsteps of the Cossacks

The Viking Lomonosov became our home for the next 12 nights. It is a 400 feet long and holds @ 200 passengers and 100 crew. All staterooms have a huge window. Average age of passengers is about 65-70. The staff can't do enough for us. The seaport has lots of container ships and a Yacht Club with quite impressive boats. We are located at the bottom of the Potemkin Stairs a very picturesque location. The weather continues to be beautiful although we woke up to fog this am but soon cleared.

September 16 Odessa

Odessa is built over Catacombs made of sandstone. We took a tour which took us 15km outside Odessa to a museum and entrance of the Catacombs. The Catacombs were used during WW II for the resistance to hide. It is 30 metres below ground and would be the length of 1700km if spread out straight. We walked through about 1 km and the temperature was 10'c (constant through the enire year). Our interpreter commented it was quite refreshing inside this summer as the outside temperatures reached 40'C plus.

ODESSA September 14

Well our Puccini turned into Rossini, that goes to show you how well we know our Cryllic Alphabet, must have been the jet lag. The Opera was The Barber of Seville.

Doesn't matter we went to see the inside of the Opera House and appreciate the ambience. The opera was in Italian with Ukranian subtitles electronically displayed above the stage. So we were at ends to understand the full story. Enjoyed the evening.

I should mention the tickets were 100 uah which is @$12.50 each