Saturday, September 14, 2013

Back! With Pictures.

Hey Everyone!

First, I want to say a huge thank you for all the sweet comments left on Monday's post about the blog being slow this week, they made me all warm and fuzzy inside. I also want to thank all of you for reading the blog and responding to posts even when I wasn't around to answer back, this community of book lovers just makes me happy and I'm so grateful for each and every one of you readers, writers and fellow bloggers!

Sorry to be all mushy, clearly being away from the blog for an extended period of time makes me sentimental:) I know my post earlier in the week made it sound like I had exciting news to share, but really I was just on vacation for two weeks (Kevin doesn't like me to announce to the whole internet we're going to be away from home, so I had to be all cagey with my post). It was an EPIC vacation though, definitely one of those once-in-a-lifetime type of trips. I spent 14 days with Kevin and my parents on a cruise of the Baltic. So. Much. Win.

The cruise left out of Copenhagen, Denmark, so we flew there two days early to wander around before getting on the boat and traveling to Germany, Estonia, Russia, Finland, Sweden and then back to Denmark. I took 5,000 pictures (I'm not even exaggerating, I went through three 1,000 picture memory cards and one 2,000 picture memory card), but don't worry, I'm only going to share a handful of my favorites with you today lest you all glaze over from boredom:)

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
(click to enlarge pictures)

 (Nyhavn, Copenhagen's famous canal with its colorful strip of shops and restaurants)

(This large ship was docked right outside our hotel; Copenhagen was teeming with gorgeous sailboats)

 (Pretty ivy, and one of the many bikes one can see in Copenhagen. There aren't very many cars, almost everyone rides bikes)

(Copenhagen has a royal guard much like London, complete with a changing of the guard every day mid-morning. On the right is a statue of Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid, perched on a rock in the harbor)

(The lights of Tivoli Gardens. Tivoli Gardens is an amusement park, and at night nearly every single inch of it is lit up)

WISMAR, GERMANY

The cruise docked in Warnemunde and majority of the offered excursions involved a 3 hour train ride to Berlin, but Kevin, my parents and I didn't want to spend 6 hours of our day on a train, so we opted to take a shorter hour long trip to the tiny town of Wismar. It was quite possibly the cutest town I've ever seen with stunning architecture around every corner. I would move there immediately if I could.


TALLINN, ESTONIA

Tallinn is a stunning medieval walled city in Estonia. We spent the day wandering the various quaint streets, and Kevin and I both decided it would be fun to climb any and every church tower we came across so I could take panoramic rooftop pictures of the city. The first tower we climbed was a bit of a snug fit and had me wheezing by the time we reached the top, but it wasn't too terrible. The second one though? I nearly died. 300 tiny, winding steps have never felt so long, and while I was bent over sucking in air midway to the top, Kevin was behind me having not even broken a sweat. Damn him for working out on a regular basis. Bastard. I will say the view from the top was worth the climb though - you can see a piece of it third row, right:)


 ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

Whereas all the other stops on the cruise were quick day-long excursions, we got to spend two full days in St. Petersburg which was completely necessary given how much there was to see. I was a little worried initially because our trip to St. Petersburg just happened to coincide with the G20 Summit and it was anticipated that there would be a huge increase in both road traffic and foot traffic at the various tourist spots. Luckily, Kevin researched extensively before we left and booked us a private tour outside what the cruise offered and we were able to see every single thing we wanted with absolutely no trouble.

DAY 1

(Top: shots of the exterior of the cathedral at Peter and Paul Fortress where many of royals are buried, including the Romanov family. Bottom: the ceiling of the cathedral, and a shot of Anastasia Romanov's resting place - she's on the right)

(Exterior and interior ceiling shot of the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood. The church was built over the exact spot where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated, hence the name)

On day one we also saw St. Isaac's Cathedral and the amazing Hermitage Museum, but I took so many photos of those that I couldn't sort through them all in time for this post. Fail.

DAY 2

(Catherine Palace)

(The unbelievable fountains at Peterhof Palace)

After Russia, we stopped in Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden, but again, I didn't have time to get to all the pictures from those stops in time for this post. I did grab a couple from our trip through the Stockholm archipelago though, a group of nearly 30,000 islands off the coast of Stockholm. It was a foggy morning when we cruised in, so below are two of my favorites.

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN


I had an absolute blast on this trip and would go back to any one of these places in a heartbeat, but it is nice to be home:)

36 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness how fun!! I love all the pictures!!
    And hey, I think your husband is totally smart, I wouldn't announce it to the world either!
    I am so glad you had a great time, thank you for sharing pics with us. :)

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    1. It was an awesome trip Ali even if now I'm way behind on work on the blog. Worth it:)

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  2. Oh cool you have been to my part of the world :D

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    1. I have! We weren't in either Helsinki or Stockholm very long, so I'm hoping to go back someday:)

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  3. Your trip looks so amazing that I just googled for Baltic cruises and am seriously thinking about it for next year. We've been thinking about a cruise for a while and this looks like one I'd love. :) Glad you had such a great time!

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    1. Ooooo YAY! I hope you get a chance to go, it was the best trip I've been on. We did a cruise 2 years ago to Spain and Italy and it was fabulous as well, but this one was really something special. We were on the Norwegian Star and I highly recommend them:)

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  4. DUDE YOU WERE HERE AND YOU SAID NOTHING? OMG. YOU CAME TO ESTONIA? *drops dead* I'm glad you had fun climbing these medieval towers though. I've never climbed one, but whenever I go to work, I'm always around them since my work office is right near the Old Town, all the pubs and clubs we go to with my friends are there and even the cinemas are near the Old Town. So yeah.. I go there a lot, but I've never climbed a tower. I should though:)

    I've never been to Russia (I was sick when we had a class trip there in 9th grade. Booo!!!) and never been to Denmark (which from what I see from your pictures is a lot like Netherlands), but I so want to. Hermitage Museum--we studied that thoroughly in our Russian language classes in HS and even before. I know a lot about Peterhof Palace as well. I've seen all the magical pictures (and yours are stunning as well, hon), but I think nothing competes with the real thing since everything is always prettier when you see things with your own eyes.

    Anyhow, I'm so glad to hear you had tons of fun and got to explore the magic that is Europe. I hope you come back one day and perhaps we can meet for a little while:) I went to Helsinki for a day with my friends to celebrate my birthday, it was sometime around the time you went there and I couldn't have had more fun. I've been there a thousand times, but every time is different and I loved my short one-day trip overseas:) I hope you have fun being back to blogging. We've missed you a bunch, gorgeous! x

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    1. I TOTALLY FORGOT YOU LIVED THERE SIIRI!!!!!! How much do I fail at life? SO MUCH. You know what's good though? Now I have yet another reason to go back in the hopefully not-too distant future:)

      I agree, the pictures don't do these places justice, particularly the palaces. They were extraordinary and I've never seen so much gold and gold leaf in my life:)

      Helsinki was such a fun city! I ate I think perhaps the biggest nutella crepe ever made and I'm not the least bit sorry:)

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  5. Jenny these photos look absolutely amazing! I'm glad that you were able to visit so many brilliant places in such a small amount of time, I really want to travel more, especially to some of these gorgeous places! Thank you for sharing your wonderful photos with us, I'm glad you had a great time and I'm glad to see you back!

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    1. The cruise was definitely the way to go for this part of the world I think, it just made seeing all these countries really easy. I of course would have loved more time at each place, but I was thrilled with everything we got to see:)

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  6. SO PRETTY! I've never been to Europe or been on a cruise, so I love that you shared these pictures with us and I'm so glad you had a great time, Jenny! Welcome Back!(:

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    1. Thanks Keertana! It was absolutely gorgeous over there, and as soon as I'm a millionaire and can actually afford to live in Copenhagen, I'm moving there. That city is expensive:)

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  7. WOW! Incredible. I have never been to any of those locations, but am dying to go to Germany, Sweden and Denmark. Your pictures are gorgeous. Thanks for sharing them with us and I'm glad you had a wonderful time. :)

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    1. I hadn't before either Christina, nor had Kevin and my parents so it was an awesome experience for everyone. And so very pretty:) Coming home to landlocked Ohio was a bit of a downer after all the prettiness, but I'm glad to be home!

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  8. I LOVE your pictures!! I'm so happy for you that you had the chance to go on this trip. Copenhagen is one of my favourite European cities and I've been to Stockholm twice. It's beautiful isn't it? The archipelago is very beautiful and on some islands they told us when we took the tour are like only a few single people living there who have to go back to Stockholm whenever they need anything.
    I'm living in Germany and haven't been to Wismar yet. I guess I need to change that:) Thanks for all the great pictures!

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  9. *skips around* JENNY. I'm so excited you're back. AND WITH AMAZING PICTURES AND ADVENTURES. I love Europe. It's so stunning, isn't it? I want to go back. Maybe I'll stare at your pictures some more and pretend I am. ;)

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  10. I'm so envious! All those places look absolutely stunning! Tallinn and Copenhagen are two places that I'd love to visit. I'm glad you had a great time on the cruise Jenny, but it's nice to have you back! Next time, take me with you! ;)

    Thanks so much for sharing all these gorgeous pictures. :)

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  11. OMG that trip sounds amazing and love the many pictures. Travels in my mind to all those beautiful places :)

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  12. Wait. WAIT! Hold the phone. You're SAYING that it was a vacation, but I can only infer that you were really holed up in your mad scientist lab trying to create the ultimate predator (because that NEVER ends badly). Did you do it? Have you finally broken the code and combined a shark and lobster?

    UNLEASH THE SHOBSTER!

    (also, YAY! You're back! WITH PICTURES!)

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  13. Okay, this is officially the coolest trip ever. And all I did in my time away from the blog was move into a new apartment. Now isn't that depressing?
    I'm glad you had so much fun, Jenny. I bet it was exhausting too, but totally worth it. St. Petersburg alone would be enough to make me happy for all eternity, I've always wanted to go.
    I will, eventually.
    Missed you! Welcome back,

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  14. Wow! You went to so many gorgeous places Jenny!!!!!!!! I love all the pics, especially the one with a tan coloring from Wismar. So happy you had amazing time! Traveling is the most special excursion ever.

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  15. I seriously have tears running down my face. I want to go to all these places so bad it HURTS! I recently started looking into actually moving over there (not really possible) because I want to spend my life exploring the world and starting in Europe would be a start. Actually I had looked into Denmark and The Netherlands the most, but I do have a cousin in Sweden. But moving over there is nearly impossible.
    Anyway, I could ramble on forever. I just love these photos! I could probably look at all 3,000 of your photos and not get at all bored. They are SO beautiful! It all is SO beautiful!
    I had no idea you were going on such an awesome trip! That's actually a good idea, because you saw a lot in a very short period of time. That would be a big bonus for me when I manage to get over there. Now I just have to find some amazingly amazing good deal...
    Thanks for this awesome post, I LOVED it! And I'm so happy for you that you got to do this!

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  16. Wow, lucky you! All of those places look stunning! It's my wish to travel around Europe just because of its history, beautiful architecture and yummy food.

    Anyway, welcome back!

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  17. WOW!! It sounds absolutely amazing and I'm drooling with jealousy at those gorgeous pictures and what a fabulous time you had!! Someday...

    And we forgive you for abandoning us for two weeks to go off and have the time of your life when you could have been slaving away back at home.

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  18. Oh so that's why I wasn't getting email! What gorgeous pictures! It looks like everywhere you went could be part of a fairy tale! You've got a great eye! St. Petersburg seems so rich and elegant with it's palaces, but I love those foggy pictures of Sweden!! Did you have trouble getting back on the ship anywhere? I mean like you wanted to stay forever? So beautiful! Thanks for sharing with us!

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  19. Wow. Gorgeous. I LOVEEEEEEEEEEEE it. Welcome back and thank you for sharing so many pretty pics.

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  20. These photos are exquisite, Jenny! What an interesting trip to take. What made you choose this cruise? I enjoyed your travelogue.

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  21. Oh, Jenny!! What an amazing trip! The pictures are so beautiful and the towns with their colorful buildings and interesting architecture are exactly the types of sites I love to explore. I'm thrilled you had a good time. Thank you for sharing some of your pictures. Welcome back! :)

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  22. Jenny, love the pictures. And glad to see that you had an amazing time.

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  23. Oh my goodness wow!! That looked like an amazing trip! I need to go on a cruise- I hate the water though so Ive always been too chicken to try one.

    ~Tinasbookreviews

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  24. WOW, Jenny! Those photos are fabulous. Looks like you had a wonderful vacation. I've never been to those places before but now I really want to go!

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  25. So glad you did this cruise! I remember you saying you might do it at BEA. Our European cruises have been reversed since I did the Baltic cruise back in 2006 and the Mediterranean cruise in 2012. Our cruise left from England and didn't stop in Germany, but otherwise it was the same. I wish I could have spent more time in Copenhagen, because I loved it there. Did you get to see a ballet or any other show in St. Petersberg? We saw a really cool show featuring Russian folk music.

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  26. OMG! I know why you didn't say a thing to me. Smart! I would have totally hidden in luggage with airholes in it. Then as you were questioning what this big trunk was doing in your hotel I would pop out and yell "surprise!" :D Oh I'm so glad you had so much fun. Oh I so want to go one day! :)

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  27. Jenny your pictures are gorgeous! It sounds like you had an amazing time! It is my dream to someday get to Russia. It looks stunning. I don't know how you were able to come back to North America after that ;)

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  28. Oh yay! I'm so glad to hear your absence was due to an epically awesome vacation with your family! We missed you :D You're very smart to be cagey about announcing a two week trip online—I've had to take off days at a time and even this whole week rather unexpectedly for traveling, and I always try not to say anything either, because I don't want everyone to know my house is empty!

    Unbelievably gorgeous pictures! My goodness, I never even thought about traveling to Estonia, but Talinn looks absolutely enchanting! I've always wanted to go to Copenhagen, Stockholm and St. Petersburg and now your pictures are making me want to plan a trip ASAP! So glad to hear that you were able to see all the sites with a private tour, I'll definitely do that if I ever get my wish and make it there.

    Thank you for sharing your lovely pictures with us, and I'm so glad you, Kevin and your parents had a good time on your trip! (But more happy that you're back here blogging! :D)

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  29. Oh Jenny - I disagree, this is exciting news indeed!! I'm totally jealous, of course, but I'm glad you are sharing a few pieces of your vacation with us! Man, would I love to visit Russia someday! Just gorgeous.

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