Thursday, June 10, 2010

Baltic Cruise - St. Petersburg and a few other places



As many of you have heard, our time in Europe is coming to an end. And one of the things we wanted to do before we left is see how many cruises we could fit into a year. Looks like it's going to be three.

This most recent cruise was #2, a seven-day Baltic boatride from Oslo to Copenhagen to Tallinn (Estonia) to St. Petersburg and back. Once again, the cruise didn't disappoint. We sailed on Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas, a ship which gets an A+ for its determination to stuff us silly while entertaining and transporting us across the seas. And as an added bonus, it was also nice to re-live a few memories from 2005, when Kate and I went on this same ship for our honeymoon cruise through Alaska's Inside Passage.

Elizabeth loved it too, despite having no previous memories of the ship. She especially liked the bottomless bowls of butter pads available at the buffet. This girl loves her butter.

We took many snappy snaps on our adventure, so I'll make this "snappy" by shutting up and showing you some photos. But first, here's a movie showing Elizabeth's awesome antics:

Copenhagen (It rained. So we just went to Tivoli ... which is the best part anyway):
Kate with Hans Christian Anderson; we took a similar shot last time we were there.

E liked that the ice cream at Tivoli had a similar taste/texture to butter

Kate's moms' group friend Stine (center in above pic) and daughter met us there
(she's Danish)

Waiting for the bus. This is probably Kate's favorite picture.


Tallinn (Cuter than you'd expect):


Note the Texas shop
This is probably my favorite shot.

We ate at a garlic-themed restaurant where even dessert (ice cream) had garlic in it


St. Petersburg (Not cute, but very impressive. Opulent and run down at the same time):

She's not crazy; she's waving to E on the bus. OK, maybe she's crazy.

That's a Picasso I think looks like Kate, who had a hair-ache this day.

Oslo (Small, nature-y, expensive, and very international):

"Just going for a walk with my stick. See you at the summit."




E actually took this picture after we told her which button to press.

Buttercups. Again, we're pretty sure she's not crazy.



On the cruise:


Shadow puppet theater

E really wanted to play in the pool, but babies weren't allowed. So we splashed instead.


We broke out the nautical attire.


Outtakes:
Check out the record-setting wisps. She's trying to be like Kramer.
Snack O'Clock but no snacks!

I'm a bit too douchey for words.

The Russian girls visiting the Hermitage all posed like slutty dancers while their friends took pictures. I was showing what they looked like.

E didn't like that the marshmellow was so fluffy. She apparently got used to it because she wanted more immediately after crying.

5 comments:

That Count said...

What great pictures! They could use a bit more Pecos...but I'll let it slide this time.

DC MOM said...

Great post...so many pictures. Beautiful opening shot. Elizabeth looks a little sketched out by the clown. Did she cry? So pretty Kate with Elizabeth eating ice cream. Love the coordinated evening outfits and the nautical attire. And finally the swinging baby...sooo cute.

C+A said...

Great pictures! Except for that jester is creepy! Kate you look very pretty in that pink dress!

Anonymous said...

You guys have the coolest kid ever. Seriously. I love looking at the pictures and the videos--I especially liked the one where kate was holding elizabeth's hood as she leaned into the creek : )
-rachele

Oma said...

who you calling "crazy"?