When I was posting my new entry today,(see below), I realized that this connection was finally fast enough to post a few of the pictures I promised you from our recent trip to Scandinavia, St. Petersburg, and Tallinn. If you want the narrative for these, please see my previous post earlier in June.
Copenhagen - first port on the second cruise. Has many fine old buildings, such as this cathedral:

At the scenic inner harbor area called Nyhavn we took a canal boat tour:


As usual, there were lots of big statues and buildings in the city center:

And on the stock exchange building, a very twisty spire:


Stockholm- There is a 24,000 island archipeligo which we went through to get to Stockholm, and again when leaving. Many of the islands have summer homes on them:

We took the Hop On-Hop Off boat to get around because the main part of Stockholm is on 14 big islands. Here are a few buildings as seen from the water:


We attended the changing of the guard ceremony at the palace:


Rosenborg Palace has a nice park which we walked through on our way back to the ship. Here is the front of the palace:


St. Petersburg - the Winter Palace is now called The Hermitage and is a world class art gallery. Here is a shot taken across the river:

And here is a closeup of the front:

The inside architecture is fabulous:

This is one of the ceilings:

The throne room:

One of the reception halls:

A domed ceiling:

One of the display rooms:

Art gallery:

The church of the Spilled Blood had the most spectacular facade and onion domes:

St. Isaics Cathedral has the 3rd largest dome in Europe:

Amber is one of the biggest selling items, apparently, since it is sold everywhere, but quite expensive:

Here we all are in front of a statue of Peter the Great - Carol, Rick, Denice, Elaine and Mary. Thanks Byron for taking this picture:

Smolensky Cathedral was quite beautiful, both inside and out:

Beautiful flowers were planted all over the city:

The Kazan Cathedral was designed to resemble St. Peters in Rome:

Our guide took us to a local indoor market:

They were selling caviar at the market:

Peterhof was about a 30 minute hydrofoil ride outside of the city, and spectacular:

There were lots of fountains on the extensive grounds. This was one of them:

Flowers and fountains:

One of the buildings for ladies in waiting:

The Grand Staircase Fountains:

People in period costume on the grounds:

Grand Staircase Fountain and view towards Gulf of Finland:

No pictures were allowed inside Peterhof, but at Catherine's Palace we took pictures both inside and out:





The most famous room in this palace is the Amber Room, because it is made entirely out of small pieces of amber:

After our tour we went to a typical Russian restaurant for lunch. Here are some shots of the interior:

We ate in a curtained off area in the middle:


I am out of time now, so next time I will post some pictures of Tallinn and Gothenburg.

6/18/11
Just a quick update from Park Sierra. We have been doing rig cleaning and repairs which is always a fairly boring subject. Because I am having carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand on Monday morning, (left hand was done last summer), I have been washing and waxing the RV, shampooing the carpet, etc. while I still have the use of both hands. Elaine's surgery on her right hand, for Dupeytin's Contracture, (left hand was also last summer), will be on June 30. By having this 10 day space, we can take care of each other in recovery, and also one of us will always be able to drive.
The weather here has been nice and warm, with only a few really hot days so far. On one of those days we drove up to Yosemite and the weather was just perfect. Two Australian visitors to the park, Art and Stella, rode up there with us because they don't have a tow car. This was an excellent time to go because with the huge snowpack from the winter melting now, the waterfalls are at their fullest. First we drove up to Glacier Point, because there are excellent views of Yosemite Valley and several of the waterfalls from up there. Some patches of snow were still on the ground as we climbed. The first overlook was Washburn. From this viewpoint we could see Vernal and Nevada Falls. Here is a picture of us sitting on the wall with those 2 falls in the background:

Glacier Point has amazing views of Half Dome, Yosemite Falls (both upper and lower), the entire valley floor, and also Vernal and Nevada Falls. Here is a picture of us with Half Dome behind us.

This was a dome that was sheared off when glaciers carved out this valley sometime between 20,000 and 100,000 years ago. It is over 8,000 feet high, so just imagine how big the glaciers were! And here is a picture of both the upper and lower Yosemite Falls:

We drove down the mountain and towards the valley floor. Just after passing through a mile long tunnel, there is a place to pull over and park on the left where there is a spectacular view of the valley as you enter it. You can see El Capitan cliff on the left, Half Dome in the background, and Bridal Veil Falls on the right:

A little further along is a view of Horsetail Falls:

We stopped to hike a ½ mile trail to Bridal Veil Falls. Several bridges go over the rivers of water that are created when the falls hit the valley floor, and here is Elaine with the raging water behind her.

It was cool along here because after all, the water is from snow melt. There was so much mist created by the falling water hitting the ground that we would have been completely soaked if we had tried to hike any nearer.
One of the disadvantages of visiting Yosemite at this time is that it was packed with people and cars. There is a free shuttle to take people to various places in the valley, but people have to drive their cars into the valley to use the shuttles, so parking is a problem. We wanted to go inside at the Ahwahnee Lodge because it is historical and rustic, but we couldn’t find a place to park. Instead we drove to a picnic area for a picnic and then headed toward Mariposa Grove, which is full of majestic sequoia trees. Again, there was no parking so we were sent to an auxiliary parking area and then took the shuttle up to the grove. Sequoias grow in only a few places on earth because of their precise requirements for water, temperature, humidity, and sunshine. There are 75 places in California where they are found, but this is one of the largest. Thank goodness it was protected when Yosemite was created, because it really is located pretty far from the valley area where the waterfalls are. It is quite convenient for people who enter Yosemite on highway 41, which is what we did, of course, since that is the highway that runs right by Park Sierra. Here is a picture of one of the sequoia trees, which are always very tall (60 to 200 feet) and most are between 500 and 2000 years old, although the oldest one was 3,200 years old.

Some of them have fallen over, and here is a picture of Art, Stella & Elaine near the roots of one that fell in 1921.

There is a nice trail taking visitors by some of the largest or most interesting trees. There is also a tram tour, which lots of people were taking, but at more than $25 for an hour, we decided walking the trail was the best idea!
Besides that day trip, we also have entertained ourselves by having a couple of parties at our site. Ginny & Bob O’dell, former park members, were visiting so they had a party at our site, since we have a good spot for it. Then last week we had another one to welcome some neighbors back and also for the 3 Australian couples who were visiting.
This coming weekend, my daughter Laura, and her new guy, Dennis, will be visiting Park Sierra for the first time. I am hoping that I am far enough along in my recovery to be able to do some things with them other than just sitting around!

We have been back at Park Sierra for a few days and I have been trying to post the following report, but every time I attempt to add pictures, the internet connection goes out. So I will post this report for now and put some pictures in when I have a better connection.

Blog Post - After Jewel Cruise 6/2/11
We recently finished a very busy but enjoyable cruise on the Jewel of the Seas. There were 7 ports in 12 days and all of them were interesting places.
In Copenhagen we had a sunny and warm day walking around with Byron and Carol Hall. Walking into town there were many interesting buildings, fountains, parks, etc. Once we got to Nyhavn Harbor area, we took a canal boat ride for an hour which not only took us through other parts of the city but also through areas where there were unusual apartments. Of course, we took lots of pictures and had an enjoyable day. Stockholm, the next port, we also had a very sunny and nice day. This time we went with Byron and Carol, Irene and Leslie, and took a public bus into the inner city and then a hop on-hop off boat which took us to most of the sights anyone would like to see. The changing of the guard ceremony at the palace was interesting, and then we wandered around the old town, which is called Gamla Stan. There wasn't enough time for the others to go to the Vasa Museum, which was a shame. This showcases a 16th century sailing galleon which was built in Stockholm and which sank in the harbor on its maiden voyage. It was raised from the harbor bottom in 1961 and has been beautifully preserved and restored and is one of the most unique exhibits to visit in the world. We did this in 1997 when we were camping in the Scandinavian countries for several months. Helsinki was the next port and we were very grateful that we had been here before because it was a bitterly cold day with heavy rain, so we decided to stay on the ship.
Then came the highlight of the entire journey – St, Petersburg. Denice & Rick Osborne, Carol & Byron Hall, and Elaine and I did a 2 day private tour with a company called Red October. We got off the ship very early each day and were met by our van, guide and driver for several very full days of sightseeing. The first day was sunny and beautiful which really helped us enjoy the sights. First we did a drive through the city, stopping at several places to admire the many incredible buildings and take pictures. It seemed like every few hundred yards we were passing something amazing, such a onion-domed churches, triumphal arches, obelisks, statues, fountains, etc. Smolny Cathedral was an impressive blue and white building outside and exactly what we expected of a Russian Orthodox church on the inside. There was a choir singing when we entered and they were surprisingly good. Another fabulous cathedral we saw only from the outside was the Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood. It is huge with multi-colored onion-shaped domes and beautiful mosaics. This marvelous Russian-style church was built on the spot where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated in March 1881, which is how it got this fairly gory name.
Coming to St. Petersburg has always been on our “bucket list” because we wanted to go to the Hermitage, a world famous art museum situated in the winter palace of the Tsars. The Winter Palace was built between 1754 and 1762 for Empress Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great. The building is a marvel of baroque architecture and is as incredible as the art treasures. We toured it after our city tour. Because we were on a private tour, we got in before it was even open to the public, and thus avoided the long lines to get in and the hordes of people in there once it opened. Our guide, Helen, was very knowledgeable about everything, and had supplied us with listening devices so we had earphones and could hear her clearly no matter where we were. It was full of priceless paintings, sculptures, tapestries, urns, furniture, and jewelry.
After several hours in the Hermitage, we went across the street to the riverside pier on the Neva River where we boarded a hydrofoil which took us very quickly out into the Gulf of Finland. We ate our picnic lunches onboard while we motored towards Peterhof. Peterhof is an immensely luxurious and beautifully preserved Imperial estate, founded in 1710 by Peter the Great on the shore of the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea). It combines several ornate palaces, a number of beautifully landscaped parks and a dazzling array of magnificent statues and fountains, lending it the epithet "The Russian Versailles". We walked all over the vast grounds where there were beautiful flower displays, forested areas, and tricky fountains designed to surprise and soak unwary people who stepped on the wrong stone. Then we toured the incredible interior, which has so much carved wood covered in gold gilt that visitors are simply dazzled. After our tour there, the van picked us up and we drove back to the ship, which took about an hour but also enabled us to see some of the countryside and the suburbs outside of the main part of St. Petersburg. In the city everyone lives in big apartment blocks, some very nice looking and others very typically Soviet cement and grim-looking. Outside the city there are houses, as well as apartments, but Helen said that the houses are very expensive. And the metro doesn't run outside the city so it is difficult for people to get to work. There was lots of gridlock on the roads every time we were driving anywhere.
The second day we were picked up at the ship and driven about an hour outside the city to Pushkin where there is a marvelous ensemble of palaces and parks. It is particularly famous for its impressive baroque Catherine Palace, where Empress Catherine the Great lived and died. The palace was almost totally destroyed during World War II, but has risen like a phoenix from the ashes due to an extensive restoration program undertaken since the war. The same was true of Peterhof, and indeed, many of the 34 palaces owned by the Russian royal family. This palace is famous for the Amber Room, which was a room made of pieces of amber in many different hues, and quite spectacular. Many of the treasures of the various palaces were taken down and hidden when the Nazis invaded, but the Amber Room was left in the palace and disappeared during World War II. It has never been recovered, so the one in the palace today is a recreation. The day had started out rather overcast and gloomy and by the time we exited the palace, it was raining, so we skipped walking through the grounds, which weren't that impressive anyway compared to the grounds at Peterhof the day before.
Back in the city, we were driven to a small local restaurant where we had nice lunch of typical Russian food. We were seated at a table in the middle of the room with sheer curtains with scenes on them hanging all around us, kind of separating us from the other tables. Besides a salad of local greens served with sour cream dressing, we had very delicious seeded bread, borscht, a hot soup made with beets and beef and also served with sour cream, small dumplings filled with a chicken sausage type meat, and apple strudel with vanilla ice cream. Everything was delicious and very filling.
Red October, our tour company, also has a big shop selling typical Russian handicrafts, art, and souvenirs so we stopped there to pay our invoices and shop. We had visited one of these the day before also. These shops always offer free coffee, tea, vodka and cordials, so we tasted the vodka and a cherry liqueur at each place. The vodka was very good and in a bottle with a nice Russian scene on it, so Elaine bought one for Darran's birthday. The rest of the articles we took pictures of because it was the only way to bring them back – they were expensive and also would take too much luggage room! The girls working in these shops speak very good English and I asked some of them lots of questions to find out about their lives and also what some of the costs and concerns were of regular people living in Russia today. They all said the worst thing is the corruption. Nothing gets done without paying off people, and many successful businesses have to deal with extortion by either government officials or the Russian Mafia. This makes visiting St. Petersburg very expensive. Our 2 day private tour cost us $400 per person, and the ship's tours cost nearly as much also.
It was now mid-afternoon and we went to the Kazan Cathedral, a church built in the same style as St. Peter's in Rome. Again there was very beautiful singing going on as we entered. There were also some incredible buildings located on Nevsky Prospect, the main street of St. Petersburg, near this cathedral.
We were supposed to end this day with a canal boat tour through the city because, after all, it is called “the Venice of the North”. Just as we were waiting to board the boat, the skies opened up and a huge downpour which looked like it would not be a brief one, caused us to change our plans and return to the ship. With that kind of weather, we wouldn't have seen anything on the riverside anyway.
The next day we had sunny weather for our day in Tallinn, although it was a bit nippy and very windy. Tallinn is the capital of Estonia, and is located on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland only about 53 miles across the water from Helsinki. At the historical and medieval heart of the city is the hill of Toompea, covered in cobbled streets and filled with medieval houses and alleyways. The lower town spreads out from the foot of the hill, still protected by the remnants of a city wall. This marvelously preserved city is a UNESCO world heritage site, with the first fortress dating back to 1050. It has been invaded and owned by nearly all of its neighbors, especially the Danes and the Russians, but regained its independence in 1991. It is a charming city and we spent a delightful day with Tom & Toby doing a walking tour we downloaded from Rick Steves website. It was easy to walk in from the pier and also explore on our own.
Finally we had a sea day after Tallinn and we all really needed it. We had managed to contact some cruise friends named Myra and Louie Lehmann, Americans who have lived in Sweden for the last 38 years, and they arranged to meet us in our last port, Gothenburg, Sweden. Again it was cold and overcast, but we took the shuttle in and met them at the train station. It was delightful to walk all over town with them, exploring and also questioning them about life in Sweden. After nearly 5 miles of sightseeing, we ended up in the large shopping mall where we found a small restaurant for some lunch. By the time we sat down, it was raining outside. By the time we finished, it had cleared a bit so we went to the arboretum and park nearby. While we were in the solarium, quite a heavy rainstorm hit which was a shame because there was an outside wedding going on. Once it slacked off a bit, Myra and Louie walked us back to the shuttle and we returned to the ship. That was our last port. After one last sea day, in which we packed, we disembarked at Harwich, England. We shared a van to Heathrow airport with Denice & Rick, Carol & Byron, and Andree & Dick, and we flew back to LAX.
It was an interesting and exciting cruise with lots of great ports, wonderful entertainment on the ship, good food, and many happy social hours with new and old friends in the Diamond and Diamond Plus lounge. We booked a couple more cruises for 2012 and 2013 but as always, our plans are flexible and we never know whether we will actually take them or not until final payment time arrives.
The last 2 days we have been staying with Darran & Marielle at their place near Mission Bay in San Diego. Yesterday was his 34th birthday and we pretty much prepared the birthday dinner and baked a carrot cake to celebrate. Marielle's sister, Meg and her husband, Ben joined us for the meal and helped make it a festive occasion. Darran has been working hard to get his new construction business going, and has still been working at UPS in the evenings, so he has been a very busy guy. We were grateful that he took last evening off to be with all of us.
Today, on our drive through LA, we visited Anja, an old friend we met in Mexico 10 years ago, and her 2 year old son, whom we had never seen. Her husband, Ole, was working out of the area so we missed seeing him. Now we are almost back at Park Sierra where we will be getting our rig ready for a summer trip to Oregon and Washington. We have to do this while we both have 2 working hands. On June 20 I will be having my second carpal tunnel surgery and on June 30 Elaine will be having her second surgery for Dupeytin's Contracture. These are the same ones we had last summer only on the other hands. When we recover enough, we will be heading north.

5/15/11 Hello from the Jewel of the Seas, which is forging ahead towards Brest, France, our port for tomorrow. This is a small town on the coast of Brittany, with not any major sights so probably we will just poke around and try to absorb the ambiance. The next day the port is Cherbourg, where some people will be going to Mont St. Michel, the second most visited place in France. We were there years ago when we were camping through Europe for the summer, so we will stay in Cherbourg and see what appeals to us.
This cruise started May 6, in Fort Lauderdale, FL, and we have mostly had sea days so far - Elaine's favorite. Usually we try to work out every day in the gym when we are sailing, but we have missed a few days this time because we have been so wiped out by the time changes. First we lost 3 hours when we flew to Florida. Then, nearly every sea day we have lost another hour. This messes up our sleep time, so we are up late and then sleep later in the morning. This is part of the reason why we like an inside room. It is so dark in here that I even slept until 11:30AM one morning. I don't think that has ever happened before in my entire life! Usually I am an early riser.
Our first port was 2 days ago and it was Punta Delgada in the Azores, islands which belong to Portugal. We have been there many times so we weren't going to be going sightseeing anyway, but the weather was ugly the whole day. There is a nearby small mall with free WiFi so we spent our time there. I intended to update this blog then, but Blogger was not working at that time.
This cruise has been fun because we are on board with friends from previous cruises, and we have made some new friends in the Diamond Lounge in the evenings. Here is a group picture of our gang:
The people in the Diamond Plus lounge are a bit snooty, but on this ship they allow us to get our drinks in there and then carry them in to the Diamond Lounge, which is much nicer than our lounge (and bigger because there are more Diamond members). Much better views looking out too. The other day we saw quite a few dolphins and also a whale came up near the ship quite a few times.
Here is a picture of our entire group of friends from the lounges:

One night we went with Rick & Denice and Byron & Carol to the specialty restaurant called Chops.

The food was good and we had a great time. Several days later we went to Portofino, the other upscale restaurant and it was horrible. But we looked nice anyway, don't you think?

There have been three formal nights and we all dressed up. Here is a picture of Rick & Denice, Byron & Carole looking really fine:

On the last formal night we had pictures taken with Mark & Harald, friends from a previous cruise who are getting married in Germany in 3 weeks. (they live there)

(Today we are wandering around Brest with them and it is fun!)
On the 18th we will arrive in Harwich, England, where this cruise ends and we are staying on board for the next cruise. That is also a 12 day cruise which goes to the Scandinavian countries, St. Petersburg, and Tallinn, Estonia. We haven't been to Scandinavia since 1997 when we camped through Denmark, Sweden, and Norway in a camper van and also took an overnight ship to Helsinki for a day. We enjoyed these places then and I'm sure it will be interesting to see them again now. But the most exciting part will be seeing St. Peterburg for 2 days. Our friend, Denice has arranged a 2 day tour with a private company called Red October for 6 of us which is costing $800 per couple! Quite expensive. But the ship's tours are double that. And, we will have our own van.
Our next posting will be after we have a few more adventures.

5/4/11 Today we are in sunny San Diego where we stayed with Darran & Marielle last night. Darran needed a new truck and we found a very good used one for him at Park Sierra, so we drove it down to him yesterday. It is a 2005 Dodge Dakota 4x4, and will be perfect for his new business, which is commercial building contracting work. It was actually over 90 degrees yesterday when we arrived which is unusual for this area because it is so close to Mission Bay and also the ocean.
This afternoon Elaine and I will drive down to a hotel near LAX where they have a good park and fly package. We can stay there one night and leave our car there free for 14 days. Since we will be gone 25 days, and will be staying overnight there again when we get back, we are going to try to convince them to let us park there free the whole 25 days. They also have a free airport shuttle, which we will use early on Thursday to go to LAX for our flight to Fort Lauderdale. Then on Friday we will board the Jewel of the Seas to leave on the transatlantic to England. Rick & Denice Osborne and Carol & Byron Hall will be onboard with us, so that will make it more fun.
We are both doing much better now that we have had a few weeks of recovery from back pain. For some unknown reason, my back went out one week, and then Elaine's went out the next week. And we had even been walking regularly and doing our usual daily exercises in the rig. Could it be the dreaded getting older factor??!! Nah.
Next post will be from far-flung places, we hope.