Well as the saying goes - life is what happens when you make plans! In our case it was just bad planning! Doh!!!
All started out according to schedule...
Board the Silja Line Cruise ship, did the whole pose for photo thing...
And that's pretty much where the plans ended!
It was freezing - the harbour was covered in a thin sheet of ice (after all it was April)
but was incredible to see a part of the ocean frozen over and it was great to see parts of Helsinki
from a different perspective. Unfortunately it was so windy we had to spend the rest of the cruise inside.
Thankfully there were some gorgeous views along the way.
Now after spending 6 days on the Queen Mary Cruise ship from Southhampton to New York, we knew what a cruise ship entailed... NOT! Apparently we were on the "luxury liner"... but there was just no comparison. This was NOT the Queen Mary... thankfully neither was it a 6 day cruise!
After a 10min stroll seeing what this ship had to offer, we soon realised...
This was it! A one man band playing in a VERY smoky pub! (You can see the smoke in this picture). So we decided to make the most of it... and quickly made friends with the entertainers... that way, they played most of our song requests! And of course we sang at the top of our voices!
Those of you who know me, know this is NOT a good thing! But hey-ho it was a brilliant evening! After a few hours sleep we woke up in Stockholm!
Really beautiful city. We caught a cab from the harbour to the Radisson Hotel... which Radisson did we book with? I hadn't a clue... so told them just to take us to any Radisson. Most of the hotels were fully booked in Stockholm. So we were really lucky to find a room.
It was right in the city centre - All of a sudden we heard this major commotion outside...
They had this random band marching through the main street - no cops stopping traffic or anything - it was very amusing seeing all the cars pulling over letting them pass.
Didn't want to waste any time so off we headed to find a tour bus. For me, this is the best way to see everything a city has to offer, you also get a feel of where everything is in relation to each other as well as giving you an idea where you want to spend more time.
The streets of Stockholm are 1 Gorgeous and 2 Clean!
Almost every building is detailed and a delight to look at...
This is The Nobel House. Built on Stockholm's smallest island.
This is where Roxette lives... well at least in one of those houses
The American Embassy... all the embassies were in this region - and everyone just stunning!
The boat house - built for the Olympics that was held in Sweden
Stunning walks along the river
Then in the gorgeous city - out of the blue... this rundown burnt building - VERY out of place!
An oil refinery right on the coast - bizarre as that's some prime real estate!
Some apartments are actually built on top of the water - interesting and complex how it's all done.
The richest family in Sweden lives here
SOOOOOOOOO wanted to go on this!!!
When this flag is raised - Sweden is at peace
The Palace, has over 600 rooms... and not one invite for me!
After the tour, we stopped for high tea (about as close to the palace we'll ever be!)
Then it was off to Latvia... first we had to find the cruise ship! After kilometres of walking, (well at least what seemed like kilometres) and some very irked passengers we gathered along the way, we finally found the ship docked in a completely different bay!
FINALLY!!!! We set sail...
This cruise ship was horrible! It was so dirty and stank so badly that you really just wanted to be outside the entire journey without touching anything. However, the elements had something else to say about that, so instead we had to admire the views and clean air from inside the "gut" of the ship!
Stunning views though...
At least in the evening they had some entertainment which made the trip more bearable
One of which was a dance off competition... we were pared off with someone then had to dance while keeping this ball between your foreheads - myself and this random dude came 4th
This guy was amazing... really talented. He was a professional cocktail maker
Finally the morning dawned on the horizon and so did Riga (the capital of Latvia)
Few facts about Latvia:
Less than 1% of population earns over 1000€ a month while the ave salary is less than 250€ per month
Riga is poverty stricken and after seeing that there was nothing to see in Riga, after arriving too late to pick up the booked rental car, we decided to catch a bus through to Lithuania instead.
Very unimpressed waiting for bus. . . In the 20min wait 7 people looked in the dustbin for food. Horrendously sad!
lunch on the 6 hour bus journey - salami & cheese puffs - quite tasty! The trip across Latvia and Lithuania was like living in a brown and white movie. Poverty everywhere we went.
After a terrible 24 hours journey from Sweden, we finally arrived in Vilnius (capital of Lithuania). Decided to treat ourselves - this was the view from our hotel!
Vilnius was really divided into 2 areas... this was the good area
really exquisite buildings
amazing architecture
quite breath taking
inspiring
amazing
lovely (car park!)
even some "patriotisim"!
mind blowingly
jaw dropping!!! I think that just about says how stunning this side of town is!
and amongst all this there is some modernisation
There is even a beach here! (far right)
Then the other side! I felt quite uncomfortable taking photos of people living in poverty. Here is one example of how some people live - and they have it good! Holes in roof tops, windows broken and the wind howling through etc. It just makes me so thankful and appreciative for all that I have been blessed with!
After a couple of days in Vilnius we decided to head off to Estonia. As our travel plans were already so far off course we just were taking it one day at a time... unfortunately this day was an "un-considered" bank holiday! There were no cars to rent, all buses fully booked and no flights available! We were stuck and we needed to be back in Helsinki the following day... talk about cutting it fine!
Thankfully higher powers were looking after us, we booked in on a standby flight (the only one of the day) and as it turned out 2 people never arrived for the flight!
Saw this sign and laughed at the irony thereof (well that and the English!) So at least the holiday ended with a smile!