Long, long overdue, and oddly hidden in my GV265>Exams folder. Found it by accident when I wanted to show Cheam something. Still sick and moody.
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London-Harwich: 11th June 2011
I rushed to the airport, after rushing through showering and drinking a milo. The tube felt too slow, and my luggage rolled away at one point in time. Met my grandparents after 3 months, and was overjoyed, but also very very tired. Ate a tuna sandwich that my grandmother bought for me. On the bus I collapsed from sheer exhaustion, having not slept a wink the night before. Somehow, I forced myself to wake up and placed a very incoherent goodbye call to Rajan - the last time I heard his voice. As the call ended and I fell back to sleep, I caught myself thinking "why did I just bother to do that?".
On board the ship we were assigned to room 935. We ate lunch on board, and I ended up taking a nap on the couch. At dinner my grandmother kicked a fuss about the table we had been assigned to: it was too crowded. We were shifted to another table, with 2 old British couples and a 50-60 year old American woman travelling with her two nephews. The first dinner was awkward, with few people talking. We ate quickly and left. Slept.
At Sea: 12th June 2011
I don't remember very much about this day. I expect I read, then moped about. I watched Eat, Pray, Love in the afternoon in the ship's cinema. Dinner was formal, so I dressed up. The American lady and her nephews didn't turn up, because they had lost their luggage on the way to the cruise and thus had nothing formal to wear. They mentioned this yesterday and I eavesdropped. After dinner I wandered to the ship's library to read and write in my diary. Thus began my ritual of leaving every night after dinner to spend some alone time.
Copenhagen: 13th June 2011
The first city. We had signed up for a half day city tour which brought us to the main attractions of Copenhagen. They brought us to the statue of the Little Mermaid, then showed us the Danish Royal residences, and brought us to the riverside quay area which reminded me a bit of Clarke Quay in Singapore. Copenhagen was a very nice city, very quiet and clean. There were bicycles all over the town. We got back to the ship in time to eat lunch. And that's the extent of my memory for this day.
At Sea: 14th June 2011
Sea days are sleep in and bum days. Enough said. Plus again another day I don't remember much of at all.
Stockholm: 15th June 2011
The Stockholm tour was in the afternoon. I had lunch with my grandparents then we went out to gather for the tour. As the ship pulled into Stockholm, I noticed many seagulls gliding in with us. It was a nice sight.
It rained in Stockholm. It was kinda miserable as a result. We saw the outsides of the palaces, and did a small walk around the old town, through windy alleys. It was all quite quaint and all, save the rain. There were also many small interesting shops I'd have loved to venture in to, but oh well. I ended up taking a lot of pictures of lamps in windows, for some reason.
The highlight of the trip was supposed to be the Ice Bar. But due to the rain and road works, there was a horrific jam and we ended up having just 5 minutes at the ice bar. We shuffled in and shuffled out, taking the requisite number of touristy photos, before dashing out to the bus again.
Helsinki: 16th June 2011
We didn't really get to see Helsinki. The tour my grandmother chose was to see Porvoo, a smaller and older town about an hour's drive away from the capital city. As a result, I made a pact with myself to come back to Helsinki before I leave Europe, since C Rowley is there as a well. The drive through Helsinki was pretty, and the Senate house looked marvellous from afar.
Porvoo was a nice pleasant small town. I still can't decide if it's only touristy, or whether the locals actually go there. My grandparents and I went to a small cafe there when it drizzled for a little bit. We shared a meringue, the first time any of us had eaten one before. We bought postcards from the same cafe. Wandering around, I saw a small toy shop. Was tempted to buy lots of moomin stuff, but I refrained, hahaha. Instead bought moomin postcards for the Flat 8 girls. At the end, the entire tour met in a riverside cafe for coffee and carrot cake. It was one of the few carrot cakes I actually liked. Then, the bus brought us back to the ship.
St. Petersburg: 17th June 2011
The main highlight of the cruise was really St. Petersburg. Upon arriving, I severely regretted not brushing up on my 20th century Russian history. Luckily the tour guides were very useful, telling the entire tour bits of information about St. Petersburg as the tour went along. The first sight that greeted us however, as the bus drove out of the port, was not promising. State built apartments that overlooked the port looks depressingly Soviet.
The morning of the tour was spent in the Hermitage. The Hermitage, one of those lovely Wonders in the Civ4 game, gave me good geeky goosebumps (lol). It also reminded me sadly, of Christoph. We were the first group to step into the Hermitage today, before it opened up for the general crowd. The Hermitage was also linked to the Winter Palace, where the Bolsheviks first overthrew the Provisional Government in 1917. I got even more good history geeky goosebumps as I studied the dining room where the Bolsheviks supposedly stormed into, which had turned into a quasi-art galley as part of the Hermitage. The Hermitage itself was very stuffy, and after a while as the day drew on, I started to feel extremely tired and faint. When we finally left the Hermitage, I was very relieved.
For lunch, they brought us to some half performance half dining hall. It got called up to shake some damned musical instrument for a while. I ended up talking to a Mexican guy there, who was apparently travelling alone on the cruise. He seemed kinda lonely. Somewhere around this time, we saw policemen randomly stopping people along the road to check their papers. Apparently, the tour guide said, illegal immigration from the former Soviet bloc to Russia was rampant.
The second leg of the tour was to see St. Isaac's Cathedral, a lovely gold domed church right in the heart of St. Petersburg. Bullet holes from WW2 still remained in the large marbled pillars outside. Then we went to the Church of Spilled Blood, but couldn't go inside for some reason that I've now forgotten. We ended up returning to the ship around 5:30pm, a good full day out in Russia.
For dinner, it was open seating. This meant we changed table from the usual companions to whoever entered at the time. We ended up sitting next to a retired Filipino-American woman, who was entertaining to talk to.
St. Petersburg: 18th June 2011
Woke up feeling really tired. Still, I was extra excited today because it was the tour that I was looking to the most: The Last Romanovs. Our tour guide it transpired, was also a part time History teacher in a university in St. Petersburg, so she peppered us with loads of information.
It started to drizzle on the way to the town of Pushkin, on the outskirts of St Petersburg, where all the palaces were located. Pushkin of course, was named after the Russian author. Later, when we got back to London, I went to Foyle's and bought a book of his complete (and incomplete!) prose tales to read. Right outside Catherine Palace, there was a statue of Pushkin.
Catherine Palace was the first stop. It was named Catherine after Peter the Great's mistress. Afterwards it fell into the hands of Catherine the Great, and she transformed the interiors. As a result the palace is a mishmash of different interior styles, lol. This also is the palace which has the world famous Amber Room, which the Nazis looted during WW2.
The next palace we went too was the most sobering: Alexander Palace. This palace wasn't really restored, because it touched too close to present history - it was the palace where the last Romanov family stayed before they were transported to Siberia and killed. I guess the Russian Communist Party is still testy about the whole thing. There were items of the family there, along with photos of the family. It was kinda depressing :/
Then, we had lunch and visited the last palace: Peter III's palace. Given to him by his mother, Catherine the Great, because she didn't want to stay with him (LOL), his palace was yet another fine thing. You sort of understand after a while why the Russian Revolution happened really, the Romanovs really knew how to live it up in style. Nothing is more evident of that than all the palaces. Anyway I digress. I was kind of palace-ed out by the time we got to this one, and felt a bit bored. To entertain myself, I camwhored in the toilette set given to Paul I and his wife by Napoleon. Even my camwhoring is *intellectual*. Pfft.
After seeing Pauls palace (Pavlovsk Palace), we went on a walk around the palace grounds. It supposedly is the largest enclosed park in Russia/Europe/the World/I don't really remember. There, I watched an elderly couple with the group mysteriously walk at the speed of light and disappear from the rest of the group through hedges. As mentioned earlier, the park is actually pretty damn large. When they didn't appear a few minutes later, I told the tour guide. This set the whole group in a bit of a panic. They started checking to see if everyone they recognised was there, save that couple (the old lady was the only one with a walking stick). The tour guide called the driver and park people over, and after a while herded us into the bus. People made nervous jokes about being left behind for the KGB to find. Finally after a while, the driver appeared with the lost couple.
Apparently they'd followed the wrong tour group, which had been right ahead of us. Random people in the tour were thanking me, saying stuff like "it's good to know someone had an eye on us!" I didn't really want to say that I'd noticed them because I had been stalking them through my camera lens: I thought they'd make a good photo as they were walking hand in hand. I guess at the end of the day, everyone likes to think there's someone out there looking out for them. I just happened to be an accidental one.
Another memory: the palaces in Pushkin were all special because they were especially protected. In order to go in, everyone had to cover their shoes with booties to avoid damaging the wood floors. Just imagine, 300 year old wooden floors destroyed by rampaging masses of tourists! So anyway we all had to wear booties, but as mentioned earlier I was on a tour from a cruise. Well the median age of a cruise attendee is about mid-60s, and mid-60 year old people don't cope with bending down very well. I ended up noticing two men in particular, who struggled to put the booties on. I helped them, and ended up talking to them a bit. I guess nothing breaks the ice like bending down to help put booties on someone. They were school teachers from North England, and knew quite a bit about Singapore. Nice chaps. Later saw them on the cruise days later and they very merrily greeted me.
Talinn: 19th June 2011
Talinn was by far the most beautiful place we visited. It had earlier been recommended to me by Borko, the waiter in charge of the night Snack Bar where I'd go to drink and read every night. The tour group brought us to the Old Town in the morning, and the guide brought us through the streets, pointing out little bits of failed infrastructure maintenance as a reminder of Estonia's past Soviet heritage. She talked about how they really hated the Russians.
The Old Town looked like it came out of a fairytale. I don't quite know how to describe it in a way that it deserves but, if I could have just gone to one destination of the entire cruise it'd have to be Talinn. Domed tiled roofs and cobbled streets. We went into two churches, one Orthodox, one Protestant. In the Orthodox church, I used my scarf to cover my hair as a sign of respect. Inside, it being a Sunday, there was a service in progress. As I stayed to watch for a while, I was mesmerised by the service. It felt somehow at that right moment, I could literally feel God all around me. I stood and watched until I realised more than 10 minutes had passed, and I had to dash out to join the rest of the tour group outside.
The tour guide left at a viewpoint overlooking the rest of the Old Town, and my grandparents who wanted to use the bathroom, walked back themselves. For about 15 minutes, I wandered around the empty lanes by myself, fancying myself a lone traveller. Everything felt magical. A man coming out of a house said "hello beautiful" to me before walking by briskly. Estonians and their strange sense of humour I suppose. I found another lookout point, and took more photos. I bought Soviet souvenirs from a street peddler. Then I went to look for my grandparents.
The next part of the tour was to see Rakvere Castle. The tour guide pronounced it with much rolling of the tongue, like RRRRRRRRAKVERE. It was a most unexpected place. It turned out to have been turned into partially restored model of a Medieval village, complete with people dressed in kitschy costumes. There was a replica of a torture chamber, and 'hell'. There were also replica swords, which were heavy as hell. It was all great, silly, fun. Lunch was held on the castle grounds, and was terrible. Much of the discussion during lunch revolved around whether it was Medieval food or actual current modern Estonian food. An example: barley with hazelnuts (imitating rice?). It was most unpalatable. I only remember liking the bread, which was also quite queer, but was at least familiar in taste to German bread. I had a horseshoe made for fun, with my birthdate on it.
Last bit of the tour was a silly Vodka tasting, which all the silly 18 year old American idiots flocked to, acting like they were BIG SHITS for being able to drink alcohol (it being European laws and all). It was quite annoying. My grandparents and I took the opportunity to use the bathroom. On board the coach, I saw a small dog repeatedly trying to crash it's way back into the house after someone shut it out in the backyard. It failed.
I liked Estonia a lot.
At Sea: 20th June 2011
I remember nothing significant.
Gothenburg (Summer Solstice): 21st June 2011
Gotenburg was rubbish. Out of all the stops, I enjoyed it the least. We took a tour around town in a bus, but there wasn't much to see to begin with. We did however, see the canals and were introduced to the 'hair cutter' bridge and the 'cheese slicer' bride.
At night, our ship went under a massive bridge in Finland, and everyone scurried to the top to watch it. Apparently at the highest point of the ship, you could almost touch the underside of the bridge. I didn't stand that high up though. Also to celebrate, the ship held a chocolate buffet around 10pm. The chocolate covered strawberries were excellent.
At Sea: 22nd June 2011
I remember nothing significant.
Harwich-London: 23rd June 2011
We caught the train from Harwich to London Liverpool Street, and from there took a taxi back to my flat. And tah dah, we were done with the trip.
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In total I read quite a few books: Meg Rosoff's, Phillip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Jonathan Franzen's Strong Motion and something else that I've forgotten about.
People at the Dining Table:
Valerie
Raymond
Brian
Sheila
Nancy
Forest
Ian
My grandparents
Me
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