Helsinki

On to Helsinki! We did a walking tour and had a great guide. We first went to the Kamppi Chapel of Silence. It looks kind of like Noah's ark. And yes, you're supposed to be silent while inside...which is why our family didn't last long inside the chapel.

Honestly, we can't remember what the significance of this statue is- it's a man on a horse...he probably did some good, important things.

Helsinki Cathedral

View of Senate Square from the top of the steps leading to the cathedral...the Mina and Kaiya kept running back into the photo when Brian was taking a pano so there's 3 of them.

This statue is in front of the Bank of Finland. It was damaged during an aerial bombardment during WWII and was kept as a reminder of the bombings of Helsinki during the war.

We walked along the pier. During the winter months all of the boats are stored on land b/c all of the water along the pier freezes.

Another family pic along the pier with the Uspenski Cathedral in the background.

Uspenski Cathedral- the largest Orthodox church in Western Europe.

A couple of photos inside the cathedral.

Just a fun view of part of the city from Uspenski Cathedral.

Snack time- our guide took us to a food market that had reindeer hot dogs. Yep, we ate reindeer hot dogs. And actually, they tasted just like normal hot dogs!

Ok, if memory serves me right this is the mermaid statue where Finns gather when they want to celebrate as a city. Particularly May Day...and when Finland won the ice hockey world title. Apparently everyone gets drunk, strips naked, and goes for a swim in the fountain.

This is Temppeliaukio Church- or Rock Church. It's a church that was built inside a big huge piece of granite. It's not much to look at on the outside...

...but on the inside- wow!

Last photo- kids got a huge kick out of seeing this statue during our tram ride to/from the city. I googled it after we got back- the name of the statue is Bad Bad Boy. Lovely.

Saint Petersburg- Day 2

For Day 2 we traveled to Pushkin and visited Catherine's Palace.

So crowded...and our tour guide was saying how summer time is much more crowded. Seriously?! We had to wait in lines for our turn to see different parts of the palace!

You're allowed to take photos of all of the rooms in the palace except the Amber Room. But whilst waiting in line to go into the Amber room, our guide mentioned that technically you could take a photo right now b/c we haven't yet walked into the Amber room. Semantics...

This is our tour group- we hung out with the Connett Family- friends from Saudi.

In front of the Hermitage Pavilion.

In the afternoon we did a boat canal tour. It was so cold. Half of the family stayed in the covered area of the boat. Just Brian, Emi, and I stayed outside in the back. We were able to bundle up in blankets. (It was still so cold!) Anyways, we didn't take a lot of pics since we'd already seen many of the sights.

We did a little bit of souvenir shopping at the end and called it good. Time to cruise off to Helsinki!

Saint Petersburg- Day 1

We were in St Petersburg for 2 days. On Day 1 we visited the Hermitage. The Louvre in Paris is massive. The Hermitage is the Louvre on steroids. And it was packed full of tourists. Actually, everything we saw in SPB was packed full of tourists. This was the entrance to the museum...it was early in the morning. When we left the lines were much longer!

Basically, we navigated through crowds and tried to get photos without too many other tourists interfering...but we often failed.

Hey we managed to snap a photo without any other tourists...! I already can't remember who's throne this was. I asked Brian if it was Peter the Great...he said "it was one of the greats, maybe..."

Kaiya with a million other tourists crowded around the famous peacock clock...which was totally cool but honestly I never could figure out how exactly to tell the time. I probably should google it sometime.

More impressive architecture...more crowds too.

We had to take at least one family photo before leaving the Hermitage. Jupiter was our lucky backdrop.

Lunch time- we had beef stroganoff and learned that beef stroganoff isn't normally served over noodles...

Next it was a hydrofoil boat ride out to Peterhof. (We have no photos of the boat ride b/c we all fell asleep and napped for the 30 min ride.) Peterhof was by far our favorite in SPB. The palace is stunning...and the gardens are too cool. Peter the Great put in all of these trick water fountains. The kids had a fun time stepping all around the different cobblestones trying to set off the water. I was more worried about them getting soaked but luckily each time the water started the kids were able to run away in time.

Not a trick fountain but a good backdrop for a family photo.

Peterhof Palace:

Family photo (and a random tourist) with Peterhof Palace in the background.

The view from the front of the palace.

Last stop of the day was the Church of our Savior on Spilled Blood. Not a fan of the name...but definitely a unique church.

The inside is so impressive...the walls might look like paintings...but all that artwork on the walls & ceilings are mosaics. Super cool.

Tallinn

Tallinn, Estonia- we did a walking/biking tour through the city. The kids agree that this was their favorite city out of all that we visited on the cruise. It was definitely a pretty city...and fun to explore whilst on foot...and on bike. Old town Tallinn has some pretty amazing medieval architecture as well as some amazing views. The proof is in the photos: