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ROBERTSUNRUS · 06-21-2013, 11:18 PM

Hi, we have just over 4,000 pictures, so I felt that I needed to share some more with you. In the next two churches there were many pictures on almost every wall and on up into the ceilings. The fascinating thing about these pictures is that they are all made with mosaics. There were some extra mosaics at ground level so you could take a close look at them. I guess being a June bride is world wide. We saw so many wedding parties near the palaces and churches. [none inside] Notice the high tech tool the worker is using to stomp the granite blocks in place as they re-do the sidewalk, Some of the buildings, Churches, Mosques, Chapels were almost in-describable. Once again in the second Chapel were wall to wall to ceiling mosaics. And the last picture was of the inside on another Church. Russia is almost over run with churches and palaces. They say there are hundreds of palaces in Russia.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 06-22-2013, 11:04 PM

Hi, We took our tour bus to Helsinki, Finland. One of the attractions was a piece of art made from, something like, 900 pipes. I didn't know what to think about pipe art, but it was something we have never seen before. There was some other metal art work at the same place and this was located inside of a nice park. I saw this cute little street sweeper while there. Mostly the only thing that they seem to sweep up is cigarette butts. At this time he wasn't working as you can see from the edge of the street. Next was the "Rock Church"; It was made out of, inside, and from rocks. Quite interesting and the sound from music was acoustically great. This church has a large pipe organ; wish we could have heard it play. There was a lady playing the piano and it sounded great. The ceiling looked like it was made like a woven basket. This, Ironically, was the only place that we were warned about pick-pockets. [in a church?????] we made a quick stop by the Senate Square / Government Palace. No time to go inside so I only have pictures of the outside. A big tourist attraction is a bronze statue of a nude woman. If I got the story correct, the artist used an 18 year old, from another country to pose for it. Some locals love it and some hate it. The ones who hate it have tried to tear it down or have it removed. The ones who love it, celebrate the statue by poring champagne all over it and sometimes putting a hat on her head. Due to so much construction in this area, we only saw this statue form our moving bus. Helsinki, Finland, for some reason, only a half day tour. Nice place, just watch your wallet while in the church.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 06-23-2013, 09:47 PM

Hi, we arrived in Stockholm, Sweden. Once again, as a Scandinavian country, it is similar to some of the previous stops that we made. School children, when being escorted from place to place, all wear a safety vest. Actually all public workers seem to do the same. All of the gardeners in the parks wore them too. I guess you could say that this amusement park is "Ocean Front" even though it looks like it's a river. Sweden is loaded with hundreds of islands and our huge cruise ship had to navigate between them. We had a nice panoramic view of Stockholm. The buildings are very colorful and many on this trip had spiral stair cases, or could also be fire escapes. Walking down some of the cobble stone walkways between the buildings was peaceful and calm. No bikes, motorcycles, or cars allowed. We saw the smallest art sculpture during one of these walks. You're supposed to leave some money [coins] and rub it's head for good luck. Lee Lee found this great looking man hole cover, so we posed our feet for this picture. Even the man hole cover was like art. Down the walking street we met up with what we assume are two baby sitters, each with four toddlers. Now here in the States, to support, or reinforce buildings, we use square plates or sometimes fancy stars. On their buildings they use an iron bar type set-up, but they are like trademarks or something because each building uses a slightly different design. [like on the rust colored building] At the palace there was an armed guard. I told him to guard the palace and I would guard this lamp post; I told him not to shoot me.

dirigible25 · 06-23-2013, 10:02 PM

Nice photos Bob, thanks for sharing.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 06-23-2013, 10:10 PM

Hi, this was something really different; We were taken to the Stockholm "ICE BAR" in the ICE HOTEL. I have heard of something like this, but didn't know what to expect. When you enter, they put this thick blue coat on you so you don't freeze to death. [not really that cold] The coats have gloves attached to them because you will need the gloves when you order your drink, which is served in a glass made out of ice. For people like us, they have non-alcoholic beverages too. The entire Bar room is made out of blocks of ice. The ice blocks have some art work done on them and there are ice sculptures too. well these pictures might help you see what I'm talking about. I considered this a highlight of our tour of Stockholm.

In the last picture, is one of hundreds of islands in Sweden. Some are quite large, some are very tiny, and some are just right for a single family home. Therefore small boats are a life style and we were told that they don't need, or have to have, any license to operate these boats.

Gene · 06-24-2013, 11:15 AM

Bob,

Trying to catch up after 4 days in limbo.

How do you make ice toilets in the ice hotel? Wouldn't they melt upon application of the products they are intended for?

The bus wasn't named "Man", the manufacturer is. I think Man is owned by VW.

I thought your observation about Russia was very telling—a grim place to live again. All those palaces show how Russian domination by a small group of people has been going on for centuries and continues. Sad story.

I didn't think I knew how to spell it either, so I looked it up— Papier-mâché - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia —and we both did know how to spell it in English.

Sorry to see you haven't gone to Riga, Latvia. My paternal grandparents grew up there and left more than a century ago. My grandmother grew up in a one room stone house and worked in a button factory as a child. My grandfather went to England, changed his name, and must have sent for grandmother. They came to N. America, probably Canada, and moved back and forth between Canada and NYC and settled in NYC in 1914 or 1915. I'll probably never get to Latvia (or Prussia where my other grandparents came from in the 1880's) since I'd rather drag a trailer around N. America than suffer the misery of flying anywhere.

It is nice to see some countries have lots of public art, even on manhole covers. It doesn't cost much more and certainly adds to the pleasures of living in such places. We need more of that sensibility in the US.

As I recall you thought you wouldn't have wifi except at a very high price for a couple of weeks. Looks like that got solved. I am enjoying following your travels, especially since most of mine this summer are to remodel our new house. As for X-rated pics, they are art and may get past the Forum censors.

Keep it up, Bob.

Gene

ROBERTSUNRUS · 06-24-2013, 08:03 PM

Hi, Gene; Here is a picture of the Ice toilets.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 06-24-2013, 08:32 PM

Hi, today was another day at Sea and I was going to get some bikini shots for you. Unfortunately it was cold and trying to rain all day. Anyway, I took some pictures from on deck which is mostly pool related. There are four pools on deck, a bar, a food counter, a spa area, lounging chairs, outside theater, ice cream and pizza counter, hot tubs, and today no bikinis.

Also the food courts are on the same level. [15] Since the Emerald Princess is almost identical to the previous cruise ship, the Ruby Princess, it was easy to find our way around. They also have ship maps to help you. This one was very close to our room.

Kosm1o · 06-25-2013, 04:09 AM

Bob, what was the weather like , overall? I was following on the web cam and they did post some temps. Is the weather better, say , in late summer or June when you went? Were euros accepted everywhere? How were prices ? Is there anything you would do differently?
Thanks, Kos

Gene · 06-25-2013, 08:45 AM

Bob, thanks for the photo of the ice "toilets". Would that be a four-holer?

Sorry to miss bikinis, but I'm told cruise ships have topless pools.

Gene

dstalzer · 06-25-2013, 01:08 PM

Bob,

You must be the only one on the ship. Your pictures on the ship do not show any other passengers.

Dennis

Kosm1o · 06-25-2013, 01:25 PM

Gene , not on a Princess ship, ha ha. You have to book on Carnival for that. Mostly older crowd on princess.

Gene · 06-25-2013, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kosm1o

Gene , not on a Princess ship, ha ha. You have to book on Carnival for that. Mostly older crowd on princess.

I'll have to keep that in mind if I ever get dragged onto a cruise ship.

Gene

dirigible25 · 06-25-2013, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, Gene; Here is a picture of the Ice toilets.

Bob, now I know why you have over 4000 photos, you'll take pictures of almost anything

Seriously though, keep on taking and sharing them, they are appreciated.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 06-25-2013, 09:59 PM

Hi, Well this was our last day, sort-of. We left Stockholm, Sweden and were headed back to Copenhagen, Denmark. There are hundreds of Islands in Sweden and I picked this one; Single family Island. Landed in Denmark and we were bussed to the airport. We miss placed our bus tickets so they accepted our ship passes. [saying we would not be able to save them for souvenirs] I don't care about those cards, we're going home. At the entrance to the airport was a scary statue of some sort. Maybe hoping that we wouldn't stop there. When we got to the Swedish airport, our luggage was in a parking garage and we had to pick them up and bring them to the check in desk. Here they asked for our ship cards to get our luggage, but I already gave those away to get on the bus. They accepted our Red #4 tags. Now we got rough directions on where to go and you have to check in by yourself. Well we tried one machine, but didn't know what we were doing, so it wouldn't work. We asked for help and the girl tried it and she couldn't get it to work either. She told us to go to the check in counter, but you can't get in there without your boarding pass. Finally we got some help as we were trying to do it ourselves. We got all the way to the last part which was to scan our passports. and the slot was taped shut. The second nice lady got it done for us. We checked out luggage and went to our gate. No-one there tells you to get on the plane; You have to watch the screen or miss your flight. We finally got on and were headed for home. [with one stop off] Our plane was packed. We were at 35,000 feet and at 520 MPH. They served us our meal. We had Pear juice, Dark Chocolate, and a Reindeer Wrap.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 06-25-2013, 10:20 PM

Hi, our plane landed in Washington D.C. and we had about two hours to get to our next plane, but since this was our first stop in the USA, we had to go through customs. We first had to find our own luggage. You how long that can take. The we had to go through the search area. take out your electronics, remove shoes, belts, hats, empty all pockets and shove all of this through the scanner machine. Then you had to bring your luggage to the loading area. Next you have to line up and get you passports checked. This line was like 1,000 people trying to get through one door and was taking way too long. When we asked the woman in uniform, "What can we do, we are going to miss our flight", She said lots of other people are going to miss their flight too. [Thanks a lot, B****. We finally got through all of this mess with about five minutes left before lift off, and had to get to gate C-23. We literally ran about a quarter of a mile to get to our gate, dragging a carry on and carrying a full back pack. This is not a good thing for old people to have to do. We got on the plane and a few people came right after us and the door slammed shut. We are going to LAX.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 06-25-2013, 10:32 PM

Hi, we made to LAX and now it was time to get our luggage and catch our shuttle bus and go home. Well we waited a long time and finally Lee Lee's luggage came out of the shoot. Where's mine? I waited as the conveyor was going round and round and it finally stopped. My luggage didn't come out. Other people were also waiting, so we went to the desk where the lady checked tags and told people that their luggage was on the next flight in, in about another hour. When I checked, I was asked where was the last place that I saw it. We both had our luggage on the same cart in D.C. and saw them put on the conveyor belt. She told me that they would find it and have it delivered to my house. We took our shuttle ride home. I was called and told that they could have my luggage delivered to me in about two and one half hours; Or about 2:30 AM. I was dead tried and asked them to deliver it in the morning. It was still locked and no damage. I jokingly tell people that my next cruise ship cruise will start, and finish, in Long Beach so we don't have to deal with airplanes and airports. We are home now and this adventure is over. Hope you all had a good time tagging along with us.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 06-25-2013, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kosm1o

Bob, what was the weather like , overall? I was following on the web cam and they did post some temps. Is the weather better, say , in late summer or June when you went? Were euros accepted everywhere? How were prices ? Is there anything you would do differently?
Thanks, Kos

Hi, the weather was fine for most all of the trip. Once in Russia it tried to sprinkle and the last day at Sea, it sprinkled a little bit. Couldn't have asked for better weather.

Each Country had their own money and if we had known that most of them accepted Euros, we would have traded for some. We only traded for Kroners so we could get along while in Denmark, because we were on our own there. [for almost 3 days]

I would study up more on the tours and look up what they are talking about, to better decide which of the many tours to take. It comes down to what you want to see, or do, and how much you are willing to spend. On our first cruise we missed the famous "Three Coins in a Fountain" fountain; I forget the proper name for it. But, because an identical tour, for the same amount of time was $200.00 per person less. For $400.00, we can skip the famous fountain.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 06-25-2013, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gene

Bob, thanks for the photo of the ice "toilets". Would that be a four-holer?

Sorry to miss bikinis, but I'm told cruise ships have topless pools.

Gene

Hi, my wife might not let me go on that one.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 06-25-2013, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dstalzer

Bob,

You must be the only one on the ship. Your pictures on the ship do not show any other passengers.

Dennis

Hi, this was when we were out at Sea and it was trying to rain. I try very hard to get some of my pictures without people obstructing the view. With literally thousands of tourists going around, it hard to get shots without them. I wait or shoot high. I also was purposely, the last person to leave the Ice Bar.

Here's a picture of the balloon party in the ship's theater. Just to show you a few people.