At Sea Fun

We are at sea for 2 days and then we'll fly to Scotland for a few days there. One night at sea, we had a Chocolate Lovers night. They had all these statues made out of chocolate and then there were tons of things to eat that were chocolate. Honestly....the tasting part wasn't that fantastic. I've had better chocolate desserts. Here's just a few statues.

This clock one was my favorite

Way up here in the North, the sun doesn't go down until like 11pm and then it rises at 3:30am. I'm so glad that our room lets no light in. It's totally dark. We didn't get a window or balcony. Never had one and don't see the point since I don't spend a lot of time in my room. Here's one of the beautiful sunsets.

On one of the nights they had an "air show". It was basically a paper airplane throwing contest. Jake tried it while mom and I watched. Here's Jake's creation and how it flew. I'm so glad I got it on video.

Stockholm, Sweden

This is our last stop with our cruise and I'm sad that it's coming to an end. We arrived in Stockholm, Sweden and by far this is my favorite day so far!!! We did an excursion called Roof-Top Walk. There were only 9 people in our group which was so nice. We got to take a tour on top of one of their government buildings. We wore harnesses and were hooked to a cable so we couldn't fall to the ground, hopefully!?! We had two tour guides, one in the front and one in the back. They were so cute and friendly. I love Sweden!! I guess I'm a little partial to this country because some of my ancestry is from here, not Stockholm, but Malmo. Anyway, here's some fun pictures from our Roof-Top Walk.

Our two tour guides

The roof

The harnesses, we are in the attic

Mom getting suited up

Jake's turn

Now me

Ready to go

Outside getting ready

This is the cable that we're all hooked to. We had to pull it along like a leash.

Some great views

This water freezes over in the winter and they can walk across it, skate, whatever. Fun!

Jake spotted this funky motorcycle. It's a BMW with a covering.

Had to do it!! Again!!! This time, do you notice something different about the Royal Guard?? Not only are they looking at me, but it's a SHE!!!! Cool.

In the center of the palace area. We didn't stay for the changing of the guard. Bummer. I love that stuff.

Do you know what this is?? If you can read Swedish, you might be able to tell. Even if you don't know Swedish. RIKSTELEFON. Yup, it's a phone booth. Very creative I would say.

After our tour, we could choose to go back to the ship or wander around on our own. This was the first time that we chose to wander around. We shopped a little bit and then we had the BEST authentic, Swedish Meatballs. This is not IKEA either!! I thought that we ate the best meal in Berlin, WRONG!!!!!!! This is numero uno #1. It was just melt in your mouth meatballs, delicious mashed potatoes with a special gravy sauce and then some lingonberry jam on the side. I'm telling you, we were all in HEAVEN!!!! I will go back to Sweden just for this meal!!!!!!!!

Here's some videos of when we were on top of the roof.





When we were done eating, it started pouring rain. We walked all the way back to the ship in the freezing wind and rain. I was the only one who didn't bring a jacket while on this excursion and I paid for it. Later that night I even ran a fever. But thank goodness I felt better the next day.

Helsinki, Finland

We docked in Helsinki, Finland today. We went on our excursion and found that there just wasn't a whole lot to see here. We just weren't in awe like the other countries. We did think that it was very beautiful with it's green forests/parks. So different from Arizona!! I love green!

Our guide said that almost everyone owns a boat there.

We're in the city center.

Jake ran up the stairs and pretended to be Rocky with his arms up. Can you see him?

Here he is closer.

They write their street names twice, once in Finish and 2nd in Swedish.

We then went to a church built out of the rock. They call it the Rock Church.

The inside.

Organ pipes

In one of their parks, an artist created this. It's a bunch of pipes.

mom and me

the artist

I'm looking up and took this interesting picture. I like how it turned out.

A cute little park area, great for pictures.

more pretty flowers

This is where the Olympics were held

Last day in St. Petersburg, Russia

Our 2nd day in Russia. We went to Peterhof Palace. This is where the Romanoffs stayed (Catherine the Great). I really enjoyed this excursion. I just love palaces!!!

This is our tour guide, Anastasia. Isn't that the perfect Russian name?

Common Russian cars, the Lada

Another church

Peterhof Palace

More beautiful gardens, Peter was good at this

We look so cheesy with our headphones for the tour

The wonderful fountains.

We weren't aloud to take pictures inside, so I found these on the internet. This is exactly what we saw. Don't you just love the internet!!

This is a painting of yes, Catherine the Great dressed as a man on a horse and that one of the royal chairs. This palace had magnificent wood floors. Just look at the neat designs. They actually made us all wear booties covering our shoes while inside the palace.

This is one of a few Chinese Rooms

More neat woodwork flooring

One of the ballrooms

The guilded staircase that we walked up

Jake took a few videos of the fountains going off with the music. The fountains have the water come out by gravity only.