Back on a boat!

Yep, it was finally time to go on a cruise again!  It had been about six months since we have had a chance to travel together (I had made two trips back to Canada in that time but Shea had to work. Ha Ha!).

We had actually booked a Baltic Capital cruise which we were supposed to go in May but Shea's company could not spare him so we pushed it back and enjoyed the Baltic Sea in the summer instead.

Once again we found ourselves on a Norwegian Cruise ship. This time it was the Star, a lovely little ship with a few surprises for us!

On a boat!

The pretty sky mid day. 

Someone is waiting for his coffee. 

Look what we found?! Canadian beer!!!!

We drank all the Canadian beer that was on the ship.

Enjoying some sunshine on the balcony.

This was our home for 10 days.

 Not only did we have beer, but we got to pass through Russia's boat graveyard. Unfortunately, it was at 5:30 am but I don't regret getting up that early. It was very eerie and creepy to see all these abandoned boats waiting to either sink of be taken for scrap metal.

An old watch tower to protect the Motherland. 

A crumbling watch tower.

Old boats in various shapes and sizes.

More boats left to decay.

Panoramic view of the boats and how they are moored. 

More boats in the early morning.

This one isn't doing so well...

I would like to say that this was an abandoned boat, but, nope, its not. It is still being used. It does not look like it's in the best of shape. 

 While docked in St. Petersburg, we had a neighbour ship beside us.  The two boats were very close together. When it came time for the neighbour ship to leave, there were some very rough seas, thanks to a wind system that had moved in.  It did not look like they were going to make it out without hitting us.

As the neighbour ship pulled away, it started to get quite close to us.

Can he get passed?

He just managed to get by and then turn. No bumper boats for us!

 While leaving Stockholm, we got to float through the Archipelago, a scenic stretch of islands 80 miles out into the Baltic Sea. There are more than 30,000 islands that make up the Archipelago. Only about 150 are inhabited year round. It was a beautiful cruise, if not a little wet thanks to some rain.

One of the many islands we passed.

We were in a convoy of three cruise ships making our way through the Archipelago. 

A very pretty piece of the world.

While on the cruise, we visited, Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp (Germany), Berlin, Germany, Tallinn, Estonia, St. Petersburg, Russia, Helsinki, Finland, Stockholm, Sweden, and Copenhagen, Denmark.

Stay tuned for my posts on each one of these cities!