Shetland Island

Partly sunny, partly cloudy, but cold (50's) and windy, so dressed in hat, scarf, gloves, raincoat, fleece, and turtleneck, plus hiking shoes and wool socks.
Saw puffins!
Also amazing ruins from 1500's to almost 4000 BC!

St. Petersburg...Gold and More Gold

Gilt everywhere you look in the palaces and churches of St. Petersburg. So many beautiful places to see here, but we were overwhelmed on our two-day private tour (8 of us.)

Tallinn, Estonia...AMAZING!

We spent 5 hours walking all over this town from the 1200's...cobblestone streets, city walls, fabulous! One of the most beautiful old towns I've ever seen...and on a perfect day!

Newcastle Upon Tyne, Photos from Northumberland

Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

I had arranged a private tour for the 4 of us here that would take us to Warkworth, Alnwick, and Bamburg Castles and other areas of interest in the Northumberland part of England. Our tour guide, Clive Billett from East Coast Taxis and Tours, was outstanding. We began with a brief tour of the area we were docked in which included ruins of a priory and castle, then on to Warkworth Castle that we just photographed from the exterior (actually we never went in any of them...too much else to see.) Clive knew all about how they had feral hogs in the dry moat and attack dogs, so if you made it through those, you still had a lot of hazards to get though (doubt any did)...but then on through beautiful country and along the coast to Alnwick (pronounced "ahnick"), a lovely town with the castle that is famous for the Harry Potter movies as well as others. It is still inhabited by the Duke of Northumberland and is considered the second largest castle after Windsor to still be inhabited. The town was lovely and as a special treat Clive took us to the Barter Books, a huge second hand bookstore, that now is located in the old Alnwick Train Station. We grabbed a bite to eat there, but quickly lost ourselves among the books, the model trains, the exhibits of old books, and just people watching (with lots of dogs!) We photographed the castle from a distance (difficult to do from any other angle) and then headed onward to Bamburgh Castle. Bamburg is along the sea coast, so is quite a different type of castle, but again, just viewed it from the bottom of the rocks it sits on. Continuing on, we returned to the port via one of the most scenic valleys which also had a small castle/manor ruin and an 11th century church that is still in use. Clive was an entertaining guide who gave us much more information than we could possibly soak in, but the day was lovely (still jacket weather) and showed us a totally different part of England than we had seen before.

The following day was a Sea Day, so it was time to rest up and enjoy a relaxing day.

We arrived in Copenhagen on the 4th of July to a sunny, warm (60's) day. We were due to not leave port until 9:30 PM, so Chris took the Hop on Hop off bus that had a stop right at our dock into town. He spent 4 hours walking (fast) around town since he knew where he wanted to go and how to get there...he was back by dinner with some lovely photos (sunny day!) Sailaway at 9:30, but I was asleep before we got out of the port!

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South Queensferry, Scotland

Having been to Edinburgh several times before, we opted to tender into South Queensferry (our anchorage for getting to Edinburgh) for dinner at The Hawes Inn...cottage pie, fish and chips, and sticky toffee pudding...all very good!
Our tender ride to the dock was an E-ticket ride though...tide coming in, wind at 30 mph against us, so large wind waves. Docking a tender is difficult under great conditions but these were very poor...took awhile, but we managed. Ride back not much better but at least down wind.

Bergen and Shetland

A gorgeous day greeted us in Bergen, so we were among the first off and headed right away to the funicular that goes up to an amazing overlook. We were in the first car up so enjoyed the view with a lot fewer people than were there later. Once we got down, we headed to Susan Fosse's Knitwear kiosk at the Fish Market to see if she still had the same buttons for a sweater that I had bought there a few years ago. She told us to check at her shop with her mom in The Bryggen (old Bergen), but meanwhile we found a few more of her things to buy. We like to shop with a local person who designs the sweaters, etc. She has a degree in knitting design that shows.
After that, we did head to the Bryggen, but there was no matching button, but her mother gave me one that would fit and I liked...with a Viking ship design. Works for me. We just enjoyed a quiet ship the rest of the day.
We set the clocks back last night so got a bit more rest, but with the sunset at 11ish and sunrise at 4ish most nights, we wake often...I've started using eye shades.
This morning we arrived in Lerwick on the largest Shetland Isle. I had arranged a private tour with Roundabout Shetland (Les Sinclair) which proved to be excellent. There were six of us in a van that went all over the southern part of the island to the ancient (6,000 years!) ruins of Jarlshof, to the cliffs of Sumburgh Head to see the puffins nesting, then to Scalloway which was important during WWII as part of the Shetland Bus.
It's still cold...50's, windy, but no rain. I wore a turtleneck, fleece, and Marmot rain shell, hat, and scarf.
Photos will come later, but I was thrilled with my opportunity to get puffin photos! One walked right up the bank in front of me...he was too close for my lens!

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