Michelle and Chris

Chris and Megan before being devoured by the shark.

Michelle out for a paddle with Shon

Michelle at her graduation ceremonies. She is now a registered massage therapist.

Michelle with her mom and dad at her grad banquet.

Ben in a publicity photo for his Parkinson's ride

Lisa and David's family

We can't believe how our grandkids are growing up!  We love our time with them, whether it is skiing or camping or just hanging out together!

Kynnan with his soccer coach

Kynnan in Mexico.  He and Lisa's cousin joined Kynnan's Dad and Nancy for 10 days at Spring Break. 

Kynnan and friends at Halloween

Neko, the vampire

Kynnan and buddies ready to mountain bike at Silver Star Mt.

Lisa and Neko at Silver Star

Jamie and Jenn's 2014

Colin and Derek, our grandsons.  Easy to see why we love these guys!A very chilly night at the Vernon Winter CarnivalJamie and Jenn at a friend's wedding

Jenn and friends went on a girls' hiking/camping trip up Garibaldi Mt.

Jenn has continued her trail and road running.  In this photo, she has just summited Mt. Frosty in Manning Park during a 27 km trail run event.  Amazing!

Jamie and boys

Giddo (Shon) made birdhouses for the boys

Derek pushing big brother home from school.

Derek's new Mohawk haircut.

2014 - North Cascades and Hatheume Lake

In September, 2014, we took our trailer just across the border to Washington State's North Cascades, a beautiful route on Hwy. 20.

Washington Pass overlook

Diablo Lake behind Diablo Dam on the Skagit River

Nooksack Falls at base of Mt. Baker

Mt. Baker

Mt. Shuksan from Mt. Baker

At the beginning of October, we spent a beautiful, sunny fall weekend at Joan's cabin at Hatheume Lake with our friends.  Perfect weather for fishing, walking and eating on the deck - a surprise in October!

Copenhagen (with Stockholm photos)

June 27 – Copenhagen

This morning was delightfully warm and sunny, a great day to showcase another beautiful city.  I was struck by the wonderful architecture, both old and new, and how well they blended together.   We walked across the city before it got crowded then meandered our way back to the ship.  We ran into Wayne and Nancy by a canal and the four of us decided to take a canal boat tour of the city – loved it!  It was wonderful to get another perspective of the buildings.  Denmark has the oldest monarchy in the world and we saw both the palace and the royal yacht.  We didn’t tour any buildings in Copenhagen – not enough time and it seemed nothing opened until noon on a Friday.  Shon fell in love with the city and would love to return but it is a very expensive city – almost $6.50 for a regular takeout coffee and $48 for two beer and two glasses of wine!!!! 

erHer I

Tonight is our third ‘gala’ night so we are having showers and getting dressed up for the final time.  Tomorrow we will pack up our room in preparation for disembarkation the next morning – we will put our big suitcases out in the corridor tomorrow evening for the porters and keep what we need in our daypacks.   Hopefully, leaving the ship will go smoothly so we can catch our bus to London. One night in London before we fly home.  This has been an awesome trip in so many ways – truly a memorable experience.

And these are the Stockholm photos:

Vasa, the war ship that sank in 1628 before it got out of the harbour.

A square in Gamla Stan, Old Town Stockholm

Stockholm, Sweden – June 25

We awoke this  morning as the ship threaded its way through the thousands (literally) of islands and islets that dot the archipelago that protects Stockholm.  It is like sailing the St. Lawrence’s 1000 Islands times 10 or the Gulf Islands times 1000!  Many summer cottages line the rocky shores of the treed islands.  The sun was out and it was a spectacular entrance to the city harbour.  We have been here before and this visit reinforced my love for the city. 

One attraction that we missed in 2010 was the Vasa warship, built in 1628 for a war against Poland.  The first sailing warship designed with 2 rows of cannons, the naval architect failed to fully comprehend the need for a wider base and more ballast to counteract the greater weight.  On her maiden voyage, fully loaded, the Vasa sank in the harbour and stayed there for over 300 years.  Because of the cold northern waters, her timbers were protected from worm damage and, in the 1960s, she was brought to the surface.  The art of reconstructing the pieces was described as the largest jigsaw puzzle ever.  Now, the Vasa sits in a fascinating museum built around her. 98% of what you see is the original ship with only a few new timbers needed.  The carvings and decorations on the ship were extensive and amazing.  In separate displays, there are skeletons of sailors, pieces of their original clothing, their daily objects, cooking pots, pieces of sails, etc.  Truly an interesting visit!!

We then had lunch at an outdoor café in the Old Town (Gamla Stan) and wandered its streets with Wayne and Jo, Wayne and Nancy until it was time to return to the ship. 

We are at sea tomorrow then have a 6 hour, early stop in Copenhagen (7 a.m. – 1 p.m) before our last day at sea and our return to Southampton.

Oops, these are Copenhagen's photos on the Stockholm page - Stockholm's photos will be on the Copenhagen page!

Copenhagen's famous Little Mermaid

Nyhavn, an old canal filled with sailboats and cafes

The new Opera house

A blend of old and new - apartments created from an old boatbuilding shed, now a very expensive address in the city

Helsinki

June 24, Helsinki

We are now on the sea again after a cloudy, sometime rainy, morning in Helsinki.  This Finnish city is even younger than St. Petersburg, dating from the 1830s forward.  For some of its time, it has been ruled by Russia.  It is a lovely city with friendly people.  We wandered the city streets, visited a large  market with crafts and beautiful local produce and seafood, and went into 3 very different churches – an ornate Finnish Orthodox, an austere but beautiful Lutheran church and a newer church built into a rock hillside (interior walls were rock with skylights and a dome on top).  The city was alive with traffic and cyclists and pedestrians – a modern city but a beautiful one.

Tonight is a gala night on board so it is time to don our fancy clothes and head out for dinner with our friends.  Food is good and too available – hard to resist!

Seafood display in Helsinki market

Shon enjoying smoked salmon and a beer on our balcony aboard our ship.

June 23 – St. Petersburg, Russia

What a city!!!  After two very full days with a tour group (our 12 plus 2 more) and our excellent guide, Oxana, we know so much about St. Petersburg and its history. Oxana’s English was very good which really made the tour!  Where Tallinn dates from medieval days, St. Petersburg was founded around 1700 at the mouth of the Neva River by Csar Peter the Great, who hated the city of Moscow, so created a new capital.  At the time, Russia was at war with Sweden, a very powerful nation in those days.  The new city began as a fortress and Peter learned how to build ships from the Dutch, using them to defeat the Swedish navy.  He then set about designing many grand buildings to celebrate the victory.  Subsequent csars added more grandiose palaces and public parks.  We all feel we can understand why the citizens of Russia chose to overthrow the Romanovs (Peter’s family name) in 1917 – so much decadence by the elite must have been hard to stomach by regular folk.  What surprised me was how much money the Communists have spent over the years restoring the grand buildings to their original glory – for example, during WWII, the Nazis lived in Catherine’s Palace, the most spectacular of the buildings we saw.  It is outside of the city so was occupied by the Germans who used the gold gilded moldings and decorations as firewood then set the whole place ablaze when the Russian army closed in on them.  One room alone has cost over $20 million US to restore!!!!  And there are many, many rooms in the palace.  Many of the churches were used by the Communists for storage or offices, etc but all the finery was preserved and /or restored when they were opened as museums over the years.  Now, St. Petersburg, a city of 5 million people, is known for shipbuilding, car assembly plants, and many, many tourists from cruise ships!!!  Still, it was a wonderful two days as we rode on a hydrofoil, and another boat, ate Russian food for lunches (stroganoff, borscht), toured the Hermitage (largest art collection in the world with over 3 million items, 7% of which is on display!), toured ornate Russian Orthodox churches, walked Peterhof (Peter’s estate outside of the city),  saw a bit of the countryside and suburbs.  Many, many ugly apartment buildings, some with crumbling concrete, dot the city – such a contrast with the gold-covered palaces, fountains, etc.  Truly a place that has to be seen to be believed!!  Our photos will not do it justice but…

Our group in St. Petersburg - Wilf and Aileen, Joann and Wayne, Shon and Les, Dave and Linda, Ted and Marilyn, Wayne and Nancy plus a couple from Chile who were on our tour in Russia

Palace for receptions in Peterhof

Landscaping at the palace; all that glitters is gold

Main ballroom at Catherine Palace, outside the city and occupied by the Nazis in WWII

a group learning to rollerblade outside of the Hermitage art museum.  This building was Peter, the Great's, Winter Palace, in the city

Oxana, our guide, in St. Isaac's cathedral, filled with mosaics

Tallinn, Estonia

June 21, Tallinn, Estonia.

We have had a wonderful day in the old walled part of Estonia – visited churches, enjoyed coffee in the main square, walked on the old wall, explored both the upper and lower parts of the old town.  It is our first visit to a former Soviet block country so weren`t sure what to expect.  I will have to read more about its history when we get home as we chose not to go into the Estonian history museum.  We do know it has been occupied by many conquering nations over its hundreds of years but is now enjoying its recent nationhood since 1991 when the former Soviet Union broke apart.  Some buildings look freshly cared for, some have crumbling cement facades.  The main square was as lively as any we have seen in Europe, its perimeter surrounded by outdoor cafes and restaurants.  There were 4 cruise ships in port today so the town was hopping!!  There were many young people working in the hospitality industry – selling postcards or toasted almonds or wooden trinkets from street carts; shilling for restaurants to attract customers;  working in the many, many souvenir shops.  All were friendly and spoke some English.   There were hordes of tour groups everywhere so it seems that the tourist industry is thriving in Tallinn.  Many of the buildings are painted in pastel colours – very nice effect as you gaze down a narrow, medieval street.  We went into a couple of antique stores – one was full of military items – helmets, coins, swords, gas masks, guns, etc.  including a Hitler mug and a helmet emblazoned with a Swastika, not items you see in Canada but likely left in Estonia after WWII.  The souvenir shops were full of beautiful linens, woollens, wood carvings, amber jewelry, and, of course, trinkets.  A word about the churches – a wide variety of styles with some very ornate and full of gold and bronze religious items; others very plain with little ornamentation.  The ornate ones did not allow photography so you will not see them (unless they are online – Alexander Nevski Cathedral and St. Nicholas).

And that concludes my ramblings from Estonia.  We have been having fun with our group on board.  Yesterday, Shon and I played deck shuffleboard in the morning then all of us played games in the afternoon – Sequence, Yahtzee and Wits End (like Trivial Pursuit with a heavy American emphasis) – girls have ruled that game.

And now it is time to head to dinner – last night was Italian night (the ship is Italian) so Italian food and entertainment.  Tonight is Brazilian carnival night .  The entertainment has been good the past two nights but we plan to skip the classical music night tonight and enjoy the Carnival in the dancing lounges – Lisa, wish you were here to dance to Brazilian music!

Lower old town Tallinn from Upper Town

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Russian Orthodox church

Main Square, Tallinn

North Sea

Somewhere in the southern North Sea – June 19   

As Snoopy used to write “It was a dark and stormy night.”   The ship was rocking and rolling all night and this morning.  It is becoming a little calmer now so it is easier to walk the halls without stumbling.  Combined with a few drinks last night, some of our group were feeling a little queasy this morning while some of us were just fine.  I had taken some Gravol and was one of the lucky ones; Shon is feeling better now that he has had some lunch.  We will be at sea all of today and all of tomorrow before we arrive in Tallinn, Estonia. 

A little about our ship and its passengers.  We are a multi-linguistic, all ages bunch – just sat with a Dutch couple from Rotterdam for lunch.  The crew is also multi-national.  We have assigned seats in one of the two dining rooms for dinner but can choose to eat in the cafeteria instead if we wish.  There are 3 or 4 places where we can eat breakfast and lunch without assigned seating.  So far, the food has been good, but not spectacular.  Some items are excellent but some are mundane. The menu varies each day.  We have not tried the pool yet; did see one fellow in the hot tub this morning about 8:30 a.m. with a beer – in the rain with the rocking deck making the water splash out of the tub.  Tonight is one of the gala nights where we get dressed up in our formal clothes – we do not own really formal clothes but will get as dressed up as our wardrobes allow!  We may even take a photo and send it to you all!  Don’t hold your breath but we may pay our money for an hour of wifi here.  If not, you will be reading this just before we arrive home!

Gala night

MSC Opera