The Kiel Canal on our way to Amesterdam

Ferries

 In the lock

Refueling our ship

The streets of Amsterdam. We toured the Ann Frank  house, but could not take any photos. The next few pictures are of do city.

Bicycles everywhere.

Canal outside Frank house.

Like I said, bicycles everywhere and they don't play by any rules. If your a pedestrian, you have to watch for cars and bikes. Our guide told us if we found outprselves in the street with a bike coming, "just stand your ground". They'll go around you.

This is a science museum. It's difficult to see, but those are people on the roof. It's a restaurant up there.

Our next stop was Southampton and a bus ride the the Hethrow airport. The trip was over and it was wonderful!!!!!

Rostock and Mecklenburg

Another Catherdral with interesting tombs. This time we are in Germany. The bricks were all hand made. This was a church and monastery.

When they ran out of room in the cemetery, the boones were drug up on put in the round bone house. Your spot was then occupied with another corpse until it was needed again.

There is a dog at her feet to indicate loyality.

Next was a steam train ride to Micklenburg.

Judy with Peppa Pig, Don peeking behind her and us.

This is Jessica, our guide. She spent a year in the state as a nanny. The amazing thing is, she was a nanny in Florham Park, NJ, where I grew up. It truly is a small world.

The next picture are if a beautiful seaside resort in Germany on the Black Sea

Stockholm and a some views of our ship, Oceania, Nautica

We had a quick tour of Stockholm after our trip to the Vasa Museum. Stockholm is a man made city build on 14 islands. There are tens of thousands of poles underneath dirt that is holding up the buildings in Stockholm. Truly an engineering feat.

A view of the Queen's Palace.

A great view out the bow of the ship.

What , no food?

Our stateroom.

Our group minus two. Left to right, Charlene Lulloff, Judy Wood (my sister), Ric Lulloff, me, Paul

Missing are Sharon and Don Stangel.

Vasa Museum

Vasa (or Wasa)^[2] is a Swedish warship built between 1626 and 1628. The ship foundered after sailing about 1,300 m (1,400 yd) into her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628. She fell into obscurity after most of her valuable bronze cannons were salvaged in the 17th century until she was located again in the late 1950s in a busy shipping lane just outside the Stockholm harbor. Salvaged with a largely intact hull in 1961, she was housed in a temporary museum called Wasavarvet ("The Wasa Shipyard") until 1988 and then moved to the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. The ship is one of Sweden's most popular tourist attractions and has been seen by over 29 million visitors since 1961.^[3] Since her recovery, Vasa has become a widely recognized symbol of the Swedish "great power period" and is today a de facto standard in the media and among Swedes for evaluating the historical importance of shipwrecks.

VeTy dim inside in order to preserve the ship, so photos are difficult to take, especially with an older iPad.

Can you make out the lion?

Tallin, Estonis

We could have stayed in St. Petersburg much longer then 2 days. They have approximately 300

Castles and many more cathedrals to see. We hit the high lights with our guide, Elena. She was delightful.

Next we were off to Estonia on a bike tour of Tallin with Jessica. She did say that they were much better off after the break up of the USSR. She mentioned they could say anything they wanted to in public without fear of retribution, the economy was better and there was no longer a twelve year waiting list for Russian cars with parts that were actually made out of paper mâché. Now could could buy any car they wanted.

Tallin is also the place were The Singing Revolution took place. Between 1987 and 1991, hundreds of thousands of Estonians gathered publicly to sing forbidden patriotic songs and share protest speeches, risking their lives to proclaim their desire for independence. While violence and bloodshed was the unfortunate end result in other occupied nations of the USSR, the revolutionary songs of the Estonians anchored their struggle for freedom, which was ultimately accomplished without the loss of a single life.

These two pictures show where the singing revolution took place. Now it is used for concerts.

Tallin is also a wonderful example of a walled city. The upper level was where the nobility lived. The lower level is where the working class lived and worked....shop keepers, grocers, etc.