7/18/2010 Mickey's Baltic Ballyhoo!! Part 3

[jlawall]

See, here I am today at lunch and again nobody else is around.

Welcome to my world..............

 

[jlawall]

In StP I saved almost $350. on our 2 day tour by booking on our own and saw much more. This was even taking into account buying our lunch both days, which the ship's tour included. It was really good since we were able to get DD the student discount and not have to pay full price for her. The other 2 families in our group were very grateful that I thought to ask about student prices since 1 family had 3 kids and the other had 2 kids.

Now this was two days where you slept on the ship and then toured the next day? What did you mostly do?

 

[jilljill]

Now this was two days where you slept on the ship and then toured the next day? What did you mostly do?

Yes we spent the night in port. I hope this copy and paste will work on what we did. I did tweak the stops a bit, but this should give you a good idea:



Passing the Passport control. You need to have the following documents with You: Passport, Copy of Your Passport information list, Tour ticket (blanket visa).
Meeting. Your personal guide and driver will meet You right next to the passport control with the sign: Anastasia Travel Company ……..
City Tour. UNESCO recognized Saint-Petersburg as one of the 10 most beautiful cities in the world. You'll be able to enjoy the combination of magnificent architecture with strict planning of its broad streets, squares, parks, gardens, canals and museums of great rarity. It could be rightly called an open-air museum. In order to save time and avoid traffic jams Your city tour will be split into several parts and will last during all Your stay in St.Petersburg: You'll visit the St.Nickolas Cathedral, take photos next to the Bronze Horseman (Monument to Peter the Great), enjoy the Panoramic view of the Neva river, the Admiralty, (If You have any special requests about must sees. Please, let Your guide know before the tour. Thank You in advance.)
Departure for the Tsarskoye Selo (Tzars' Village)
Tsarskoye Selo tour (City of Pushkin). This is one of the Tzars' Residences, situated in the suburbs of St.Petersburg. During the tour You'll be able to see the magnificent interiors of the Catherine's Palace, including the fascinating Amber room, known as the 8th miracle in the world. You'll have opportunity to enjoy walking around the Catherine's Park, exploring the French style lay-out and facades of the park pavillions .
Departure for the Peterhoff
Peterhoff tour (or Petrodvorets). This city of outstanding parks, marvelous cascades and enumerous founatins is a former summer Residence of Russian emperors. These fascinating ensemble is laid out right on the southern shore of the Finnish Gulf (Baltic Sea). You can have lunch at one of the park's cafe
Transfer to the downtown with the metro tour on the way. Metro trip. Stalin said, that Russian tzars used to built Palaces for themselves, while Communists build palaces for people. And it is really so, St. Petersburg metro stations resemble more palace interiors, than regular subway tunnels. The interiors are decorated with mosaics, marble, crystals and outstanding chandaliers. (Photo isn't allowed inside the metro)
Yousopoff palace visit
St.Isaac's Cathedral visit. This is the third largest domed cathedral in the world. While entering You'll be amazed with the grandeur of this Cathedral. During the interior tour You'll enjoy the variety of paintings, mosaics, marble and semi-precious stones, used for the decoration.
Back to the ship

DAY TWO
Meeting. Your personal guide and driver will meet You right next to the passport control with the sign: Anastasia Travel Company ……..
The Hermitage visit.This tour includes visit of 4 buildingdgs of the Hermitage ensemble:the Winter Palace, the Small Hermitage, the Old Hermitage the New Hermitage. Exploring these palaces you will be impressed not only with the valuable artistic collection, but also with the beauty of the interiors. Plafonds, parquets, stucco-works, gilded woodcarvings are unbelievably outstanding.. Exclusive Golden room visit for ? persons
Departure for the lunch
Lunch in a venue of Your choice
Savior on the Spilt Blood. This cathedral is a combination of Old Russian style (14th - 16th century) with the artistic achievements of the 20th century. It is. The mosaics, which cover a vast area of the outer and inner walls (approximately 7000 square meters in total) make the church monument of the international significance.
Shopping time
Back to the ship

We also added a stop at the post office to use the ATM and a couple of shopping stops to shop and use the restroom.
When I was booking this Anastasia told me I was very brave by doing so many stops the first day, but with just 12 people and no traffic it was easy to do but it was tiring.

 

[jlawall]

Yes we spent the night in port. I hope this copy and paste will work on what we did. I did tweak the stops a bit, but this should give you a good idea:



Passing the Passport control. You need to have the following documents with You: Passport, Copy of Your Passport information list, Tour ticket (blanket visa).
Meeting. Your personal guide and driver will meet You right next to the passport control with the sign: Anastasia Travel Company ……..
City Tour. UNESCO recognized Saint-Petersburg as one of the 10 most beautiful cities in the world. You'll be able to enjoy the combination of magnificent architecture with strict planning of its broad streets, squares, parks, gardens, canals and museums of great rarity. It could be rightly called an open-air museum. In order to save time and avoid traffic jams Your city tour will be split into several parts and will last during all Your stay in St.Petersburg: You'll visit the St.Nickolas Cathedral, take photos next to the Bronze Horseman (Monument to Peter the Great), enjoy the Panoramic view of the Neva river, the Admiralty, (If You have any special requests about must sees. Please, let Your guide know before the tour. Thank You in advance.)
Departure for the Tsarskoye Selo (Tzars' Village)
Tsarskoye Selo tour (City of Pushkin). This is one of the Tzars' Residences, situated in the suburbs of St.Petersburg. During the tour You'll be able to see the magnificent interiors of the Catherine's Palace, including the fascinating Amber room, known as the 8th miracle in the world. You'll have opportunity to enjoy walking around the Catherine's Park, exploring the French style lay-out and facades of the park pavillions .
Departure for the Peterhoff
Peterhoff tour (or Petrodvorets). This city of outstanding parks, marvelous cascades and enumerous founatins is a former summer Residence of Russian emperors. These fascinating ensemble is laid out right on the southern shore of the Finnish Gulf (Baltic Sea). You can have lunch at one of the park's cafe
Transfer to the downtown with the metro tour on the way. Metro trip. Stalin said, that Russian tzars used to built Palaces for themselves, while Communists build palaces for people. And it is really so, St. Petersburg metro stations resemble more palace interiors, than regular subway tunnels. The interiors are decorated with mosaics, marble, crystals and outstanding chandaliers. (Photo isn't allowed inside the metro)
Yousopoff palace visit
St.Isaac's Cathedral visit. This is the third largest domed cathedral in the world. While entering You'll be amazed with the grandeur of this Cathedral. During the interior tour You'll enjoy the variety of paintings, mosaics, marble and semi-precious stones, used for the decoration.
Back to the ship

DAY TWO
Meeting. Your personal guide and driver will meet You right next to the passport control with the sign: Anastasia Travel Company ……..
The Hermitage visit.This tour includes visit of 4 buildingdgs of the Hermitage ensemble:the Winter Palace, the Small Hermitage, the Old Hermitage the New Hermitage. Exploring these palaces you will be impressed not only with the valuable artistic collection, but also with the beauty of the interiors. Plafonds, parquets, stucco-works, gilded woodcarvings are unbelievably outstanding.. Exclusive Golden room visit for ? persons
Departure for the lunch
Lunch in a venue of Your choice
Savior on the Spilt Blood. This cathedral is a combination of Old Russian style (14th - 16th century) with the artistic achievements of the 20th century. It is. The mosaics, which cover a vast area of the outer and inner walls (approximately 7000 square meters in total) make the church monument of the international significance.
Shopping time
Back to the ship

We also added a stop at the post office to use the ATM and a couple of shopping stops to shop and use the restroom.
When I was booking this Anastasia told me I was very brave by doing so many stops the first day, but with just 12 people and no traffic it was easy to do but it was tiring.

Wow! Thanks! I'm glad we have 18 months to figure all this out!

 

[jilljill]

Wow! Thanks! I'm glad we have 18 months to figure all this out!

You are welcome. That wasn't my final plans, but that one was lost when the other computer died but it didn't change much. After dinner I'll have to check the times we were gone to let you know how long our day was.

I'll be back later,

 

[jlawall]

You are welcome. That wasn't my final plans, but that one was lost when the other computer died but it didn't change much. After dinner I'll have to check the times we were gone to let you know how long our day was.

I'll be back later,

Thanks really, I have a lot of research for this trip to do!!

 

[Madisonznana]

Get them in shape walking, there's lots to be done in these ports.
Are you going to have them keep a journal to share at school when they go back? We used to have DD do that when she was younger so she could remember a lot of what we did. The funniest she kept was her lists of towns and street names when we went to Australia. The one that we laughed at the most was Boytown.

A journal is a good idea. I always start one myself and the ADD kicks in and by the third day I am over it.

 

[Caropooh]

Okay, so I finally caught up on all of the pages I missed last night and this morning. And here I am all alone. And I noticed they changed the smilies and WHERE IS MY WOOHOO GUY?

You can get your smilie moving aggressions out here!
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1342056&page=8

 

[Caropooh]

With something this dangerous, it seems like it should be mandantory.

My guess would be that there would still be problems, even if they put some sort of screen over the front of the engines. The air is being sucked into the engines with such force that the birds would just be torn apart from the force against the screen. They there would be millions of bird parts throughout the engines that would probably muck things up. Did that make any sense?

 

[Caropooh]

Same here I've had a disappointing week (not the parent visitation, other issues) and this thread has been a BIG diversion.....thx to all.......

sorry to hear you've had a bad week, hope things look up

 

[jlawall]

My guess would be that there would still be problems, even if they put some sort of screen over the front of the engines. The air is being sucked into the engines with such force that the birds would just be torn apart from the force against the screen. They there would be millions of bird parts throughout the engines that would probably muck things up. Did that make any sense?

Airplane expert responds..........

 

[jlawall]

sorry to hear you've had a bad week, hope things look up

Thanks, I appreciate it. I like the new similies.....

 

[Caropooh]

Look what I just found on our local news web site!


SEATAC, Wash. - Thursday's crash of a US Airways jetliner in the Hudson River cast a public spotlight on the dangers that birds can pose to aircraft.

But it's a danger that aviation professionals have long known about and worked to prevent.

And nowhere is that more true than at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which is considered one of most 'forward thinking' airports when it comes to preventing bird strikes. In fact, it's the only major airport that uses avian radar.

Sea-Tac was the ultimate destination of the aircraft that landed in the river on Friday after colliding with one or more birds.

The sheer number of birds around Sea-Tac is one reason it became the first in the country to employ a full-time wildlife biologist to help control the bird population.

His name is Steve Osmek, and his job is to harass birds so they don't come back.

He's armed with bangers and screamers - even lasers. His team has placed overhead netting to prevent birds from calling retention ponds home.

They also catch and relocate some birds of prey to Bellingham - just so birds won't get hit by planes and become "snarg."

An FAA slang term, "snarg" is a word combo meaning snot and garbage. It's what's left of a bird when it hits a plane.

And sometimes the bird isn't the only one on the losing end - Sea-Tac's worst avian accident came in 1990 when a loon punched a hole in a jet's nose.

Now Sea-Tac is using a new tool in it's battle against the birds. It's on top of the airport's headquarters - avian radar.

Edwin Herricks says, "Avian radar has been used in research purposes for years, but they haven't been applied at an airport."

Until now. Sea-Tac is the first major airport in the country with a permanent avian radar.

It produces images similar to what an air traffic controller sees.

Each bird has its unique radar signature so biologists like Ed Herricks can figure out what's crossing the runway. Still, it's just a research project.

"It is working very well. It does not detect every target," he says. "We still don't know what we are missing as opposed to what we are detecting but we are learning more every day."

Now the biologists don't predict a day when a pilot can look at a monitor in the cockpit and the pilot will see what the avian radar sees.

But they do believe there will be a day when the tower will be able use the radar and warn pilots when birds pose a dangerous situation to a plane.

Of all the birds in the vicinity of Sea-Tac, it's starlings, geese and seagulls that get the brunt of the hits.

But there is one bird that biologists say actually tries to avoid the planes, and it's a bird you see the most around Sea-Tac - the common crow.

Only one in five bird strikes get reported, but there have been hundreds at Sea-Tac since they started keeping track 30 years ago. In that time, only two crows have reportedly been hit.

 

[jlawall]

I really think this should be mandatory!

 

[jilljill]

I guess crows aren't so stupid.

My uncle has had 2 geese dogs. He takes the dogs for extensive training for keeping geese away from places they shouldn't be or are a nuisance. The 2 he had were used at a golf course for keep the geese away. They both got paid rather well for keeping the geese away. It was a full time job, pretty much year round down at the beach.

Birds really are a nuisance and a danger.

 

[MrsScooby]

We work (or not work) on our own things at a crop night and yes it is mostly socializing. Last night I was working on recipe cards. I am in a monhly swap where we make a recipe to share and then give each person a scrapped 4 x 6 recipe card. This month is crock pot recipes and I am making cincinnati chili.

oooh, my family loves chili
maybe post the recipe when you have a chance

Okay, so I finally caught up on all of the pages I missed last night and this morning. And here I am all alone. And I noticed they changed the smilies and WHERE IS MY WOOHOO GUY?

yeah I'm missing the whoo hoo guy too

In StP I saved almost $350. on our 2 day tour by booking on our own and saw much more. This was even taking into account buying our lunch both days, which the ship's tour included. It was really good since we were able to get DD the student discount and not have to pay full price for her. The other 2 families in our group were very grateful that I thought to ask about student prices since 1 family had 3 kids and the other had 2 kids.

Now my kids don't have student IDs. Are their ages (13 and 16 by then) enough to get a student discount ?

Yes we spent the night in port. I hope this copy and paste will work on what we did. I did tweak the stops a bit, but this should give you a good idea:

Very cool Thanks
How long was the first day ?

Look what I just found on our local news web site!

Cool Thanks.
Love technology when it saves lives

 

[jilljill]

Now my kids don't have student IDs. Are their ages (13 and 16 by then) enough to get a student discount ?


Very cool Thanks
How long was the first day ?

Since DD was 14 Anastasia was able to get the discounts for her, but I still sent her a copy of her report card to show she was a student. In fact, all the parent's just sent in report cards to get the student pricing and this included the college student.
She had mentioned that we should get the students an international student card which is what she really needed, but in the end she was able to just use the report cards for all.

We left the port around 8:15-8:30, later than we were supposed to and we were back on the ship around 5:00-5:30. Our day was originally scheduled for 8:00-6:30, but we didn't encounter any traffic. We also added a couple of extra stops and stayed a couple of places a bit longer than was scheduled. We also ate lunch quicker than the time she built in for us.
Our 2nd day we were picked up about 9:15, it was supposed to be 9:30 but since we all got off early and our guide and driver were already waiting for us. Anastasia met us in our van and we all paid her and left. We had to stop at a hotel for one family to exchange some dollars to rubles and then we stopped at the post office so we could get stamps and use the atm and then we arrived at the Hermitage and walked right in - no standing in line since she had booked us early entry. We checked our coats, used the restroom (which was an experience) and toured a couple of rooms before going to the Gold Treasures gallery for our timed entry of 11:00. We got there a few minutes early and the Hermitage guide took us in and we had the gallery all to ourselves for about 20 minutes. We were in there about 30 minutes. After leaving there we had lunch at Stoli Pie and then did the rest of our day, and added another shopping/bathroom stop. We were back to the ship about 4:00, about a half hour early. This was even after our driver getting stopped by the traffic police for supposedly running a red light. That took about 15 of him talking to the cop and convincing him to not give him a ticket since he didn't want to hold us up and risk not getting us back to the ship in time. The cop told him to just pay him about 500 rubles (roughly $20) and he could get us back to the port.

We had 6 adults and 6 kids, ages 14-20, and it was the perfect size group. There was no waiting on anyone and we all got along really well. Just formed the group on our meets thread over on cruisecritic. We even did a private boat tour with one of the families in Amsterdam.

Sorry my reply was so long.

 

[Caropooh]

I really think this should be mandatory!

Did you all notice that the article talked about smooshed bird bits!

 

[jilljill]

Caro, thanks for backing me up over there. I didn't want to tell him Beach Blanket/Topsiders isn't open the 1st and last night and the other nights it's not a buffet. So Mr. 4 Other Cruises has no clue what his options are. They went on a cruise last year so they know it's not a buffet at dinner or at least they should know.
You really ahve to read his comments on the Pub Master Jay thread about shoreside CM's in ressies and McAlpine's office that should be fired.

 

[Caropooh]

Caro, thanks for backing me up over there. I didn't want to tell him Beach Blanket/Topsiders isn't open the 1st and last night and the other nights it's not a buffet. So Mr. 4 Other Cruises has no clue what his options are. They went on a cruise last year so they know it's not a buffet at dinner or at least they should know.
You really ahve to read his comments on the Pub Master Jay thread about shoreside CM's in ressies and McAlpine's office that should be fired.

Not a problem! It's a sisterhood thing! I'll have to check out the other thread!