August 9-16, 2018: The Northern European Cruise is MAGIC! (Completed!)

[Geomom]

Friday 8/10/18: DCL Day 2: at sea—"I’m all a muddle.” Navigators!

 

[cadien]

We were on the Magic in April and enjoyed all our meals, but I'm really loving the sound of all those regional inspirations too!

 

[Geomom]

We were on the Magic in April and enjoyed all our meals, but I'm really loving the sound of all those regional inspirations too!

We enjoyed having those options! We also had regional inspirations on our Alaskan cruise on the Wonder in 2016! In looking at some Mediterranean trip reports, it didn't look like the Magic had any regional inspirations on the menu...so I was happy to get them on ours!

 

[Geomom]

Saturday 8/11/18: DCL day 3: Tallinn, Estonia—“A Fairy Tale come true!” Part 1:





Today would be our first DCL excursion, with an 11:30AM meeting time in Fathoms…which meant everyone could sleep in, and DH and I could go to Lumiere’s for a sit-down breakfast!

We both had pastries and coffee to start with, then DH had the Eggs Benedict,



and I had the Vegetarian Omelet


and fruit with yogurt:



We took some pics from deck 4 as we were docking.



The 'new' city to the left and the 'old' town to the right...I loved the juxtaposition of old and new here!



We made sure the kids got up/dressed/and ate before our meeting time in Fathoms. For ALL the Northern European ports, we were asked to have our key to the world cards AND our passports. I had a small backpack with the kids’ reusable water bottles, and a first aid kit—and we all wore our hiking shoes (good footwear is a must in these ports with all the cobblestones!).

 

[Geomom]

Saturday 8/11/18: DCL day 3: Tallinn, Estonia—“A Fairy Tale come true!” Part 2:

DD18 chose today’s port adventure, (TA15) Marzipan Workshop ($129/adult). We would get a tour of old town, a 90 minute Marzipan class with a snack, and some shopping time. Kaia was our very knowledgeable and pleasant guide! We first drove to the outside of upper town, saw the wall and Parliament building.




Then we drove down to the lower town, where we would have our walking tour. Despite the many churches in old town, Estonia is very secular, only about 30% of the population practices any religion. We found old town to be very beautiful—straight out of a fairy tale—you could picture this as Rapunzel’s kingdom. (The fact that it is all pedestrianized helps with that feeling!)







We eventually made our way to town hall square.

 

[Geomom]

Saturday 8/11/18: DCL day 3: Tallinn, Estonia—“A Fairy Tale come true!” Part 3:

The Kalev candy shop.



Our marzipan workshop was upstairs. They had small tables set with marzipan figures (house-made marzipan, shapes formed in antique molds), cups of water, paintbrushes, and food-grade paint. We had a great time painting our marzipan figures.



DD18 got the ‘bunny-squirrel’, DD14: the cat,



DH the bear, and I got the rooster.



They gave us boxes to put them in, and told us to keep them ‘cool’. Then we moved into the next set of rooms which had a dessert and coffee/tea. I think it was something like a pannacotta bar with a passionfruit gelee on top. It was yummy!







You could hear a local violinist on the street level. The view out the window next to our table:



Marzipan display in the shop:



Once we were done, we had free time for shopping and then could either meet up with our guide at 2:30PM or take the ship’s shuttle back to port. We made sure to have our guide mark the map with the shuttle location (just in case), then started our shopping with the guide’s recommendation—the grocery store “Rimi”. I found some packaged Kalev candy bar assortment packs, so we got the 2 assortments and a marzipan pack. (Note: we opened them upon returning home…the 7 flavor pack has lots of rum based ones…and the rum jelly one tastes like soap (“Castle” reference…’tastes like soap, I like it!’)/ the 4 flavor pack with the bears on it was more ‘child-friendly’.) We also got some Kinder eggs to enjoy on the ship (since we can’t get ‘real’ ones at home), a Tallinn magnet, and a couple of water bottles for DH and I. (When I went to open 1, I discovered it was carbonated water…which was fine, just a surprise when I heard the bottle go fizz upon opening it!) Next, we went into a woolen goods store. DD18 is starting college this fall—and the school mascot is a red fox…what did they find—a red fox hat…and DD14 loves purple cats—yes, there was a purple cat hat! I got a pair of warm mittens. We finished our shopping in time to rejoin our guide. She told us more about old town on the way to the bus, so we were glad we met up with her! During our tour, DD18 had a conversation with Kaia about the Estonian language. DD18 took 5 yrs of German, and wanted to know what sound the various letters with umlauts made as there was more than in German. After demonstrating the sounds, she went on to say that there is no economic reason to learn Estonian—the only people who learn the language are either ‘language geeks’, or someone in love with an Estonian. We really loved this tour—it was great to have an interactive component with the Marzipan class—and having food included in an excursion is key to keeping my kids happy!


Once we got back to port (you could enter on either deck 1 forward or aft…long wait for the forward…and with our room aft, it was a no-brainer!) Disney had fruit-infused water outside the ship to enjoy before getting on. Once back on the ship, we dumped our bags, and told the kids we were going to the shops right at the port—they could do whatever they wanted…as long as they stayed on the ship! There were lots of artisan kiosks at the port, so we bought an Estonian glass pendant for DD14, glass earrings for DD18, an ornament, a juniper wood stir-fry spatula, DH got himself a shirt, and I got a pair of leather gloves with fleece lining—perfect for driving when we have frigid winter days. I tasted some local liquors in the permanent shop building, and then we bought some mustard and candy there. When we finished shopping, there was a long line to go through the passport area…oops, we shopped too long! I think the kids were starting to worry that we’d miss the ship…all aboard was at 5PM…but we weren’t ‘that’ late! As a family, we decided to play Bingo again at 5PM. While it was fun to play (B11, B, B11), we had no luck this time! We decided to ‘quit while we’re still ahead!’ $160 to play 2 days, meant that we were still ahead by $413…enough to splurge and buy a nice Matryoshka doll in Sea Treasures later this cruise, if we don’t pick anything up in Russia.

 

[Geomom]

Saturday 8/11/18: DCL day 3: Tallinn, Estonia—“A Fairy Tale come true!” Part 4:

Tonight’s dinner was in Animator’s Palate, the ‘Drawn to Magic’ show where the room goes from black and white to all color (and Sorcerer Mickey arrives!) It was actually our first time fully experiencing the show as the power went out on the Wonder right in the middle of it on our last cruise!





I had the Blueberrilicious (which needed more blueberries),



Appetizers:

I had the Jarlsberg Cheese and Carrot Souffle,



and the Spinach Leaves,



DH had Smoked Salmon Tartare



And Split Green Pea Soup



DD18 had Creamy Butternut Squash Soup



DD14 had a kids’ salad

 

[Geomom]

Saturday 8/11/18: DCL day 3: Tallinn, Estonia—“A Fairy Tale come true!” Part 5:

Entrees:

I had Ginger Teriyaki Dusted Angus Beef Tenderloin,



DH had the Grilled Tuna Steak,



DD18 and DD14 had the Lemon Thyme Marinated All Natural Chicken Breast



DD14 was cutting her chicken and accidently flung a vegetable right in between her glass of water and lemonade. She thought it was too funny—so I know she’d want me to include it here!



Desserts:

I had the Warm Sticky Date Pudding.



DH had the Deconstructed Carrot Cake



and Crunchy Walnut Cake.



DD18 had the Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake,



and the Cookies and Cream Sundae.



DD14 had Blueberry Crumble Tart.

 

[Geomom]

Saturday 8/11/18: DCL day 3: Tallinn, Estonia—“A Fairy Tale come true!” Part 6:

After dinner, we headed to O’Gills to see the Snuggly Duckling Takeover. We arrived too late to play THUGO, but we took some pics, and the girls received temporary tattoos on our way out!











We went to see “Tangled”. We really loved the show. All the actors/actresses were great—but there were 2 standouts for us. The actress playing Mother Gothel had an amazing voice—she and Flynn sounded exactly like the movie.



When the show ended, we walked out onto deck 4 to see an amazing sunset! (And other ships ‘chasing’ us!).





Then DH and I gathered snacks for the room, per usual! We tried to have an earlier night as tomorrow was an early day in Russia! We put the breakfast room service form out on the door, set an alarm, and went to bed.

Tonight’s towel animal: Elephant!

 

[Geomom]

Sunday 8/12/18: DCL day 4: St Petersburg, Russia: “Use Your Elbows!” Part 1



Today we're doing a DCL Port Adventure: Catherine’s Palace and Hermitage Museum (SP11) $192. When we got our port adventure tix on day 1, there was a letter saying our meeting time had changed from 7:45AM to 6:45AM to make sure we would all be able to get through Passport Control in a timely fashion. Ug! So, we had selected 5:30-6AM as our room service time…he came by 5:40AM, all apologetic for waking us up—we apologized to him—lol, he was our wake-up call! Once we took the food covers off, DH said I didn’t order enough. When we did it in Alaska, we got more than we asked for…apparently not this time! I ordered 2 croissant, 1 ‘assortment of muffins’ (apparently it is an assortment of 1), 1 danish, 2 fruit bowls, 2 cereal boxes, 2 coffee, 2 chocolate milk…that’s what we got…since I didn’t pick plain milk for the cereal…we just had chocolate…ooops! But, it was fine…no one was that hungry at 6AM. I really just wanted the coffee to wake me up, and the carafe had enough for us both to have 2 cups. We made it to the Walt Disney Theater right at 6:45AM…where we waited for Russia to let us leave the ship. Jay started telling stories to entertain us all, so that was fun. He told us multiple times that only factory sealed snacks are allowed off the ship. No fruit, no coffee cups. Any water bottle—your own or sealed IS allowed off—which I was happy to hear as I had the kids’ Camelbaks in my backpack and the 2 water bottles from Tallinn (1 refilled with ship water). Finally we were allowed off the ship and to passport control—going through 1 person at a time. You needed your port adventure ticket—that was your tourist Visa. They give you a paper receipt that you need to give them upon returning to port. Now the funny part…3 of us only have 1 stamp in our passports from entering Copenhagen, on the first ‘visa’ page, DD18 has 3 stamps—all on 1 page. Our Russian passport control officer flipped through the book, towards the end…and stamped one of the Alaska pages, the one with the bear. He did that for all 4 of us. Once we finally made it through, we went to the bus with ‘our’ number. Our guide was Maria. She really was wonderful and refreshingly honest about her country. She gave us receivers/earbuds so we would be able to hear her in the museums. Unfortunately, we had ‘typical’ St. Petersburg weather…rain. Maria said,“Californians visit St. Petersburg and ask why no one smiles…if you got only 66 days of sunshine in a year, would you smile?” But, this summer had been atypical, lots of sunshine…goes along with the hot summer Europe had this year. Anyway…WE got the typical weather…it was a high of 66 and light rain today. And unfortunately, I left the raincoats on the ship…apparently my glimpse out the porthole at 6:15AM did not make me realize it was rainy today and Disney’s forecast said ‘partly cloudy’! Oops! My kids at least had hooded sweatshirts as they were cold in the morning…DH and I did not. Maria did have an extra umbrella that she let us borrow when we were outside. (Note that it did clear up in the afternoon.) Maria told us if we needed a restroom during the trip, to use them at the museums/palaces and restaurant. She also told us to leave our backpacks safely on the locked bus when we were in the museums, to try to limit the possibility of theft—especially at the crowded Hermitage. We immediately drove out of St. Petersburg to Pushkin to go to Catherine’s Palace, with Maria telling us about Russian history along the way.

2018 World Cup Soccer Stadium in St. Petersburg:



Catherine’s Palace

 

[Geomom]

Sunday 8/12/18: DCL day 4: St Petersburg, Russia: “Use Your Elbows!” Part 2

After a short wait, Maria got our tickets to Catherine’s Palace and after a quick restroom stop, she took us on a tour. The Palace has been restored by the communists…she said it was likely that Russia had bombed it to prevent the Nazis from taking it over as they actually never made it that far. We were allowed to take pics in all but the Amber room…which really was indescribably beautiful!









The porcelain tiles in the corners are actually the heating system (coals?) accessed from behind the wall.



In the formal dining room, there is a trap door to bring the table down to the kitchens—it gets filled up with the food, so that the guests would never see the servants. Maria also mentioned that they would have ‘mixed’ china during dinners vs. their ‘good’ set…so that nothing would get stolen.









The only original flooring in Catherine’s Palace was in the servant’s ‘staging’ area.



We found Catherine’s Palace to be amazing—especially that it has all been recreated, to every last detail. The floors, walls, ceilings, furniture, paintings, all the gilding, etc. The amount of work that went into it…is mindboggling.

 

[Geomom]

Sunday 8/12/18: DCL day 4: St Petersburg, Russia: “Use Your Elbows!” Part 3

Next, we walked through the gardens to the hermitage at Catherine’s Palace…because as Maria said, there just isn’t enough privacy in a 300 room palace!







The mosque-like building is actually a ‘bathhouse’…that was the popular style back then!



We went inside the hermitage building to listen to the Anthem Ensemble…and DH bought the CD package. They sounded incredible and the acoustics within the dome were amazing.





Then, we took the bus back to St. Petersburg. We had extra time before lunch—very little traffic on a Sunday, so Maria gave us a bus tour of the area. The streets around Spilled Blood Cathedral were closed off, so we couldn’t get close enough to take pics there. We saw many brides taking pics outside! (I loved Maria’s dry humor…”as you can see that bride is wearing pink…so this is not her first wedding…it may be her second…or her sixth.”) Also, there was some type of paddleboard contest on one of the rivers/canals—lots of people in costumes, with dogs, etc. It was just something you don’t even associate with Russia—so it was nice to see that.

Fontanka River with Trinity Cathedral in the distance.



We stopped to take pics in St. Isaacs Square.

Nicholas I Monument



Cathedral of St. Isaac



Peter and Paul Fortress on the Neva River

 

[Geomom]

Sunday 8/12/18: DCL day 4: St Petersburg, Russia: “Use Your Elbows!” Part 4

Finally, time for lunch. (When we got home, I looked up restaurants on TripAdvisor—there is a very unusual painting on the ceiling—which I saw in pics of Troika.)





Everyone got a Russian bottled water…and unless you asked for juice, you would also get a glass of sparkling wine, and a shot of vodka. Everyone in my family smelled the vodka…smelled like rubbing alcohol. I tasted it…tasted like rubbing alcohol, lol. I did like the sparkling wine, at least while it was still cold! During our meal 2 musicians went around the tables and also played on the stage.



We started with a salad,



And bread.



Then potato pancakes with salmon roe/dill/cream sauce.



Then some type of creamed green vegetable soup…not sure if it was fresh peas or something else!



Then chicken with gravy and potatoes.



Then espresso, (note the still full shot of vodka to the left of my coffee…)



and dessert was ice cream with strawberry sauce.



We used the restroom here…which was downstairs. When I went down, it was very dark, and a woman on one of the other tour buses had missed the last step—not seeing it, and had fallen. She was a bit shaken, and probably bruised, but otherwise okay. By the time I left the restroom, the staff had put some ‘tap’ lights on the steps so people could find their way. After that excitement, it was time to go back to the bus and head to the Hermitage.

 

[FSU Girl]

Just read through everything. It seems like an amazing trip. I've always wanted to go to Russia. Did you find the process with going through their border check stressful? I would definitely book a ship excursion if I went. Catherine's palace is beautiful, it resembles Versailles so closely it's amazing.

 

[Geomom]

Just read through everything. It seems like an amazing trip. I've always wanted to go to Russia. Did you find the process with going through their border check stressful? I would definitely book a ship excursion if I went. Catherine's palace is beautiful, it resembles Versailles so closely it's amazing.

Thanks! It was a fantastic vacation! My whole family was worried about border check, but it was very easy, and was nothing to worry about...as long as you had your excursion ticket and passport (and made sure you kept that paper receipt to be let back onto the ship!) The immigration building we went through was just for our ship...so it was just the other couple hundred people leaving on Disney excursions at the same time...still took a while to get through...especially as they were just opening up when they let us off the ship, but not as bad as we feared. Yes, from what I read, Catherine's Palace was meant to rival Versailles in scale/design. Russia was the 1 location that we were definitely doing a Disney excursion. If your cruise is in June/July/August, I would suggest Catherine's Palace combined with something other than the Hermitage. A summer afternoon at the Hermitage is far too crowded to see anything and was really not at all enjoyable. (That will be the next part of my report...)

 

[Hubie]

Hi,

We must have seen each other and didn't recognize each other! We were in Rapunzel's 3 nights and sat at Table 40, which you would have to pass to get to your table if you had the early dinner schedule. In fact, I took this picture while standing right in front of your table!



I was thinking about writing a trip report, but not sure now that you are doing one. Your pictures are great and cover lots of what we did in CPH last year and the year before. We did get out to Hillerod this year to the tour the Frederiksborg Slot (Castle) and to Roskilde to see the Viking museum and the Roskilde Cathedral where all of the past Kings, Queens, and other famous Danes are entombed. Both were wonderful places to see and very easy to get to via train. I see your Russian meal was much different than ours was last year. This year we did the boat tour to the Church on the Spilled Blood. It's the most beautiful church I've been in. In fact, I now feel that St. Petersburg is even more spectacular than Venice.

 

[Geomom]

Hi, We must have seen each other and didn't recognize each other! We were in Rapunzel's 3 nights and sat at Table 40, which you would have to pass to get to your table if you had the early dinner schedule. In fact, I took this picture while standing right in front of your table!

I was thinking about writing a trip report, but not sure now that you are doing one. Your pictures are great and cover lots of what we did in CPH last year and the year before. We did get out to Hillerod this year to the tour the Frederiksborg Slot (Castle) and to Roskilde to see the Viking museum and the Roskilde Cathedral where all of the past Kings, Queens, and other famous Danes are entombed. Both were wonderful places to see and very easy to get to via train. I see your Russian meal was much different than ours was last year. This year we did the boat tour to the Church on the Spilled Blood. It's the most beautiful church I've been in. In fact, I now feel that St. Petersburg is even more spectacular than Venice.

Thanks!

Lol, that is too funny! Yep, you are in front of our table, and we had early dining! I kept wondering if we were on any of the same excursions, etc...but I am horrible at trying to figure out who someone is, especially if I've only seen their pic a few times online. (And even if I just happen to be at the same event as someone I know...'they' find me first.)

Yes, you should still do a trip report! Everyone has a different story to tell, even on the same trip--plus it sounds like you did some different excursions. If we do a cruise out of Copenhagen again, I'd like to venture off by train...west to Roskilde and on another day go North to 'Hamlet's Castle.' There wasn't enough time to explore Copenhagen properly AND take a 40 minute train trip somewhere.

 

[cadien]

If we do a cruise out of Copenhagen again, I'd like to venture off by train...west to Roskilde and on another day go North to 'Hamlet's Castle.' There wasn't enough time to explore Copenhagen properly AND take a 40 minute train trip somewhere.

I've been there! It's beautiful. Holger the Dane was the most memorable part for me.

 

[Hubie]

Yea, I'm the same way. My DW just shakes her head every time I have to ask her who someone is. It takes me forever to remember names especially. Must be from studying all those rocks. Now they're in my head! I'll likely do a trip report as we've now spent several days in CPH over the last 3 years, and find something new to see and do every year.

 

[Geomom]

Sunday 8/12/18: DCL day 4: St Petersburg, Russia: “Use Your Elbows!” Part 5

DD14 and DD18 in front of a concert poster in Russian—proof that they were in Russia!



We took some pics in Palace Square.
Winter Palace (Hermitage) to the left, Alexander Column to the right.



General Staff Building to the right of the Alexander Column.



Then our tour group went to get in the long long line to enter the museum. Maria left us in the line to see about getting our tix and see if we actually needed to be IN the line. (The answer was yes, and they were having printing issues…hopefully our tix would be printed by the time we got to the entrance.) There were many people trying to sell us stuff here—army surplus, etc. And some living statues (another surprise to me as I wasn’t expecting such whimsy.)



We eventually made it INTO the museum…and the MASS of humanity!



Maria said the museum is closed on Mondays…so Sunday is busier…and with it being summer…they get 25,000 visitors a day…it felt like they were ALL there at the same time as us! Yikes! At the top of the staircase there was a double door…only 1 of the doors was open…with people trying to go in AND out that one door at the same time! “Use your elbows!” is what Maria told us! Needless to say…with those crowds, we did not find the Hermitage very enjoyable. DH and I took a lot of floor and ceiling pics, to avoid taking pics of lots and lots of people. (While the Hermitage is now an art museum…it “was” the 1000 room Winter Palace…so you still have all the gilding, plaster details, painted ceilings, wooden floor designs, etc…so the floors and ceilings are interesting to us in their own right!.)