Northern Sights & Mickey's MAGICal Delights - 1st Baltic cruise - June 12,2010

[Hygiene99]

Last night I realized that we are going to be in St. Petersburg for the White Nights. I am so excited about the prospect of getting to see this.

White Nights

St. Petersburg's seasonal phenomenon the so-called "White Nights" are not unique to the city, but it is the world's only metropolis where such an event occurs every summer.

When?
Night's start becoming brighter in St. Petersburg from late May lasting through to late July, but the real "White Nights" generally last from June 11 to July 2.

Every year there are times during this period when St. Petersburg's centre is full of people of all ages throughout the night, enjoying social gatherings in the abundant of outside bars, watching street entertainers or simply strolling along the various canal and river embankments.

Around 2am spectators gather at the river Neva's embankment to watch the raising of the various drawbridges allowing huge barges and tankers access.

Why?
The nature of these "White Nights" is explained by the geographical location of St. Petersburg. It is the world's largest most northern city with a population of over 3 million inhabitants, and located 59 degrees 57' North (roughly on the same latitude as the southern tip of Greenland and Seward, Alaska).

Due to this high latitude the sun fails to dip under the horizon deep enough for the sky to get dark, and dusk eventually blends into dawn. The brightness of nights is such that artificial street lighting is not switched on.

White Nights form one of the many summer tourist attractions for St. Petersburg Russia, but there is also an attempt to attract tourists and visitors to St. Petersburg in winter, the so-called White Days - snow, snow and more snow!

 

[txSleepingBeauty]

I wonder how many times our plans are going to change in the next 18 months. Last night Steve asked if we could spend the time after the cruise in Normandy France, instead of London. I agreed with two concessions. First he had to agree to doing a UK trip in the next few years. We are hoping that ABD will expand to a tour of UK, including Scotland. Second he has to extend the stay from 3 nights to 4 nights and take me to Le Mont Saint Michel on my birthday (28th). I think we are going to have to rent a car for this one. Now to find a decent hotel in the Normandy area.

Normandy is beautiful, if there was any place in the world I could live it is there. Spent a weekend in Bayeux, saw the famous tapestry and all the battle sites. It was AMAZING

 

[hawkaye19]

Ooops, I should have asked Steve first. He says that Dieppe and Vimy Ridge are areas near Juno Beach that the Canadians liberated. Hope that is correct. Do you have any word on which tours are the best?

Actually Vimy Ridge (1917) was a WW1 battle where for the first time the Canadian Army fought as a whole, not broken up in other armies, and captured a ridge that the British and the French were unable to capture

Dieppe (1942) on the other hand was a WW2 battle, a recon in force, which turned out to be a disaster for the Canadians. An over zealous, stubborn Lord Mountbatten, a very poor plan by the British , very bad luck and a desire to show the Russians that the allies could open a second front.

We had our lunches handed to us by the Germans, so much so that in 1944 a Canadian General disobeyed a direct order from Montgomery not to liberate Dieppe, and did so. The Germans knew we were coming, and abandoned the town before we arrived

Sorry for the ramble, it is very dear to our hearts

There was a famous Bell Canada ad for long distance cell phone services that had a young backpacker standing on this stony beach, and calling his grandad back in Canada. The granddad kids him about being in France, asks where he is. The kid answers Dieppe, and the grandad is silent..then the kid says...just wanted to thank you for what you did back then....

one of the few ads that stays with you..

 

[mehaul]

There are 3 shows coming up in the nest 2 weeks pertaining to our cruise.
All 3 are on HDNET - Smart Travels with Rudy Maxa. He's pretty good. Not as perky as Samantha Brown (but who is), but has more energy than Rick Steves

Oct 31 HDNET 6:30 AM EST Smart Travels Europe
Stockholm, Sweden
Nov 1 HDNET 6:30 AM EST Smart Travels Europe
Oslo, Norway
Nov 5 HDNET 6:30 EST Smart Travels Europe
London (the episode contains 4 cities)

Lisa

PS I posted a new section on my web page that will list upcoming travel shows www.magicalbalticcruise.com
P.S.2 If you don't have HDNET this series is played intermittently on PBS, so I would "check your local listings"

 

[Pinky166]

A bit off topic but I know that quite a few of you are going to WDW for Mousefest. Are any of you going to the Podcast Dessert party?

I will be there and am so excited! I have yet to ride Toy Story Mania but will get to ride it over and over at the party!

 

[kittb]

Hi there!

Just thought I'd add our names to the list! We've just booked the cruise. It will be our second Disney Cruise as we went on the Med Cruise in June 2007. We couldn't miss this one as it departs from Dover which is just down the road from us!

Our party consists of myself, husband Dave and little boy Jack who will be 3 1/2 when we travel with the possibility of another little one in the mean time

Katherine

 

[granmaz]

A bit off topic but I know that quite a few of you are going to WDW for Mousefest. Are any of you going to the Podcast Dessert party?

I will be there and am so excited! I have yet to ride Toy Story Mania but will get to ride it over and over at the party!

We are there but not sure we will make the party as we haven't booked with DU. Mind you we have booked about3 resort bookings and 5 cruises with them, so we should!!! More so than those who rush to book a night with them who have never booked before just to be able to go. We have lots of other things planned, so it won't be devastating to not get there.

Hi there!

Just thought I'd add our names to the list! We've just booked the cruise. It will be our second Disney Cruise as we went on the Med Cruise in June 2007. We couldn't miss this one as it departs from Dover which is just down the road from us!

Our party consists of myself, husband Dave and little boy Jack who will be 3 1/2 when we travel with the possibility of another little one in the mean time

Katherine

Hi and welcome.

 

[Scott H]

I know I have missed several folks arriving here so welome to all.

Yesterday sat at the gate in the plane for three hours for a three 1/2 hour flight, Miant paperwork issue, so we got to WDW kinda late.

 

[Scott H]

Last night I realized that we are going to be in St. Petersburg for the White Nights. I am so excited about the prospect of getting to see this.

I had a dream last night that my DD and I were in a foreign airport and we got separated somehow and I was intensely afraid. I guess I am already stressing over the thought of flying with the kids overseas. I am going to have to get a direct flight and handcuff us all together. Just kidding about the handcuffs.

Duct Tape, don't leave hme without it.

Also last year Extream make over did a project in Cheyenne, jus down from our house, pretty neat, sounds like your folks are very worthy of the project.


White nights will be KEWL, experienced that situation in Alaska whilst on Denali.

Normandy , now ya have me thinking, so many options.

 

[EpcotKilterFan]

Hi there!

Just thought I'd add our names to the list! We've just booked the cruise. It will be our second Disney Cruise as we went on the Med Cruise in June 2007. We couldn't miss this one as it departs from Dover which is just down the road from us!

Our party consists of myself, husband Dave and little boy Jack who will be 3 1/2 when we travel with the possibility of another little one in the mean time

Katherine

Welcome!!

If you would like to be added to the roster can e-mail me at magicalbalticcruise@yahoo.com

You can include as much or as little information as you would like. You can also a include a photo at the e-mail address.

DIS board name
First Name - Relationship - and age or something close to the age ) for all of those in the cabin
Hometown
Stateroom number
Dining
You may include a photo if you would like

You can view the list by clicking on the link in my signature

 

[Claire L]

Dieppe is or was a pretty little place I went there quite a few times in the 80's on day trips as Newhaven the port where the ferry goes from in England is only 10 miles from me. There is a faster SeaCat now to get you across and that should be ideal for a trip to the Normandy beaches.

Ferries.

Claire

 

[gydell]

Hi there!

Just thought I'd add our names to the list! We've just booked the cruise. It will be our second Disney Cruise as we went on the Med Cruise in June 2007. We couldn't miss this one as it departs from Dover which is just down the road from us!

Our party consists of myself, husband Dave and little boy Jack who will be 3 1/2 when we travel with the possibility of another little one in the mean time

Katherine

Welcome!

 

[ClassicalCinderella]

Hi there!

Just thought I'd add our names to the list! We've just booked the cruise. It will be our second Disney Cruise as we went on the Med Cruise in June 2007. We couldn't miss this one as it departs from Dover which is just down the road from us!

Our party consists of myself, husband Dave and little boy Jack who will be 3 1/2 when we travel with the possibility of another little one in the mean time

Katherine

Welcome!

 

[eva]

Normandy is beautiful, if there was any place in the world I could live it is there. Spent a weekend in Bayeux, saw the famous tapestry and all the battle sites. It was AMAZING

Where did you stay in Bayeux? I've been looking around for a place in Bayeux. It seems that most of the major private tour companies leave from there. Steve really wants a 2-day private or semi-private tour with a true historian of the area and battles. To be honest, our tour guide better be an expert or Steve might as well do the tour. He has studied WWII and other European history for over 30 years. He plays those WWII board games until the middle of the night. Anyone have a suggestion for finding a company that would do tours like that?

 

[ClassicalCinderella]

By the way, what made everyone pick Finland over Estonia?

 

[eva]

Actually Vimy Ridge (1917) was a WW1 battle where for the first time the Canadian Army fought as a whole, not broken up in other armies, and captured a ridge that the British and the French were unable to capture

Dieppe (1942) on the other hand was a WW2 battle, a recon in force, which turned out to be a disaster for the Canadians. An over zealous, stubborn Lord Mountbatten, a very poor plan by the British , very bad luck and a desire to show the Russians that the allies could open a second front.

We had our lunches handed to us by the Germans, so much so that in 1944 a Canadian General disobeyed a direct order from Montgomery not to liberate Dieppe, and did so. The Germans knew we were coming, and abandoned the town before we arrived

Sorry for the ramble, it is very dear to our hearts

There was a famous Bell Canada ad for long distance cell phone services that had a young backpacker standing on this stony beach, and calling his grandad back in Canada. The granddad kids him about being in France, asks where he is. The kid answers Dieppe, and the grandad is silent..then the kid says...just wanted to thank you for what you did back then....

one of the few ads that stays with you..

Oh, you and Steve ought to get along famously. He said pretty much the same thing you have above. But to be honest, I wasn't paying too much attention. I know that he said something about one battle being in WWI not WWII. Then I started reading another thread. Glad he has another war buff on the ship that he can gab with. I do enjoy some of the movies he watches like the Longest Day, a Bridge Too Far, etc. But I am not really that interested in every aspect of WWII like he is. Years ago, when we lived in Germany we drove all over the place looking for war museums, cemeteries, battle fields, etc. As a matter of fact, he dragged our two young DD's and me on a 5 day trip of Operation Market Garden. It was neat going all the way up into Holland. But all we did was visit WWII sites.

Wow! I sure made Steve sound like a nerd.......Did I mention he is a computer geek too? I guess I haven't got much room to talk. I used to be a high school math teacher.

 

[Rogillio]

By the way, what made everyone pick Finland over Estonia?

We picked the maiden voyage...it just happened to be Finland.


So we're under 600 days now right? Still too early to pack?

~Mike

 

[Claire L]

By the way, what made everyone pick Finland over Estonia?

It was the date really that we wanted and were happy with Finland as then we have all the Scandinavian countries on the list

Claire

 

[eva]

By the way, what made everyone pick Finland over Estonia?

Well, we were debating on which one to go on, the 12th or the 24th. Then Karen (CustardTart) sent me a pm to see if we were considering one of the Baltic cruises and that they were going on the one on the 12th. So that solved that problem. Karen and I both celebrated our 25th anniversary cruise together last fall on a 7-day Western. And we had such a great time that we were very excited to be sharing a cruise with her and Richard again. It's funny, our anniversaries are only a couple weeks apart and our birthdays are only a few days apart too. And they are the same numbers. We both will turn 47 within a few days of each other in June 2010. It's great to have people you know to share a table with at dinner.

So I guess what I am saying is that the destination isn't what helped us make the decision.

 

[Claire L]

Hi there!

Just thought I'd add our names to the list! We've just booked the cruise. It will be our second Disney Cruise as we went on the Med Cruise in June 2007. We couldn't miss this one as it departs from Dover which is just down the road from us!

Our party consists of myself, husband Dave and little boy Jack who will be 3 1/2 when we travel with the possibility of another little one in the mean time

Katherine

hello, where in Kent are you?

Claire