It has been a while since I did a 'things I learnt on my cruise' blog, since the cruses we have done since 2013 have all been quite similar, but having been on a Baltic cruise this year, I have learnt some new things.
I hope you enjoy learning a bit about our travels this year:
1 It rains quite a lot in Stockholm - I realise I was only there for 1 day, but it rained a lot...all day. I'm sure it was a very pretty place but I didn't really get to appreciate it through the rain.
2 Cruise ship captains don't know much about illness - we were told one day that there was norovirus on the ship and a day later that it was gastroenteritis. On searching google I found that gastroenteritis in adults is usually caused by norovirus or food poisoning. Personally if I was in charge of a cruise ship I would prefer it to be the former!
3 St Petersburg has a lot of gold leaf. On buildings all over the city.
4 Russian tour guides are called things like Olga and Tatiana.
5 The port at St Petersburg closes if the winds are faster than 24 knots. I did worry at one stage that they would never let us leave, but they just kept us long enough to make sure that we missed visiting Tallinn.
6 Blankenberge is like Blackpool
7 Bruges (or Brugge) and Copenhagen are very pretty
8 The trains from Bruges to Blankenberge run once an hour and are much cheaper than getting a ship's tour - even if the train back makes you think you are on the wrong train and are going to get stranded miles from the ship and be late back.
9 You can buy Christmas decorations all year round in Russia and Scandinavia.
10 If you send postcards home from Oslo they get there in 2 days.
11 There is a MacDonald's, a Subway and a Hard Rock Cafe in every place that I go. Even in Russia!
12 Russians talk about 'the soviet era' as though they were invaded by another country
13 There are nasty insects in Russia that bite me and leave big itchy lumps (although to be fair it happens to me in most countries I visit)
14 Some people have far too much money (judging by the number of cruises they have been on and have already booked for the future)
15 You can get rubbish coffee in Norway as well as the UK. But it costs a lot more.
16 I can use my credit card abroad.
17 Three at home is great. Using my allowances abroad was a real treat. And so much easier than having to search for free wifi.
