FUN-photos: Northern Europe, Baltic & Arctic – Summer 2014 – Movie Trailer
September 12, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-photos: Northern Europe, Baltic & Arctic – Summer 2014 – Movie Trailer
The editing of the video that we shot has begun. Here’s a little snippet. Enjoy!
FUN-photos: A&K Arctic Expedition
September 11, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-photos: A&K Arctic Expedition
On August 6th we flew from Amsterdam to Oslo. Our A&K trip started on the 7th with a city walking tour and a cocktail reception at the Polar Ship Fram Museum. It houses the original arctic expedition ship and considered the world´s strongest wooden ship. On June 24th 1893 the Fram set out on her first expedition to reach the North Pole. The expedition ended in 1896 and in 1898 the 2nd expedition sailed to survey northern Greenland and to explore and survey the unknown northeastern coast. They were supposed to return in 1901 but were surrounded by ice that never melted and finally returned in September 1902. The Fram made 2 remarkable pioneering expeditions.
We boarded Le Boreal in Longyearbyen, Svalbard and spent the first 4 days on excursions cruising around the archipelago in search of polar bears and wild life. And we got lucky! We found a mother and her cub on 2 different days. From there we cruised to Greenland spending 3 days of excursions and landings and ended in Iceland for 2 day stops touring on land before disembarking in Reykjavik.
Then we spent 4 days in Reykjavik which included taking the Golden Circle tour and dipping in the world famous Blue Lagoon. The Golden Circle is a 300 km loop that covers three main attractions; Pingvellir National Park, the waterfall Gullfoss (Golden Falls) & the erupting geyser Strokkur. And lucky for us we got out of Reykjavik just before the Bardarbunga volcano erupted! We ended in London where we spent our last full day at the Tower of London.
This trip lasted 57 days and included 12 countries, 11 zodiac excursions, 7 airline flights, 3 cruises and 2 car rentals covering 1330 miles. We are so glad to be home, and in our opinion, the best place in the whole world!
FUN-photos: Princess Baltic Sea Cruise
September 9, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-photos: Princess Baltic Sea Cruise
On Sunday July 20th we boarded a shuttle from the Berlin Airport to the port of Warnemünde. Our 11 day cruise was on their newest ship the Royal Princess with stops in Tallinn, Estonia; St. Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland; Copenhagen, Denmark; Nynäshamn, Sweden; Aarhus, Denmark; Oslo, Norway & back to Warnemünde on July 31st.
We would never take a ship this big but they were the only option based on our time schedule and location in Europe. We also wouldn’t have gone back to St. Petersburg after already spending 4 nights there. We did go to the Peterhof Palace & Gardens which was really spectacular and had the best crowd control of all of the places we visited there. I would recommend not going in the peak summer season as the crowds were dreadful!
FUN-photos: Driving Germany, Poland & the Netherlands
September 3, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-photos: Driving Germany, Poland & the Netherlands
We landed at the Berlin Airport in the late afternoon of July 15th and spent the night at the Mercure Airport hotel so we could get a car first thing in the morning. Our stops included Kraków, Auschwitz and Wroclaw, Poland before returning to spend time in Berlin. Then late on July 20th we headed to Warnemünde, Germany to board our 11 day Baltic Sea Cruise on Princess.
We returned to the same port on the morning of July 31st where we picked up another car. Our stops included Bremen & Cologne, Germany before dropping the car in Amsterdam where we stayed until August 6th. The highlight was having Cinzia (Chris’ sister) & Fabio from Trieste, Italy join us in Amsterdam!
FUN-photos: Uniworld Russian River Cruise
September 2, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-photos: Uniworld Russian River Cruise
We arrived in Moscow very early on the morning of Thursday, July 3rd for our 13 day river cruise. We spent 3 days touring Moscow and set sail on the evening of Sunday, July 6th. We cruised the Moscow Canal, Volga River, Lake Rybinsk, Lake Onega, Svir River & Lake Ladoga. Our stops included Uglich, Yaroslav, Goritsy & Kirillov, Kizhi Island, Mandrogi and ended in St. Petersburg for 4 nights. We disembarked the morning of July 15th and flew to Berlin, Germany. Little did we know that was the same day the Malasian Airliner was shot down over Ukraine.
If you click on the first picture it will allow you to create a slide show. Enjoy!