Part 2 of cruise review to the Baltic on the Celebrity Millennium.
Later that night we had another unique "cruising" experience. That is, we sat out on the aft deck of the Millenniumin relatively mild air at midnight, watching the remains of a "white nights" sunset, and enjoying some pepperoni pizza, right here in Russia. What a scene!
On our second day in Russia, we took a tour to a restored imperial palace called Pavlovsk, located far out in the countryside. It involved a 1-hour ride in each direction. It was OK, but the only reason we chose to go there is that we had visited the other attractions on our prior visit.
My wife and I have a melancholy pang in the heart each time we've been to Russia, wishing well for these "ordinary" people who are having such a tough time getting by.
Tallinn:
Tallinn, the capital of the small Baltic republic of Estonia, is a great place to visit for a few hours. If someone set out to build a theme park in Orlando called Medieval Times, they could simply make a duplicate of Tallinn. Except this is no theme park; it's the real thing.
The city lies due south of Helsinki, only 53 miles away across the Baltic Sea. Estonia has been an occupied country for many years, most recently annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 at the beginning of World War , and then occupied by the Nazis during the war.
Right after the breakup of the Soviet Union 10 years ago, Estonia became an independent nation along with the neighboring Baltic states of Lithuania and Latvia. Compared to some other countries in the former Communist bloc (such as Poland), the country has come a long way since then.
It is not a thriving city in the sense that Helsinki seems to be, but it is a much tidier place to the eye than St. Petersburg.
Celebrity provides a free shuttle into town, not much more than a mile away. The shuttle drops passengers at the large modern Hotel Viru found at the edge of the Old Town. In the hotel, money can be exchanged. (It cannot be done aboard ship.) Dollars are not widely accepted in Tallinn for purchases, but charge cards are welcome in most shops and restaurants.
It is possible to "do" Tallinn in 2-3 hours. Although we didn't dine there, we saw a number of cafes that looked inviting.
In the two years since we were here last, it seemed to us that there has been a lot of refurbishment in the old town. There are still some parts of it "under construction", but mostly it is really nice and well done.
We sailed away from Tallin, looking forward with some anticipation to our upcoming and unwinding day at sea.
Gdinya and Gdansk:
These two cities are located about 15 miles apart on the northern Baltic coast of Poland. The Millenniumtied up in Gdinya, a commercial seaport town. Free shuttle service into downtown Gdinya is provided by Celebrity, just a 10 minute ride away.
Gdansk (formerly known as Danzig) is a much larger city and has much more to offer. Gdansk is a 45 minute $30 taxi ride from the ship. There is really just a single shore excursion offered, a city tour of Gdansk. We heard that 40 buses were needed to haul all the Millenniumpassengers who signed up for the tour into town. Since the ship was to sail early at 3 PM, we opted for the excursion as the best way of getting it done.
Gdansk is historically well known as the home of former president and Nobel prizewinner Lech Walesa, as well as the birthplace of the Solidarity movement in the local shipbuilding facility. This labor action led by Walesa proved to be the undoing of Communism in Poland and eventually led to the collapse of the Communist governments in other countries in the Soviet bloc.
Gdansk was leveled by Allied bombing during World War . Thus, everything historical that you see has to be viewed in the context that it has all been tediously reconstructed brick-by-brick in the intervening years. The city as well as the surrounding area appears to be very modern, clean and tidy, and begs comparison once again to what we saw in Russia a couple of days previously.
There are many churches and historically recreated public buildings that we viewed, but only from the outside. We abandoned the tour when we got to the city, more interested in the shopping.
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