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Day 2 St Petersburg

We were ashore at 10.15 am on Tuesday for the 2nd day in St Petersburg. Mira and the Mercedes driver were ready for us after we were released from the terminal by some rather sullen female immigration officers. 

I find that if you smile at people you can usually get them to smile back – but not these girls.
We had the usual high speed journey across town. I talked to Mira about the financial situation for someone like her in Russia. She mentioned the sanctions and how they were making life difficult. She did say that her husband had had to work without pay for 2 years in the recent past. He didn’t want to stop working because of the difficulty of finding another job in the future. She had to support the family on her low income during that time, but it seems that now he is being paid again.
 The Hermitage

The plan today was to explore more of the Hermitage. Mira decided to take us round the areas that had been renovated and reopened since we were last there. Massive beautiful rooms and galleries.

The Duke of Wellington

The throne room.
At that stage the Hermitage was not overcrowded, but as the morning wore on, it became busier.

This rather strange clock apparently told the time but I couldn’t work out how, and Mira’s explanation was lost in the translation.

 Another throne room!
We had tickets for the Gold Rooms at 11.45am. It meant moving out of the main building into the Little Hermitage. It did not have the same facilities such as lifts and we were almost immediately confronted by a long flight of steps. Although Jane dislikes being lifted in her chair there was no option and Mira was soon seeking out a “boy” to help. She found a number during the rest of our visit! Cameras were not allowed in the Gold Rooms, and although the exhibits were good they were not as impressive as I had imagined they would be.
When we left the Hermitage at about 1.30pm there was a massive queue of people waiting to get in. It must have been half a mile long. It was very cold and we felt very sorry for them. They appeared to be Russian tourists rather than foreigners, who tend to be encouraged to visit in the morning.
We then returned to the ship via an expensive souvenir shop. It had been a very successful day and if anyone wants to take a private tour in St Petersburg I can recommend Mira, a superb guide.

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Ships and the Spinettes

By the time we had returned to the ship from the Hermitage there were five other ships in the basin.

St Petersburg is clearly a very popular place for cruise ships. I can’t recall ever seeing that number in a European port at the same time (OK – P&O had all 7 of their ships in Southampton recently but that was different).

The Regal Princess
 The Costa Luminosa
 The MSC Orchestra
 The Aida Mar
 The Marco Polo
And of course to make up the half dozen, the finest ship of them all –
 The Queen Elizabeth
Wednesday was a sea day and the evenings entertainment was provided by the Spinettes. Three young ladies who sing 40s/50s/60s music. They were excellent. They had performed at the lunch launching the 175 celebrations on Queen Mary 2 in Southampton two weeks ago.

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Warnemunde

We had been to nearby Travemunde in the past. And we had been to Rostock before. In fact Cunard included my piece on Travemunde on the We Are Cunard site, and it is still there. It was one of the great days.

For some strange reason, it is not possible for a wheelchair to get directly from the ship to the centre of the town of Warnemunde. There is a railway line running between the two and the tunnel under the railway has numerous steps. Jane was talking to Corine, the German hostess on the ship, during the World Club party last night and when we got back to our cabin after the show we found a plan that she had downloaded from the internet explaining how we could get into town.
We had to walk past the Celebrity Silhouette moored astern of us and keep walking about a mile.

There was then an underpass which took us under the railway. The problem was that it was then another mile to get back into town

So a journey that would normally take 10 minutes took us 60, but so what! It was a pleasant walk through the residential part of the town. Elegant houses and lovely gardens.

Warnemunde is a seaside resort. Wonderful wide beaches and the estuary in which our ship was berthed had promenades on both sides. There were plenty of mime artists and one looked very playful.

There were multitudes of eateries and bars. We settled on a bar in the town square. Nearer the ship there were some interesting sand sculptures!
The Captain told us that there were likely to be thousands of spectators watching us leave and he was right.

Friday is a day at sea. I am taking a “Behind the Scenes” tour on the ship – something I have not done before. I will report on it shortly. Then on Saturday we are in Kirkwall which you will all know is in the Orkneys!

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Orkney


We left it to the Scots to organise the day on the Orkneys. In fact Stewart and Elizabeth Wilson

offered to sort out the day with the able assistance of their travel agent son, Jeremy, in Aberdeen. He booked a taxi that would take the four of us and the wheelchair.

Kirkwall is the capital of the Orkneys and we were tied up before 9.00am at what appeared to be a very new berth. The taxi was booked for 10.30am and as we went ashore Stewart said that he had seen the Craigies taxi waiting for us on the quay. But as we came down the gangway the taxi had gone. The presumption was that the driver had picked up the wrong passengers!
But all was resolved within minutes when Billy from Craigies arrived. He had been waiting in town for the appointed hour. Billy was born and bred in the Orkneys. He had worked in the fudge factory for 40 years, had been an auxiliary fireman for 36 years, was a trained carer and a member of Red Cross. He was a brilliant guide.

The major problem was that he had a very distinct Orkney variety of Scottish accent. Stewart and Elizabeth understood him, but Jane and I struggled! I was pleased to learn, at our first stop, that Billy was as cantankerous as me. He carefully parked, for Jane’s benefit, at a flat section, so that we could get Jane out and into her wheelchair. It so happened that he had stopped behind 2 large coaches.
The driver of one of the coaches told Billy he was not allowed to park there. That area was reserved for coaches, he said. Billy gave it to him with both barrels and after he had helped get Jane into her chair he was off to tell the authorities what he thought about these coach drivers who had come over from the mainland with their coaches to help with tours from the ship. He was still moaning about them  at the end of our tour.
Billy took us to Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar thought to have been constructed before 2000 BC. Both are part of the UNESCO Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site.

 and then on to Skara Brae with its well preserved Stone Age village and a short walk away, Skaill House.

Stone Age Village

  Skaill House

From there we drove across to Stromness. Billy lived there. Very narrow streets, and a wonderful, peaceful place, on the water’s edge.

Stromness is well worth a visit. 70 of the town’s buildings are listed buildings, nestled alongside the pretty harbour.

Our visit coincided with a folk festival, and a number of musicians, with guitars slung over their shoulders, were beginning to arrive in the town. But we had to move on.
Next was Scapa Flow and the Churchill Barricades. In both World Wars, Scapa Flow was considered to be a safe anchorage for Royal Navy warships. To the east of Scapa Flow, there were, until World War 2, four channels leading in to the naval anchorage. They were all blocked by sunken ships, and it was considered that attack from the east by sea was impossible. But in October 1939, on an exceptionally high tide, a German U-boat managed to get through and sank the battleship HMS Royal Oak with the loss of more than 800 lives.
 The sunken cargo ships still there.

  HMS Royal Oak

On learning of this, Churchill ordered the construction of stone and concrete barriers between the islands and those barriers are still there today with roads over the causeways linking the islands together.
Close to one of the barriers is the Italian Chapel.

This was built by Italian prisoners of war who had been captured in the North African campaign and sent to Orkney to help with the construction on the Churchill Barriers. It was constructed from two Nissen Huts. The Chapel gradually became a place of pilgrimage for people holidaying in Orkney.
Time was running out. Billy took us to Kirkwall but there was insufficient time for us to explore the Cathedral. He was in trouble with his taxi firm for spending 4 hours with us when they considered that he should have been back to deal with other duties after 3 hours!
We had a great day in Orkney and would recommend Billy and Craigies. Agree an hourly rate beforehand. With 4 of us, less than £10 per hour each was the rate. Very good value with a commentary throughout!
I forgot to mention that early in the tour we stood on cliffs looking towards the island of Hoy and could just spot the Old Man of Hoy. You can just pick it out in the second of these photos.

Now we move on to Liverpool and the 175 year anniversary of Cunard on Monday 25 May 2015.

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Liverpool – Cunard’s 175 year Celebration

You will no doubt have seen the TV coverage. It was a fantastic day. As we approached the entrance to the Mersey, we could see hundreds of people on the beaches. The tide was out and many of them had walked out on the wet sand to the water’s edge to get a closer view.
Queen Victoria had joined us before we reached the mouth of the Mersey and followed us. She stayed about a mile behind in the early stages, but gradually moved closer.
As we began to sail into the river, it became clear that the predicted crowds of between one and two million were there. Massive crowds were amassing on both the Birkenhead and the Liverpool sides.

We could see Queen Mary in the distance. She had been on the berth overnight and had cast her lines at about 10.45am and set off towards us. The 3 Queens met and then sailed south in formation.
There then followed a turn of 180 degrees by all three Queens, so that we were all facing north.

And then, the 3 Captains manoeuvred the ships into an arrowhead formation with QM2 in the middle, QE on her starboard side and QV to port.

 We seemed to be very close together.
You will appreciate that I have had to “borrow” one or two photos from Cunard to show all 3 ships together.
During these manoeuvres at 1.50pm the Red Arrows graced us with their presence. Most of us were not quick enough with our cameras. We had expected them to come up or down the river. In fact they came across it from the Birkenhead side. The professional photographers saved the day!

A passenger reminding us where we were. There were a number of Liverpudlians on the ship, but they were outnumbered by the 646 Aussies who were aboard.
At about 2.15pm QM2 left the party and headed for Southampton. QE moored on the berth and QV anchored in the Mersey about a mile from us.

 You can see the vast crowds in the vicinity of the Three Graces. The old Cunard building had the Cunard flag and the 175 flags flying on the roof.
Before we went ashore we were treated to a display by Spider-Man hoisted above the river on plumes of water.
 
Jane and I ventured out to the Albert Dock area where every building appeared to be a restaurant or a bar – all packed with people. Some imitation Cunard bellboys were to be found outside the old Cunard building.
In the evening, at 10.30pm, there was a firework display which was launched from a barge between us and QV.
And then, to round off the day, we were entertained by a tribute band – The Cheatles – in the Royal Court Theatre. And very good they were too. Particularly “Paul”.
Queen Elizabeth left the berth once the fireworks had finished, and set sail for Southampton. Queen Victoria then moved across to the berth and stayed overnight in Liverpool. She was due to arrive in Southampton the day after QM2 and QE.

A fantastic day that Cunard will be very proud to have organised. The Liverpool authorities announced that it was the largest ever event to have taken place in Liverpool.

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