Cruise Review

Well, I promised I would do a write-up of the cruise, so here we go. I'm sure an exhaustive account would be a bit boring, so I'm just going to bring you the edited highlights.

Emma and Eve outside Bodiam Castle

Before setting sail, we spent a few days at my parents' house in Brighton. We took the kids to see Bodiam Castle, a very atmospheric place that I have fond memories of visiting as a nipper. It has an interesting history, never actually seeing conflict but more there to look impressive, and the interior was ruined in the English Civil War; however, it remains a superb example of a quadrangular (square-shaped) castle. The most fascinating parts, according to Eve (the three-year-old) were the garderobes: in other words, the toilets. Many of the rooms had these nifty ensuite facilities, which disposed of your business neatly into the moat below. Eve climbed giddily up the steps in each tower, looking for the next toilet. (Did you know garderobe means "keep clothes" in Old French? Yep, people kept what was usually their only outfit in the smallest room because the smell was the only thing that kept the moths away. Mmmm.)

So after this brief visit, we departed from Southampton. Only Emma and Heather disembarked at the first port of call, Amsterdam. (The two teenagers, Andrew and Hannah, stayed with their dad for this holiday.) Emma was thrilled to get a chance to see Anne Frank's secret annexe, having studied the diary in school. Apparently the place still retains a very emotional atmosphere.

Dragons in Tallinn Town Square

We then had two days at sea, with some very choppy conditions, before docking at Tallinn, Estonia. This is a very picturesque old city where we enjoyed a leisurely stroll up to the town square. The highlight of this day for Eve were the two dragons sticking their heads out of the old church. I took a close-up which you can see here.

Next was the undoubted high point of our voyage, a two-day sojourn in St Petersburg. I must admit to having been ignorant of some of the finer points of this fair city, such as the fact that it is crisscrossed by canals leading to it being dubbed the "Venice of the North", and the stunning Baroque architecture at every turn. We learnt a lot about its turbulent lifespan, from its inauguration by Peter the Great and the construction of its many elaborate palaces and churches, to the Soviet years when many of these were desecrated, to the subsequent downfall of the USSR, when St Petersburg started to enjoy a more relaxed European feel.

Gardens at Peterhof

Among the most interesting sights was the Hermitage, an art gallery and museum of gargantuan size, which contains the old Winter Palace of the Royal Family. It holds artworks by Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Picasso and Monet, among many others. We also enjoyed Peterhof, Peter's summer residence at the seaside, which features ornate gardens with gold-covered statues and over 150 fountains. It was definitely easy to imagine how the Revolution came about, as the ordinary peasants who couldn't afford a loaf of bread were none too pleased at the wealth and opulence enjoyed by the Tsars. Interestingly, the first Revolution came about in St Petersburg (then Petrograd) in February 1917, organised by members of parliament. It was not until October that Lenin's Bolsheviks seized command, beginning a hegemony that would ultimately come to be as resented as the royalty.

Two days later we arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark. This was only a brief stop with about four hours to spare, so we enjoyed a pleasant stroll around the harbour area, which has a peaceful quality. The main thing we wanted to see was the statue of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, which we found after about fifteen minutes. We had an interesting experience there. Now I'm not intending this story to be racist: I'll simply relate what happened, and I'm interested to know if anyone has seen anything similar.

The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen: Eve still
traumatised from Japanese tourist

There was a sizeable crowd around this attraction, all busily snapping away, so it took some time waiting for our turn to get a picture. A large group of Japanese tourists were taking pictures of each other in front of the Mermaid. They were smiling and waving at the kids: not an unusual occurrence. But then one man put his arms out and scooped Eve up, presumably, I thought, in order to pass her to me so Heather could take a picture (the statue is on top of a boulder at the waterside, and you have to negotiate some smaller rocks to get close to it). But no: he proceeded to pose with our child while all his friends took photographs, before handing her back to me. Now I've got no problem with people telling me she's cute (I mean, they're right, after all), but this seemed to me extremely weird and not something most people in the West would dream of, with the culture of paranoia over children that exists. But to these people it seemed to be perfectly normal. What do you think? Anyway, here is the picture that we finally managed to get.

After this we had another couple of days to get back to Southampton, passing through the same patch of choppy water as the week before, then we got on a plane back to Edinburgh. All in all an amazing holiday. It was our third cruise but I think the best one. The ship was just the right size (not big enough to get lost in), everyone was warm and friendly, we met other families (there weren't too many kids on the ship so it was great for the girls to make friends), and the food was superb with lots of variety. The kids' club was awesome with three sessions a day lasting almost three hours each (yeah, we were spoiled), and the pool might have been too cold for a dip, but we did enjoy the hot tub.

At the restaurant

Emma and Eve with Kids' Club staff

Enjoying a beer on the top deck

What was your last great holiday?

Stop press: The ladies at Thinking Through Our Fingers are hosting an amazing giveaway which is open until June 7th. A critique from four different writers - who wouldn't want to win that?

And don't forget you can still enter my giveaway until June 11th!