Sea Day, Viking Star 2018

Only one sea day on this cruise.  Time to rest up.  More psycho-tourism tomorrow!

Time to show off the ship a bit.  This is not a cruise you take to enjoy what's on the ship, although, there is plenty of things to keep you busy.  This ship is oriented toward exploring the ports.  It's somewhat smaller size and draft means it can go places other ships can't.  A good bit of the onboard activity is geared toward giving you information about the ports.  There is a daily port talk that describes the location and each shore excursion in detail.  There are on-board historians giving talks about the history of the region and relate TED talks on in the theater and on the room TVs if you want to know more.

That said, there is also the standard fare of lounges, music, shows, games, pools and hot tubs.  There just isn't enough time to do everything, so you have to choose wisely or you'll flame out by day 3.

The Viking Star is the first of their ocean cruise fleet. Launched in 2015.  Capacity is 900 passengers, 450 crew.  About 2/3 the length, width and height of a typical "panamax" cruise ship. Not very speedy - 20kts max.

There are no interior cabins

Breakfast in the buffet. (We're in Eidfjord, here).  A wide variety of excellent food every day, every meal.  And good "regular" coffee!

The forward lounge, upper level.  

The atrium had a large screen that rotated art work.  Not sure a dried stock fish staring at me is fun to look at.

Always nice to grab a seat and watch the ocean with a cup of coffee in the morning.

On the sea day, they put on a rather elaborate buffet around the pool for lunch

Seafood from the buffet departing Stockholm.

Pre-dinner appetizer from the buffet. This, the last day in Bergen.

Main dining room.  Had some fun meals with new friends there.

Nightcap!  A toasted almond.

We had a great time on the cruise.  The ship was spotlessly clean and well cared for.  Viking does a first rate job with everything.  They make everything easy. 

On to Berlin.  Berlin?

Tallinn, Estonia 2018

I'll admit.  I had heard of Estonia.  Knew it was a "Baltic Republic".  But, I had to look on a map to see exactly where it was.  Tallinn?  I had never heard of it.

Our day in port provided a good amount of time to check out the town.  The shore excursion "walking tour" provided a good orientation.  The old part of the town is split into "upper" and "lower" by elevation and class.  The two parts of the city even had separate sets of laws at one time.

The view from our cabin in port. You can see the upper and lower parts of the city.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Very Russian looking...because it is!

 Tallinn was often under the influence or rule of other countries, Sweden and Russia predominantly.  Now, with both Finland and Estonia being part of the EU, there are quite a few Estonians that commute by ferry to Helsinki each day to work.

Government building - Tallinn is the capital

St. Nicholas Lutheran's steeple

Not something you'd find at Target.

Medieval basement under gift shop leads to modern restroom

St. Olafs

Looking from the upper city to the lower

More stuff you won't find at Target

Street connecting upper and lower parts of the city

Main square in the old town

Like many cities with a medieval core, Tallinn counts on a lot of tourism.  However, unlike many places, the old part of the city has not gone completely tourists.  There is still a good residential component and the old city has convenience stores and markets as well as cafes, gift shops and restaurants.

We wandered out of the old town to a shopping area for lunch.  It's always good to get out of the tourist areas to see what else goes on in a city.

School kids in yellow safety vests being transported about on foot was a pretty common sight in many cities we visited

Defense.  A good city wall needs towers.

Tunnels under the city.  Used for a wide variety of purposes over the years.  Originally build for shuttling troops from one part of the wall to another, later in life it served as an air raid shelter.

...and in between, as a prison.

A display of old architectural details

 A tour of the old city towers and wall.

Old city gate.  Much of the wall and gate system was torn down as it became obsolete and the city grew.

Back to the ship.

Next up:  Sea day!