Two very enjoyable days in St Petersburg. We visited Peterhof Palace and Fountain Park yesterday and today we had a cruise along the River Neva. My favourite place has to be the Hermitage though which we’d been to a few years ago. The weather was a bit chilly yesterday but gloriously sunny today. Now a day at sea before reaching Lithuania.

Visby is the capital of the Swedish island of Gotland. It’s a small medieval town with an enclosing wall, cobbled streets and old church ruins. Very pretty.

We docked in Gdynia, Poland this morning and took an hour drive to Gdansk. Although the original Old Town was largely destroyed during WWII it has since been lovingly restored.

The Main Town and the Ulica Dluga and the Long Market have many points of interest with 13th to 17th century historic buildings. It’s also where Lech Walesa co-founded solidarity.

At sea today. Sat on the terrace and enjoyed the sun – and fruit skewers and afternoon tea! Formal dinner tonight.

Visited here before so just doing our own thing. The Little Mermaid was on loan to Shanghai when we were here last so had to pay her a visit. Lots of walking today!

A day at sea yesterday and arrived at Skagen this morning. A nice little town at the most northerly tip of Denmark. Weather better than expected with a fair amount of sunshine. Had a walk around and stopped for a beer!

One of our shorter cruises coming up soon. The last time we were on a Baltic cruise we had a heatwave so hoping for good weather this time too.

It’s our last full day on board this ‘exotic voyage’ and tomorrow morning we will be disembarking and on our way home. Hopefully to recover from the coughs and colds that seem to have blighted (me mostly) for a very long time.

The sea has been amazingly calm over the last few days which compares most favourably with the majority of our sailing on this cruise. We’ve had highs and lows in various ways!

We’ve really enjoyed the many diverse places we have visited and feel privileged to have done so. We have made new friends and been lucky enough to meet up with friends from previous cruises and enjoyed their company greatly.

We’ve eaten far too much, mainly because our maitre’d likes to accommodate our tastes, (mine being anything with a creamy sauce!) and I think my liver definitely needs a detox.

We have more wonderful memories and many stories to tell.