WARNEMUNDE GERMANY 30TH JUNE MIKE’S BIRTHDAY TEXT ONLY

It’s raining but we have nothing planned today so it doesn’t matter. Most people are going to Berlin a 2 1/2 hour train ride each way – no thanks. Apart from which we are both really struggling with this coughing virus – it is really bad and we are both now on antibiotics and I’ve been on steroids since we left home but nothing is touching it. I was walking the deck at 3 :11 this morning trying to get some air and find a hot cup of tea. It is really bad during the night – neither of us can lay down and we just cough in unison. It’s pretty bad on the coach trips too – lots of dirty looks from other passengers. My biggest disappointment is that I have had to cancel a trip to the ballet in St. Petersburg on Sunday to see Swan Lake. A once in a lifetime event but I can ‘t go and cough all the way through it. Mike’s happy though, We got my $99 back!

Mike did go into town yesterday but I didn’t budge – it looked a lovely area, nice beaches but spoilt by the rain.

 

A very busy port with loads of ferries coming and going.

 

I originally booked a special dinner in the Canaletto Restaurant for his birthday but we did not feel we could do it justice so I cancelled and we went to the normal dining room. At the end of the meal a cake appeared along with 6 singing waiters and Mike slowly slipped under the table. He thought I had planned it but I had not – they obviously keep an eye open for any birthdays – they have all the dates. As it was a special occasion we did go for cocktails in the Crow Nest Bar and listened to a folk singer but eventually bed called – or rather, the privacy of our room to cough as necessary.

The following day was a sea day whilst we travelled north east to

TALLINN In ESTONIA SATURDAY JULY 2ND.

The clocks went on another hour today so it was 6.30 I think when we docked. Get’s light very early up here, in fact, it does not get very dark at all. Land of the midnight sun??

We booked a 3 hour coach trip around the town and surrounding area – we went everywhere at least twice ( it is quite small) everywhere except the Old Town which Is where I wanted to go to see the medieval buildings. All we saw were the remains of the Russian occupation – row after row of tenement type buildings looking vey dour and depressing. We had not realised that Estonia was only freed from the Russians in 1994 – very recent.

A diverse mixture of architecture – stone castles, wooden clap board houses – typical Estonian, modern shops and offices.

 

Statues, yellow cabs and blue trolley buses. Trees and parks everywhere.

 

A typical Russian tenement.

Some prosperous houses, the site of the Olympic flame in ……………….. Beautiful flower beds everywhere. The obligatory stop at a market where I managed to buy a sun hat having left mine at home

 

And back home to the boat and a lunch of every salad ingredient you can think of. Yummy.

Tonight – Beef Wellington and Coq Au Vin – I might just have to have BOTH .