In case you’re wondering about the ship we were on, it was the Norwegian Breakaway, one of the largest vessels in the Norwegian Cruise line’s fleet. 3900 passengers and 1500+ crew! The highlight of every evening was watching the sun set as we left port.
Stockholm
The last port of call our Baltic cruise earlier this month was Stockholm, the capital of Sweden — another city that I have always wanted to see. And like the other cities on our trip, it did not disappoint either! In fact, I would say that it’s location on the water and old world architecture […]
Finland
When I was a junior high-school student at Karachi American School in Pakistan (in the early 70s), my art teacher was a woman from Finland. I liked her (even though I was terrible at art), and ever since then I have wanted to visit Finland. So I was thrilled that Helsinki, Finland was one of […]
Three Layers of St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg is a city of layers with each layer corresponding to a different historical era and and each visible in the architecture and various sights around town. The first is the classical layer which can be seen in the ornate architecture of the city built by Peter the Great. Many visitors assume that it […]
The Prodigal Son
One of my all-time favorite books is The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming, by Henri J. Nouwen. As such, one of the highlights of our visit to St. Petersburg was seeing the Rembrandt painting that inspired the book. It is housed in The State Hermitage Museum. It was another one of […]
St. Petersburg
Because I have long been a Russian history buff, our 2-day port of call in St. Petersburg, Russia was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me. My fascination with Russian history began in high school when I read the book Nicholas and Alexandra (Tragic, Compelling Story of the Last Tsar and His […]
