Hard to believe that we are on day 11 of our 12 day Baltic
Seas cruise. We had another wonderful
relaxing day at sea. Tomorrow morning we
arrive in Amsterdam!
We found out today that the submarine that was alongside of
us yesterday belonged to the Germans and evidently early this morning a Danish
fighter jet flew over the ship Sorry
we missed that picture.
Today I want to share with you a story about our 2 days in
Russia and Mr. Snappy! Hmmm where to
begin….. Some of you may know this but we had to be on a tour or have a Visa to
be on shore in Russia. Most people don't have Russian Visas so we had a tour.
That meant for us we have the same bus of people for those 2 days because
we purchased a 2 day Russian tour! Also
it is problematic if you are not in Russia with a Visa or on a tour group to be
out on your own and the tour guide can be in trouble for losing you. We were all given a listening device and
Daria our guide would share with us as she guided us through all the places we visited. So the first day after leaving the Peter and
Paul Fortress an English lady with us started telling Daria that her travel
companion was waiting on a bench back where we entered. The problem with this is we never left the
way we entered so that created much unrest for Daria. She had to get us all on the bus and the bus
driver had to go back to the entrance so Daria could go back in and retrieve
this lady. Daria told us then that we
had to all stay together and if we needed to leave the group she needed to know
and she would tell us where to meet up. That
being said it would seem that Mr. & Mrs. Snappy were late back to the group
after that many times because he was constantly running around taking
pictures.
On the 2nd day Mr. & Mrs. Snappy held up our tour from departing about ½ hour. We were to depart at 7 and they didn’t show up till about 7:30 and we were given the impression by her that they overslept. However, Michael being a pacer had been up on the Lido deck early and had seen them before we ate breakfast. So where were they…running around taking pictures I am sure.
After coming out of the Summer Palace we had time to shop
and visit the WC (bathrooms for those of us that need to learn the term when
traveling to Europe). I have mentioned
in previous posts that in most of Europe you have to pay to use the WC’s. Grace was in line when Michael and I arrived and we were watching the scene unfold while waiting in line as someone was locked in the WC and the girl working at the shop
was talking to the person through the door and telling them what to do and what
to stop doing. Low and behold the door opens
and out pops Mr. & Mrs. Snappy! Yes
they were both in the same stall…..mind you these are tiny spaces. I am sure they were avoiding having to pay 2
Euros each to use the bathroom so they chose to share. Talk about
laughter from the line. So it was our
turn and I started towards the stall and Michael kind of moved too and I turned
and snapped “you are not going in there with me!” He looks stunned and says I had no intention
of trying to. LOL We all had a good laugh at that too.
The final straw and
thus their nickname came when we were in the Winter Palace and Hermitage. He was always running around running over people to take pictures every time we entered a new room. He was pushing and shoving and I might add
that I was pushed and shoved often. He
took pictures in the Amber room where it was forbidden. ;) By the
time we ended that tour people were begging Daria to leave him behind. I know it does not sound nice but really by the
time he shoved and pushed everyone and got in front of all the pictures people
were done! Okay okay…. I will go ahead
and admit it…..I photo bombed several of his photos and sorry to say it but it
felt good to do so!
So the kicker to this story is that we were all heading out
to show last night here come Mr. & Mrs. Snappy and yes he has his camera
but guess what…….their room is right across the hall from MINE! How can this
be?!?!
Meet Mr. & Mrs.
Snappy!!!!!
This is where they ended up after the big walk up the church
tower at St. Olaf’s! So glad I chickened out.
This would not have been good for me.
This gentleman here is from San Diego his wife is from Estonia and they come every year for a 2 week visit. He heard our American ancient and asked where we were from.
Love the open air shopping in Europe! It seems to be everywhere!
Actually we love shopping anywhere :)
1 comment:
Have enjoyed your European vacation with you. It seems like you have had gorgeous weather. How fortunate!
Thanks for sharing your stories (even the ones about 'ugly' Americans) and pictures.
Hope your trip back across the pond is a smooth one.
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