BALTIC CRUISE TO ST PETERSBURG, AUG 21-OCT 2, 2013

21.08.2013 - 02.10.2013 22 °C

My son Doug and his new book.

I met Heather in Amsterdam on August 22nd and enjoyed a couple of days in that marvellous city before boarding the Celebrity Constellation for our Baltic cruise. Our hotel room overlooked one of the canals, the weather was perfect and we joined the crowded streets to watch all the activities.....cycles, music, crowds to mention a few. We rented bikes, visited the Reichsmuseum and just enjoyed being there.

The ship's itinerary had a stop in Warnemunde, Germany so we took a train into Berlin and saw the most important sites and a great museum. We also visited Stockholm and Helsinki before spending two days in St Petersburg. In two jam-packed days of sight-seeing we were dazzled by all the golden domes, the treasures of the Hermitage and much more. And we went to the ballet(Swan Lake) at the 180 year old Alexandrinsky Theatre. A stop in Tallinn, Estonia was a special treat......cobble stone streets, ancient buildings and just a very pleasant place to visit.

Then we disembarked in Copenhagen, stopped at The Little Mermaid and caught a couple of trains to Astorp, Sweden where we visited Ulrika who as an exchange student spent a school year with Heather in Oakville . Now thirty years later she has a wonderful family of three girls around the same age she was when she was in Canada. I can't say enough about how well we were treated by Ulrika, her husband Hans and their daughters, Clara. Ingrid and Astrid. Ulrika runs a horse farm and uses her Icelandic horses as an integral part of her physiotherapy practice. We rode and accompanied some of her patients and it is very impressive to see someone so dedicated.

Then we returned to Copenhagen and flew to Salzburg to visit Heather's son Tait, daughter-in-law Sego and grand-daughters Leopoldine and Victoria for a week before our return to Oakville. We were treated royally and had a marvellous time including swimming, picnicking , hiking and lots more.

Last night, September 17th was the launch of my son Doug's new book STRAIGHT TALK ON LEADERSHIP in downtown Toronto. I think it was a great success and it was a pleasure to meet so many of his clients and even more to be with him and his wife Linda as well as six of my grandchildren and four great grandchildren. More than a little emotional to say the least.

The last two photos are with my granddaughterTanya and granddaughter Shannon and her children Spencer and Riley. Most of the photos in this blog were taken by Heather.