AnnemarieM

Tallinn, Estonia

We hired private taxis to take us around. We spent alot of time in the new square. It was beautiful and allowed us to sit in the sun and drink some beer. Plus the shopping was good. We also visited the Old Town and got off at the look out.

Helsinki, Finland

We did not need as much time at this port as was scheduled. We took the hop-on hop-off from the pier. The Luthern church is fantastic, and the Sibelius Park was ok. The sculpture was stunning, but the rest of the park was a bit run down. The kids enjoyed the play area in the back as we waited for the bus to arrive.

Oslo, Norway

We took the hop on hop off bus and wasted a lot of time. The two sites worth seeing in the short time you have is the Viking Ship Museum and the Vigeland Sculpture park. I think taking the ferry across to the Viking Ship is managable, and they taking a taxi to the sculpture part is a better way to handle this port.

Gdynia (Gdansk), Poland

Gdansk is very beautiful and well worth spending time. We enjoyed the drive to Gdansk stopping at a few churches along the way. The best site was the St Mary's Church. It is spectacular.

St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

The first day we took the Hermitage and the Venice of the North, as well as the ballet tours. The Hermitage was disappointing because we expected in three hours to have some time to appreciate the art. Instead it was a super fast walk through. This was also tiring for everyone. The Venice of the North was so great. We saw all the sites as well as time for a little shopping. The Ballet was fantastic. The next day we made a mistake and took the EZ bus tour. It left very early in the morning, nothing was open, and we saw the same things we saw on the boat trip- do one or the other. The last thing we did was the Fountains at Peterhof - the highlight of the trip - breathtaking. Be warned that the bus ride to the fountains is over an hour, but the hydrofoil back to the pier is only 20 minutes. Also, the hydrofoil back is challenging for older people. They tied the hydrofoil to four other boats at the pier and we had to walk through each boat to get back on the pier.

Nynashamn (Stockholm), Sweden

We took the easy route of staying in town with the children. We took a local tour bus that customized the tour for our children. We visited the model old town, the railroad yard, and a farm. The bus also took us on tour of the shoreline, which was breath taking. The rest of our group went into Stockholm. They hired a private bus and took off. They did not have as much fun as we had since they felt very rushed. It was also easy to take the train into Stockholm, but again the time is short.