St Petersburg

Friday and Saturday we were in St Petersburg in Russia, but above are the pictures illustrating Tallinn in Estonia.
In Russia things were somewhat different but as you will see from the pictures below there are some magnificent buildings and architecture to be seen. We continued our separate escorting duties looking after the passengers as they waddle from site to sight! John was specially lucky on Saturday when he found himself with only two passengers and a interpreter guide as he went to Peterhof and Tsar Peter’s Grand Palace, which he had modelled on Versailles. Being in a small group gives enormous privileges like queue jumping and he had a wonderful time. Poor Sue had 34 people to look after as she went to both Peterhof and The Hermitage where there were literally thousands of people and trying to ensure she didn’t lose any was a nightmare. Old people are fiercely independent and are always wandering off, not listening to instructions or complaining as she found out when one was stung by a wasp and blamed her for not having any appropriate medicine!
In the evening Sue escorted a party to the ballet, it was a fantastic performance of Swan Lake at the St Petersburg Conservatoire only marred when an enormous man managed to break his seat which collapsed under his weight just as the first act started. He sat there on the floor until the interval and when Sue asked him why he replied “My dear woman, a Gentleman does not disturb other people’s enjoyment whatever the circumstances!”
On Saturday it was another early start for both of us. As we have steamed West the clocks have gone back and back and we are now 3 hours ahead of UK time so to get up at 0630 felt like 0330, the middle of the night! But we were off again this time to the summer palace of Catherine the Great. It is a superb palace as you can see but again there were thousands of visitors and it was John who had the problem of keeping the flock together. Sue got the lucky trip with a mini bus and only 12 people with an excellent guide who obviously had connections because we got a private choral recital in a pavilion by the lake and some shopping therapy on the way back.
Because of visa restrictions no one is permitted to just wander around St Peterburg so we were unable to get to an internet cafe to post the blog, hopefully we will be able to do so in Helsinki tomorrow, the last day of August.
Here are a few reminders of the last two days.

Peterhof palace and gardens

Catherine's Summer Palace and detail inside

Pictures of Tallinn

Tuesday 26th
Well we’ve done it, each of us escorted a bus full of passengers on a tour of Gydnia, Oliwa and Gdansk. I wouldn’t say they were elderly but Sue and I were the only two with our own hips! Sue had to manage one lady who was desperate for the toilet and there were 41 people in front of her and somehow she lost two passengers but found they were replaced by two Americans who got on the wrong coach. Otherwise an uneventful day and Gdansk is an interesting place. We only knew it for the Solidarity movement but in fact it was here that WW2 started when the Germans launched an attack on Poland from a battleship in the harbour, the rest really is history. Yet despite the Germans and the Russians virtually destroying the city it has been restored over the last 60 years more or less as it was. The pictures will give a flavour of the Dutch influence on the architecture.
We also went to the cathedral at Oliwa where there is one of the best pipe organs in the world and there was a wonderful recital at lunchtime before we returned to the ship. Photo shows the Balck Watch in Gydnia port. Even the weather improved as can be seen.
A good day and according to Sue one of most interesting places she has visited. Next stop is in two days time at Tallinn in Estonia.

We've arrived in Tallinn and escorted our second tours, more complaints and it rained! Sue lost 2 old ladies who had got on the wrong coach!

Tallinn is a very old medieval city, lots of interesting buildings and a chequered history of ownership by the Danes, Germans Swedes and Russians. They only gained independence in 1991.

We had a nice show of local music and folk dancing.

Still eating too much food and gaining weight by the day!

Off to St Petersburg tomorrow for 2 days, that is if the Russians will let us in!

More pictures soon.

News Update from Poland

First days of Baltic Cruise on Fred Olsen ship Black Watch 23/24 /25August

Bank Holiday Saturday is not a good day to set off for the coast to catch a cruise liner as Sue and found out at the bottom end of the M3, anyway we eventually boarded and were somewhat surprised to see the ship was full of people mostly older than we were! Does this bode well for lectures on popular culture? We shall see. John’s first lecture on Radio 1 is scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Hope they are not all asleep!
Lecture 1 on Radio 1 went reasonably well with around 50 people in attendance. Would have liked more but maybe some of the oldies thought the subject too young for them and we were competing with the art class and the attractions of an after lunch siesta. They all seemed to enjoy the “Bits & Pieces” competition with a bottle of champagne for the winners and we have broken the “duck” We now have eight day until our next lecture.
We continue our cruise northwards through the Keil Canal to Poland and the port of Gdansk where we have both offered our services as Tour Escorts, this gives us a free tour but we hope nopassengers are taken ill or incontinent.
We’ve arrived in Poland at 7am, weather looks pretty good so we are off to do pur duty and hopefully post this blog... more later.
and photos

Lecture Themes

The theme of my lectures on these cruises is "A Lifetime in the BBC" and on this next cruise I'm talking about my book "Radio 1-The Inside Scene", making the 14 hour radio documentary "The Beatles Story" and I take a look at the BBC's history of censorship of music over the years "The Records we couldn't play". All the talks are illustrated with photos and audio clips I've collected over my many years. Who knows perhaps I will run into you one day.

In the Radio 1 talk there are all sorts if quirky things like this "Radio 1 Poster Poser" which we ran on air asking listeners to spot the mistake. Can you spot it?

Pre travel pictures

We are off on our travels again this week as John has secured a position as a lecturer on board the Fred Olsen line's Black Watch. We leave from Southampton on Saturday August 23 for the Baltic and will try to bring news of our tour which will last for 13 nights. Watch this space!