Oct 11th-13th – Newport (Rhode Island, not the one in Wales)

After spending a ridiculous amount of time in an outlet mall, updating our wardrobes with last year's fashions, we headed down to an old favourite, Newport Rhode Island. We did the cliff walk, explored the enormous mansions of America's fabulously wealthy 19th century robber barons, ate way too much, and slept a lot – just what the doctor ordered.

Oct 11th-13th – Newport (Rhode Island, not the one in Wales)

After spending a ridiculous amount of time in an outlet mall, updating our wardrobes with last year's fashions, we headed down to an old favourite, Newport Rhode Island. We did the cliff walk, explored the enormous mansions of America's fabulously wealthy 19th century robber barons, ate way too much, and slept a lot – just what the doctor ordered.

Oct 6th–10th – Old England to New England

Our next cruise starts from New York in a couple of weeks, so we hopped over to Boston to spend a bit of time in New England, catching up with friends and family. We stayed with our wonderfully generous friends in Concord, who treated us like royalty and took us up to their holiday home in Maine, which was enjoying some ridiculously warm autumn weather.

So, my birthday was spent eating delicious Maine lobster and going for a long walk along the beach – perfect.

Back on the Road

After a short month long pause in the UK, we are on the road again. First, a 10 day jaunt around New England and New York, and then back on the Silver Whisper for a trip from the Big Apple, through the Carribbean and on to South America.

http://www.silversea.com/destinations/world-cruise-2012/guest-speakers/?staff=6423

Updates to follow....

August 26th – Mariehamn in the Aland Islands

Where? I hear you say. Well, the Aland Islands sit in the middle of the Baltic. The people speak Swedish, but they're owned by Finland, who inherited them off the Russians after the Revolution.

Their chief claim to fame is that they once owned the largest fleet of sailing ships in the world at the turn of the 20th century – not quite as great as it sounds, because world trade was shifting to metal steamships. However, their fortune has always come from the sea – even now, they owe their prosperity to their unique tax-free status (even though they're nominally in the EU). So, tens of cross-Baltic ferries a day call in here on their way to somewhere else – as Danes, Finns and Swedes stock up on duty free booze.

The 25,000 population are spread across 80 of the 6,500 islands in the Alands but most of the "action" (such as it is) is on the main island, where the tiny capital, Mariehamn, is. Aside from one sleepy shopping street and an impressive sailing ship which has been turned into a museum, there isn't really very much to do in Mariehamn, so we took a tour to the two historic forts around the island, to see the few points where Aland has featured on the European stage.

We first went to the Bomarsund Fortress built by the Russians in the 19th century when they were looking to expand westwards into Europe. Unfortunately, the British and the French weren't too happy at this expansionism, and they sent a fleet over to destroy the fort before it was even finished (using the Crimean War as an excuse). They did a pretty thorough job at destroying it, but the size of what little remains shows you the scale of the Russian ambition, plus it's in a beautifully unspoilt location.

From here, we ventured to the nearby Swedish fortress of Kastelholm – again ruined, this time by fire rather than by warfare. The dilapidated but imposing fortress dates from the 14th century, when the Swedes were masters of Aland – they ruled here for 500 years before the Russians took over.

After the Russians were defeated in the 19th century, the islands were demilitarised for good; so it's perhaps ironic that the most enduring historic buildings of the self-styled "Islands of Peace" are fortresses.

August 25th – Helsinki in the Sun!

All these Baltic cities look much better in the sun, but Helsinki looks stunning! The harbour glitters in the sun, the Esplanade is alive with people and buskers, and the pavement cafes are busy with affluent punters. The whole place seems so alive and happy after the slightly glum faces you encounter St Petersburg.

As we got to Market Square, there was a big ceremony going on at the Presidential Palace. We asked one of the two policemen holding back the traffic who all the pomp and circumstance was for – he replied, "oh I don't know. Something to do with Lithuania". How many other countries, can you stand outside the President's Palace and there only be two policemen on duty?
We wandered around just soaking up the sun and enjoying the relaxed holiday atmosphere. While Tracy shopped, I used the plentiful free WiFi in what is the most wired place in the world – a much repeated statistic here is that internet penetration is highest in Finland of any country in the world.

For the first time on this cruise, Tracy has pronounced, "I could live here" – on a sunny day in Helsinki, it's difficult to disagree with her.

August 23rd – St P’s Aristocratic Palaces

St Petersburg is famous for the fabulously opulent palaces of the Romanov dynasty; but some of the palaces of the super-rich aristocracy were almost as over-the-top in their extravagant decorations.

We went first to the grand Vladimir Palace, located on the Neva embankment just a couple of doors down from the Winter Palace – a prime address in Imperial St Petersburg. The Palace was home to Grand Duke Vladimir, the brother of Alexander III, who became a key power broker in 19th century Russia, so we were greeted by a series of sumptuous staircases and reception rooms, with an enormous Gothic-style dining room.

What made the visit here so good was that the palace wasn't looted or damaged in the revolution, because it was immediately converted into a Scientists' Club under the Communists – the Scientists were cultured and educated people, so it was very well looked after and the original furnishings remained. And, because it's still a private club, it isn't open to the general public, and visits have to be arranged weeks ahead, which meant that we had this fabulous palace all to ourselves.

The same wasn't true of the equally grand Yusupov Palace, which had been emptied after the revolution, and was now full of tour groups. However, the sumptuously decorated halls of the enormous palace still glittered with gold and marble, which proudly declared that the Yusupovs were the richest family in pre-revolution Russia – richer than the Romanovs even.

Aside from all the impressive architecture and decoration, the Palace is most interesting because it's so closely connected to the incredible story of the murder of Rasputin, the "Mad Monk" who had enraged the aristocracy with his close hold on the Romanov Family. The Yusupov son, Felix, got a group of friends together to bump off Rasputin, so they lured him to the Palace late one night, with the promise of fine wine. In addition to the wine, they fed him copious amounts of biscuits heavily laced with poison. However, even this didn't seem to have an effect, so they shot him a number of times, but miraculously still Rasputin kept coming back at them, like something from a bad horror film.

Eventually, they shot him some more and tied him up and threw his body into the frozen Neva River, where his body came to light 3 days later. Incredibly, when the body was examined, water was found in his lungs, which proved that somehow he was still alive when he was chucked into the River.

Every building in St Petersburg has a story.