Baltic and St Petersburg Cruise

  • DAY 1 Saturday 5 July, 2014 Depart Australia 
  • DAY 2 Sunday 6 July, 2014 Amsterdam 
  • Arrive at Amsterdam airport then visit Paleis Het Loo, which features a wonderful sunken garden, clipped arbours, extensive parterres, gilded statues and elaborate water features, then a visit to the garden of Piet Oudolf, extraordinary plantsman and landscape designer.
  • DAY 3 Monday 7 July, 2014 Amsterdam
  • City tour and leisure time to explore
  • DAY 4 Tuesday 8 July, 2014 Celebrity Constellation 
  • Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam’s botanic garden then we board the Celebrity Constellation.
  • DAY 5 Wednesday 9 July, 2014 At sea
  • DAY 6 Thursday 10 July, 2014 Warnemunde, Germany 
  • Explore Warnemunde’s pleasant waterfront, then we travel on to Schwerin Castle, one of Europe’s foremost examples of historic architecture and dramatic 19th century garden.
  • DAY 7 Friday 11 July, 2014 At sea 
  • DAY 8 Saturday 12 July, 2014 Tallinn, Estonia 
  • Guided tour of the medieval city of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, with its cobblestone streets and gingerbread-style houses, including Toompea (the old town), the Viru Gate, Raekoja Plats and the sixth Garden Design Festival.
  • DAY 9 Sunday 13 July, 2014 St Petersburg, Russia 
  • We explore beautiful St Petersburg, visiting the oldest part of the city: SS Peter and Paul Cathedral and fortress, the world famous Hermitage Palace, with its wonderful art collection and see the city’s most famous theatre, the Mariinsky.
  • DAY 10 Monday 14 July, 2014 St Petersburg, Russia
  • We travel to Petrovorets, the summer house of Peter the Great, who wanted the gardens to surpass the gardens at Versailles. The centrepiece is the Grand Cascade and Water Avenue. We continue the day with a visit to the Imperial Palace at Tsarskoe Selo; the Catherine Palace.
  • DAY 11 Tuesday 15 July, 2014 Helsinki, Finland 
  • We have a sightseeing tour of Helsinki, the capital of Finland, including the Sibelius Monument and the unusual underground Temppeliaukiojn Church.
  • DAY 12 Wednesday 16 July, 2014 Stockholm, Sweden 
  • Stockholm, capital of Sweden is surrounded by clear water and unspoiled countryside. Later we travel to Drottningholms Slottsparken, the most impressive of Stockholm’s palaces. The extensive baroque garden was laid out in the 1690s for Queen Hedvig Eleonora.
  • DAY 13 Thursday 17 July, 2014 At sea 
  • DAY 14 Friday 18 July, 2014 Copenhagen, Denmark 
  • From Copenhagen our private coach takes us on a guided tour of the city, including the Amalienborg Palace, Radhus, (city hall), Kongens Nytorv, the Royal Theatre and Charlottenborg, a 17th-century Dutch baroque palace. We then travel north to visit the author Karen Blixen’s Manor House and garden.
  • DAY 15 Saturday 19 July, 2014 At sea
  • DAY 16 Sunday 20 July, 2014 Paris 
  • Disembark in Amsterdam and travel south to Paris, ‘the city of light’ by coach. On the journey we will stop in Villers-Bretonneux to visit the Australian War Memorial, a very moving experience.
  • DAY 17 Monday 21 July, 2014 Paris
  • We have a sightseeing tour of Paris seeing the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Élysées, the Seine, Notre Dame and the other major sights of Paris. After lunch, we visit to Claude Monet’s famous house and beautiful garden at Giverny. This garden, with its ponds, water lilies and its Japanese bridge, appears in many of the artist’s paintings.
  • DAY 18 Tuesday 22 July, 2014 Paris 
  • This morning we will visit a mystery private garden. This afternoon will be free so you can enjoy Paris at leisure.
  • DAY 19 Wednesday 23 July, 2014 Depart
  • Transfer from our hotel to the airport for the flight back to Australia.
  • DAY 20 Thursday 24 July, 2014 Australia 
  • Arrive in Australia and the tour concludes.