Day 2 in Shetland

How Exciting? After looking round the Shetland museum (including a Wright's Biscuit tin labelled as imported goods) and lunch my visit to the Shetland Family
History office opened new avenues of research.

1st more information of 2 great uncles both 'lost at sea' during 1st World War. Then being shown published details and photographs of them in Shetland's Roll of Honour.

These were the first photographs I had ever seen of my Grandfather's Shetland Family and even though they only shared a father I could immediately see a resemblance, not only to him but to my immediate family.

The evening brought more revelations and even more photos.

Because David had already established a network of relations here in the Lerwick area, Catherine had a arranged a get together in a local hall " for a cup of tea and a yarn"! To add to this she used her vast local knowledge, contacts and a few phone calls to invite one of my relatives. Even at such short notice a very pleasant lady and her husband arrived bearing a clutch of amazing photos, including a very clear studio portrait of my Great Grand Parents. It became a very enjoyable but emotional night.

But even more revelations followed.

Back in Finlay and Catherine's house we started to delve deeper in the Bayanne website which has an amazing function to explore possible relationships between individuals. Hey Presto! Catherine and I are 7th cousins, twice over, and at about the same distance I am related in 4 separate descents to her daughter in law!

1st day in Shetland

Beautiful sea crossing from Aberdeen to Shetland. We left in full sunshine which lasted through dinner looking out to a flat sea.

David Grey

Woke this morning in Lerwick in one piece despite falling while trying to negotiate bunk side and ladder in the middle of the night. No prizes for guessing why I had to get up!!

We were met in Lerwick by Finlay and Catherine, David's cousin and our hosts for the stay. They very kindly drove around Lerwick pointing out places of interest and on the drive out towards their house we passed the church where my Great Grandparents were married in 1894.

The place names along the way were an immediate source of amusement!!

 Finlay falling over laughing

A New Adventure - Ancestor Hunting in the Shetland Isles!!

Tomorrow I set off to Shetland, fulfilling a lifelong ambition to visit my Grandfather's ancestral home.

The trip there will be a small adventure in itself - train to Aberdeen and then overnight ferry to Lerwick. We leave Newcastle at 8:42 on Saturday and will finally arrive in Lerwick at about 7 on Sunday morning, almost 24 hours and still in the UK but closer to Norway than Newcastle!!

Baltic Bulletin Days 10 & 11 at sea and Copenhagen

We spent a leisurely day at sea between Stockholm and Copenhagen, although it was bright and blue the wind was chilly so after a quick dip in the hot tub we spent the rest of the day indoors.
Our task of the day was to acquire a travel together rail card for our next trip to Shetland. Strange to think of doing this while at sea but we were on a tight schedule to catch the newly released cheap train tickets. Mid Baltic the web reception was intermittent and we had to improvise photo id but we managed and our shore side travel companion sorted out the tickets - thank you David!
Our second formal night but obviously our cabin steward is not the best photographer but his skills with towel sculpture are great.

We woke the next morning in Copenhagen and opted to be independent and walk into town, passing the little mermaid along with a multitude of Asian tourists.
We took a canal ride as the best way to see the sights but stupidly I was wearing shorts and got really chilly so caught a bicycle rickshaw back to our ship.

Tonight we set sail for our last day crossing the North Sea, due into North Shields on Thursday morning.

Baltic Bulletin Day 9 - Stockholm

Poor weather greeted us as we woke in Stockholm but we packed our waterproofs and set out on our trip. For the first time we were not moored at a quayside so had to take the tender. Luckily this day was planned around a panoramic coach tour of Stockholm with a couple of photo stops then a visit to the Vasa museum, so mostly indoors.

The Vasa is celebrated by the Swedes despite the fact that it was a huge embarrassment at the time. It was an innovative warship commissioned by the King to overcome their seafaring enemies but it was so top heavy that a mere breeze toppled it 20 minutes into its maiden voyage. It lay in the harbour for over 300 years until it was raised in the 1960s and restored.

Our short stay in Sweden is over and now we are steaming through the islands towards our next port, Copenhagen. Tomorrow is a day at sea but the forecast is good!

Baltic Bulletin Day 8 - Helsinki

On our day in Helsinki we decided to 'go it alone' and started to walk into the town but luckily we found the local tram service was just at hand so we added another experience to our trip by riding the tram.

The city was quiet and the weather was very pleasant for our stroll down a shopping boulevard and around the local market on the quayside, followed by coffee in a pavement cafe.

We followed the quayside all the way back to the Marco Polo and took advantage of the warm sunshine by having more time in the whirlpool.

Baltic Bulletin Day 7, St Petersburg continued

Our morning began with a drive out of the city along Moscow Road, block after block of concrete flats stretching out on each side, as we traveled towards Catherine's Palace.

Overshoes to protect the parquet flooring

After lunch we drove on to Peterhof gardens and fountains