Our Baltic Cruise was so long and so incredible that my scrapbook is literally 10 inches thick. I have broken it down by the cities we visited and I have posted just a few pages from each city.
In Russia we could not venture out on our own. Russia requires a visa for all visitors. We signed up for tours through the ship because then the ship took care of the visas for us.
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The first tour we attended was of Peterhof Palace's Parks & Fountains. This palace is located on the Gulf of Finland and was built as the summer house of Peter the great. Peter the Great designed this palace after his visit to Versailles. It contains 4 water cascades as well as 173 fountains. None of these cascades or fountains uses a single water pump. They all run on the force of gravity and use the water from the Gulf of Finland.
Mark and I are in front of the Great Cascade from the top side. You can see how it runs out into the Gulf of Finland.
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One of the tours we took was called, "The Last Romanovs" tour. It basically took us to all the castles of the Romanovs and it consumed an entire day!
This is Alexander Palace. It eventually became the official royal residence. This was the last residence of the Emperor of Russia. Nicholas the II and his family were held captive here in during the the Bolshevik Revolution. From here they were brought to Siberia where they entire family was executed and thus ended the reign of the Romanov's.
Alexander Palace had not received very many renovations. Much of the palace was still in disarray except this room which was called "The New Study". This room is where the family was held captive by the Bolshevik's.
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This palace is called Gatchina Palace. This palace had received quite a bit of renovations. In 1783 this palace became the residence of Paul I. This palace had much more of a medieval feel to it than the other palaces we visited.
Parts of the palace were still black with soot from when the Germans tried to burn everything down. Our tour guide informed us that some things will not be refurbished so that they serve as a constant reminder of what the country has been through.
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This palace is Catherine's Palace. It was by far the most renovated and the most spectacular to tour. It's facade is the longest in all of Europe, stretching more than 1,000 feet in a fantastic profusion of columns, windows, pilasters and statues.
All the walls were donned with elaborate moldings. Above the molding were left white but in many of the rooms they were adorned with gold. After the tour of the palace the guide took us on a brief tour of the gardens and grounds. Above there is a picture of the bath house and Mark & I on a bench in the gardens.
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The Palace of Pavlovsk was a gift to Paul from Catherine on the birth of his first son. The Russian Royals built castles quite frequently for various reasons. It definitely shows how wealthy they were!
This castle was very badly damaged by the Nazi's but has been restored and now serves as a museum. It contained several statues and wall plaques that date back to the 1st century!
We spent Christmas day with all of Mark's family at his parent's house. Something was wrong with our camera and this picture of Mark and his grandma, Macile, is the only one that turned out.
Christmas night we drove to Marshalltown to be with my family. Blake & Kerri were on-call so all our festivities were at their house in Marshalltown.
moment for a picture before ripping into their gifts! 
Rachel playing with the purse and accessories from us. 
The traditional USOTC apparel portrait.
