A wedding, a toddler and a less than simple plan.

[LadyC]

PARIS ACTIVITIES

We had 6 full days in Paris. Unfortunately it rained for 3 of them, including one day where we got caught in a downpour on Boulevard Saint Germain. We spent a lot of time outdoors when we could, just walking around or visiting various playgrounds across Paris. We visited playgrounds at the Eiffel Tower, Jardin des Tuileries and Jardin du Luxembourg (which has an excellent paid playground). We came across an equestrian event on for the weekend near the Eiffel Tower. Some of our friends were also in Paris, so we spent a lot of time just hanging out with them. We did manage to visit the Natural History Museum, the Eiffel Tower and the Jardin D'Acclimitation.

Natural History Museum

 

[love_the_life]

We used Paris Perfect for our apartment. They were recommended by a friend who used them a few years ago. Pricing obviously depends upon location, apartment size and time of year.

Thanks for the info - I have heard of Paris Perfect but not used them before. Good to have on my 'possibles' list.

 

[LadyC]

MORE PARIS ACTIVITIES

As I mentioned, we spent a lot of time at various parks.

Jardin d'Acclimitation

They also had a cool miniature train here as well as plenty of amusement park games and rides. Fun outdoor water sprays, playgrounds for big and small and the regular overpriced very average food options for the family.

Views from the Eiffel Tower


Jardin des Tuleries

 

[LadyC]

Just a side note - I apologize for the quality of some of the photos. I am only using my Samsung Galaxy 4 so they are not always that great.

 

[LadyC]

AY872 CDG - HEL J

This late morning flight was booked as an award flight for all three of us. 9 The original plan was to catch an afternoon flight from HEL to TLL but as mentioned upthread, by the time I was ready to commit the TLL flight was approximately $400 per person.

We arrived at CDG about 30 minutes before checkin opened so were first at the counter. Check in and security were quick and easy and we headed up to the lounge. It was still fairly quiet in the lounge. Pretty standard fare but reasonable quality.

The plane was an A321 with standard Euro business, 3 seats either side and the middle seats empty. This worked well as it meant the 3 of us just sat together on one side. Lunch was served about 45 minutes into the 3 hour flight. Mutton for entree and chicken for main. Mutton is not my liking but the chicken main was quite good.


The flight was quite pleasant and soon we were arriving in HEL. We caught the train in to the city from the airport and found it quite cheap and easy to do.

 

[LadyC]

Helsinki accomodation

We had one night in HEL and booked via my travel agent to stay at Hotel Kamp which looks over the Esplanade. There was a good deal where for €300 we got breakfast inclusive and a €100 dining credit whereas you could also book a breakfast inclusive room for €295. The €5 extra seemed like a good deal!

Although our stay was brief, I enjoyed this hotel and would definitely recommend it.

 

[LadyC]

Helsinki Food

We ate both dinner and breakfast at the hotel. The food was very high quality and we enjoyed it all. Unfortunately the lighting wasn't great so it made taking photos a bit tricky. Through out the holiday I haven't taken many photos of the breakfast or dinner areas as there has always been other people about and I feel quite self concious about perceived invasion of space. That aside here are some photos of our meals.

Shrimp salad

Wagyu beef

Scallops

Breakfast

 

[LadyC]

Helsinki activities

As we were here for less than 24 hours, we didn't do much more than walk down the Esplanade to the harbour and back. The weather was cool and slightly overcast with the sun sneaking out from behind the clouds at various times. The main purpose of our walk was to confirm where our ferry left from the next day.

 

[LadyC]

Lindaline Ferry - HEL to TLL

We caught the ferry at 10am from Helsinki to Tallinn. The ferry terminal was separate to the other HEL-TLL ferries and not too far from our hotel. We were traveling 'comfort class', the slightly fancier class. The tickets included some food and a glass of wine, which we all skipped as it didn't look very appealing. For €38 each, it was quite an easy way to get to Tallinn and cheaper than the flying alternative and took under 2 hours.

A few snaps inside the comfort class cabin


The sandwich (I did say I didn't want it but the cabin attendant was very insistent on me taking it.

 

[LadyC]

Tallinn accomodation - St Petersbourg Hotel

We stayed at the St.Petersbourg Hotel for 3 nights in total, 2 before and 1 after the wedding. The hotel is located just up from the town square, so is centrally located but did suffer a little from noise. We booked this through our travel agent and had breakfast included. The room was quite large (albeit a little cramped with the roll out bed) with couch, desk and even a little espresso machine. The blinds were quite heavy which is needed at that time of the year when the sun is up most of the day. I enjoyed my stay but would probably move a little further away from the town square if I visited again as the Old Town is not that big so you aren't too far away from the action.

Hotel Foyer

The room

 

[boomy]

Nice TR LadyC!

Any tips about things to do and see in Tallinn will be much appreciated for my parents who are currently touring the Baltics and will arrive there tomorrow.

 

[LadyC]

Nice TR LadyC!

Any tips about things to do and see in Tallinn will be much appreciated for my parents who are currently touring the Baltics and will arrive there tomorrow.

We visited a nice Italian restaurant called Controvento in the old town. Wandering around the old town and getting lost is a must do . We spent a bit of time visiting the playgrounds which I am fairly sure won't interest your parents. Up near Saunatorn, there was a garden and flower display (for something different). Visiting the old town square, St Olafs church and the Alexander Nevsky cathedral are some of the main sites. Ozmatt did a TR last year of Estonia that was excellent and I utilized for my visit.

 

[LadyC]

Tallinn food

Breakfast was at the hotel and we had a few burgers at different establishments around the old town square. Our favourite restaurant, that we visited a number of times as it worked with MasterC, was an Italian restaurant called Controvento. It is located in the old town, rated quite highly and was always busy (we would always be there pre 6pm as we were on toddler time.

A few of the dishes from Controvento (apologies for the lighting)
Pizza

Eggplant parmigana

Buffalo mozzarella with tomato and basil

 

[LadyC]

Tallinn activities

We got lost walking around the old town as google maps sent us in circles. We visited a few different playgrounds in our travels and walked past many of the sites. The streets are mainly cobblestones and hard work with a stroller!

Old town square - there were many little stalls selling various products in the middle and was mainly surrounded by restaurants.


Part of the old town wall - it was near here there had a little garden show/displays


A little park area within the old town.

 

[LadyC]

TLL-HEL-PRG

After our overnight stay in Tallinn it was time to head to Prague via Helsinki. We were booked on Nordic Regional Airlines (“Norra”) from Tallinn to Helsinki. This was a short 40 minute flight in an ATR 72, a twin engine turboprop that seats about 72. The gentleman is not a fan of small planes and I must say was not impressed during take off or landing. The flight was otherwise non-eventful and we arrived soon enough at Helsinki-Vantaa.

Seating on the way to HEL


We had a two hour layover before we were due to get our connecting flight to Prague. We diligently went up to the Finnair Lounge to explore its various offerings. It was very busy so I didn’t take any photos. It seems like a reasonably large lounge, running along one side of the terminal with lots of windows and views of the airplanes. There is lots of white and Baltic pine (a bit ikea-esque), some tables and stools in both kitchen areas, and many chairs and some footstools to enable a bit of shut eye. The food offering was fairly limited, a baked mince dish, some salads, breads, some fruit and cake. Plenty of tea and coffee machines. I didn’t partake in any alcohol so can’t comment on the offerings in that department.

Soon enough it was time for us to head to the gate to fly to Prague. Flight AY 1223 departed Helsinki at 5.35pm and was approximately 2 hours. We were all seated together in row 2, the free middle seat in Euro business is quite handy. Dinner was served and consisted of a pastrami style entrée, bread, fish with potatoes and spinach for main and a fruit pie for dessert. I skipped entrée and dessert but the main was fairly reasonable.

 

[LadyC]

Four Seasons Prague

I had booked this room through my travel agent, who is a member of Virtuoso and also a Four Seasons Preferred Partner. This meant our room came with free breakfast and USD$100 food and beverage credit. The credit was quickly utilised as we ate a few meals at the hotel over our stay. Our room had a view over the Vltava and the Charles Bridge and was relatively spacious. The room was well appointed in typical Four Seasons style. We were given a fruit plate and they also sent up a sweet plate for MasterC but we are sugar free so we sent that one back. Some free still water provided, standard minibar, espresso machine and kettle also. Plenty of toiletries and also a special pack provided for MasterC also. They also sent up some colouring pencils and a couple of books for MasterC. It is one of the reasons I always enjoy staying at Four Seasons hotels. In my experience, they always make an effort to make children feel welcome. Not a big deal for most, but it certainly helps make the stay more enjoyable for them but makes them feel a little bit included which I like.

The view from the room


The room



The bath amenities provided for MasterC

 

[LadyC]

Four Seasons Prague - Service recovery

One thing we have learned from this trip is that we really need to complain early – never emotionally or unreasonably – but speak up when we are not happy. The hotel is supposed to be fully non-smoking but someone in the room either above or below us was smoking in the room. We noticed it on the second day but decided to let it slide. However we regularly noticed it over that day and the next as the smell was permeating into our room. We decided to complain on the second last day and asked the hotel if they could resolve the issue as it was really quite unpleasant. Initially they offered to ‘refresh the room’ which just consists of them coming in and spraying a lot of strong scented spray in there. We knew that this would both smell quite over bearing but also would only mask the smell temporarily. We asked them to present another solution and they offered to move us to another room. We were happy with that and organised our belongings so that they could be moved that afternoon. It was a pleasant surprise that our last night would be spent in a suite! Very happy with the service recovery at this hotel.

 

[LadyC]

Prague Activities

Again we were rained in a little during our time in Prague. We managed to go out walking every day for at least part of it (note that the Old Town is not particularly stroller friendly!). We visited Petrin Hill and went on the funicular. We watched the Apostles procession on the Astronomical Clock with plenty of other tourists (they are currently doing restoration works around part of the tower), we saw Freud hanging out, crossed the Charles Bridge a number of times and the gentleman even touched the statue of St John of Nepomuk for good luck.

The Petrin Hill funicular

The view from Petrin Hill

The astronomical clock

Freud hanging out

 

[LadyC]

Prague Food

We had breakfast every day at the hotel. It had a reasonably sized buffet and we could also order one cooked item off the menu for free each which was more than enough food. For lunch and/or dinner, we actually ate a lot of Italian food in Prague as it is something that works well with MasterC. We ate a few times at the Italian restaurant in the hotel, Cotto Crudo, as well as another nearby called La Finestra. Neither of them were cheap (Cotto Crudo considerably more expensive than La Finestra but to be expected) but both were very tasty and some of our favourite meals of the trip. We also sampled from the room service menu a few times (the club sandwich is our usual test and scored about 7.5 out of 10).

Cotto crudo meals


Room service

La Finestra meals

 

[LadyC]

KLM1352 PRG-AMS J

After a quick and painless check in, and a brief lounge visit, we were on the 8.50am City Hopper service from Prague to Amsterdam. This service is in an Embraer RJ-190 and although we were located in row 1 for this flight, I didn’t spot the Dutch King in the coughpit. Breakfast was served, with some yoghurt, fresh fruit, bread, smoked salmon and cream cheese. Quite decent but not a patch on the Four Seasons breakfast I had eaten earlier.
The flight was smooth and we arrived at about 10.25 at AMS. After a brief wait for the luggage, we then went hunting for our hotel transfer car. He arrived after about 10 minutes and it was a short trip to Andaz Prinsengracht Amsterdam.