{"id":1974,"date":"2012-06-10T21:59:30","date_gmt":"2012-06-11T02:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tinajacinto.com\/blog\/?p=1974"},"modified":"2012-06-10T21:59:30","modified_gmt":"2012-06-11T02:59:30","slug":"the-quintessential-baltic-cruise-to-russia-aboard-the-emerald-princess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tinajacinto.com\/today\/2012\/06\/10\/the-quintessential-baltic-cruise-to-russia-aboard-the-emerald-princess\/","title":{"rendered":"The Quintessential Baltic Cruise to Russia aboard the Emerald Princess"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Scandinavian-Baltic cruise to Russia was truly the quintessential destination. Rupert and I can now put a check mark in our \u201cbucket list of places to visit\u201d \u2013 particularly the Hermitage and its environs. Dazzling sights to behold too were St. Isaac Cathedral\u2019s massive dome which is covered with 220 pounds of gold, the Grand Cascade fountains and more. Travel savant Bessie Escalona of Voyager Travel and Tours had organized the Filipino group of 43, comprised mostly of Theresians – class of Rupert\u2019s sister Nora, with a few coming from the U.S. and Australia. They were with their much-loved former teacher, Mrs. Lucila Dypiangco. or popularly known as Mrs. D. With the exacting eye of our best friend, photographer extraordinaire and businessman David Lim and funky florist, Boots Araneta, we were like a large family. \u00a0Nora Jacinto was one of the finalists in the Miss Princess Pop Star competition. <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Fine dining aboard the Emerald Princess was at its best at Sabatini\u2019s and Crown Grill, with its stellar Sea Bass, Rib Eye, and Onion Soup with Blue Cheese, \u00a0complemented with a select wine list. The highlights of the cruise nonpareil were the extraordinary St. Petersburg, the Hermitage whose collection is as spectacular as that of the Louvre, the magnificent Peterhof Palace, (called Russia\u2019s Versailles), and the baroque Catherine Palace with the awe-inspiring Amber Room, its walls covered with 6 tons of semi-precious stones.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The trips to the city proper afforded time for introductory opportunities; and on our bus trip to Berlin, we learned that one of the members of our group, Dr. Bert Salvador was to meet his son, Robert for the first time in 46 years.\u00a0 \u00a0Robert found his father in google, and the excitement in the bus grew, as we picked up Robert and his wife, Silke Schneidereit, their daughter, Larissa, as they joined us on our tour of Berlin. It was a memorable good-bye at the end of the tour. (Do visit me at www.tinajacinto.com<\/a> and like me in Facebook, Tina Hidalgo Jacinto)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Nora Jacinto, David Lim, The Lady HB, Rupert Jacinto, Bessie Escalona, Lucila Dypiangco and Boots Araneta posed against the Emerald Princess<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The Lady HB at the magnificent Peterhof Castle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Peter Rosca, Dr. Ester Rosca, Dr. Priscilla Naval, Jaime Jiang, Benita Macabeo and Marina Centenera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Godwin Castelino, manager of Michaelangelo Restaurant, Rupert Jacinto, The Lady HB, the Emerald Princess Sommelier and David Lim<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Tonet Dacanay, Marilou Ladines, Bing Torres, Meanne Magsalin, Nora Maceda, Becky Mendoza and Ester Wasidlow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The Lady HB, Fe Wanner, Becky Mendoza, Lucila Dypiangco and Oscar Dypiangco<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Neri Dionisio, Bing Torres, Evelyn Ranada and Justice Santiago Ranada<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Bessie Escalona of Voyager Travel and Tours, Boots Araneta, Marilin Arellano, Fe Wanner and Megan Rutledge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Benny Gutierrez, Leni Gutierrez, Lyn Marquez and Narcing Marquez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Father and son meet for the first time in Berlin after 46 years. Dr. Bert Salvador, 2nd from left with son, Robert, 3rd from left with Robert\u2019s wife, Silke Schneidereit, daughter Larissa Salvador and Bert\u2019s wife, Marlene Salvador<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Scandinavian-Baltic cruise to Russia was truly the quintessential destination. Rupert and I can now put a check mark in our \u201cbucket list of places to visit\u201d \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,10,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-having-a-ball","category-people-places"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tinajacinto.com\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/16.jpg?fit=600%2C418&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9FePs-vQ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tinajacinto.com\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tinajacinto.com\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tinajacinto.com\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinajacinto.com\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinajacinto.com\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1974"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tinajacinto.com\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3150,"href":"https:\/\/tinajacinto.com\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1974\/revisions\/3150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinajacinto.com\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tinajacinto.com\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinajacinto.com\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinajacinto.com\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}