Odyssey at Sea: Coasts of Northern Europe & Russia

Activity note: London Heathrow (LHR). Refer to your personal air itinerary for specific flight information. Transfer to the port will take approximately one hour.

Morning: Transfer from the airport to the cruise terminal and board the Aegean Odyssey. Meals aboard ship will begin with dinner; a light lunch will be available for those who arrive in time.

Afternoon: After embarking the Aegean Odyssey, take some time to freshen up and relax before our Orientation session. Orientation: 6:00 p.m. The Group Leader will greet everyone and lead introductions. We will review the up-to-date program schedule, discuss roles and responsibilities, logistics, safety guidelines, emergency procedures, and answer questions. Program activities, schedules, personnel, and indicated distances or times may change due to local circumstances/conditions. In the event of changes, we will alert you as quickly as possible. Thank you for your understanding.

Dinner: Aboard ship, enjoy your first dinner on board in the venue of your choice: the a la carte Marco Polo restaurant, open for dinner as well as lunch on full days at sea; and the Terrace Café with its extensive buffet open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Chef-prepared meals feature fresh ingredients in tasty preparations including healthy choices. Both restaurants offer open-seating dining. All meals aboard ship are included as well as afternoon tea and late night snacks. Non-alcoholic beverages and select wines at dinner are included; other beverages are available for purchase upon request.

Evening: At leisure. Enjoy activities aboard ship, spend time with fellow Road Scholars, and be sure to check the briefing memo/daily bulletin placed in our cabins with highlights for tomorrow. The ship is scheduled to remain in port overnight.

Activity note: Extent and duration of free time activities dependent on personal preference.

Breakfast: In the Terrace Café — and on the Lido Deck in nice weather — there are freshly made hot and cold dishes to choose from such as eggs, breakfast meats, cereals, fruits, breads, pastries, and a variety of healthy choices as well as milk, juice, coffee, tea, water. Meals feature fresh local ingredients in tasty preparations.

Morning: Free time. Enjoy the activities of your choice aboard ship, including a lecture on topics relevant to our program.

Lunch: You may choose either the Marco Polo Restaurant that serves a variety of á là carte items or the Terrace Café with its buffet.

Afternoon: Free time. Enjoy the activities of your choice aboard ship. Late afternoon, we will gather with our Group Leader for a port talk. The ship will leave Tilbury on our journey to Amsterdam.

Dinner: You may choose either the Marco Polo Restaurant that serves a variety of á là carte items or the Terrace Café with its buffet.

Evening: Enjoy activities aboard ship, spend time with fellow Road Scholars, and be sure to check the briefing memo/daily bulletin placed in our cabins with highlights for tomorrow.

Activity note: Extent and duration of free time activities dependent on personal preference.

Breakfast: In the Terrace Café — and on the Lido Deck in nice weather.

Morning: We'll board a motorcoach to set out on our panoramic exploration of Amsterdam, taking in the incredible network of canals and learning the rich history of Amsterdam, the capital city of the Netherlands.

Lunch: Your choice of the Terrace Café or Marco Polo Restaurant.

Afternoon: Free time. Enjoy the activities of your choice aboard ship.

Dinner: You may choose either the Marco Polo Restaurant that serves a variety of á là carte items or the Terrace Café with its buffet.

Evening: At leisure. Enjoy activities aboard ship, spend time with fellow Road Scholars, and be sure to check the briefing memo/daily bulletin placed in our cabins with highlights for tomorrow. The ship will leave Amsterdam on our journey to Warnemunde.

Activity note: Extent and duration of free time activities dependent on personal preference.

Breakfast: In the Terrace Café — and on the Lido Deck in nice weather.

Morning: The Kiel Canal is a 98-kilometre long freshwater canal in northern Germany. The canal was finished in 1895, but later widened, and links the North and Baltic Seas. As we pass through this important canal, we'll listen to expert commentary on the subject.

Lunch: Your choice of the Terrace Café or Marco Polo Restaurant.

Afternoon: Free time. Enjoy the activities of your choice aboard ship. Late afternoon, we will gather with our Group Leader for a port talk.

Dinner: You may choose either the Marco Polo Restaurant that serves a variety of á là carte items or the Terrace Café with its buffet.

Evening: At leisure. Enjoy activities aboard ship, spend time with fellow Road Scholars, and be sure to check the briefing memo/daily bulletin placed in our cabins with highlights for tomorrow.

Activity note: Getting on/off motorcoach. Driving approximately 150 miles (242 km) each way, about 5 hours round trip. NOTE: Pergamon Museum is currently undergoing staggered renovation work, therefore the hall containing the Pergamon Altar will be closed until 2023. The North Wing and the gallery of Hellenistic Art are also affected by the closure. The South Wing, featuring the Market Gate of Miletus, the Ishtar Gate and Processional Way, Babylon, as well as the Museum of Islamic Art, is unaffected.

Breakfast: In the Terrace Café — and on the Lido Deck in nice weather.

Morning: We'll board our motorcoach for a full day exploring Berlin. On the 10th May 1933 some 20,000 books were burned in Berlin’s Bebelplatz by order of the Nazi Party. In 1995, a memorial was unveiled in the square to commemorate this infamous event. Driving through Kurfurstendamm, Berlin’s Champs-Elysees, we pass the impressive 17th century Schloss Charlottenburg, followed by the Gendarmenmarkt featuring the neoclassical Concert Hall and the French and German churches. Other highlights we will see include the remnants of the Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and Checkpoint Charlie.

Lunch: On your own in Berlin to do and see according to personal interest. The Group Leader is happy to offer suggestions.

Afternoon: Continue to the Neo-Renaissance Protestant Berlin Cathedral, followed by the Pergamon Museum, which has one of the most breathtaking collections of monumental antiquities in Europe, including the Ishtar Gate and Processional Way from Babylon, constructed in about 575BCE by King Nebuchadnezzar II. Late afternoon, we'll return to the ship.

Dinner: You may choose either the Marco Polo Restaurant that serves a variety of á là carte items or the Terrace Café with its buffet.

Evening: At leisure. Enjoy activities aboard ship, spend time with fellow Road Scholars, and be sure to check the briefing memo/daily bulletin placed in our cabins with highlights for tomorrow. The ship will leave Warnemunde on our journey.

Activity note: Extent and duration of free time activities dependent on personal preference.

Breakfast: In the Terrace Café — and on the Lido Deck in nice weather.

Morning: Free time. Enjoy the activities of your choice aboard ship, including a lecture on topics relevant to our program.

Lunch: Your choice of the Terrace Café or Marco Polo Restaurant.

Afternoon: Free time. Enjoy the activities of your choice aboard ship. Late afternoon, we will gather with our Group Leader for a port talk.

Dinner: You may choose either the Marco Polo Restaurant that serves a variety of á là carte items or the Terrace Café with its buffet.

Evening: At leisure. Enjoy activities aboard ship, spend time with fellow Road Scholars, and be sure to check the briefing memo/daily bulletin placed in our cabins with highlights for tomorrow.

Activity note: Getting on/off motorcoach. Walking up to 2 miles, uneven surfaces. Extent and duration of free time activities dependent on personal preference.

Breakfast: In the Terrace Café — and on the Lido Deck in nice weather.

Morning: This panoramic tour follows the royal route from the Green Gate on the banks of Motlawa to Long Street and the historic town houses of Long Market, including the Main Town Hall, Arthur’s Court and the iconic Neptune Fountain. Known as the “Crown of Gdansk”, St. Mary’s Church was begun in the 15th century and is the world’s largest brick temple, with mighty walls and towers rising high above the skyline, including an eighty-two metre tower that affords some breathtaking views of the city. The church took over 150 years to complete and can accommodate 25,000 worshippers. Its deceivingly plain exterior belies a bright, spacious interior featuring thirty decorated chapels, a polyptych, ancient tombs and a 15th century astronomical clock.

Lunch: Your choice of the Terrace Café, Marco Polo Restaurant, or on your own in port.

Afternoon: Free time. Enjoy the activities of your choice aboard ship on your own in port. Late afternoon, we will gather with our Group Leader for a port talk.

Dinner: You may choose either the Marco Polo Restaurant that serves a variety of á là carte items or the Terrace Café with its buffet.

Evening: At leisure. Enjoy activities aboard ship, spend time with fellow Road Scholars, and be sure to check the briefing memo/daily bulletin placed in our cabins with highlights for tomorrow. The ship will leave Gdynia on our journey to Tallinn.

Activity note: Extent and duration of free time activities dependent on personal preference.

Breakfast: In the Terrace Café — and on the Lido Deck in nice weather.

Morning: Free time. Enjoy the activities of your choice aboard ship, including a lecture on topics relevant to our program.

Lunch: Your choice of the Terrace Café, Marco Polo Restaurant.

Afternoon: Free time. Enjoy the activities of your choice aboard ship. Late afternoon, we will gather with our Group Leader for a port talk.

Dinner: You may choose either the Marco Polo Restaurant that serves a variety of á là carte items or the Terrace Café with its buffet.

Evening: At leisure. Enjoy activities aboard ship, spend time with fellow Road Scholars, and be sure to check the briefing memo/daily bulletin placed in our cabins with highlights for tomorrow.

Activity note: Getting on/off a motorcoach. Walking about 2 miles; uneven, cobblestone surfaces; steep hills, long flights of steps. Extent and duration of free time activities dependent on personal preference.

Breakfast: In the Terrace Café — and on the Lido Deck in nice weather.

Morning: From the UNESCO World Heritage Site inscription: “The origins of Tallinn date back to the 13th century, when a castle was built there by the crusading knights of the Teutonic Order. It developed as a major centre of the Hanseatic League, and its wealth is demonstrated by the opulence of the public buildings (the churches in particular) and the domestic architecture of the merchants' houses, which have survived to a remarkable degree despite the ravages of fire and war in the intervening centuries.” We’ll depart the ship and take a motorcoach to begin a walking field trip led by a local expert that will feature some of the city’s most historically and culturally significant sites. Among the highlights we’ll see in the Upper Town are Toompea Castle, imposing Pikk Hermann tower (c. 1360); the Parliament building; and the Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevski Cathedral.

Lunch: Your choice of the Terrace Café, Marco Polo Restaurant.

Afternoon: Free time aboard ship. Enjoy the activities of your choice aboard ship. Late afternoon, we will gather with our Group Leader for a port talk. The ship will leave Tallinn on our journey to St. Petersburg.

Dinner: You may choose either the Marco Polo Restaurant that serves a variety of á là carte items or the Terrace Café with its buffet.

Evening: At leisure. Enjoy activities aboard ship, spend time with fellow Road Scholars, and be sure to check the briefing memo/daily bulletin placed in our cabins with highlights for tomorrow.

Activity note: Getting on/off motorcoach. There are flights of stairs, no elevators, crowded conditions, and the possibility of long lines between galleries. Photography is not allowed in the Amber Room of Catherine's Palace. The drive to Peterhof is about 12.5 miles (20.5 kilometers), approximately 1 hour. Walking at Peterhof approximately 1.5 miles with some gravel paths, flights of stairs, few places to sit. Peterhof and Catherine's Palace are not wheelchair accessible.

Breakfast: In the Terrace Café — and on the Lido Deck in nice weather.

Morning: We’ll board a motorcoach at the pier to begin studying the royal lifestyle of the Romanovs with an expert-led field trip to the town of Pushkin — originally called Tsarskoye Selo (Tsar’s Village) — to explore the Catherine Palace and its adjacent park. This elaborate baroque residence was built by Tsarina Elizabeth in 1752 to honor the memory of her mother Katarina, the first wife of Tsar Peter I the Great. It was later rebuilt to become the main summer residence of Tsarina Catherine II the Great. Inside the palace, we’ll come face to face with a magnificent reconstruction of what some have called the Eighth Wonder of the World: the extraordinary Amber Room, made with six tons of amber, decorated with other gemstones and gold leaf, and inlaid with mirrors. We’ll learn how the room’s panels of amber mosaics were taken by the Nazis during their invasion of Russia in World War II, how they mysteriously disappeared, theories regarding the yet-unknown whereabouts, and how teams of Russian artists and conservators worked meticulously from 1979 until 2003 to reconstruct the entire room.

Lunch: At a local restaurant.

Afternoon: We’ll continue by motorcoach to Peterhof, the stunning summer estate of Russian tsars on the Gulf of Finland. We’ll have an expert-led exploration of the interior of the Grand Palace, including Peter the Great’s Oak Study and the Chinese Lobbies, before having some time for independent exploration of the Lower Park. Peter the Great himself sketched out what became one of the most extraordinary royal garden creations anywhere in the world. His successors the Empress Elizabeth (his daughter) and Catherine the Great continued to expand and improve these gardens. The Lower Park is considered a masterpiece of garden design incorporating plants and trees, exceptional architecture, sculpture, and water features including the famous fountains — over 150 in number! — and other objects beautifully restored to their original splendor.

Dinner: You may choose either the Marco Polo Restaurant that serves a variety of á là carte items or the Terrace Café with its buffet.

Evening: After dinner, we'll enjoy a cultural performance. More details to follow. The ship is scheduled to remain in port overnight.

Activity note: Getting on/off ship, motorcoach; driving about 15 miles, approximately 1.5 hours. Walking approximately 2 miles, standing for approximately 3 hours. Limited seating available in Hermitage Museum, stairs at entrance and between floors; alternative step-free access available to most frequently visited areas.

Breakfast: In the Terrace Café — and on the Lido Deck in nice weather.

Morning: We’ll step ashore, board a motorcoach, and ride to the iconic State Hermitage Museum. Here we’ll enjoy a docent-led field trip through the museum’s heart, the Winter Palace, from where the tsars ruled over their empire from 1732 to 1917. The Winter Palace’s grand reception and gala rooms play host to a magnificent collection of painting, sculpture, and jewelry. Our field trip will include a 30-minute visit to the splendid and aptly named Gold Drawing Room. The room itself is decorated with heavy gilt molding across the ceiling and walls, and is now home to an exhibition of gold artefacts including significant collections of ancient Scythian and Greek pieces, royal gifts, and jewelry from across the world. En route back to the ship, we’ll drive along the Neva embankment and Nevsky Prospect.

Lunch: Late lunch aboard ship. Your choice of the Terrace Café or Marco Polo Restaurant.

Afternoon: Free time aboard ship. Enjoy the activities of your choice aboard ship. Late afternoon, we will gather with our Group Leader for a port talk. The ship will leave St. Petersburg on our journey to Helsinki.

Dinner: You may choose either the Marco Polo Restaurant that serves a variety of á là carte items or the Terrace Café with its buffet.

Evening: At leisure. Enjoy activities aboard ship, spend time with fellow Road Scholars, and be sure to check the briefing memo/daily bulletin placed in our cabins with highlights for tomorrow.

Activity note: Getting on/off the ship. Walking up to 2 miles; uneven surfaces. Extent and duration of free time activities dependent on personal preference.

Breakfast: In the Terrace Café.

Morning: We’ll board a motorcoach and ride to Ainola, Jean Sibelius’ Home Museum. Here we will see the composer’s home as it was while he lived there with his family, as well as the graves of the composer and his wife. We'll continue our field trip at Temppeliaukion Church. Also known as Rock Church, this Lutheran church was build directly into solid rock and is known for its excellent acoustics.

Lunch: Late lunch aboard ship. Your choice of the Terrace Café, Marco Polo Restaurant.

Afternoon: Free time aboard ship. Enjoy the activities of your choice aboard ship. Late afternoon, we will gather with our Group Leader for a port talk. The ship will leave Helsinki on our journey to Stockholm.

Dinner: Farewell Dinner aboard ship.

Evening: At leisure. Enjoy activities aboard ship, spend time with fellow Road Scholars, and be sure to check the briefing memo/daily bulletin placed in our cabins with highlights for tomorrow. Prepare for disembarkation in the morning.

Activity note: Getting on/off motorcoach. Walking up to 2 miles; uneven suraces. Extent and duration of free time activities dependent on personal preference. Hotel check-in begins at 3:00 p.m.

Breakfast: In the Terrace Café.

Morning: Upon disembarkation, we’ll set out on an expert-led field trip by motorcoach. Most attractions of Stockholm are within a few miles’ walking distance from the central station, and during our field trip we will many of them. We’ll make a special stop at the Stockholm City Hall. This remarkable building, inaugurated in 1923, combines many architectural and ornamental styles into a unique structure that is the pride of Stockholm.

Lunch: At a local restaurant.

Afternoon: After checking into the hotel, the rest of the day is free time to relax or to explore on your own. The Group Leader is happy to offer suggestions.

Dinner: On your own.

Evening: At leisure. Prepare for departures in the morning.

Activity note: Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN). Refer to your personal air itinerary for specific flight information. Check-out at 12:00 noon.

Breakfast: At the hotel.

Morning: After breakfast, check out of the hotel and transfer to the airport. This concludes our program. If you are returning home, safe travels. If you are staying on independently, have a wonderful time. If you are transferring to another Road Scholar program, detailed instructions are included in your Information Packet for that program. We hope you enjoy Road Scholar learning adventures and look forward to having you on rewarding programs in the future. Don’t forget to join our Facebook page and follow us on Instagram. Best wishes for all your journeys!