A trip to the Baltics (Part III)

Copenhagen, Denmark

Our day in Copenhagen was pretty hectic as the two things we wanted to see were quite far away from each-other so we had lots of walking to do! We started the day with a visit to Tivoli gardens (where I of course had to ride on a Giraffe on the carousel!)

Next we walked through the town and past the colourful harbour all the way to the statue of the Little Mermaid. This was a pretty essential part of the trip for me considering my love of fairytales, there was no way I could visit Copenhagen without getting a picture of myself with the Little Mermaid!

Oslo, Norway

The day in Oslo also happened to be Jamie's birthday, so that made it that bit special!

We spent the day at the Norwegian Folk Museum (hello even more inspiration for new illustrations!) which is made up of lots of old buildings from areas around Oslo, some of which had people inside dressed in traditional costumes and doing crafts or playing music. We sailed out in the evening through the 60 mile fjord and found a quiet little spot at the front of the ship with some lovely views.

Bruges, Belgium

The final stop of the holiday was in Zeebrugge, Belgium. Me and Jamie got the train in to Bruges and spent the day exploring the picturesque town, taking a boat ride along the canals and indulging in too much chocolate, ice cream and waffles!

This was just a tiny selection of the pictures I took while we were away, there are so many more I'd love to share but I don't want to bore you all! I'll be working on several illustration projects inspired by the places we visited and things we saw, so I may share a few more images along with those when they're finished.

This was an incredible holiday from start to finish and I really hope to revisit these places again one day. If you're considering visiting this part of the world I can definitely recommend it! I had no idea what to expect of all the countries we visited but I was thrilled with what we discovered!

A trip to the Baltics (Part II)

Tallinn, Estonia

Overall Tallinn had to be my favourite of all the towns we visited. With castles, towers and turrets everywhere it was like something out of a fairytale! We sat under what looked like Rapunzel's tower and were served drinks by staff dressed in medieval clothing. I met a fellow illustrator in the local market and bough a set of postcards from her inspired by Estonian fairy stories (I'll be reading the stories soon and creating my own illustrations for them too!)

I could have stayed here for much longer (and definitely hope to go back one day) soaking in all the sights and wondering around the cobbled streets! Expect to see lots of illustrations inspired by this magical place!

Stockholm, Sweden

On the morning we arrived in Stockholm I was up at 3.30am and again at 6.30am watching as we sailed past lots of little islands. The city itself was just as lovely, with beautiful buildings and brightly coloured skylines. There were a few things we didn't get to do here as we were a little short on time, so we hope to go back one day soon.

I'll be back next week with the final instalment of pictures from the trip, including The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen and the pretty streets of Bruges.

A trip to the Baltics (Part I)

A few days ago I returned from an incredible 2 weeks cruise around the Baltics with Jamie and my Mum and Dad. We visited so many amazing places, saw so many beautiful things and of course ate far too much brilliant food!

Between the 4 of us we took just over 3000 pictures! I've selected a few favourites of some of the things we saw, and I'll be sharing them here on the blog over 3 instalments.

First up are a few from Helsinki and St Petersburg.

Helsinki, Finland

We spent the day in Helsinki wondering around the town, exploring the market and and a lovely (but very cold!) boat trip around some islands.

Peterhof Palace

St Petersburg, Russia

On our first morning in St Petersburg we visited Peterhof Palace and walked around the fountain gardens.

Church of the Saviour on Blood (Spilt blood Cathedral)

St. Petersburg, Russia

In the afternoon, we went to what was one of my favourite places of the whole trip. This beautiful church is covered from floor to ceiling (and right up into the domes) on the inside with wonderfully colourful mosaics. I took hundreds of pictures in here and I'll definitely be using these as inspiration for some new work.

St Isaac's Cathedral

St. Petersburg, Russia

Our final stop on our first day in St Petersburg was to St Isaac's Cathedral, filled with ornate gold decoration and colourful paintings. 

Catherine Palace

St Petersburg, Russia

The second day in St Petersburg was spent at the beautiful Catherine Palace. We ran an hour over time here and didn't get time to look around the gardens because there was just so much to look at inside. Room after room of ornate gold decoration, patterned floors and gorgeous blue tiles. This is another one that'll definitely be inspiring my work!

While we were in Russia I got two lovely books of Russian fairytales (one from Jamie and one from Mum and Dad, thank you!). Later today I'll be making a start on reading them and I'll be producing some illustrations inspired by the stories very soon (If you couldn't tell, I have lots of projects planned inspired by this trip!)

I'll be sharing some pictures from Tallinn and Stockholm later in the week in part II!