Stockholm, Sweden..much more than meatballs

Stockholm, the home of Alfred Nobel, is resplendent with sparkling waterways, surrounded by some very dramatic buildings.

This area has been inhabited since approximately 3,000 BC.  In the 13th century, the Vikings began building fortifications of what is Stockholm today.  It was in the 17^th century that Stockholm began to grow into a sophisticated capital city.

Besides the many Venice-like canals here, the part we liked best was the “Old Town”.   Many of the buildings are at least 700 years old.  The twisting and winding streets are full of small boutiques, cafes, restaurants, and yes there were many yarn shops also.  Old Town is where much of the night life of Stockholm takes place. This is also an area with museums, the opera house, and the Royal Palace.

sightseeing by boat - a must in Stockholm

Gail & John overlooking the central lake

Flat Stanley's admired the amusement park, but Granny said "No way!"

 

Yesterday we went into town by shuttle bus and did a hop-on Hop-off boat tour of the harbour and canal area.  This is a must for anyone traveling here.   We also went on a one and a half hour walk throughout the Old Town area and promptly got lost, even though we had a map. We eventually found our way back to the harbour area and the shuttle bus to get us back to the ship. 

 

On Wednesday, John escorted a two hour walking tour of the Old Town, ending with a small sampling of local fare ... fish and more fish.  We had a wonderful guide who conducted the tour dressed in medieval Viking clothing.  The name of this Swedish girl is Natalie O`Sullivan, not exactly a typical Swedish name.  Her father is Irish and her parents met at the Olympics many years ago and settled in Sweden, her mother`s country.

Natalie and Troll (she's the tall one)

90 cm wide street in Old Town

Central square in Old Town

 

Gail`s tour included a visit to the Ostermalmshallen Food market, a beautiful indoor market, where there were tastings of all kinds of local specialties, including several kinds of fish, Swedish meatballs  and cheese – all good!  A lot of fresh dill is used in the recipes.  We also visited the old royal palace of Waldemarsudde, where there is an art gallery and the original furnishings of the home are in place.  It seemed quite modest for a royal palace, but the location, with its magnificent view, and the beautiful grounds, made it very appealing.  It is so peaceful and refreshing, that anyone would like to live here.  Back to the ship we went, however, for more tasty food.

At the Palace waterfall fountain

Grounds and garden at the Prince's palace

Typical appetizer on board the ship

 

From here, the ship will return to St.Petersburg, where we hope the weather will be warmer than the last time we were there.  But before we sail away....dinner.

Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

On our second day in St. Petersburg, Gail and John each escorted a separate group for a three and a half hour tour of the Hermitage Museum.  Crossing through the immigration police was a breeze today ... a quick glance at the passport and off we went.  I wonder, did someone in authority have a talk with the immigration staff?

After a 20 minute bus trip we arrived at our destination.  First of all, a little background for you. The Hermitage Museum is the second largest gallery of art in the world, after the Louvre in Paris.  The Hermitage is a huge complex of five buildings, of which the Winter Palace (the home of Russian Emperors from 1763 to 1917) is one. The Hermitage, as an art gallery, was started by Catherine II from 1764 to 1775 when she traveled all over Europe to purchase art for her new museum.  This tradition continued with her heirs.  While a fire gutted the main building in 1837, much of the original structure was restored. 

Getting ready to escort the Hermitage tour

One of the Hermitage buildings, the Winter Palace

The Grand staircase

 

Upon entry, one is overwhelmed by the incredible architecture, gold and glitter, and sheer size of the place.  The grand staircase is awesome in size and grandeur. The art collection, of which we only saw a small part in the three hours plus that we were there, is diverse and covers the period from medieval times to Picasso and beyond. The Hermitage has in its possession over three million pieces of art, sculpture and so on. It is estimated that if you spent as little as one minute observing each piece of art in the collection, it would take you up to eleven years to see the whole thing. Thus, only a small part of the collection is on display at any one time.  What there is to see on display is amazing.

A typical room

The `Hanging`garden, which is outside the second floor

No place is left undecorated, even the ceiling

 

When you see the overwhelming opulence in the Hermitage and the rest of St. Petersburg as well, and knowing how many serfs were starving at that time in Russia, it is little wonder that the populace eventually revolted. Nevertheless, we hope to explore more when we return next week.

St. Petersburg, Russia

We arrived in Russia at 8 AM on a cold, wet Thursday morning.  A bit of a relief after the hot days we’ve managed to survive.  As we left the ship for a tour of St. Petersburg, we were warned about the immigration police.  What an experience!  Each of us spent several minutes being glowered at by a group of wrestler-sized women who do not have the ability to smile (we were also warned about making jokes).  Does anyone ever come back here a second time?  A number of passengers complained to officials about their treatment.

Our ship in a busy harbour

Once we got through, and it took quite a while to process all of those heading out on tours, we finally got a look at the city some 3 miles from the cruise docks. For a city that was first formed some 350 years ago, it is pretty spectacular.  There are blocks and blocks of apartment buildings, many very utilitarian in style, from the Soviet era.  In the older part, the magnificent buildings are reminiscent of Italy (Florence, Venice), with lots of canals and bridges.  We got to see a number of cathedrals, museums, libraries, fortresses, the Neva river, and Nevsky Prospect, the main shopping street of St. Petersburg (Paris anyone?).  We spent some time at the Cruiser Aurora, the World War I boat that signalled the start of the Bolshevik revolution ... there is some pride evident here. This bus tour took us to these various sites, with 10 to 15 minute photo-op stops.  We were also ” forced” to shop at a souvenir shop ... imagine 7 buses descending on a store at once.  On a positive note, we were greeted with a shot of vodka as we walked in .... not a bad way to warm one’s cockles at 10 AM ... very civilized I would say.  This was also the one and only very important washroom stop.

 

    Flat Stanley's finally arrive in Russia

Gail at the Neva River

Here we are, the important cruise escorts ...

okay, "paddle people".

Peter and Paul Fortress

A typical street in St. Petersburg

The Winter Palace (i.e., Hermitage Museum)

Smolny Cathedral

The Church of the Spilled Blood

The Cruiser Aurora

They've got them everywhere

 Finally, we bid goodbye to St. Petersburg as we head off to Stockholm, but we'll be back next week.

St. Petersburg sunset ... at 11:15 PM

Baltic Beauty: Riga and Tallinn

Two places we had never even heard of before became favourites on this trip so far.   Unfortunately it started to pour down after we got off our buses at Riga, but there were many lovely places to visit, and our experienced tour guides were able to keep us under shelter for at least part of the time. 

The Art Nouveau architecture in Riga, Latvia, is quite unexpected and amazingly preserved, considering how much this part of the world and its heritage suffered under Soviet occupation. 

There are a number of fascinating buildings, many with animal ornaments on their rooftops, some quite humorous. 

We were on two different tours in Riga.  Gail went for a panoramic drive around the city, then walking in the old town where there is a domed cathedral under reconstruction, in which there is a magnificent pipe organ with over 5, 000 pipes.  It was built in Germany in 1884 and is still in operation.  A highlight of this tour was a concert on the fabulous organ.

John  first went on a tour of Jumanga, a resort town on the Baltic coast with fancy resort homes for very rich Russians who still maintain a presence in the area. Apparently Putin has a summer home in the area.  After Jumanga, we went off to Riga in the rain.

Watch tower at Riga

Cat on an old tin roof

Riga in the rain

Gail with a very large rooster in an old church

 

Tallinn, Estonia is the largest Baltic center of industry and culture.  A modern, bustling city, it is enjoying a higher standard of living than most neighbouring communities.  The gem of Tallinn for tourists such as we are, is the old town which lies behind a fortress wall and is accessed through picturesque tower gates dating back to the thirteenth century.  There are no cars on the cobbled streets that take us back in time, while maintaining a unique northern character.  We were fortunate to have the sun for our visit, as the day started with looming clouds and threats of rain.  The air is cool in these northern cities on the water, making it very pleasant for exploring the many fascinating little streets.  There were numerous vendors of local crafts and souvenirs, all made in Estonia, of very high quality.  Gail had to buy a linen hat because the sun became too bright!

It was fun to take a leisurely stroll around this beautiful place together, without having to worry about a tour group today.  We enjoyed a lunch of local fare – lots of fish and vegetables washed down with Estonian beer – all good.  Of the Baltic cities we have visited so far, Tallinn is by far our favourite.

Old city gates of Tallinn

A dragon gargoyle on a church in Tallinn

Old and not so old (McDonalds in medieval town)

 

 

We enjoyed an Estonian lunch washed down with wonderful local beer.

  Tallinn is actually a very large, bustling modern city with a thriving economy.  The Medieval part has been preserved as an outstanding tourist attraction.  What fun!

Modern Tallinn

Northern Europe Adventure: Copenhagen and the first two ports

Trans Atlantic flights are rarely the most enjoyable of activities, rather a necessary evil in order to begin the fun at a further destination.  Our Air France flight was uneventful (leaving 7 PM Toronto), and after landing in Paris we found our way through the labyrinth of Charles DeGaulle Airport to continue on to Copenhagen (arriving12 noon on Friday).   We look forward to exploring this lovely city when we return later during one of the upcoming cruises.  For now it was great just to get to the ship and settle in to our lovely room on the eighth floor, with a big comfy bed.  Ahhh sleep.

Beautiful statues at the port

John looking at Copenhagen from the upper deck

 

The first port of call was Warnemunde, Germany, a quaint little town in what was once East Germany, from which may people took tours into Berlin.  Gail had work to do on the ship and had a meeting with the assistant cruise director about the upcoming art classes, so it was a walk into town for the afternoon, while John escorted a thirteen hour bus tour to Berlin.

John left at 8:30 AM and headed to Berlin through what was once scenic East Germany.  Much of the Russian architecture is still very much present in the countryside ... lots of dull, square, grey buildings with small windows.  Berlin was interesting.  We got to see a lake beach,  on the edge of what was East Berlin, full of naked people ... acres of lumpy flesh (apparently bathing suits just get wet, so why wear them),  a lot of reconstruction,  lots of views of the river Sprey,  and very busy streets.  We visited the Allied Museum where the original checkpoint Charlie is stored, along with one of the huge airplanes used in the Berlin airlift in the late 1950’s after the wall around West Berlin was built.  We got to go to where one km of the wall was left,  as a memorial,  all covered with commissioned paintings ... pretty  impressive, especially the “killing zone” between the walls.  The Berlin Wall was a double wall, with about a 10 m space between the two walls (i.e., the killing zone). After lunch at the Hotel Kempinski,  we went to the Holocaust Memorial honouring those who died during World War II ... a very moving experience.  After that we went on an hour walk through town ending up at  the Brandenberg gates and the Reichstag , with a final stop at Charlottsburg Castle (see  pictures).  Finally, back to the ship arriving at 9:15 PM. 

View of Warnemunde from the ship

Train station

This plane hauled supplies to West Berlin after the wall went up

John at the remaining piece of the wall (now a memorial)

Brandenburg Gates

Charlottsburg Castle

 Sunday was a sea day, so we rested to get over jet lag and taught our first art class in the afternoon.  Monday we were in Lithuania (Klaipeda).  Gail escorted a tour into the old town and John escorted a tour into the resort town of Palanga, which included an amazing (but not air-conditioned) amber museum (Baltic amber is quite prized).  By the way, never believe weather reports.  Everything we saw about weather in this region mentioned how cold it was  ... so we brought a lot of warm clothing.  The temperature has not been less that 32 C since we got here, including a blistering hot, extremely humid day today. On the Palanga tour, involving about 3 ½  hours of walking, there were 32 exhausted tourists when we finally got to the beer garden for snacks and a much deserved beer. Lithuanian beer is excellent ... though the glasses could have been larger. I should mention that, with the hot weather, the fact that the ship is all-inclusive is truly a blessing.

John

Mansion on the approach to Klaipeda Lithuania

One of the few remaining original parts of Klaipeda

Most of the Baltic cities have beautiful canals

Shopping for amber is a must in this area