Europe 29 May 2012 - Helsinki

The port at Helsinki, Finland is a little out of town. Therefore, it is necessary to take a bus in to town, or walk about three miles. We chose the shuttle.

Esplanade

From where the shuttle dropped us off, we walked through Esplanade Park, a long block wide park to the waterfront. There is a monument to someone in the center. At the waterfront end we bought a two-hour tram ticket for a quick unguided tour of the city center on the 3T Tram. It made a large loop, passing most of the sites we might want to see, and gave us a good overview of the city.

Temppeliaukio Kirkko

We began in the central city and did make one stop at The Church in the Rock, or as it is in Finish, Temppeliaukio Kirkko (Temple Square Church). It is a modern Lutheran church carved into a large rock hill. Its organ is by a modern Finish firm, but we didn't hear it. We entered the church only five minutes before it was closing for an hour and a half for a funeral to take place. For once, our timing was good.

Back on the tram, we continued our city tour passing through several neighborhoods. We passed the Olympic Stadium, the Finnish National Opera House, Linnanmaki Amusement Park, the Swedish Theater (designed by Eero Saarinen), and went through the design district from where comes much modern furniture, and finally returned to the starting point near the waterfront.

Old Market Hall

The Old Market Hall, built in 1888, is an interesting market area with food stalls and restaurants. It is noted as one of the most beautiful in the world. Next to it, is an open air market on the waterfront with the usual collection of food, crafts, and souvenir stands.

Vendaces & Potatoes

We had lunch at one of the food stands in this area. The local dish we shared, along with sausage and paela, was Vendaces & Potatoes. Vendaces are small fish, about the size of small sardines, but come from fresh water lakes rather than the ocean. The whole fish, about 2 inches long, is deep fried, and you get a large pile of them. And I do mean whole fish; head, tail, skin, bones if any, and all. They were really pretty good. We washed that down with a local beer.

Uspenki Cathedral

"Bridge of Love"

On the hill above the market was Uspenski Cathedral, the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Helsiki. Leaving the church, we crossed the "Bridge of Love" over one of the canals. There is a tradition in Helsinki for couples to come here after their wedding ceremony and place a lock on the bridge. There were many.

From there we walked to Senate Square, an open square surrounded by government, university, and church buildings.  The central train station was a few blocks away and our next stop. It is a large building with a tall clock tower that was designed by Eliel Saarinen. Since we weren't going anywhere, we only used the WC.

In Senate Square

Tuomiokirkkko

We returned to Senate Square and Tuomiokirkko, the Lutheran Cathedral. It is a large white square building with a dome and a large organ. Again we did not hear it. There is also, of course, a Luther statue along with one of Melancton. The altar piece is a large painting.

Obligatory Ice Cream Cone

Once again we walked through Esplanade Park. There was entertainment on the band shell stage as we passed. And finally, we stopped for an ice cream cone at a stand in the park, a very popular Finnish thing to do.

Returning to the ship, again by shuttle, we sailed away from Helsinki, passing through many islands in the Baltic Sea heading for Stockholm.

Europe, 27-28 May 2012 - St Petersburg

St. Petersburg! A city of beautiful Russian Orthodox churches and other significant sites that had long been on "The List" and was now a reality.

Although Russia certainly welcomes tourists (and their dollars and euros), their visa rules are still a bit stringent. And visas are expensive. It is nearly impossible to simply wander on your own to all the major sights. The easiest and safest (and cheapest) way to get a visa is by being on an organized tour. So we contracted ahead of time with Alla Tours, a local private company for a full two-day tour of many of the signifiant sites in and around the city. It was a good choice.

After clearing immigration, we met our tour guide for the next two days outside the cruise terminal. We were on a minibus with 10 others from the ship. A much nicer size than the full size bus tours from the ship. Our guide was a young northern looking blond named Paulina. She did a very good job.

Kazan Cathedral

Farmers Market

We first drove into St Petersburg and around the city a little. We were given a quick introduction to city life by a visit to a market, which was mostly like a indoor farmers' market. Following that was a stop at a Russian Orthodox church with a service in progress. It is Sunday. But we couldn't understand any of the sermon in Russian.

The St Petersburg subway system is known as an especially beautiful one. The stations are very deep with what may be the longest escalators we had ever seen. They are tastefully decorated in an artistic manner. We rode only a short distance between two stations just for the experience.

Astoria Hotel (in Russian)

Today was Founders Day, the anniversary of the founding of the city. Many squares and streets were closed for planned festivities. Our next goal, St Isaacs Square and Cathedral was certainly no exception. Our driver had a hard time navigating the area. One building on the square that caught our attention was the Astoria Hotel. (Jen is right. You can never get completely away from Astoria.)

We drove along the Neva River on Vasilievsky Island. From there we could see the Hermitage museum which was our next destination. We had tickets for an early entrance before the museum is open to the general public. It is an incredible collection of art, most of which there is not room to display. And it began as the private collection of Catherine the Great. We spent about two and a half hours in the museum.

Lunch was at a local restaurant across Palace Square from the Hermitage to sample local food. I think the wait staff knew no English, so there were no explanations of what was served. There was a salad, and then soup, followed by what I think was stroganoff. The food was pretty good and it's always good to eat local.

Lunch: Stroganoff (?)

The Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood 

After lunch the next stop was another church, The Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood. The church is named for the place of the assassination of Czar Alexander the II in the middle ages. The exterior is extremely brightly colored and has many domes. The interior has beautiful mosaics ( much of them gold) on the walls and ceiling.

Low Bridge(s)

Since St Petersburg is built on several islands along rivers and canals, it is sometimes known as the Venice of Russia. So we took a river boat cruise. We went along several canals and rivers and under many low bridges, ending in the Neva River, the main river of the city. It is always an interesting perspective to see a city from the water.

We made two more sight-seeing stops after the cruise. The first was at Yusopov Palace, famous as the place where Gregory Rasputin was murdered. (It's a bit amazing how many places are associated with someone's murder or death.) And the final stop of the day was at St.Peter & St. Paul Fortress. There is, of course, a cathedral at the fortress. Peter the Great  and other czars and their families are buried here.

Royal Kripts

We had originally planned to stay in the city to attend a folklore performance after dinner. However, Dick was not feeling well, so we returned to the ship with the others. We hated to miss this cultural experience.

White Night (12:30 AM; sun just setting)

During the summer, northern Russia is known for its long days (or short nights) known as "White Nights." While Dick slept, Karen got up and saw such a phenomenon at about 12:30 AM, when the sun had not quite set.

at St Nicholas

Paulina met us the morning of Day 2 to see more of St Petersburg. We went by St. Nicholas church which is by a canal, and has always been a church, even in the Soviet era. It stayed open allowing people to come a pray, even when no services were allowed. Our first stop was at Alla's shop to pay for the tour and have the opportunity to buy souvenirs. We purchased a nesting nativity in the style of the nesting Russian dolls. It is a unique addition to our collection.

From there we headed out of St Petersburg to Catherine's Palace and Peterhof. On the edge of the city, we stopped briefly at the Leningrad Siege memorial.

Cupolas of church at
Catherine's Palace

Hall of Mirrors in Catherine's Palace

Throne Room

Catherine's Palace is a huge complex with one more room than Versailles. It even has a Hall of Mirrors, though the mirrors don't cover as much of the walls. It's still very impressive. One of the most impressive rooms is the "Amber Room." The walls are mostly covered with amber, a semi-precious stone that is often used to make jewelry. It is a truly amazing sight.

Outside the palace, we walked through the huge and beautiful gardens. Before returning to the bus and a sack lunch. That was another interesting Russian meal. It was a "pancake" wrapped around chicken to make a sandwich.

The next stop was at Peterhof, one of Peter the Great's palaces. The palace is under refurbishing and not open. The gardens are the main attraction.

We first walked the upper gardens while Paulina bought our admission tickets. They are not spectacular but beautiful, nonetheless. There are simple fountains in this section.

At Peterhof

Trick Foountain

In the formal gardens, the fountains are not simple. It fact, it is known as the fountain park. All the fountains, and there are a couple hundred of them, are gravity fed and operated using no pumps or electricity. It is amazing to see what engineers in the 18th century were able to accomplish. Peter also had a sense of humor and constructed several "trick fountains." If you step on a certain cobble stone the fountain begins and you get wet. We saw groups of children really enjoying these fountains. Peter didn't like living in huge palaces and actually lived in the smaller palace next to the river. The huge palace was used for state functions.

Peterhof Fountains

Our return to St Petersburg was by hydrofoil, which is much faster than by road. The bus met us where we docked near the Hermitage. On the way back to the ship, we stopped at St Isaac's Cathedral, the largest in St Petersburg. We had previously only seen the outside. It has amazing artwork and ikons inside as most Russian churches.

St Isaac's Dome

St Isaac's Cathedral

St Isaac's Mosaics

Kronshtat Cathedral

We returned to the ship in plenty of time to sail out of the city. As we left, we sailed past the Naval Shipyard, Kronshtadt. In addition to all the ships and a submarine or two, the shipyard has its own cathedral, a typical looking Russian Orthodox church. It's amazing that it's still there after the Soviet era. It has been refurbished and is quite a beautiful sight as we sailed away from St Petersburg.

Europe, 25-26 May 2012 - At Sea & Tallinn

The Glassy Sea

Friday 25 May, was a sea day. That's normally pretty quiet and not much of note to talk about. But the sea was a bit unusual. This cruise has been very smooth, with virtually no rough seas. Today was exceptional, as we had never seen such smooth water. It literally reminded me of the line from an old hymn about the "glassy sea." Extremely smooth and glassy looking.

Fabergé Ornament

The other interesting event was Karen won a raffle. The prize was a Christmas ornament hand made by Sarah Fabergé, from the family that makes the fantastic decorative eggs, and other things. 

On Saturday we landed at another well preserved medieval city, Tallinn, Estonia. A more modern city has grown up around the old walled medieval city. We walked from the cruise terminal through the newer city in to the old city.

The first landmark we came to was Fat Margaret, a 1529 round tower on the medieval wall.

Inside the wall, the first church we saw was St Olav, but it wasn't open that early. From there we walked along Lai Strasse, passing many medieval houses and other buildings. That brought us to the Town Hall Square, a typical center of the city.

In our usual quest to see medieval churches, our next stop was Holy Spirit Church, perhaps the oldest building in Tallinn. It was not originally a church, but a 14th century Alms House. As is the unfortunate case in many European cities, especially Eastern Europe, it is no longer an active church.

 

From there we walked through an outdoor market area and arrived at St Nicholas. We did not pay the admission to go inside to see a major piece of art, the painting, Toten Tanz.

View from St Olav Tower

Brotherhood of Blackheads

We walked along Pikk Strasse on the way back to St Olav. Along the way we passed the most photographed door in Tallinn at the Brotherhood of Blackheads. While Karen shopped the area, Dick climbed another church tower. When St Olav church was built, the people of Tallinn wanted to have a significant landmark, so they built the tallest church tower in Europe. At least it was at the time.

Steps of St Olav Tower

Next we walked along an art street, Lange Strasse, to the upper old town. In that area is the Russian Orthodox church, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. Across the square, the Estonian Parliament meets at Toompea Castle. Nearby is the Dome Church, the oldest church in Tallinn and perhaps in Estonia. There was a sign outside which said, we thought, there was to be an organ recital at 1:00 PM. So we walked a little way to a Greek(!) restaurant for lunch, which was good. After lunch we returned to the church, but they knew nothing of an organ recital. Oh, well.

Alexander Nevsky

We then headed to a city viewpoint, Kohtu Viewpoint. It did provide a good overview of the city. On the way down from the viewpoint, we passed a public archery field on our way to Kick in de Kök. And from there to Freedom Square before returning to the Old Town.

Coffee and Pastries 

Tallinn skyline from ship

At Master's Courtyard, we stopped for coffee and pastries at a chocolate shop. Not sure how we passed on the chocolate. We then followed St Catherine's Passage, a very narrow shopping alley. That brought us to another section of the city wall, which we walked along, mostly next to not on. Karen bought a typical Eastern European knit shawl and Dick visited another church, this one Orthodox. Then it was time to head back to the ship after another fine port day in another new (to us) city.

Europe, 24 May 2012 - Warnemunde & Rostock

We chose not to spend the time and money to go in to Berlin from the port stop of Warnemunde. We had been there two years ago, and the trip spent more time on the train than in Berlin. So we explored Warnemunde and the neighboring  town of Rostock.

Windmill in Warnemunde

It was a short walk from the ship in to Warnemunde, a German resort town on the Baltic Sea. It's a pretty well preserved medieval town. So we mostly just wandered around. Our first stop was at the Evangelical Church of Warnemunde. Since one of our goals for the day was to replenish our supply of Euros, we found a DeutchesBank with a cash machine.

On the Beach in Warnemunde

That accomplished, we headed for the beach. As other beaches we had seen in Europe, it had many cabañas owned by hotels and resorts, and signs noting their private nature. But we had a very nice walk on the shore near the small surf. Not many waves to dodge on an inland sea. The end of the beach, our goal, is at the channel into the harbor area, and a large freighter sailed in while we were out there.

At the end of the beach, is a lighthouse and "The Tea Pot," a building housing restaurants and a sea voyage exhibit. One can guess its shape. From the beach we walked up the Alte Strom, a street along the small boat harbor with many shops and restaurants.

City Wall Tower Gate

Except for sea days, today was the only lunch on the ship since it was very close.

After lunch we bought return tickets to Rostock, a neighboring town about 20 minutes away by train. We were not sure which was the main Rostock station, but fortunately we guessed right and were able to easily walk into the center of town from what was a fairly large train station.

Vegetable Stand with Spargel

When we reached the edge of the medieval city which still has remnants of its old wall, the first thing we came to was the Stone Gate, a large stone tower with a street through it. Shortly after inside the old city we came to the Rathaus with its usual market square. One of the things we noticed for sale at vegetable stands was spargel, a German spring delicacy of white asparagus. It is grown with sand or dirt piled up around it to shield it from the sunlight, and therefore keep it white rather than turning green. Since we had no way to keep or cook it, we did not buy any.

The first church we came to, St Marien, had many of the usual elements of a medieval church. The altar piece was very beautiful. It had a painting of Luther, being a Protestant (Lutheran) church. The pulpit dated from 1574, just after the Reformation when preaching became prominent. The organ was built in 1770, but we did not hear it.

The most unusual feature of the church is its Astronomical Clock, originally installed in 1492, and the last original astronomical clock remaining in Germany. It is both an amazing piece of machinery, and quite beautiful. I asked about Leap Year and was told they turn the clock off for 24  hours on February 29. It does have to be wound every day.

Astronomical Clock

Rostock shopping street

From there we walked the main shopping street which every medieval city seems to have. At one end was a fountain, which was a great play place for kids. That end of the market street is known as University Square.

Kids Playing the Fountain

Near there is Zum Heiligen Kreuz Convent, dating from the 13th century. The church was being set up for a function of the University.

There were originally 22 gates in the city wall. Kröpe Gate was (is) the strongest. It is pretty massive. From there we headed back through the city. On the way we stopped for chocolate and pastries, two things the town is well known for.

From St Peter's Tower

Continuing our walking tour we came to two more medieval churches, St Nikolai and St Peter. St Nikolai is now a concert hall with several apartments built into the roof area. It was not open. St Peter was open, is still a church, and has a tower that Dick could climb. Again this provided great views of the city.

A Rostocker

Continuing our return, we walked along the city wall, and then caught a tram back to the train station. It was a good train ride back to Warnemunde, where we stopped in a bar for a local beer. Well, sort of local; it was a Rostocker, from the town we had just visited.

Back on the ship we had a relaxing evening awaiting the late sailing to accommodate those returning from Berlin. It was a great day in a couple of interesting German medieval towns.