Tallinn,Estonia

We left St. Petersburg around 6:00 p.m. and traveled 160 nautical miles to Tallinn, Estonia, (the capital) arriving early morning on Tuesday, August 27^th.  Estonia is about the size of Denmark, or twice the size of Massachusetts.  It has a population of 1.3 million people, has Estonian as its official language, although Russian is also spoken, AND is the originating country of Skype.  Did you know that?  Our guide said that they are so computer/digital world literate that you can be deep in the forest and still be connected to WiFi.  (I didn’t try it out so can’t attest to that first hand.)

They have 1,500 islands – most of them very small.  Estonia (and Finland) continue to gain land mass, mostly in the form of islands.  Something about the land continuing to rise, but I can’t remember why.  (I’ll Google it when I get home.)   They have seven months of snow, and only six hours of daylight during the month of January.  (Sounds like Fairbanks, Alaska to me.)  September 1^st is always the first day of school for all levels.  Their mandatory school is 12 years and each of those years they are required to take skiing. 

Estonia was occupied by the Germans in World War I and the Russians after World War II.  They declared their independence in 1991 by what was named the “Singing Revolution” when 2 million people (the Latvians, Lithuanians, and Estonians) joined hands and sang their national songs, creating an unbroken chain through the 3 countries, with the final hand touching the “Tower of Power.”

Tall Herman Tower (“Tower of Power”) 

connected to Toompea Castle, the seat of Estonian Parliament today.

Back of Palace - Front was being renovated

Palace Gardens

Their version of a furnace - ceramic tile box with a place to insert wood.

Kadriorg Palace, Peter the Great’s Summer Palace, built to remind him of Paris with a duplicate of the Venus de Milo standing in the entry way.  It is surrounded by a large park which was provided by him for the local inhabitants as a place for them to enjoy.

(Gardens, Back Side, Furnace)   

   Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (Russian Orthodox)

                             Dome Church, St. Mary’s Cathedral (Oldest church in Tallinn, and it’s Lutheran – as are most of their churches.)  There are medieval tombs inside and 60 medieval coats of arms hang on the walls.

St. Petersburg, Russia

Another short trip, just over night, and we were in Russia about 5:00 a.m. this Sunday morning.  Since we’re spending the night, it’s another day in Russia on Monday.  It’s hard to believe, but I’m actually in Russia, the largest country in the world with a population of 141+ million people.   Russian is the official language but there are several others spoken, including Ukrainian, Byelorussian, Uzbek, Armenian,  Azerbaijani and Georgian.

The capital of Russia is Moscow, but it was St. Petersburg until World War I, and that’s where we docked.  What we have here is another Venice of the north (remember Stockholm?) because it is 10% water.  There are 300 bridges and 21 of them are draw bridges.  It was established by Peter the Great and named after his patron saint.  The name was changed to Petrograd in 1914 when Russia went to war with Germany and they wanted a more Russian sounding name.  Then it was changed again to Leningrad after Lenin’s death in 1924.   The citizens returned the name to St. Petersburg in 1991.

The Church on Spilled Blood

 which was built on the place that Alexander II was assassinated.  

It  seems that as an afterthought it was also to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus the Christ.  (Churches here are all Eastern Orthodox.)

Cathedral of St. Isaac - Supposed to be 4th largest in the world.

Fortress of Saint Peter and Paul - Which includes the Church Spires

Marble Palace

that Catherine the Great had built for her lover.

The Hermitage Museum - One of the 8 Buildings

The Hermitage Museum - Entrance

The Hermitage Museum was started by Catherine the Great to house her own art collection and give her the privacy she wanted to enjoy it.  Got it?  Hermit:  be alone, away from people, etc.  The original building is now called the Small Hermitage and it has been joined with 7 other buildings to house the now 3 million item collection.  That means that if you spent one minute looking at each item in the museum, for eight hours a day, 5 days a week, it would take you 1,050 weeks or 20+ years.  Of course you could work at it around the clock and then it would only take just short of 6 years.  Keep in mind that I was there for a total of 3 hours.  It includes paintings by Da Vinci, Rafael, Monet, Rembrandt. Renoir, Picasso and hundreds of others.

Some added observations:

I did not get to see the Peterhof Palace and I’m sorry about that.  It is a beautiful palace with exquisite grounds with stunning fountains and gardens.  Peter the Great had it built in an effort to rival Versailles and I have heard that it certainly does.

It was interesting to me that the tour guides in Russia (of which I had two different ones) did not speak at all about the present day way of life in this country, but instead concentrated on the wonderfulness of their historical sights.  The guide today though left us with this tidbit:  “While in Russia, don’t be rushin’.  Take your time.”

And finally, the best WiFi connection of the whole trip has been here in the port of St. Petersburg.

Michael’s Castle/Engin

Helsinki, Finland

Sweden to Finland was a hop, skip, and a jump – over night arriving about 10:00 a.m.  But before I get into all those wonderful facts I’ve been sharing, it’s important for you to know that the Finish people like simple things, they don’t like frills, just functionality, and they are nature lovers.  They take walks in the forest if they’re happy, or if they’re sad, or if they’re trying to make a decision, or for just about any reason.  And since their country is 75% forest it makes that behavior easily performed.  Oh, and another purely functional, simple, natural activity is Saturday night saunas.  The country has 5.4 million people and 2.2 million saunas.  (Information courtesy of the tour guide today – over and over and over again.)

Finland is about the size of Montana, has 188,000 lakes (and they don’t count the small ones), 179,000 islands, 250 sunny days per year, 76% Lutherans, a welfare system that provides parents with paid maternity leave until the youngest child is THREE YEARS old, and the historically first ever elected female to a public office.   They have two official languages:  Finish and Swedish.  Both languages are used for everything, including street signs – picture that:  two lines where there should only be one.

The capital of Finland is Helsinki.  Senate Square (seems like every city in Europe has at least one important square) has:

the Lutheran St. Nicholas Cathedral

 Helsinki University Headquarters

And Government  Headquarters – no longer a senate but still the governing units. 

A statue of Alexander II stands in the center as it was his statement that these are the three most important aspects of human existence.

Temppeliaukio Rock Church is another example of the simplicity of which the Finish people are so proud.  It was dug out of solid rock.  The interior walls are solid rock and the ceiling is built in such a way as to let in all the natural light which casts beams throughout the church.  Once again this picture does not do it justice.  I guess you’ll just have to go there.

Stockholm, Sweden

DISCLAIMER:  If this blog is not posted in a timely manner it is 100% the fault of the Princess Cruise Lines WiFi setup (during this portion of my trips).  It is both expensive and unreliable!

We left Denmark about 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, bound for Sweden, which is actually connected to Denmark by a bridge, remember (point here being that is how close they are, just 6 miles) but sailed all that night and the next day (Thursday) arriving early Friday morning.   According to an announcement by the captain, since the ship could not go through that new bridge it had to go around the long way AND getting a ship this size into Sweden safely is a very tricky exercise.  There is something called the Great Belt that is so shallow that it requires the skills of a local pilot to lead the way.  In addition if there is too much wind (don’t know what that would be) they cannot dock in Stockholm at all – but we made it just fine.

Sweden is a country of islands (at least 40), lakes (maybe 100,000), canals (many),  bridges (57), and locks (2).  It is approximately the size of California with 9 million plus people.  Their national language is Swedish which has many words that are similar to English – but not enough that I could understand anything unless it actually was English.  They have a monarchy with the current king being Carl (which is Charles in English – did you know that?) XVI Gustav.  (Don’t know why they say it that way instead of Carl Gustav XVI.   There’s a statue of a guy on a horse in Stockholm and he’s Carl XIV John.)!!

Stockholm is the capital of Sweden and is built on 14 islands.  It is often referred to as Venice of the north or the city floating on water.  Sweden has 8 political parties, (Yikes!  Can you just imagine that?) and they are all represented when the City Council meets at City Hall.  There are 101 members and 51 of them are female.  But the amazing part is the building in which they meet.  A couple of pictures won’t do it justice but at least it will give you an idea.  Activities for Noble prize winners (dinner and dancing) are held there.

How did this get in here?

 The Noble Museum – has pictures of ALL prize winners.  I didn't have time to see them all but did notice our President (and our almost president, Al Gore -not pictured here).

 The royal palace no longer houses the royal family but it is used for business transactions and ceremonial occasions – when they are not in City Hall.

Copenhagen, Denmark

Leaving Belgium Monday evening we sailed all night, the entire next day and night, and docked in Copenhagen, Denmark, Wednesday morning about 7:00 a.m.   (My understanding is that the ship travels at about 25 miles per hour and it was a distance of 652 nautical miles.)

Denmark is a country that encompasses roughly 400 islands, total land mass about twice the size of Massachusetts, with a population of 5.5 million people.  Their national language is Danish but children begin learning English in the first grade and another language (of their choice) in the higher grades.  School is mandatory through the ninth grade and after that it’s working toward a specific career, trade school or university.  All education through doctoral degrees is free.  Denmark has what they call a welfare society with which they are very pleased even though it makes their tax rate around 50%.  Their saying is “Do what you can.  Get what you need.”  The Protestant-Lutheran Church is the state church of Denmark and is supported by the state.

Denmark has a monarchy.  Queen Margrethe succeeded her husband upon his death.  With the words, “The King is dead, long live the Queen,” being spoken three times, she became queen of Denmark forty years ago.

Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark, located on the largest of the islands, Sjaelland.    

 The royal family has four buildings built in a square that are presently used as follows:  one for the queen - pictured here and the flag flying shows that she's in residence, one for her son the crown prince, one for any visiting royalty, and one for ceremonial occasions.

Bridge built in 2000 that connects Denmark and Sweden.  It is 6 miles long.

 

 

Denmark's most famous son is Hans Christian Andersen.  A main thoroughfare is named after him  and “The Little Mermaid” stands at the entrance of the harbor as a tribute to his story of the same name. (Just be advised that his story did not end as Disney’s did.  The mermaid actually finished her life as a frog at the bottom of the ocean.)

 

Brussels, Belgium

 

The ship left Southampton, England, Sunday evening sailing through the English Chanel, passing the White Cliffs of Dover around midnight (I was very disappointed that I missed that sight), and arriving at the port of Zeebrugge, Belgium around 8:00 a.m.

Belgium is a country about the size of Rhode Island centrally located in Europe.  The people speak three different languages:  mostly French, some Flemish, and a little German.  They have a royal family -- Philippe is currently the king.  They also have a very complex political system, so much so that their last election in 2010 took 500+ days to determine the winning party, setting a record in the Guiness  Book of  World Records.

We had to drive by motorcoach for about 2 hours to get to Brussels, which is the capital of Belgium, and the capital of the European Union (EU), and the headquarters for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).  Brussels has a population of about 1.1 million people.

Brussels City Hall

The royal family has two residences in Brussels and this one is called “The Library"

(This picture shows but one quarter of the building.)

The Worlds’ Fair was held in Brussels in 1958.  The ATOMIUM is a model of a molecule of Iron billions of times larger than normal which was created for that fair.  Each of the spokes has walkways inside and each of the spheres houses a retail establishment with a restaurant at the top. 

 Flower arrangements on the sidewalks.

 A round glass building – I thought it to be amazing.

A Princess Cruise

Now begins almost two months of solid travel.  I left San Francisco Airport (2 hours late) at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday and arrived in London today (Sunday) at 9:00 a.m.  Then there was a two-hour bus ride to the docks in Southhampton, England, to board the

 Crown Princess

which carries approximately 6,000 people when full

(and I'm told it's full now.)

When on the ship I met up with my traveling companion

Laurel Silberschmidt

I met Laurel when she and I were attending the MSW program at Colorado State University.

Map of our trip.

First stop Brussels tomorrow morning.