BALTIC CRUISE - A DREAM COME TRUE IN MAY (Part 1)

We have dreamed of returning to Russia since we came home from our mission to Moscow, Russia, in December of 2013. While we were there, we did not have the opportunity to travel to St. Petersburg and so we wanted to return to visit that city. We had heard it was incredibly beautiful and full of history. With that as our dream, over a year ago, we booked a cruise to the Baltic Sea which would take us to St. Petersburg, Russia as well as Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Germany. Deon and Gary decided to come with us so we spent the last year planning and looking forward to this adventure.




We left Heber, after church on May 6th and drove as far as St. George. The next day we traveled to Deon's home in California, spent the night, and left for LAX the following day. 

We had a corner room that was
wall to wall windows that over looked
Tivoli Gardens

We flew to Copenhagen, Denmark where we spent the night at the Raddisen Blue Hotel, before boarding the cruise ship the next day. The hotel was right across the street from the Tivoli Gardens/Amusement Park which was on our agenda to see. It was a beautiful park filled with flower gardens,  covered pathways, and, of course, amusement rides. The building that inspired Walt Disney's It's a Small World is located in this park. We were especially intrigued with the hanging flower balls as well as the floating ones in the ponds. We stopped at a pizza place for dinner which was not very good but it filled out hungry stomachs.

The building that inspired Walt Disney

Our time in Copenhagen was limited to the morning hours so we got up early, ate breakfast, and took a taxi to the town square where we could board a boat for a canal tour of the city. We arrived a little early so we had a chance to walk around and see the town square which included the famous IIlum's department store. Deon's daughter, Carrie, is married to an Illum whose roots trace back to the founder of this store. 

Bikes

are 

really

big 

in the

city 

The canal tour lasted an hour and was a good way to see the city quickly. We were continually being instructed to stay in our seat because of all the very low bridges we passed under. We saw the Queen's yacht, her palace, and the statue of the Littlest Mermaid. There was one arm of the canal that took us to a small incorporated city within the city limits of Copenhagen which has no rules. The people live in shanties on the canal which is quite the contrast from the many modern and expensive houses not for away. Kind of a modern day Hippie movement. We, also, passed what the Danes call their only ski mountain. In reality, it's their garbage incinerator.

The Queen's Yacht

The Queen's palace and grounds

'Shanty town' on the canal

The garbage incinerator or
'Denmark's  tallest ski slope,' as it is referred to by the locals.

The back of the 'Littlest Mermaid' statue

Our home for the
next 11 days

At the end of the canal tour, we had to catch a taxi back to the hotel in order to board the transfer bus that would take us to the ship. We would have loved to stay in Copenhagen a little longer as there is so much to see but we didn't want to have to make our own way to the ship. We sailed on the Princess Regal which is a beautiful ship. It is one of two medallion ships in the fleet which meant that, for a fee, we could have high speed internet on our phones whenever we were on the ship. Deon arranged to have the internet on shore and we had it on the ship so we could sty in contact with back home, if needed. 

A light house seen as we were
coming into the port at Oslo.

Our first stop on the cruise was Oslo, Norway. We spent the whole afternoon on a tour of three sites - the Holmenkollen ski jumping hill, a park dedicated to the work of the Norwegian sculptor Vigeland, and a Viking museum. 


The ski run is still in use as a facility for skiing competitions.  It is a large ski jumping hill and has a capacity of seating 70,000 spectators. Many competitions have been held here including the Olympics in 1952. It is a part of big ski arena which includes cross country and biathlon venues as well as regular skiing hills. 

The ski jump

The arena 

The Vigeland Park Is the world's largest sculpture park dedicated to one artist. The unique sculptures represent the life work of Bustav Vigeland's. Over 200 sculptures of bronze, granite and wrought iron have been brought to this park as a memorial to him. His work represents his obsession to the human forms. In his statures, he depicts humanity in everyday situations, as well as, in more complex and abstract ways. The central piece of his work is a monolith over 14 meters high. It consists of 121 intertwined human figures, symbolic of the human desire to reach out to the divine. We had a hard time understanding some if his work but we especially loved the fountain area. It contains 60 individual bronze reliefs and sculptures representing the circle of life. As you walked around the fountain, we saw that the sculptures at each corner of the fountain depicted first, children, then teenagers, then onto old men and, lastly, skeletons. Truly the circle of life.

The monolith of 121 figures and mankind's desire to reach
the divine

The fountain depicting the circle of life

From the park, we traveled to the Viking Museum. It was a building housing three viking ships and many of the possessions of the owners of the ships. We were told that when the owner of a viking ship died, he was placed in the ship along with all his possessions and then the whole ship was buried in the sand. These are three of only a handful of such ships that have been discovered. It was determined that these ships were built at the height of the Viking Age, between 800 and 900 BC. We enjoyed the history of this museum and seeing the actual ships we had only seen depicted in movies.

Leaving the ship on our own
to make our way to Restock on a
local train

After a day at sea, we arrived in Germany. This was the only disappointment of our cruise. We were scheduled to leave the ship early morning, board a train to a concentration camp and then onto Berlin to see the sights of that city. It was to be an all day trip with 3 hour rides to and from Berlin. The problem is that when we arrived outside the port of Wandemunde there was thick fog and we were not allowed to proceed into the port. With the hope that the fog would lift, we were up and eating breakfast early that morning but our hopes did not pan out. The fog didn't lift until later in the morning so all tours into Berlin had to be canceled. We decided to leave the ship after lunch and make our own way to the city of Restock, a train ride from the port. We walked into Wandemunde, exchanged our dollars into euros, boarded a train, and traveled about a half hour to Restock. We were pretty proud of ourselves for being able to figure that out. 

The train - After buying our ticket
we had to ask a local man what to
do with them.  We had to stamp them at a machine
outside the train.  Good thing we asked.

Yay!!! We did it!!

In Restock, we saw a church with its famed stain glass window and then just walked around the town. We were in search of ice cream and found some on a side street just off the main square.While in Restock, we ran into a fellow BYU fan. Paul was wearing a polo shirt with the BYU logo on it. This guy, wearing a BYU hat, walked up to us and said something about BYU. We were instant friends. He and his wife were traveling on our same ship. Small world.

The amazing stained glass window

The fountain in the town square

Our new friend - a BYU fan too

And then there was ICE CREAM!!!

There was a welcome surprise in our room when we returned...a beautiful bouquet of red roses from Todd and Kailee for Mother's Day. What a sweet gesture on their part. We enjoyed the flowers in our room for the rest of the cruise. 

Estonia as seen from inside
the Old Town

Next stop - Tallinn, Estonia. This city is the capital of Estonia and has retained its walled 13th century Old Town. It was in this Old Town where we spent most of our day. The Old Town is one of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe. It is surrounded by a wall with defensive towers on each of its corners. Inside the Old Town are the original cobblestone streets lined with churches and merchant houses, many dating back to the Middle Ages. One of the churches we visited had coats of arms hanging all over the walls. It seems that the closer your coat of arms hung to the main alters the better respected you were in the community.

The

city

wall

and 

one 

of

the

towers

Ancient cobblestone streets are throughout the Old Town

Inside of the ancient church with its many coats of arms 

hanging from the walls

We passed by a Russian Orthodox church and what was once a palace for the Russian czar who ruled long ago. We got the impression that Russians are not appreciated in this country due to the many atrocities carried out by the Russians on the the Estonians, long ago. History has some sad moments, for sure.

This brought sight back memories of the
many Russian Orthodox
churches that we saw in Moscow, Russia

 

By the time we reached the town square, our feet were a bit sore from walking on the cobblestone. It was good to take a break for some refreshments. In the town square was the medieval town hall complete with iron rings that once held prisoners awaiting trial.

The Town Hall

After our snack, we walked on to what was once a major merchant house called the Great Guild Hall. Today it is the the Estonian History Museum. In its prime it was the center of trade in the city. It is typical of the architecture in this ancient city with its high gabled roofs. These high roofs provided a storage area for their goods. The items to be stored were lifted to the high window by a pulley system, still visible today.

The basement of the Guild Hall was a wine cellar in ancient times

High gabled roof with the
pulley system for bringing
goods up to the storage area
in the attic

The pulley system up close

We were tired at the end of this day but is was fun to see and learn 

about Estonia's history. 

Peter, the Great's summer palace
at Peterhoff

Next stop St. Petersburg, Russia.....a dream come true! We spent two days here and still didn't see everything there was to see but we saw the most important sites such Peterhoff and the Church of our Savior on Spilt Blood. We left the ship early the first day, boarded a bus, and drove 45 minutes to Peterhoff to visit the summer palace of Peter, the Great. It is a famed place of gardens and fountains on the outside and elegantly decorated rooms inside the palace. Peter, the Great wanted this structure to rival Versailles in France and he surely succeeded. 

The 

beauty

inside

the

palace 

Notice the dark clouds

For the first two hours, we toured the palace with its many rooms, after which, we were escorted outside to tour the beautiful grounds. The skies were threatening rain and about halfway through our tour of the gardens we were in a down pour. Deon had left her umbrella with Gary, who opted not to walk around the gardens because of a hurt knee. I had an umbrella but it was difficult to share it with three people. Needless to say, Deon and Paul were soaked by the time we returned to the palace to watch the main fountain's water display set to music.

About two thirds of the way into our garden tour
these ponchos were available for us to buy.
Problem - they tore as everyone tried to put them one.

The fountain water show -
This fountain depicts Samson killing the lion

The rains eased up for the water display at the main fountain and then it was to the bus for our ride into the city of St. Petersburg. We had lunch at the local restaurant, and, then, drove to the Peter and Paul Fortress. This fortress is situated on the original site of St. Petersburg. In the early 1700's, Peter the Great feared a Swedish attack on the city so a citadel was built to protect the Russians from invasion. It later became a prison for high ranking or political prisoners. The fortress is the site of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, an impressive church which houses the tombs of most all the Russian emperors, from Peter I to Nikolay II, and their families. 

The beautiful ceiling of the cathedral

The main alter of the church

Above the main alter

Paul examining one of the many tombs inside the church

More tombs of the Russian ruling families

Our last stop of the day was another palace, this one being one of many homes of the Yusovo family. They were richer than the ruling Romonoffs, having 4 residences in St. Petersburg, 3 in Moscow, and, at least, 50 more around Russia. In this palace, Rasputin, a mystic and self-proclaimed holy man, was murdered. Rasputin gained the favor of the Romonoffs because of his effect on their sick son. The Yosovos felt like he wielded too much of influence on the royal family so they plotted to murder him. The Yosovo's son invited Rasputin to the palace for dinner. When Rasputin arrived, he was escorted to the basement apartment of the son. There he was served food laced with poison. That didn't kill him so he was shot in the head and tossed into the river close by. The Yosovo's son was eventually caught and punished for this crime. On our tour of the palace, we first went to the basement room where this murder took place and then toured the rest of the most elegant palace.

A depiction of Rasputin's murder scene

A private theater

 There was beautiful ceiling treatment in each room

Our first day in St. Petersburg was exciting. When we returned to the ship we were exhausted but enjoyed dinner and a Russian dance performance....Very fitting for our stay in this marvelous country.

To be continued......