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In cool Copenhagen
Out come the puffer jackets in Copenhagen to enjoy the walk in Nyhaven - the old dock areaMonday 15 June – Early wake up call at 4.15 for the neighbours to drive us to the airport. Just as we arrived at the airport we received a text message to say our flight to Sydney had been cancelled. Ignoring the message we bowled into the airport to see what our options were. Two seats were available on the 6 am flight to Sydney. Problem fixed and all luggage (2 suitcases and 2 golf bags) checked thru to Copenhagen.
Tuesday 16 June - 32 hours later we arrived at Copenhagen (6.30am local time). No big queues at the Custom gates and a 15 min ride in the train to the centre of Copenhagen. 60 minutes later we checked into the Opera Hotel. Set off immediately to explore Copenhagen - used the walking road 5 min away as our base to explore Copenhagen. Didn’t go far - 5 min later we were back at the hotel putting on jackets and beanies. It was much colder than we thought. It was about 8-10 degrees but the wind chill was nasty. Found a great coffee shop and enjoyed a nice hot coffee.
At 10am we met
Brandenburg Gates Berlin
the German soldiers marched through these gates to war out walking tour guide at the Hans Christian Anderson statue in the city square for a 3 hour tour which was excellent. After a lunch break we just kept walking – all the way to the Little Mermaid and then back to the Rosenborg Castle to see the crown jewels etc. OMG! What a display of wealth and craftsmanship established in the 1600’s. Finally arrived back at our hotel at 6pm feeling absolutely wrecked. Had a light meal and crashed.
Copenhagen is an amazing city. All attractions were within walking distance. We learnt much about Denmark – high taxes but all government services are provided at no additional cost – amazing support for the elderly as well as education.
Cycling here is almost mandatory and cycle paths are excellent. Even the taxi driver said car drivers have great respect for cyclists. Everyone (even the Queen) cycles – the place is so flat and that makes it easier. Also owning a car is extremely expensive and it costs a fortune to get a licence.
Wednesday 17 June – Again, up early for a short walk to the Nyhaven Dock area. Now for breakfast – what a feast of
cheeses, pastries salami etc. Then we had to walk off the breakfast cholesterol with a final city walk. Stopped at the oldest porcelain shop, the Royal Copenhagen store, before catching a taxi to board our ship, the Serenade of the Seas.
Boarding was quick and well organised. This is a very large ship that is mostly full of Americans. The ship is very comfortable and has a really relaxed atmosphere. The weather has been a bit uncooperative – cold, wet and windy so no fancy outdoor sail away from Copenhagen.
Thursday 18 June – sailed overnight to the Port of Rostock in Germany. Had a very early start 6.15am before leaving the ship at 7.30am for our 3 hour drive to Berlin.
Berlin was a real revelation. It is hard for us to get our head around a city that has such a history of division and destruction and yet they are now so liberal minded and dedicated to overcoming the issues of the past. We drove from the port of Warnemunde, thru Rostock and on to Berlin via the autobahn. The journey was a 3 hour scenic drive thru the picturesque countryside in the old east
The Berlin Wall
The wall dividing East and West Berlin under the Russians is now a place for all kinds of art. Hard to imagine over 2000 people died trying to cross this wall. German countryside. The first stop in Berlin was the 1934 Olympic stadium. It was an impressive stadium which suited Hitler’s propaganda campaign. Prior to the Olympics many political opponents were released from detention only to be rearrested once the Olympics ended.
From there we travelled thru the US, English and French annexed districts of Berlin. This was how the city was divided up as part of the agreement at the end of the 2
nd world war. We saw:
Charlottenburg Palace, Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin Wall Remnants, TV Tower, Holocaust Memorial, Alexanderland Platz, the Book Burning Memorial and Victory column, also the carpark under which was Hitler’s bunkers where he suicided with Eva Braun.
The city history is quite mind blowing. It was hard to believe we were standing in the square in front of the Reichstag where Hitler had addressed the huge crowds, we stood on the street where thousands of German soldiers marched through the Brandenberg Gates to battle. It is very moving to stand in these places when you think of the destruction Hitler caused only 75 years ago.
Next stop the old East Berlin, the Russian sector, where the Berlin Wall
Turntable bridge in Kliapeda Lithuania
Amazing engineering to solve the problem of sea traffic and people traffic. Check out the pipe where they insert the pole to turn the bridge. was erected as part of the Cold War. Parts of the wall still remain as a memorial. The largest part is decorated with street art. The wall is made up of two walls with the space between the two forming ‘no man’s land’ where more than 2000 people were shot trying to cross. No wonder it was such a stunning event when the wall was brought down in 1989 and Berliners could safely move between the two parts of their city.
Our visit to Berlin was an amazing and an exhausting 12 hour day after which we knew considerably more about Berlin than before but you really need 4-5 days to truly experience Berlin.
Friday 20 June – sea day spent exploring ship and recovering from the previous day. A day at sea cruising from Rostock to Klaipeda, the third largest city in Lithuania.
Saturday 21 June – Klaipeda. Before WW2 Klaipeda was a heavily cobbled, port city belonging to the Germans. This changed when Germany lost the war and the Russians overran the city – bombing it heavily for three months. They totally flattened the place and all the Germans (except for 26 people) left the
Klaipeda
Blacksmith's garden with the crosses and cemetery fences city fleeing for their lives. The Russians used the port facilities for their Navy making it a high security zone. Finally in 1991 Lithuania gained its independence and they have set about restoring this beautiful Eastern Baltic port city.
Our first highlight was watching the opening and closing of an old mechanical, circular winding, walking bridge that we had to use to cross the canal into the old part of the city. To open and close the bridge two men insert a steel bar into a central pedestal that can be rotated 90 degrees and allow the boats to pass. Then each 15mins they rotate the bridge span and close it again for the people to cross the canal. Have never seen anything like this before – very clever engineers!
Walked the city with the guide, we spent time browsing the stalls in the market square. Then we visited the only surviving Fachwerk wooden warehouse where they stored flax seed in the 1780’s.
Walking around the restored city streets and quickly realised that sculpture was a big part of the city. We saw an amazing red dragon “Slibinas” sprawling along a wall. Hidden behind the dragon is
Klaipeda
Little statue of the cat with the face of the man with a moustache a rainwater pipe and when it rains water pours out of its mouth onto a huge dragon footprint below. Met the Cat with the face of a Gentleman, the Bronze Mouse (whisper in the mouses ear and your wish comes true!) and the Pot of Money sculpture at the city’s first bank. They have a lot of fun here with all kinds of sculptures – they say it helps to forget the sadness of the past.
We continued walking into a large garden that had an old blacksmiths workshop. We were immediately struck by the ornate black iron fencing in the garden. Then we noticed a pile of large black iron crosses and walls that displayed many more black iron crosses. The guide then introduced us to an old gentleman who spoke to us in Lithuanian and she translated his story.
He told us how in 1945 when the Russians captured Klapieda, they destroyed everything that belonged to the Germans including their cemetery. He took some friends and picked up 8 truckloads of iron crosses and headstone fencing. He thought it was terrible to destroy the history written on the headtones. He kept the wrought iron works hidden
Overlooking Visby old town
A beautiful and strategic port city belonging to Sweden until independence from Russia in 1991. He was a lovely old man and he took us into his workshop and made two beautiful rings for two little kids on our walking tour.
After this moving little history lesson we stopped for a traditional Lithuanian lunch and coffee in a beautiful little plaza. Sat in the sun and ate potato pancakes, borscht soup and drank beer and cider. It was a great place to enjoy a new place with new friends.
Around 4pm we all walked back to the port gates and onto the ship – It was a great day. To top it all off we saw the most amazing sunset at 10.48; yep the sun hardly sets here. As the sun was setting it was reflecting off a dead calm, silver sea. Then the water directly below the setting sun turned a deep aqua colour creating a strange oval greenish shape across the water. It was the most stunning sunset we have ever seen. And guess what time the sun will rise 3.48 in the morning so we will be making sure the curtains are well and truly closed tonight cause all this daylight makes for really
Visby Sweden
The city is dates back to 800 and has an amazing medieval wall protecting it. long days and we need a good sleep for tomorrow’s walking tour of Visby, a walled city in Sweden. It is amazing going to bed each night in one country and waking up the next morning in another.
Sunday 21 June – Visby, Sweden is another European medieval walled trading town which has survived all the major wars in Europe over the past 2-3 centuries with very minimal damage. It is quite close to Stockholm. During the summer 1 million tourists (mainly Swedes) visit Visby for their holidays. Can’t imagine how the island copes with that many additional people. We were interested to learn they have many golf courses here – but no rounds of golf for us.
The town wall and houses within the old town centre remain relatively complete. When old buildings were replaced they use the foundations of the old for the new building and this means the town layout has remained the same for the past 200-300 years. The overall town-landscape is the most important quality of Visby.
Monday 22 June – Helsinki is the capital of Finland. Our SPB tour bus took us from the ship along the esplanade around the harbour
Sunset at 11.30pm
Sailed out of Visby and saw an amazing sunset - Check out the green ring on the sea as the sun meets the horizon area into the city and up to the Senate Square. The square was originally developed in the 17
th century that is now considered a masterpiece of city design. The government palace, Lutheran Cathedral, University buildings and National Library surround the square. The huge Lutheran Cathedral overlooks the square – 50 stairs up to the front door – get your fitness in just going to church! It was built in the 1830’s, a massive effort given its size.
Another highlight was the Temppeliaukio or Rock Church. It was carved out of solid rock and is a very popular attraction in Helsinki and one of the more unique churches in the world. The dome roof spans 25 metres and is covered on the interior by 24 kms of copper wire. The acoustics within the church are brilliant and we were lucky to hear a pianist play the piano during our visit.
We also saw yet another Olympic stadium as well as the UNESCO protected memorial to the Jean Sibelius (musical) 1865 – 1957. On the way to the Stadium we saw the icebreakers in the harbour. Our guide explained they had no work this last winter because the sea had
not frozen for the first time ever. The Finns were also terribly disappointed with only three weeks of snow instead of 5-6 months. They love cross country skiing and the city region has more than 180kms of skiing paths as well as areas to do ice skating. We quickly learnt how seriously global warming is taken in this part of the world and they are doing everything possible to reduce the need for coal fired power stations.
We then walked back to the Kauppatori Market Square down on the the esplanade. The stalls sold amazing mink, fox and rabbit fur coats, hats, gloves etc. Tried on a great looking fox hat but decided we don’t need them in Canberra!! Had lunch at one of the market eateries and it was awesome. Slabs of yummy fresh Atlantic salmon and roasted vegetables. From the markets we walked back the ship. It took us about 45 minutes and we got there 15mins before boarding time to sail to St Petersburg. Next stop Russia.
Tuesday 23 June – Thursday 25 June – OMG get prepared for a massive dose of history and we loved it. St Petersburg was founded by Peter the
Icebreakers in Helsinki Harbour
The Finnish people are greatly concerned about global warming - the icebreakers had no work last year and they only had 3 weeks of skiing instead of the usual 5-6 months. Great in 1703 and it was the imperial capital for 2 centuries. It’s now the cultural centre of Russia with theatres hosting opera and ballet, palaces and churches, and of course the Hermitage museum art collection containing da Vinci, Rembrant, Reuben, Goya and many other Dutch masters.
We quickly learnt that all these Baltic countries have amazing histories that still impact heavily on the daily life of citizens today. Eg WW2 and the impact on Russia is never forgotten here because more than 20 million Russians lost their lives and another 20 million were injured etc so they don’t particularly like the Germans and of course the German economy is doing better than Russia sort of adds to the bitterness.
We also had to get our heads around the complexities of Russian history which has so accurately been described by Churchill as a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Oh how true this is and now having spent 3 days in a moderate part of Russia one can only think they will always be different. They still have serious corruption issues as well as low education standards. Also many of the old people can’t understand why
Lutheran Cathedral Helsinki
Built in the 1850's this beautiful domed cathedral sits high above the city square. Attendees get very fit climbing the 50 stairs to the entrance. they aren’t going back to the communist time whereas the young people want to be part of the digital era with freedom to travel the world etc.
They don’t go to school until 7 years of age and most still leave at 14 if they can get a job. Sounded like Australia back in the 1950’s/1960’s. Unfortunately the lack of education means many are very open to manipulation and in a country where you just pay the cops if they fine you for speeding or anything else, corruption is just daily life and this leaves them very open to manipulation. Our tour guide commented on how naïve we were if we didn’t do this!!!
Interestingly the tour guide was a University lecturer in literature. She was very knowledgeable but oh so diplomatic - the exception rather than the rule. So 50% divorce rate here and men have a very low life expectancy of approx. 57 years. Clearly wine is better for you than vodka!!!
All that said we are on a real high after 3 amazing days in St Petersburg. It is a place that is like being in a time warp back in the 1700 -
The Sibelius Monument in Helsinki
The work honours the composer John Sibelius. It is truly an amazing piece of work consisting of 600 vertical metal pipes - each pipe has an individual design. We were told to be careful when putting your head up the pipe because many children have had their heads stuck when playing in the pipes. 1800’s. Imagine a place that has 160 palaces starting from Peter the Great in the 1600’s. Yes we have seen churches, museums and palaces full of amazing artworks, history and inventions. For example the fountains at the Peterhof Palace were made in the 1700’s and it required 24kms of pipes made from seasoned wooden oak. The pipes gravity feed the fountains -no power needed to make this beautiful display. The project was given to a 24 year old man to manage and it still works to this day.
We saw so much – the Faberge Museum with its exquisite collection of Faberge Eggs, drove to Pushkin to visit Catherine’s Summer Palace with its amazing Amber Room, the Winter Palace, the Hermitage Museum with its exceptional collection of Old Masters Paintings; saw the Usopov Palace where Rasputin was murdered, toured St Isaac’s Cathedral where all the members of the Royal family are buried, had a stroganoff lunch at Romeo’s Restaurant, tried the vodka shots and borsht, attended the best night of entertainment at a Russian Folk Concert where we started the evening with caviar and champagne, had a hydrofoil ride across the city as well as a wonderful morning champagne
Rock Church Helsinki
The Church interior is excavated from rock and has a beautiful copper domed roof. The acoustics are amazing and we were lucky enough to hear a concert pianist playing the grand piano. cruise of the canals. Also rode the deepest subway station in the world -Admiralty. It is 120metres underground and it took 3 minutes to come back up on the escalator and we were with thousands of other people. The trains stop for 30 seconds so there is no mucking around to get on.
No wonder we were exhausted after all this and more!
The Church on Spilt Blood was exceptional - beautiful mosaic artwork and onion shaped gold topped towers. It is a Russian Orthodox Church which means no religious statues only religious icons (gold paintings or mosaics). The Church contains over 7500 square meters of mosaics - supposedly, more than any other church in the world. You cannot help but be impressed by the amazing gold icon screen separating the church from the altar. Also no organ only the music of the voice which is regarded as the holiest of instruments and no pews - you stand for the three hour service.… not too good for golfers with bad backs!!.
So it was built in memory of the Czar Alexander who was assassinated by terrorists in 1800’s. An amazing fact which we found difficult to believe
Towel art on the ship
so our cabin steward 'Happy' delighted us each evening with a surprise that he made from towels. was that that during the city siege by the Germans in ww2, the winter temp here was -45 and so many people died they piled all the bodies in this Church until the ground thawed and they could bury them. Now that is what you call tough times and the church is a true landmark in St Petersburg. Apparently, in 1990 there was a grand plan to redesign the roads around the church and they were going to demolish it. People protested and that idea was squashed.
We farewelled Russia and this amazing city – knowing a lot more about its history as well as knowing that Russians are confused about why the world distrusts them. The one thing in which they are similar to us is they are not happy with their current government and this seems to be the case in a number of places we have been to. The exceptions to this were Denmark and Estonia.
Friday 26 June – All is great on the cruise and we are so pleased with the ship’s itinerary. We have seen places that we never knew about let alone planning to visit them.
Cruised overnight to Tallinn
St Catherine's Palace in St Petersburg
Wow - Graham checking out the serious bling - plenty of golf leaf used on the walls here Estonia. Ironically we learnt today that the Estonians really dislike Russia because of very bad things here after WW2 when Russia occupied Estonia. So apparently the Estonian Government has agreed to have the US has set up a huge air base here and the Russian people are very unhappy about this. Guess it might be another tetchy thing to watch out for but it also proves that bad memories go on forever and wars create long term problems.
Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is on the Baltic Sea. It is a beautiful walled, cobblestone city with lots of cafes and shops within tiny little alleys. It is also famous for the old Kiek in de Kok, a 15
th century defensive tower. This is the tallest canon tower of the old town. In German the name of the tower means “peep into the kitchen” referring to the view over surrounding houses. Toompea castle in the upper part of the old city dates from the 12th century and opposite the castle is the Parliament House (1773).
Tallin is also famous for its beautiful amber jewellery. There were heaps of opportunities to buy pieces in the stores and the markets. Left
the city just as a big storm hit – great timing!
We were thinking over dinner that we have not seen a golf course in ages. Seems weird that our next game will be in Stockholm.
Saturday 27 June – woke at 4am this morning to glorious sunshine as the ship cruised through the main shipping channel passed thousands of tiny islands as we approached
Stockholm. It was truly beautiful and we had a cruise liner in front of us and another behind – parade of the cruise ships. Stockholm is one of the most beautiful sea port cities we have ever cruised into. The city spans more than 100 islands and the skyline is filled with old Nordic style church steeples. They have great bridges everywhere and a few locks to control the boats. The harbour was extremely colourful and busy today because the sailing race around Gotland starts from this harbour tomorrow.
We did a 5 hour highlights tour and enjoyed walking into the city square. The first stop was the Vasa Museum to see the restored Swedish warship called the Vasa which sank in the harbour in 1650 on its maiden voyage. The problem
Us on Peterhof Palace Balcony
A truly beautiful palace with the most spectacular fountains - all gravity fed was that they added an extra floor to place an extra 32 cannons on board. Each cannon weighed a ton and this made the ship top heavy. During the maiden voyage it tipped over when a gust of wind blew – sack those engineers!!!! They found it in the harbour in the 1950’s. The Vasa has now been restored and is one of the must see highlights in Stockholm.
Lunch in a tiny underground restaurant was another highlight. The restaurant was at the bottom of an old stone staircase and used to be a storage cellar a few hundred years ago. The food was great and they had lovely gluten free sandwiches loaded with yummy salami, cheese and salad. Ah the simple food is often the best! So after an interesting walk through the cobbled streets we returned to the ship for our last night on board. Tomorrow it is back to the real world where we have to hunt down our own food and make our own bed. We have two further nights here in Stockholm before we catch the train to Oslo.
Sunday 28 June – disembarked from the ship and caught a taxi to the
Peterhof Fountains St Petersburg
From the palace balcony there was a beautiful view looking directly to the sea and the Gulf of Finland - not much distance between Russia and Finland Clarion Hotel in Stockholm city. The taxi fare (500 Swedish Krone $100 Aus) was a shock and was more expensive than a round of golf at Bro Balsta golf club. The afternoon was spent walking back through the old city in Stockholm and seeing it with fewer tourists. It must be an amazing boost to these European cities when 2 or more ships arrive in port.
Monday 29 June – Up early for breakfast before catching the train to Bro for golf at Bro Balsta golf club. What a truly amazing day of golf. Started with a 400metre walk to Centrum Railway in peak hour commute with our golf bags on our backs. Then we got a nice train for about 15mins. Then had to transfer to a bus because of track repairs and travel for about 20mins to Bro where we thought they had taxis to drive the final 4kms to the Bro Balsa Golf Club but there was no taxi. Apparently you R supposed to phone the taxi and organise for them to be at the station. So we had to walk .5km up to the village centre and find someone to ring a taxi for us.
Admiralty Subway St Petersburg
Amazing escalators that took us 110 metres underground - 2nd longest escalators in Europe and not a speck of rubbish anywhere on the marble floors Found a lovely newsagent man who helped us and the taxi did turn up.
So we arrived at golf, had a bucket of balls and went to eat our lunch before our 12.20 tee off. They include lunch in the fee. A lovely couple who were members insisted we sit with them. Then a guy joined us and introduced himself as the club manager. All three were so keen to welcome us and hear about golf in Aus. Then they presented us with a book by Anika Sorenson (prev women's world no. 1) as this was her home course (we did know that when we booked). Then we had our photo taken etc…. they were so happy to have international visitors. So then we had a lovely walk an played good golf for dad and reasonable for me. We struggled with the slow greens and lost lot of shots with our putting.
Had a drink and the taxi arrived. This time we were on the ball and got excellent taxi bus and train connections arriving back at the hotly One hour and 5mins later. Talk about feeling wrecked but it was really good day.
So off to
Admiralty subway St Petersburg
We had 30 seconds to get into the carriage - we made sure we got moving!!! no getting lost here. Oslo tomorrow at 7:58am - another big walk with all the luggage back to the railway.
Enjoy the blog and ignore any little errors as we are seriously sleep deprived living in the land of the Midnight Sun where the sun never really goes down.
Leanne and Graham
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