The True Spirit of Scandivavia - An Elderhostel Trip

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June 16, 2009 - Tuesday- Sweden - Turku, Finland
Wonder of wonders! We looked out the window this morning and saw a blue sky and sun shine! Finally on our last day in Sweden we are going to have a nice day!
After breakfast we had our last talk from our Sweden site coordinator. Paul, the Professor. Due to another group coming in our lecture was moved to upstairs in the manor house, a lovely pale blue room with a lovely view of the water. Today's lecture is actually on the European Union which I discussed on the previous day's blog. Yesterday's talk was more on Swedish history which is very interesting. Unfortunately, there is no time to tell you about it right now.
After lunch we and all of our luggage left for an excursion to a sculpture garden located near the port from which we will sail to Turku, Finland. The home and garden of Sweden's greatest sculptor, Carl Milles, sits dramatically on a steep slope runing down to the water. The port with several cruise ships is just across the inlet to the Baltic sea. The Milles Gäden was the home of Carl Milles. The five acre museum park features fountains, gardens, the artist's home, a collection of antiquities and an art gallery. Our guide was a young woman who in nearly perfect English shared her passion for the work of Carl Milles and for the lovely gardens. We followed her here and there and up and down the stone stairways of the garden and then into and out of various rooms of displays of his magnificent sculptures. She began by telling us of Carl Milles' early life which had been very difficult. His mother died when he was quite young. His father was very disappointed in his rather frail and artistic son and he whipped and beat him continually. Carl was forced to leave home and go to work at age 12. He eventually became a wood carver and then at some point, a sculptor. Milles became an apprentice to Rodin and of course, he was influenced by him.
There were many wonderful sculptures but are two favorties were of God creating a rainbow and placing stars in the sky with a small angel at the bottem throwing God some stars. The second favorite is one of a giant hand tilting at an odd angle and a man standing very precariously on one foot trying to find his balance. (We were told that the latter one is quite famous.) I'm sure there is a great deal that could be told about the meaning of each of the sculptures. We were delighted we had such a beautiful day in which to stroll around the gardens!
At 3:30 pm our bus dropped us off at the Silja- Scandivnavia Ferry Terminal. We had several hours to wait so a few of us found a table in a snack bar. Gene and I got some hot chocolate and an apple strudel, and played cards with 3 others. After a few hours we boarded the ship, found an elevator to deck 8, and found our cabin. We were overjoyed to find a huge round window and a very nice cabin. The ship is less than a year old so everything still appears new. We went on deck to walk around and look out at the stunning scenery passing by. Upon leaving Stockholm we passed through an archipelago. There were islands everywhere mostly with a house or two and of course, a boat. We were told it would take more than two hours to get into open sea. We soon went in to eat dinner. We had a ticket to the famous smorgesboard. Elderhostel had booked us tables in front of the large windows but first we had to get the woman in charge because other people were sitting at our tables! She told them to go back to where they belonged! Our dinner included a bottle of red wine and one of white. The food was fabulous! My favorite was the salmon in some type of delicous sauce and for dessert I had some huge red grapes and brie cheese! Gene, of course, had 3 desserts on his plate, but I was too full to even look at them.
At midnight I looked out of our cabin window and we were passing quite close to the shore. I could see some houses with a boat at each dock. A car ferry was waiting to pull out as soon as we passed by. The ship will dock at 7:00am tomorrow and we will be in Turku, Finland!
Good night from the somewhere on the Baltic Sea. Phyllis and Gene

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