Scott C. Bond

Whereas many of the countries we are visiting date back to civics classes, I actually hired a couple of contract programmers from Estonia back in my Amkor days. I don’t remember much of what they told me, but I’m interested in the country and a bit of its history. Our excursion began at 8:15am, and returned around 12:30pm.

Estonia is one of the three “Baltic States”, which also include Latvia and Lithuania. It’s rather small, with Estonia having a population of 1.38 million, and its capital, Tallinn, having almost a third of that population with 400,000. In 1980, the Olympic sailing events were held in Tallinn, which was also the year of the Russian boycott. The country sits on the 59^th parallel, North, which puts it along the same parallel as British Columbia, Alaska, Scotland.

Our focus was “Old Town”, which is a World Heritage site. Like many countries in the area, as we learned, the Estonians were ruled by other nations through much of their history; including Denmark from 1219, was sold to Germany from 1346, Sweden from 1561, then Russia from 1710 to 1918, when the Estonian Declaration of Independence – largely based on the United States document – was adopted. They won their war of independence from Russia, and adopted a Constitution in 1920. They were “unlawfully” incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940. They saw action in WWII between the Russians and the Germans, and remained part of the Soviet Union until 1989, when the Soviet Union was dissolved. They joined the EU in 2003, and NATO in 2004, and have built their comeback based on shipping (access to the ocean), and a bit on technology – having a significant role, reportedly, in SKYPE.

We bussed a relatively short distance into town – a cursory bus tour of the new city. Once in the Old City, we turned to a pleasant walking tour. The buildings are colored very similarly to St. Petersburg and Moscow – relatively bright – to combat the long hours of darkness that goes along with living on the 59^th parallel. The city was walled, as many key cities were. The streets were largely cobblestone, with some pavers. Education is/was deemed important to the people of Estonia. They are particularly proud of their “elite schools”, which focus on languages and science.

Baltic Amber is big, and, of course, Alison and Marion had to shop. Barry and I found an outdoor restaurant and had some coffee, while waiting, and fortunately, we all met at the McDonalds in time to hike back to the bus and back to the ship. We were on-board again by approximately 12:30.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

OK, I’m not a huge fan of museums, although I’ve been through a few great ones in my time. The State Hermitage Museum is a must see, if you get to this part of the world. Getting up, having breakfast, and getting to our 8:30am meeting spot – after getting to bed a 2am – was short of a miracle, but we managed it. 20,000 people a day go through the Hermitage. The Hermitage is actually the Winter Palace, commissioned by Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in the mid-1700s. It is my understanding that the Hermitage was never actually used as a palace, but became a place to showcase the vast treasures accumulated by the czars and prominent families throughout Russian history – and there is frankly, no lack of it! And the pure splendor of the facility, itself, is simply amazing. We were extremely impressed by what we saw in the Kremlin Museum, but that quickly paled when we made our way through the Hermitage.

There are multiple rooms and wings with different themes and content. We entered via the grand staircase to begin our guided tour. We saw artwork of the 15^th and 16^th centuries from Renoir, Degas, Monet, Van Gogh, DaVinci and Cezanne. We saw the Field Marshal’s Hall, the Throne Room, etc. It is said that if you spent one minute looking at each of their cataloged items, you would be in the museum for 11 years!

It was interesting to see how clocks evolved through history – starting with hour hands, only, and adding minute hands, later. The most ornate timepiece piece I have ever seen was created by an Englishman and was a guilded peacock clock ——- INCREDIBLE MOVEMENT. 
 YouTube Video Link  

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDsQtwIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D_M3O_A6tmA8&ei=NaVCUvjpHpGn4AOxkoGADQ&usg=AFQjCNH6MkmcKVHRaSUKpCoiTNvn3b28Ig&sig2=8uaZoa_s14Amto14JaIg7g&bvm=bv.53077864,d.dmg

We spent almost one hour in what is called The Gold Room, an amazing collection of gold items that crossed many centuries. The detail on some pieces could only be appreciated by viewing through a magnifying glass. A museum guide spoke in Russian and that was translated by our Russian guide, who obviously goes through this room frequently, still giggled and had wide eyes when we went through. Again – simply amazing.

And the marble and guild and gold leaf, etc – wow.

The Hermitage was and is a must see for anyone visiting St. Petersburg.

We bussed back to the ship and crashed – catching up on the sleep we lost on the trip to Moscow.

If I were to ask you, right now, what your image of Moscow, Russia was, what images would appear in your mind? How would you describe it?

The knock on the door at 4:30 in the morning was Room Service with our breakfast. Oh, that’s early. We had to be ready to go at our meeting place by 5:30. Even the immigration officials were tired, and barely glanced at our passports, already opened to the stamped pages, as we passed through and were assigned to a bus. Our guide, Catherine, was giving us instructions along the way to the central train station in the center of St. Petersburg. Group 15, Car 8, Seats 3 to 38, depart at 7:30 —– and we’re supposed to remember all this? You bet! And the biggest number was 4 – the number of hours on this high speed express train to Moscow.

The train had been in service for two years. We topped out at close to 230 KM/hour, or about 140 mph. The train was very clean, the ride was extremely smooth, the personnel were cordial, and the seats were reasonably comfortable. The water closets (toilets) were very nice. They had movies and music, but we didn’t take advantage of either as we were either watching the scenery or trying to fall asleep. The train is relatively new. In the old days, it could take up to two weeks by carriage, and now they are down to 4 hours. It was said that the czars kept saying no to the trains, but, finally, one of them took a pencil to a map and drew essentially a straight line from St Petersburg to Moscow, and said, build it. There was a lot of nothing but swamp land, trees, fields, and small klatches of huts/small homes and what looked like heated storage units, but we couldn’t figure those out.

We were introduced to our Moscow guide, Marina, on the other end, and together, Catherine and Marina led us to the awaiting bus. Moscow is the capital and largest city of Russia, with 12 million residents, and the Neva River passes through it. Marina’s English was fantastic, and she gave us a very nice bus tour on the way to the “Kremlin Fortress”, which we refer to simply as the Kremlin. On the way, we passed the Lubyanka Headquarters building, under renovation. This was the headquarters for the KGB, now known as the FSB, the Federal Security Bureau. The Kremlin contains several buildings on a campus within the fortress wall, which is functional, but not imposing. Thinking back on it, I don’t remember much of a presence, at all, of police or military – although I’m sure that there were some. President Putin’s office was there, in a two story (above ground) office building, a museum, several churches, and I’m sure much more. Our primary stop was the Kremlin Museum, which contained a very impressive collection of items owned by the Czars and the royal families and diplomatic gifts. There were more than a few Wows in there.

The Russian flag that flies over President Putin’s office flies all the time – whether he is in town or not, so he could have been there – we don’t know.

One must-see of Moscow is the subway system. It is deep underground – for security and because of the swampy soil conditions, but the subway stations are works of art. Each station, I am assuming, based on my sample size of two, is different, but clean and well appointed. We put on our “Moscovian” faces – serious looks, don’t say “you first”, just move, and hopped on the train. We got off at the next station and admired it before riding the very long escalator to the surface. From there, we caught the bus, and it took us back to Red Square, which is not part of, but adjacent to the Kremlin.

Red Square was interesting. Yes, it’s large, and my memories went to the days of the military parades long long ago, with soldiers and military hardware prominent. According to Marina, the “Red” has nothing to do with politics or the color of the Kremlin Fortress brick, but “Red” is translated into “Beautiful”; so Red Square means Beautiful Square. While we were there, they were setting up a large stage for some sort of concert of cultural affair. Lenin’s Tomb sat along the Kremlin Fortress wall, in the center, but not overtly prominent. There were lots of people milling about. Of real interest to me, was an opulent mall – yes, shopping mall, opposite the Kremlin. Gorgeous stores and interior, lots of high end fashion and products – and a customer base that suited the shopping experience.

We were at our meeting place when tower bells began to ring at 4:50, announcing the afternoon Russian Lutheran Orthodox service was going to start at 5pm. Loud and long, but kind of beautiful. We had been flirting with rain showers all day, but we made it back to the bus. The rain started to become more consistent, but we had only a short ride to the Hilton Hotel, where we had dinner – nothing over the top. Mark and Sue Davis, of Boulder, CO joined us and we had a good visit.

Throughout our tour yesterday and today, we kept hearing “Soviet Period”, which we knew ended in 1981. We were curious to know what the current period was described as, and was it considered a good thing. After chatting with both Christina and Marina, we decided on the term “Post-Soviet Period”, which will stand until something happens to cause this period to be called something else. Is it a good period. The old timers, who grew up in the height of the Soviet Period, aren’t totally convinced. The younger crowd is excited about the opportunities available to them, and it’s nothing but good. They all felt comfortable expressing their beliefs.

We bussed to the Central Train Station – there were actually three train stations, one right next to the other – in the center of town, and got on our train, Car 9, seats 1-42, or something like that. We were all exhausted —- except a group of 7 or so from the Dominican Republic. They were loud and obnoxious and inconsiderate – all the way back to St Petersburg. Other than that, all was well. We were bussed back to the ship, and the immigration people barely processed our passports. We were on-board around 1am, and in bed around 2am.

This morning, we docked at the recently opened cruise ship terminal in Saint Petersburg, which is the second largest metro area in Russia – second to Moscow. The city has a population of 4.7 million, and including the outskirts, they total 6 million. That makes it the same size as the Delaware Valley / greater Philadelphia area.

It is an industrial city with large port facilities, has been the capital of Russia in the past, is a cultural hub, was home of the Romanovs, and was site of the siege in World War II when the Germans tried to capture St. Petersburg and break the spirit of the Russian army. So, it has relevant history and is yet meaningful in current times.

It was a bit cooler and a bit overcast today, but still seasonably warm – and dry. They only get 66 days of dry / nicer weather in a year, so we count ourselves lucky. After breakfast, we assembled our things and checked in for the “Highlights of Saint Petersburg” excursion – scheduled to last 4 hours. Whereas we never went through immigration in Sweden or Finland, unfortunately, getting into Russia is a bit more challenging. The queues were long in the port terminal, where we had to individually show our passport, immigration forms, and excursion ticket. All-in-all, it took us about 45 minutes. Our relatively small group was assigned to a bus, and our guide was Vladimir.

If you picture a highlights tour of Philadelphia or New York City, you have an image of what we were seeing. Churches that were taken from the church years ago – and are being petitioned for return, the odd cannon or horse with rider statues as tribute to one leader or another, an early naval destroyer, launched in 1903, a mobile ICBM launch crew that we were debating whether it was part of a museum – or viable. We went into the Fortress of Peter and Paul, which housed the chapel of Peter and Paul, which had lots of gold leaf artistry, and was the burial site of much of the Romanov family and heirs. There are many beautiful crypts in the church, but they are all currently empty – as the bodies were relocated to “safer” situations due to turbulent periods in their history.

Our driver did find us free bathrooms – at the price of being co-located with a gift shop. Isn’t that the way it works?

We got back, ate lunch – walking up from deck 5 to deck 12 – then Alison and I went up to deck 14 (there is no deck 13) for some pictures. Naps were very welcome, after that. We woke up and did a few odds and ends before dressing for dinner – reservations at Jaques, the on-board French restaurant, which was very good. Our waiters and sommelier happened to be Indian that had a great sense of humor. That was down on Deck 5. We walked around a bit after dinner, and returned to our cabin to prepare for a very early morning.

Tomorrow, the alarm goes off at 4:45am, and we have to check in for our excursion to Moscow by 5:30. It involves going through immigration again (but reportedly easier), getting to the public train station, taking the 4 hour high speed train station to Moscow, touring, taking the subway, having dinner, and returning to St Petersburg and the ship. Overall, we are looking at an 18 hour day. I strongly doubt that I will be publishing much of an entry for tomorrow until, at least, the day after.

Helsinki, for those that don’t know, is the capital of Finland. It has a population of just over 600,000 people, in a country that has about 4.5 million citizens. The Delaware Valley, in comparison, has about 6 million residents. The country is surrounded by water, and, like Sweden, is considered an archipelago. Its main industry is shipbuilding, and they are responsible for building many of the world’s largest ships, including cruise ships.

Alison and I slept rather well (although Alison woke up briefly in the middle of the night). We got dressed and joined M&B for the breakfast buffet. This morning, we continued our excursion training with a 3 hour boat tour of Stockholm. Like yesterday, we seem to be on the warm side of the changing season – and I’m not complaining. We wore jeans and a light jacket. The water was smooth, a combination of salt and “sweet” water, and very calm. I would describe it as “lake calm”. The lead guide’s name was Lea. We boated around several islands, some with trees and some without, ranging from totally uninhabited to those with a handful of homes or shacks, to those that had high end villas. They also pointed out islands that had some semblance of historical / military significance.

I haven’t validated my understanding, but Finland was once part of Sweden, and then became part of Russia, and then, somehow, became independent. The laws are a combination, with most people preferring those laws of a Swedish flavor. Like other countries in this region, Finland is a social democratic country. Oddly enough, it’s a very nice place, with many of the same features and personality of Sweden, which equates to being, well, bland. I can’t think of too many reasons why I would return.

The 90 minute (or less) boat tour ended with rounding the piers delegated to ice breakers. We saw three or four docked. They work 24X7 during the winter months, and are critical to the economy. Like many tours, we stepped off the boat, and were escorted to an open-air market that offered a wide variety of local souvenirs and locally made product. There were lots of knit products, from slippers and socks to scarves and baby hats to stocking hats – and the ladies were sitting or standing there with their knitting needles or crochet hooks flying. It was actually a beautiful day to be outside, no doubt. There really wasn’t much to see!

Barry and I sat in a local café and had a cup of coffee and local “rye toast” while the ladies shopped a bit more, then we caught the bus shuttle back to the ship. We were prepared to walk the 30-40 minutes we were told it would take, but I’m glad we didn’t!

Getting back to the ship around 1:30, we sought out some lunch, and nearly got blown off the outer deck seating. Back in our cabin, Alison did a load of wash and we rested a bit before getting dressed for the captain’s bon voyage party. We never did see the captain, but we did get some free drinks and met Sue and Mark Davis from Boulder, CO. From there, we went to the Main Dining Room and enjoyed a nice dinner before calling it a night.

We lose another hour tonight (lost one last night, too). Our next excursion, at 8:20am, is St Petersburg.

Per Wikipedia, an archipelago, sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster or collection of islands. List of archipelagos by number of islands, islets, reefs, coral reefs and cays:

• Swedish east coast archipelago : 65,666^[1]
  
  • Stockholm archipelago: 28,945
    

 

We woke up to a beautiful morning in Stockholm, after the fog burned off – the high temperature was to be somewhere around 70. Warm for this time of year in Stockholm. The breakfast buffet was excellent, followed by re-packing, checking out and joining a small band of Canadians for our three-hour “Tour of 8” sweep of Stockholm, starting at 9. Brigitte was our guide and George, our driver.

Highlights of the bus tour included an architectural lesson – including “functionalism”, art Nuevo, and “dismalism”, as our guide put it. The country was one of Europe’s poorest until the 1960’s. As the economy grew, so did the need for more / affordable housing, They built boxes that people lived in – lots of straight lines and plainness. Social Democracy, which included some German and Russian historical influence, put the government in the forefront of many of these social / capatilistic programs. Income Tax? About 60%.

For you government healthcare enthusiasts, Sweden has provided healthcare for its citizens for years, and still does. However, we learned that many have started to purchase their own insurance policies to, at a minimum, supplement the government programs to get around the long queues and delays in getting services – or obtaining the services you want.

“City Hall” in Stockholm isn’t historically “old”, having opened in 1923, but it is important, as it is the site of celebration of the Nobel Prize. Nobel, inventor of dynamite, became the world’s richest man (so we were told), but it sounded like he was somewhat incomplete socially and relationship-wise. He dictated the Nobel minute details surrounding the prize categories and the celebration of such in great detail. Some portions of City Hall were quite beautiful – personally, I liked the interior courtyard, but others, like the “Gold Room”, in my mind, were very odd. It is essentially political art, and very abstract.

The Vasa Museum is one of THE highlights of visiting Stockholm. The Swedish king had made a decision that he quickly needed to build a large and formidable new warship, and commissioned a master shipbuilder from [Norway or Finland] and master carvers from Germany. They were to build the ship in 2-1/2 years, which was almost insane, but they did it – including some significant last-minute design changes requested by the King. On its maiden voyage, the Vasa capsized and sunk about a half mile from the pier in 1628. The ship was raised in the 1950’s and was floated to what is now the museum. The preservation of the original ship and contents I s incredible. It is a very interesting story and piece of history.

The tour ended with our arrival at the port, and check-in for the Oceana Marina. We dropped our tagged bags, went through security and the check-in process and walked up the gang plank on Deck 5. Lunch was being served up on Deck 12. We walked. After lunch, while waiting for our cabins to be released to us, Alison and Marion made our non-Main Dining Room reservations – getting 5 nights instead of 4, and we stopped by the computer lab to be told to follow the WIFI signup instructions in our cabin. So, off to the cabins we went. It took a while to unpack, but we managed; followed by the safety drills.

We wandered up to Deck 12 for the Bon Vayage party, but found that the ship had already left the dock – those sneaky guys! No Louis Armstrong “It’s a Wonderful World”. We left at 5 and were told that it would take 4-1/2 hours to clear the archipelago and get out to sea. Wow! We were bobbing and weaving among the islands – very close to the islands. It was kind of neat. our first dinner was at 6:30 in the Toscana restaurant – very nice Italian dinner.

We finished dinner around 8:45 and returned to the cabins. Sleep wasn’t far off.

 

 

 

We left the house at 1pm, September 11th, and, yes, we too remembered the 12th anniversary. The flight on the US Airways A330 to Frankfurt, Germany took about 7 hours and was pretty smooth.

Our layover was about 3 hours, we had to go through security, again, a surprise change in gate and a long hike from A01 to A23, and we bussed out to the Lufthansa A321, for the 1 hour 50 minute flight to Stockholm. There was surprisingly no immigration or customs to go through.

The ticket machines to purchase train tickets on the 20 minute Arlanda Express gave us fits – credit cards with chips and pin#, like Canada, but we found a counter and easily caught the train – even with the luggage.

The hotel is only a block or so away from Central Station, so that was easy. We checked in at 1pm. M&B weren’t around (arrived the day before, so we went on a walk-about. Gorgeous day.

When we got back to the hotel, we showered and relaxed, then connected with M&B for another extended walkabout and dinner. We were going to try a recommended restaurant, but with a 90 minute wait, we bagged that idea and ate in the hotel.

Sleep wasn’t far behind.

Well, not really. I thought a picture would help.

Hello All:

Alison and I are preparing to meet Marion and Barry in Stockholm for a Nordic Cruise.

Here is a sneak peak:

We will leave from PHL to Stockholm via Frankfurt on September 11^th, and spend a few days in London following the cruise; returning home October 2^nd.