Travel with Dale & Margaret

Today it is Tallinn, Estonia, a place that we had never heard about prior to this trip and, quite frankly, we couldn’t have found on a map.  That being said, Tallinn turned out to be one of the most interesting places we have ever visited.  On a gloriously beautiful day, with incredible blue skies and white puffy clouds, we went on a walking tour of this walled city.

We started walking to town but it turned out to be farther than we thought so flagged down a bicycle “taxi” and had an enjoyable 10 minute trip to the entrance to the old part of the city.  There were pretty large crowds today but it wasn’t really an issue.  The locals said this was the first nice day of the summer so we felt quite lucky to be there on this day.

It is a beautiful old, walled, medieval city, which luckily survived World War II completely intact.  The city is well preserved and is a UNESCO protected area.  There was a modest-sized cobblestone town center surrounded by churches, a town hall and various other medieval looking buildings.

In the large center square area there were dozens of vendors set up selling local wares.  Everything was nice, organized and clean.

We found a wine shop and bought a bottle of vodka and some local herbaceous liqueur (for use on the ship).  We were getting hungry so we started looking around for a place to eat, of which there were many, but given that we don’t eat bread/wheat, cheese/dairy, pasta/grains, etc., it was harder than expected!  We ended up finding a sunny spot in a Greek sidewalk café and enjoyed a lunch of chicken kabobs, a Greek salad and white wine.

After lunch we continue up the hill above town to the viewing platforms.  The streets are old and cobblestone, so it was important to look down when walking to avoid tripping!   An appropriate number of photos later, we walked down around the perimeter of the walled area and back to where we thought we could catch a shuttle to the boat, unfortunately we went the wrong way and ended up walking the whole way back.  A bit more walking than we expected, but it was a beautiful day so we just called it “exercise”.

Tallinn historically was an important port for trade between Russia and Scandinavia; it became a target for the expansion of the Teutonic Knights and the Kingdom of Denmark during the period of Northern Crusades in the beginning of the 13th century when Christianity was forcibly imposed on the local population. Danish rule of Tallinn and Northern Estonia started in 1219.  Since then Estonia has gone through periods of occupation and independence including German, Russia and most recently Nazi Germany and then Russia again.  In August 1991 Estonia became an independent democratic state.

It was a great port and one that was easy to see independently.  Off to St. Petersburg tonight!

Margaret’s Top Picks:

Full Gallery:

http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/Baltic-Serenade-Cruise/Tallinn-June-19-2013/30372514_6SjH6K#!i=2617000040&k=Q74bmQp

Today we arrived in Riga, Latvia under very nice weather.  Turns out that it is the best day this summer as it has been almost everywhere we’ve been on this trip.  But, Rigans told us that it was also the first non-rainy day they’ve had this summer.  Lucky us!

We took a bus ride that drove around the city in circles looking at things that were, by most measures, somewhat pedestrian…in other words, we could have seen the same thing just walking about town.  How’s that for a play on words!  You can tell that we were a bit bored on this tour.  In fact, it was only a couple long blocks walking from the ship to the main part of town so that turned out this would have been the best option to see Riga.

There is quite a history in Riga as it is strategically located in the Baltic region.  When you get a chance you might check it out.  It is one of those places, like our next stop, Tallinn, that most people in the West know almost nothing about.  It is one of those cities where the transition from the suppression of the Soviets is still visible but the signs of improvement are everywhere.  Like in all the other former Soviet satellite countries, investors are building new developments, some from the ground up but also many major renovations of old classic buildings.  The potential is great.

The first stop was across the river at a hotel…supposedly giving us a chance to take pictures of town.  However, the town was quite a ways off and the view was less than spectacular.  The walk was even less so, especially since there were a number of older people on the tour.  But so be it.  There are a lot of art deco style houses in Riga and a number of wooden houses that have survived and been restored and have now become trendy.  There are also many beautiful buildings that reminded us of Paris and, which gives Riga the name of the “Paris of the Baltics”.

Tomorrow we’ll be in Tallinn, Estonia, a stop that promises to be very interesting as we will be doing a walking tour, on our own, of this well preserved walled city.

Margaret’s Top Picks:

Full Gallery:

http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/Baltic-Serenade-Cruise/Riga-July-18-2013/30369749_m55w6C#!i=2616567858&k=NbQCdrT

We had a very early day today as we departed for our tour of Berlin at 7:15 am.  It is a 3 hour drive from the port city of Warnemunde to central Berlin so we needed to get an early start!

It is another glorious day and we were surprised at the amount of farmland and forests that we passed on our way to the city.  Along the way our guide provide some background on Berlin.

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and one of the 16 states of Germany. It is  Germany’s largest city and around one third of the city’s area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes.

First documented in the 13th century, Berlin was the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918), the German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–33) and the Third Reich (1933–45).

Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world.  After World War II, the city became divided into East Berlin—capital of East Germany—and West Berlin, an exclave (surrounded by the Berlin Wall from 1961–89) and federal state of the Federal Republic of Germany.  Following German reunification in 1990, the city regained its status as the capital of Germany, and is host to 147 foreign embassies.

Needless to say, there is a LOT of history here and our tour took us to some of the more interesting points.  We went to what is left of the Berlin wall to see how artists, from all over the world, have decorated it with art work primarily peaceful co-existence.

We saw the Memorial of Murdered Jews, which is just outside of the area where Barrack Obama will address the German people.  The memorial consists of 2,711 concrete slabs arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field.  The slabs are 7 ft 10 inches long3 ft 1 inch wide and vary in height from 8 in to 15 ft 9 inches.  According to the designer, the slabs are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason.  Interesting.

The tour also took us to Checkpoint Charlie which was the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War.

Berlin also has a system of canals and part of our tour included a ride in a riverboat along some of the most beautiful areas of the city.  There has been a lot of new construction and renovation in the Berlin since the reunification.  While there are still some utilitarian style buildings in the old East Berlin area, much has changed in the way of new industry and retail shopping areas.

Upon arrival back at the pier, we were welcomed by the Marina crew and band, who played music and clapped for us and our safe return from our adventure to Berlin.  Very nice touch.

Margaret’s Picks:

Full Gallery:

http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/Baltic-Serenade-Cruise/Berlin-June-16-2013/30368142_pbGHHc

We arrived in Copenhagen around noon and were impressed to see hundreds of sailboats all around the long harbor entrance.  It is Saturday today and the weather is good, so it’s a “perfect storm” for sailors to get out and sail!

Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark and its most populous city.  It includes a large number of bridges and tunnels that connect the city together and promenades and waterfronts primarily characterize the cityscape.

It was originally a Viking fishing village founded in the 10th century and became the capital of Denmark in the beginning of the 15th century.

The museums, castles and public buildings are significant and the wealth and tradition here is undeniable.  We enjoyed our tour and the continued good weather we’ve been enjoying on the cruise.

Our tour today is called “Copenhagen by Sea” which included a coach tour highlight of the city and then a ride on a boat to see the city via the network of canals.  We were once again impressed with the beauty of another old Scandinavian city.  The history in this area is fairly co-mingled – lots of fighting amongst themselves (primarily in the Viking days) and then binding together to fight against other aggressors (Germany).

We found out that Copenhagen is home to “Christiania” also known as “Freetown Christiania”.  Christiania has been a source of controversy since some “hippies” created it by taking over or “squatting” in an abandoned military barracks area back in 1971.  Authorities tolerated its cannabis trade until 2004 and since then there are regular conflicts with the inhabitants of this “Freetown” and negotiations are ongoing.   We went by this area during our canal cruise and later, back on the ship, heard a hard rock concert that went on for many hours and was very loud!

Margaret’s Top Picks:

Full Gallery:

http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/Baltic-Serenade-Cruise/Copenhagen-June-15-2013/30359331_C79tjf#!i=2615453936&k=gbStWBR

We have been blessed with a beautiful day today as it was forecast to rain.  Our tour is to the Hadeland Glass Works factory.

Some background on Oslo – it was founded around 1,000 AD and is the capital of and most populous city in Norway.  Destroyed by a fire in 1624, it was moved a bit and rebuilt as Christiana (it was named after their king Christian).  It is the economic and governmental center of Norway and the hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping. It is an important center for maritime industries and trade in Europe.  You may recall the winter 1994 Olympics where held in Lillehammer, whose  snow-capped mountains we could see in the distance.

We took a 90 minute coach ride starting with a brief city tour and then rode through some beautiful countryside.  In the city we saw both beautiful multi-story, multi-use buildings typical of most European cities but also modern buildings including many interesting glass-clad ones.  Almost immediately we saw cast iron chairs without seats sitting randomly around a small park on the side of the road.  This is the site where three ships departed with 750 Norwegian Jews headed to Stettin and then Auschwitz.  We also passed along Henrik Ibsen’s Gate (boulevard) and saw where that famous 19th century playwright lived and ate lunch and dinner, while spitting food he didn’t like out the window onto people walking past.   Ibsen is the most performed dramatist after Shakespeare and a major source of pride for Norway!  We also passed by the Nobel Institute where a 5 person committee selects recipients of the 5 Nobel prizes every year as well as the Oslo City Hall where the award is given out.  While Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, was Swedish, he founded the award in Oslo.

During the war, a German, SS-related organization called Lebensborn had the goal of getting “Pure” Aryan men to “breed” with pure Aryan women to repopulate with appropriate bloodlines.  We passed the Klekken Hotel about 45 minutes outside town.  Apparently, it was here that the organization basically supervised the rape of Norwegian women by German soldiers with the goal of impregnating them in order to build future generations of pure Aryans.   The Klekken Hotel is still in business and operates as a hotel still as well.

About an hour out of town, while traveling along the very modern and smooth highway we passed the small island where the brutal massacre took place in July 2011.  You may recall that a lone gunman, dressed as a policeman, shot and killed 69 children at an island youth camp.  This was the deadliest attack in Norway since World War II and a survey found that 1 in 4 Norwegians knew “someone affected by the attacks”.  It was very sad to remember this event, but happy to hear from our guide how the Norwegian people have stood tall. Hundreds of thousands regularly attend events to show their support of “love and life” proving they will not to be broken by individuals who take it upon themselves to hurt and kill.  You’ll see one of the gallery pictures with a couple islands.  It is the farthest island.

The glass works factory was nice and it was impressive to watch the workers handling 500+ degree molten glass in their demonstration area which is actually a real production line.  They were making brightly colored lamp covers (looked like bottles) and wine glasses.  It takes a highly skilled individual to handle, blow, form and cut the wide assortment of glass products and almost all of the process is done by hand!  We came to appreciate a little more all those wine glasses we use every day.  The facility had several nice retail stores and a couple places to eat.

Since the weather was nice, our guide decided to take us on a side trip on the way back to the ship.  The coach wove it’s way up a steep and twisty road to a lookout area on the edge of a cliff.  We had a great view of the many lakes and distant glaciers.  There was a base jump area and 2 guys were there waiting for the wind to change direction before they jumped.  When we walked down we noticed there was a drop-off about 30 feet from the area where we stood – this was the edge the base jumpers would leap from with their wing shaped parachute.  Up above, across the dirt road, there was even a wooden launching ramp of sorts since this was so heavily used by parasailers.  Across the lake was the longest ski flying ramp in the world.  I guess Norwegians like risky activities!

We had to be careful not to step in the deer and elk scat as we went to take pictures and was surprised when suddenly, one of the guys in our group, came running past us heading straight for the edge!  At first we thought he was joking around, but then we realized that he couldn’t stop!  Very scary.  He ended up throwing himself to the ground about 10 feet before the cliff.  He was really lucky that he didn’t hurt himself, in fact, after he came to a rest on his bottom, he didn’t miss a beat as he grabbed his camera and started taking photos of the vista!  There are a couple pictures of him sitting on his rear end down the hill and another of him walking back while picking out stickers from his arm.  We overheard him telling his wife when we were back on the coach that he had taken 2 big steps to avoid stepping in the scat only to realize that his momentum kept him going toward the edge.  He could have easily hurt himself, or any one of us if he had run into someone, or gone over the edge and the 200+ foot drop off.  A little too much excitement and a good lesson to be careful and mindful of more than just what you step in!

Heading back down the hill we noticed that a couple of the houses had sod roofs with lots of plants growing on them.  We also noticed that almost all houses had tile (usually red) roofs and had ladder steps built into the roof heading up to the chimney.  Seems they need to get up on the roof in the winter to keep the chimney clear of snow.  On the outskirts of town we passed a very small island with a Danish flag.  Apparently, the joke is that the Norwegians call this island Denmark as their way of saying they are superior.

Back on the Marina Margaret decided to take it easy while Dale took off on a walk about town.  Since Marina was only a short walk to the famous Opera House and downtown area it took only a couple hours to have a look around.  It was a glorious day with lots of white puffy clouds and the crowds were out.  It was nice to be able to see what the locals do on a beautiful Friday afternoon.  What they do is lay out in the sun around the Opera House, the numerous parks, gather at the outdoor cafes and just have a great time.  The Opera House was designed by a local architecture firm Snøhetta.  In fact, Norway has a reputation for famous modern architects, one of which designed the new World Trade Center buildings.  The Opera House appears to be growing out of the adjacent water with very angular walls and roof covered in Italian marble and white granite.  You can even walk to the building’s roof on stars or smooth marble.

All the Baltic countries we are going to visit have the sea as a major part of their history and today we could see how much they love their boats.  There were plenty out enjoying the sunshine as we sailed away on what had to be the most beautiful day of the year for them.  After doing a little reading, taking a brief nap in the warm sunshine, and taking some departure pictures we had a dinner at Toscano, the Italian-themed restaurant on Deck 14, Aft.

Margaret’s Top Picks:

Oslo Full Gallery:

http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/Baltic-Serenade-Cruise/Oslo-June-14-2013/30350722_kVc99W#!i=2614573380&k=JSjnK96