Our first day was spent touring Oslo. Our first stop was at the
Holmenkollen ski jump, sitting high above Oslo and was
the site of the 1952 Olympics. It is so high and steep. It is scary to think of young men and women engaging in this
sport. Next we walked through the
Vigeland sculpture park. See
movie clip. The park is home to stone, iron and bronze statures by Gustav
Vigeland that depict human life from birth to death. We finished at the
Viking Ship Museum that houses three Viking ships
that were used as tombs for the wealthy along with food, jewels and furniture for the afterlife.
We returned to the ship and rested for the rest of the day.Pictures
Our next port was Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest city and there is evidence that the vikings settled there in the 8th or 9th centuries. We took a bus trip into the countryside where we rode a
vintage train through forests of fir
trees. Then it was on to the Silkeborg Museum that houses the body of the
Tollund man. It was found in a peat bog in the
1950's. After much forensic testing, scientists discovered that he died between 300 and 400BC and probably was sacrificed
since he was buried with many fine objects and containers of food for the afterlife. From there we went to a
scenic park.
that had the tallest mountain in Denmark
(
Movie from the mountain top) .Pictures
We opted not to go to Berlin at our next port. It was too much to see in the short amount of time we would spend there. Instead we decided to stay in town,
Warnemunde, it was once a fishing village. We had lunch and did some
shopping. We did
visit the
Warnemunde lighthouse. Leave it to us to find one.Pictures
Next we had a day at sea to rest.
If Disney was looking for a town for a princess,
Tallinn, Estonia would be it. With its narrow streets large squares and
fortress walls it is one of the Baltic's great surprises. The city consists of upper town and lower town. The heart of
Tallin's "Upper Town" is Palace Square, home to the pink, Baroque
Toompea Castle, the seat of the Estonian Parliament.
Town Hall Square in Tallinn's Lower Town is home to town hall and cafes,
restaurants and boutiques. It's real claim to fame is SKYPE was founded there.Pictures and a movie clip of the staff's artistic creations.
The first day in St Petersburg was spent touring the town. Our first stop was
Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. It
was built on the site of the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. It is covered in colorful tiles. We toured
St Isaac's Cathedral. The cathedral's central gold dome
is the largest in the world, and covered with 220 lbs of gold. We had a
local lunch then
we toured
the Hermitage. The Tsar's winter palace. It is home
to over three million artworks, including Da Vinci, Monet and others.The second day we toured
Catherine palace with its beautiful room of amber,
and the gilded throne room were beautiful.
On our way to lunch we were treated to a performance of a
mens choir
(Movie clip)
in the gardens.
After a
local lunch we went to
Peterhof Palace, built to rival
Versailles. It is famous for its beautiful gardens and many
fountains.(Movie clip)Pictures from both days.
In Helsinki we took a trip to a small village called
Porvoo. It is Finlands second oldest city. Very quaint with old
buildings and cobblestone streets. Again we had a
local farm lunch on the way to the
Rock Church(Movie clip)
which is carved out of bedrock
and covered with a copper dome. Very impressive.Pictures
Stockholm was our last port and yet again we toured another palace.
Drottningholm this time. Home to Swedish royalty,
which still lives in part of the palace. Not as fancy as the others we saw, but nice none the less. The churches are not
ornate because the predominant religion is Lutheran.Pictures
We had one more day at sea to rest up for the trip home. We were amazed that we only had one evening when darkness actually happened. It was light 24/7 most of the time.