Baltic Cruise

Departure

After four days in Copenhagen we boarded the Norwegian Star for our cruise: nine days, six ports and over two thousand fellow passengers. And it felt like we were meeting those 2000 other passengers during the boarding process! Having grown used to orderly lines around here, I was not prepared for the jostling and pushing the happened when they called our group of passengers to check-in. Both Katrina and I are tall,, though, so we survived the rush pretty much unscathed, if not in the happiest of moods.

Some time later we found ourselves at our cabin, suitably impressed with what I saw: a nice big bed, a sofa, a desk, and a balcony with an ocean view! The only missing thing was my suitcase. Katrina's was there, but mine had been replace with a little piece of paper saying I had to go pick it up somewhere else because it contained a "prohibited item," a bottle of wine I had told them I had. So I eventually found the place, paid for the wine, picked up my luggage and was ready to enjoy the cruise part of the vacation.

After exploring the ship and finding the usual amenities we joined our friends for our celebratory dinner at the Moderno Restaurant, an actual Brazilian churrascaria located on the ship. Two hours later,  sated and content, I felt we were in for a good cruise.

Waernemunde and Wismar

Waernemunde was our fist stop on the cruise, and started with a series of glitches. We were supposed to meet our guide at the pier, but the boat was rerouted at the last moment and berthed several miles away at the Rostok dockyards. Eventually our guide did find us there only to inform us that he had hurt his foot and would not be able to escort us. He arranged for one of his other guides to take over but he was over in Waernemunde. The man knew what he was doing, though, and eventually collected us all, put us in a van and half an hour later we were all at the Waernemunde train station, ready for our walk.

Now, what do I remember about Waernemunde? we had coffee and cake, which was good and walked along the town towards the beach. They showed us a hotel for foreign tourists built by the secret police, which according to our guide had built-in microphones in every room. We saw a beach covered in chairs designed by a woman who wanted to enjoy the beach in comfort:

And we saw the train that would take us Wismar.

Wismar was part of the Hanseatic League, which means that in medieval times it was rich and powerful. More importantly, Wismar is where they filmed parts of Nosferatu (the Murnau version, not the Herzog one). I remember the bridge with a small pig statue on each corner, no two pigs in the same pose; visiting a cathedral and having lunch at a brewery. I remember seeing the ruins of a church bombed during World War II and a beach volleyball tournament going on at the town square. I remember looking and not finding a book about the city, looking and finding coffee for Katrina and I.

  

Eventually it was time to go back to Waernemunde and the boat. That was the time for questions and answers and we had a pleasant, frank conversation with our guide about what it was like to grow up in Communist Germany. There was also the incident of the drunk German trying to chat up Katrina and Stacey, which made me a little tense, but it was never really a problem.

Oh yes, and I did accompany Marc on his quest to dip his toe in the Baltic:

Tallin

Tallin, the capital of Estonia and home of Skype was voted  favorite port by my friends. I claim it was all because of our guide, Alex from "Alex's Mostly Factual Tours." And mostly factual it was. Armed with a Tallin guidebook and following its directions, I warned my friends that most of what I told them would be factual, but not everything.

"Petrified tree stumps" used to build the dock

So we walked into town, passing the "petrified tree stumps" from the petrified trees they cut down to build the pier (not a fact #1) and in through the Fat Margaret gate (where not a fact #2 was introduced, a mention that Fat Margaret was a popular local prostitute). Walking towards the main town square we passed the KGB headquarters, considered to be the tallest building in town because from its basement you could see Siberia, some interesting churches and, most importantly, a cafe with free wifi, where we all had to stop so my friends could catch up on their emails.

Fat Margaret watch tower

They had a tower at the main square, so Ken, Marc and I had to climb it. Narrow steps, and many of them, but well-lighted and easy to climb, with a nice view at the top. We spent a few minutes there, but then it was time to come down so we could join the others and start climbing Toompea, so we could visit the palace garden and the cathedral.

Tallinn view from the sea

Palace and cathedral properly appreciated, it was time for lunch. We found a nice restaurant at the top of the hill where we enjoyed some local dish, washed down with  local beer. Then it was back down the hill, enjoying the sights until we got to Katarina Street, to Katrina's delight. We did some souvenir shopping there and then were off to the boat, where Mary Ann informed us we had covered 7.2. miles. That number was the basis of our new distance measuring unit, one Tallin. For the rest of the trip it was common to hear some ask, "Why are you tired? We've only walked 1/2 a Tallin!"

St. Petersburg

After a day at sea we found ourselves in Russia's old capital, St. Petersburg, a city of palaces, canals and cars. As our guide was fond of mentioning, St. Petersburg had five million people, one million cars and no parking garages. Of all the stops on the cruise this was the only one where we had to wait in line and go through passport control. The wait wasn't long, and on the good side I did get a Russian stamp on my passport!

Now, the first thing I noticed about St. Petersburg is that they like their domes gilded. Palaces, churches, government buildings, if it had a dome the dome was gold. When they ran out of domes, they decided that statues and iron gates were fair game too.

The palaces were spectacular. We visited Catherine's summer palace and were treated to beautiful gardens, and a palace with beautiful, opulent rooms. For me, two rooms stood out: the ballroom, covered in mirrors and gold (of course!), and the amber room, which unfortunately we were not allowed to photograph. We also went to Peter's summer palace, but there we only visited the gardens, our guide apologizing and explaining our time was limited. Not a problem, though, the gardens were beautiful, well tended, with beautiful fountains and gold statues.

Ballroom at Catherine's summer palace

Gardens at Peter's summer palace

And then there was the Hermitage. We only had a couple of hours in it, not enough time to see much of anything. The collection is so big that if you spent one minute in front of each piece it would take over 30 years to see it all. But we did see some beautiful clockwork, a tabletop inlaid with a beautiful mosaic made of teensy-weensy tiles, and a beautiful collection of Picasso and impressionists. The Hermitage also boasted a collection of grumpy old women that would snap at you if you knelt in one of the benches to take a better picture. Katrina did not like them.

A few other places come to mind: a fort where we saw the graves of Peter, Catherine and Nicholas; the restaurant where we had a lunch consisting of cheese-filled pastries that look remarkably like the Brazilian "pastel;" the beautiful Church of the Spilled Blood, which during World War II was used as a morgue and afterwards as a warehouse; the basement restaurant where we had lunch on the first day; the stores at the dock where we tried to spend the last of our rubles.

Eating Georgina "pasteis"

And I do remember the conversation with our guide on the way back to the boat, talking about what life was in post-communist Russia. We heard how people are entitled to ownership of the rooms where they lived before (not the apartment mind you, the room). We heard about the life expectancy in the low fifties because of systemic drinking. We heard about a culture where no one smiles at strangers and find it suspicious if someone smiles at them. Reminders that it was definitely a different culture. 

Helsinki

Helsinki was hard for me. My wife Sharon had spent a summer studying there when she was doing her MBA at the University of Washington. So everything I saw had me wondering if Sharon had seen it too, and if so what her impressions were. I felt her presence everywhere.

We didn't have much time in Helsinki, but we did have a guide all to ourselves, a Portuguese man who fell in love with a Finn he met in London and who decided that Helsinki was a better place to raise his family. He was entertaining and taught us a lot about the Finns: their disappointment in Nokia and the fact that Microsoft bought them; their pride in the success of Angry Birds; how the country subsidizes education and helps people start their own business. All in a country that cares about its people and wants them to prosper.

So, we piled in the van and made our way to the first stop, the Sibelius monument. Now, I don't know much about Sibelius other than he was the composer of Finlandia, but the monument was nice. Located in a park by the water, it consists mostly of metal tubes and Sibeliu's bust, with music coming out of his ears. Apparently the bust part was not part of the original design, but added because the Finns did not want a Sibelius monument without Sibelius in it.

The whole gan in front of the Sibelius monument

Our next destination was one of the many communal gardens which abound in the city. Apparently the Finns prize their time outside in the sun, given the limited amount they get, and thoroughly enjoy those gardens which they also use as a place to just hang out and chat with their neighbors. On the way there we drove by the prime minister's house where we found no guns, no guards, no big fences. Definitely a different experience than a visit to the White House.

Communal garden 

Our next stop was the Olympic Stadium, whose main attraction was a tower from the top of which we could see the whole city. Even better, the tower had an elevator, so very few steps to climb to the top. So to the top we went and enjoyed a nice view of the city.

View or Helsinki from the Olympic Stadium's tower

In the short time we still had we managed to visit the Rock Church, a church carved into the side of a hill, a downtown market area where I managed to get a picture book about Helsinki and the Uspenski Cathedral before going back to the boat.

I enjoyed Helsinki, a very pleasant place to visit, at least when the weather was summery and balmy. I was surprised at how modern it was, with most of its buildings dating from the 19th century. If I'm ever again in that neighborhood I will definitely drop by. 

Stockholm

I was a little nervous about Stockholm. Given our limited time in town I decided that what I wanted to do was to get together with my friend Tomas and his wife Cristina  for lunch at the modern art museum. With no tour guide waiting for me, no idea where the boat would dock and no idea how to get around in the city I was a little apprehensive about my ability to make it to the museum and back to the  boat in time. 

The fears were unfounded. The ship docked close to the downtown area and there was a hop-in-hop-out boat right by it that would take us to all the places we wanted to go. With a boat every fifteen minutes and a round trip of one hour I was confident we would be able to meet Tomas, have a nice leisurely lunch and be back in the boat with plenty of time. 

Hop-on Hop-off tourist boat, or main means of transportation in Stockholm

So Katrina and I hopped into the boat.

Our first stop was in the old medieval Stockholm. We hopped of the boat by the castle, opened our trusty Rick Steve's guide and took a couple of hours to explore the downtown area. Some of the things we saw:

Smallest public statue in Stockholm

Phoenix sign, indicating this house had paid fire protection in medieaval times

Mailboxes that look like the buildings they represent

After walking maybe half a Tallinn we hopped back into the boat and made our way to Skeppsholmen, the island where the modern art museum is. There we hopped off again and found some time to explore the gardens before meeting Tomas and Cristina. they had some interesting sculptures outside, but the ones that surprised me the most were the ones by Pablo Picasso. I didn't know he sculpted!

Katrina and Picasso statues

We met for lunch at the museum's cafeteria where the food was ok, the coffee was drinkable and the conversation excellent. We caught up on what's been happening in our lives since we'd last met  a couple of years before.  That was followed by a pleasant walk in Stockholm's downtown until we said our goodbyes by the old town's narrowest street and went our separate ways, Katrina and I hopping back on the boat for the trip back to where our ship was docked.

With Cristina and Tomas in old Stockholm

I liked Stockholm and enjoyed spending time with Cristina and Tomas. There's still a lot to see, though, so we will have to come back someday.

At Sea

Ok, we covered the ports we visited during this trip, now all that remains to be covered is the time we spent in the ship.

Let's start with the worst thing, the coffee. It was, to say the least, undrinkable. Whether we got it at one of the many restaurants or brewed it in our cabin, it did not taste good at all. We had to made do with tea and promised ourselves that if we take this cruise company again we'll bring our own coffee.

Other than that, the days at sea were fine. We usually had dinner in one of the two main dining rooms and the food was tasty. We ended each day by meeting at the Biergarden to talk about that day's adventures, watch the ship leave the port and celebrate with beer.

Celebrating at the Biergarden

There was a martini tasting experience. A few weeks before the trip I told my friends that if anyone in the boat asked me what I did for a living I would tell them that I sold sex dolls and was treating my top customers to a trip. And the opportunity for that happened when I decided to go to the martini tasting, which apparently is ship-speak for drinking four full martinis in less than an hour. . I shared a table with an Australian couple  and when they asked what I did for a living,  all inhibitions were thrown aside and I happily answered when they asked me what I did. Spent the rest of the trip hoping to run into them again when accompanied by my friends, but unfortunately that did not happen.

They did do the traditional towel folding thing, and we returned to our rather nice room every evening to find some animal waiting for us: dogs, elephants, apes and my favorite, the "evil penguin." For reasons I can't explain they decided to add reflective red eyes to the penguin-folded towel which just made it look as if it was possessed. Creepy.

Evil towel penguin

We had line-dancing lessons one day, Katrina, Mary Ann, Ken and I. It was fun, but I hadn't done any dancing in years and underestimated how out of shape I was. While everyone kept on dancing I had to stop every few minutes to rest. Of course that resulted in some ribbing from my friends but, hey, that's what friends are for!

And with this we finish this account of my Baltic cruise. Once again I apologize for the tardiness of this entry, since it has now been over six months since we came back. I will try to do better in the future.