Helsinki

Yesterday was just a transfer day from Stockholm to Helsinki by way of the booze cruise. Don't worry though...our group made it just fine with no incidents :-)

Today we arrived in the last stop on the Scandinavian journey before heading to Russia. Finland is VERY different from the other Scandinavian countries though. There is definitly more of an Eastern European feel here. The Norwegians, Danes, and Sweds have much more Western influence in their dress and they all are basically tall, thin, and blonde. Here we see the more "goth" dress style, more heavy set builds, and not so many blondes.

We started the day with a city tour of Helsinki with our British tour guide. Apparently the Finish tour guides are hard to understand so our tour leader Maria ensured we had the Brit. Richard, the Brit, explaned a bit about the history of Helsinki, going back to the olden days when the city was filled with livestock roaming the streets and an island close by that was the largest export of tar. Yes, imagine the stinch of old Helsinki. 

A bit of history on Finland...from the 12th century to 1808 it was a part of Sweden. From 1808 to 1917 ot was a part of Russia (hence the more Eastern feel of the current inhabitants). The Russians czar Alexander kind of paved the way for Finland's independence. Following the Crimean War of 1863 he gave Finland five gifts for being her alligence to Russia during the Crimean War: their own language, their own parliament, their own currency, their own flag, and their own national anthem. There is a bit of fear in Finland now with the current conflicts in Russia over Crimea and the unsettledness of the Ukraine. And really....who is going to fight Russia for Finland? Might be an interesting country to follow over the next few years.

80% of Finland is Lutherean. We went to the Rock Church, which is a very modern church built below the ground. It looked like something that belonged in Colorado instead of Finland, but was quite lovely.

Rock Church

We then finished our tour viewing the Sibelius monument dedicated to the famous author of Finish music including a favoriate of Finlandia....better known to U.S. Chrsitians as the song to "Be Still My Soul" or "This is my Song".

After a stop at the market for a lunch of calamari, salmon, fish, potatoes, and veggies a few of us headed out to the fortress island. This island has been the reason Finland has never been successfully attacked from the sea. In fact, during the Crimean War the citizens of Helsinki purchased tickets to stand on a hill and watch the Anglo Saxon forces try to bomb the island and watched them fail. 

We ended the night shopping at Stockman's which is Helsinki's answer to Harrods or Macys. We found Reindeer jerky, cheese, bread, wine, and chocolate. Whatelse does one need to end a day in Finlandia?

Stockholm

**Note -- the wifi is slow so I'm not including pictures on this post, but I will upload them to my Facebook album and I'll comment how they relate to each item.

Sweden is the third largest country in Europe. A few of the famous companies that are based here in Sweden are Volvo, IKEA, Electrolux, and H&M. The capital city of Stockholm is made up of 14 islands. This my friends makes it VERY hard to navigate. I consider myself a decent magellen but between trying to figure out what island you are on, the names of the streets being SO LONG that they don't always fit on the map, AND trying to find a bridge/water ferry/bike/canoe/horse to take you to the next island, I spent quite a bit of the day lost. Seriously the street names are absurd....Klarabergsviadukten??!!

Thankfully the first part of the day was spent on a city tour so we had a guide and bus driver to lead us around. Our first stop was at City Hall. This isn't a concrete block with a jail in back. This city hall is where the Nobel Prizes (with the exception of the Peace prize...remember it was back in Oslo) are given. The building was built between 1911-1923. It went over budget so there were advertisements in the local paper asking the citizens to donate whatever they could to finish the project. There is a sweet story of a little girl that brought her piggy bank to the architect and asked him to use her money for something special. The architect placed a crown in the hands of a princess on one of the statues in the courtyard in her honor. The reception hall to the top right side of the banquet hall was supposed to be done by a famous painter but he died. They asked another artist, who was a young 28 years old, to complete the project. He created the golden hall that is completly made of gold mosaics. Well....the Sweds HATED it. So much so that the man sunk into a depression and couldn't work again for many years. Today, the hall is loved a little bit more. One of the most striking features of the Golden Hall is the mosaic on the far wall. It is of Mother Sweden in the middle of the world connecting the East and the West. This hall was being completed after WWI where Sweden remained neurtral. 

A little bit about the Nobel Prize...it is awarded by the Alfred Nobel Foundation which was created by Alfred Nobel, the inventor of, among other things, dynamite. The first prizes were given in 1901 in all the major areas except Economics. That prize was created later, and is funded by, the Bank of Sweden. This was created as an honor to Nobel who contributed a great deal to the economy having 90 factories worldwide. It was Nobel that insisted the Peace prize be given in Oslo since at the time of his death Norway and Sweden were still one country.

Another cool fact for my music friends about the banquet hall is that there is a pipe organ in it with over 10,000 pipes. Unfortunatly they are hidden behind a decorative screen :-(

After City Hall we visited the Vasa Museum. The Vasa was a ship ordered by the Swedish king in 1625 when Sweden was at war with Poland. It took three years to build and there was a grand celebration in the harbor for its madien voyage. It was HUGE ship at 69 meters long and 52 meters high. It had TWO gun decks, which was unheard of at that time. The king ordered that those gun decks be open for the occasion. The Vasa set sail and caught a wind that pushed her to one side. Then there was another wind that pushed further. The gun decks took in water and 20 minutes into her maiden voyage the ship sunk killing 30 of the 150 people on board. In 1961 the ship was excavated and a museum built around it. The Sweds...they know how to celebrate their mistakes.

After a stop to view the "old town" of Stockholm, Wendy and I decided we were ready for a bit of fun and a little less history. I LOVE history, but this is a 17 day trip...got to take a break. We also needed to cool off a bit. It was a BEAUTIFUL day here but we packed more for winter instead of summer so we headed over to the Ice Bar. They have these in many cold countries of the world. They put you in a fur lined parka and stick you in a room where EVERYTHING but the floor is made of ice. We had a wonderfully refreshing vodka and managed to last about 30 minutes. It would be expensive to maintain one of these in Mississippi but could you imagine the traffic on a hot day??

Our last stop was the ABBA museum. Yes, an entire museum based on the group ABBA. We were able to "record" a track, dance on a lighted stage, and learn more about this funky Swedish band. 

I will say this has been my least favorite stop on the trip. The Norwegians will the prize for the nicest Scandinavians. The Danes were pretty cool and Copenhagen is beautiful. The Sweds are helpful but not overly nice. On to the last Scandinavian country tomorrow....after I find myself a Swedish massage in the morning :-))

Arrival in Stockholm

There isn't much to blog about today. We started the morning with a shopping trip to the mall next door to our hotel in Copenhagen. It is a little bit warmer than most people packed for therefore shorts, tshirts, and flipflops were the needed items. Our bus driver Max, whom we had met the day before, entertained us with Danish jokes of which the funnisest one was one that involved a tour leader, upset stomach, and beating the s*)t out of a ghost. Travel to Denmark for the rest of the joke :-) Max was a very sweet former policeman that said our tour group needed to be arrested....for being nice...so he could keep us in Denmark.

We boarded a flight from Copenhagen to Stockholm and enjoyed a leisurly dinner and walk from our hotel down to a view of the city and the Baltic Sea. We took several pictures of the moon visible at sunset. For those that have seen my travel photos I think we have as many pictures of flowers, birds, and the moon as I have of the London Eye ;-)

The Baltic Sea and Stockholm

Moon over Stockholm

Although The Lord blessed us with cooler weather in Stockholm there is no AC in this hotel. Wendy and I have one fan going at our feet and one fan going at our heads. We are VERY grateful for the fans provided in the rooms. Otherwise I fear we would have been forced to take our LARGE pillows to the street for sleep. Southern chicks need AC!!!!

Copenhagen

After finally awaking my roomie up at 10:30 a.m. (one of the many awesome things about Wendy as a roommate is the ability to make as much noise as a marching band and you will NOT disturb her sleep), Wendy and I took off exploring the beautiful city of Copenhagen. We started with Tivoli Gardens, which is the cross between amusement park, state fair, and botanical gardens. It was around 80 degrees today with a clear blue sky and according to the locals they only get 4 or 5 days a YEAR like this so many of them were out enjoying the park. 

Tivoli

We continued along through Copenhagen along the many pedestrian streets toward the Botanical Gardens. We were enticed here to see the beautiful, lush green spaces but also there was a rumor there is an arctic greenhouse that is climate controlled for arctic plants. While the weather here is a breezy and low humidity 80 degrees, it is still warmer than expected. Most places do NOT have air conditioning so therefore there is little relief inside. Sadly the arctic greenhouse was closed but we still got to see a flower that blooms only once every 15 years. We also got a reminder of how hot we could be in Mississippi as apparently this flower likes very warm and VERY humid air. I'm going to admit our tour guide nor the "official garden brochure" described the plant in any detail. After a 5 second Google search I am understanding why they didn't refer to it as it's um....accurate might be the word....name.

Here is the plant and here is the link to find out more about it: http://www.vocativ.com/world/denmark/penis-flower-blooms-copenhagen/

After the garden tour we hiked back down to the National Museum that is located in one of the prince of Denmark's palace. The museum was somewhat interesting but we only had 15 minutes to explorer before closing so all I can really tell you is every other room was really hot and the original Danes were farmers that then spread farming to other parts of Europe. We traveled back to our hotel for our included dinner with the group by water taxi. We thought it was going to be a 10 minute cruise. It ended up being an hour but we did get fresh air, a breeze, and another look at the beautiful city. 

Following dinner I walked back to the Tivoli Gardens with a a few other travelers to enjoy the park at night. I love traveling and visiting with so many people, especially since most (with the exception of Wendy and Margie) are my dad's age. They have all experienced so many neat things in their lives and there are lessons to learn from them all. See dad...I told you that you could hang with this group. There are at least 30 people older than you!!!

Oslo and Copenhagen

I wasn't able to blog last night since we were on a cruise ship and their was no wifi on the ship. For our last day in Oslo a few of us went to see the Opera House that is built to resemble a glacier. You are able to climb to the top and see a view of the city. Apparently locals love to go there to do yoga, drink a glass of wine, and hang out with good friends.

Climb to the top of the Opera House

After a brief walk around the city of Oslo we boarded an overnight ferry to Copenhagen. We had an amazing Norwegian buffet for dinner and then joined many of our fellow tour group members on the deck for wine. We ended the night in a piano bar where a few of us made friends with a few Norwegians. 

We arrived the next morning to the beautiful city of Copenhagen. After a stop to view the little Mermaid statue which is a tribute to Denmark's most famous writter Hans Christian Anderson. This afternoon we took a water taxi to New Harbor, which is ironically the oldest harbor in Copenhagen. The sun was out and the weather was warm so it was a PERFECT day to sit at a harbor view restaurant with a Carlsberg and enjoy the music of the Jazz Festival that is currently going on in Copenhagen. We did take a little excursion over to Christiania, which is basically a commune founded in 1973. The people there love to live the "free life" including a little side business of cannibus trading. It is controvisial with the government but the tourists seem to love it. We walked back along the canal to our hotel where we are enjoying the World Cup futbol match on Danish tv.

Nyhaven (New Harbor)

Oslo

Oslo is the growing capital city of Norway. There is a tremendous amout of construction going on building new neighborhoods in the city of Oslo. In fact, architects around the world travel to Oslo to study new architechture. On of those buildings is the new Opera House which was opened in 2008. These same architects are rebuilding Times Square in Manahatten so look for some new fangled styles in the U.S. 

Norway is quite the progressive nation. 40% of Parliment has to be served by women. Imagine that rule in the U.S.!!! The Nobel PEACE prize is given in Oslo (note the capital PEACE....other Nobel prizes are awarded somewhere else, which I think there will be more to come about that). 

We vitsited the Viking Museum today and learned a bit about the area that settled this area of the world. The boats that were built for the Vikings were so shallow that they could run up on the shore, attack, and run back out quickly. Again women had strong roles including running the land operations during their day. In fact, a husband stealing the keys to the farm could be grounds for divorce. 

Detail on Viking Ship

Viking Ship

We traveled on to the Kon Tiki musuem to learn about a Norweighn explorer (sorry....can't spell his name so just Google Kon Tiki). Basically this man realized that if people inhabited islands from way back when then they must have built boats out of light wood and reed. He built one in the 1940's and sailed across the Pacific as the ultimate action research project. In the 1970's he and another team built another boat to sail around the middle eastern countires but were stoped at the Red Sea due to fighting in the region. In protest, they burned the boat rather than abandoning their mission.  If you actually want to learn more about this let me know. I'll throw a party and we can watch the documentary of this adventure as it is the ONLY Norwegian film to win an Oscar.

Reed boat of the Kon Tiki

We ended our tour of Oslo at a scupture garden. I, again cannot spell the name of the artist. Google it. The sculputres were amazing in their depiction of the circle of life.

The ending of the day was at an AH-MAZING meal at a local restaurant found by our New York City traveling friends. Trust a New Yorker to find a good restuarant. I could go into details but lets just call this place the Doe's Eatplace of Oslo, Norway. Halibut...to DIE FOR!

Salmon starter with potato blinzes

Hailbut main course

The Fjords and a Lesson in Socialism

Today was one of the most anticipated days for our group. We traveled by train to Voss and then down a "mamma mia" road to board a boat to cruise through the Fjords. There isn't much to tell and these pics won't do it justice but here is a taste...

Train to the Fjords:

Mamma Mia road

Fjords

After the Fjord cruise we took one of the steepest rails in the world halway back to Bergen. Along the way we had a stop to see a fairy dance at a waterfall. I can't tell you why she is there or why there is a sound system there to play her music, but here ya go.....

We arrived at the last stop for the tourist train and waited a while to board a regular train back to Bergen. We made it a few stops and then everone had to get off the train at a stop in the shire of Norway because of a malfunction on the train tracks. In a capitalist country such as the US you better bet every taxi driver, bus driver, local citizen, etc. would have been itching to give rides to the 400 strandarded train riders. Not in a socialist country. It is Sunday. Everyone is off on Sunday,  Therefore it took almost an hour and a half, and our Russian tour guide pulling off a miracle she would only call a "Russian secret" to secure a bus for our group of 42. We felt a little bad about the 300+ still waiting on busses to arrive (it would take 12 busses for all the people) but then we reminded oursevles this is the benefit of competition people.