June 11/18 Bergen, Norway

This morning we took a cable car up to the top of Mount Ulriken, Bergen’s highest mountain. This city gets a lot of rain (about 250 days per year). Although it wasn’t raining today the clouds hung low,  so by the time we got to the top we couldn’t see anything! Luckily we could see on the way up and down, but photos taken through windows often don’t turn out. At the top we were served a hot drink and a Norwegian cinnamon bun. Our trip also included a tour of some of the highlights of the city, including the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bryggen, a well preserved wharf with colourful wooden buildings.  Bergen still has a lot of these structures, despite having had many large fires. It’s the second biggest city in Norway after Oslo, and was founded in 1070 AD. It has a busy harbour, and owes it’s wealth to the fishing industry. Edvard Grieg, who composed the Peer Gynt Suite, lived here.

Norwegians are people who love the outdoors, despite the bad weather they usually have. They hike from a very young age in the seven mountains, or do something in the water. We were so lucky overall with the weather on this trip, which is typical for us. There was only a few sprinkles twice in the morning, and the sun even came out later in the day in Bergen! Tomorrow we fly to Stockholm where we will spend the night, and then fly home to Calgary on Wednesday. It has been a very good trip!

June 10/18 Eidfjord, Norway

Today we rose at 5am and sat on the front deck for a couple of hours watching our boat move through the fjords to the quaint village of Eidfjord. It is surrounded by mountains, and the scenery is stunning! This is my favourite day so far - I love Norway!! We took a bus up to the Nature Centre, and watched a film about the nature and wildlife on Hardangervidda. It was a 5 screen panoramic movie, and was shot from a helicopter, which made you feel that you were riding in it! In the afternoon we walked about in the town of about 600 people, admiring the beauty of the water and the mountains.

June 9/18 Stavanger, Norway

Today we have arrived in the southern part of Norway. Part of this city includes an Old Town, with cobbled streets and a lot of wooden houses painted white (with red roofs) that date back to the 17 century. I was pleased that I could walk some of it, as many of the streets were too cobbled for my chair.

In the afternoon we took the Pulpit Rock cruise, which is one of the things that we were looking forward to the most in this trip. We sailed along Lysefjord, named for the lightly coloured granite rock rising from the water. Pulpit Rock, which is aptly named, is 2,000 feet up from the water. It’s a popular destination for hikers, and we could see some standing on it as we sailed by. We also saw some waterfalls, although they weren’t as full as usually because of the lack of rain. Like Calgary, Norway has been unusually warm for this time of year, and they haven’t had any rain for six weeks! We’ve only had one morning so far on this trip when there was a tiny bit of rain as we were getting on to our buses.

We made a stop at a cabin, where we were served Norwegian waffles. They are topped with sour cream and berry jam - delicious! They even had a chocolate cake that was gluten free for Michael.

June 8/18 Ålborg, Denmark

Today Michael and I did separate tours - he did the Viking tour, and I did two home visits.

The first Danish home I saw was in the wealthiest neighbourhood in Alborg. It was designed by an architect from the City Hall in Copenhagen. It’s about 100 years old and small by our standards, but beautifully decorated. To the side of the entrance are two doors that swing open at the top. One had been used for horses and the next for servants. Each room except the bathroom was blue and white, with fancy furnishings from our grandparents’ era. The home was worth about one million American dollars, but had a cottage feel to it. The garden was lovely, with lots of greenery and ornate white iron chairs forming little sitting areas.

The other home was a much plainer summer home owned by a dear elderly woman named Helen. She doesn’t speak English, but her radiant smile and big hug that she greeted us with said it all. She too had a garden area, as well as a small greenhouse. Her home was very small and also felt like a cottage, but unlike the other home, it was very simply furnished. Helen’s husband passed away last year, but when he was alive he used to sit in a separate shed-like area (his man cave) is and not come out to greet the visitors. When we left, Helen came on the bus to blow us kisses!

We had a small glass of Aquavit at each home - a traditional toasting drink. You are supposed to raise your glass and say ‘skål’ and then drink it all at once.

This city only has about 120,000 people, and over a quarter of them are students. They have a university medical centre, so many students come to study medicine. There is almost no crime here. It used to be easy to immigrate here, but not any more. They like to drink and celebrate, and are seemingly very happy people.

(Michael here) My tour this morning visited some Viking sites: a replica Viking farm community, a ring fort, and a Viking burial ground. It was interesting to see both similarities and differences with the L’Anse aux Meadows site in Newfoundland. Our guide was dressed as a Viking housewife might have been, and she was extremely knowledgeable about the Ålborg area and its Viking history. We had a small taste of mead and said ‘skål’ at the ring fort.

June 7/18 - Copenhagen, Denmark

In the morning we took a bus tour. Denmark is relatively small, but Copenhagen is rather prominent in the Baltic, being home to over one million people. It has 850 years of history and still has a monarchy, although it’s the parliament that makes the laws. We saw the courtyard at the Amalianborg Palace, the Gefion Fountain, Copenhagen’s largest monument, the huge modern opera house (built with money donated by an American), as well as the Nyhavn area, wth it’s brightly coloured houses (once home to Hans Christian Andersen). The buildings are uniformly high and the streets are narrow, but the city is quite attractive. The architecture is impressive, and the city is very much alive with pedestrians, cyclists, boats in the canals and tour buses.

Copenhagen is a very clean city too. The power plant (which has a sloping roof for a ski hill) burns garbage to produce electricity. Apparently they don’t produce enough to keep the plant going, so they buy garbage from other places!
In the afternoon we took a shuttle bus back into the heart of town to get a feel for the city and to take photographs. I’m sure there would be lots to do here if one had more time. According to one survey, Copenhagen residents are the most happy people in the world. With a beautiful city, as well as free health care and education, who could blame them!

June 6/18 Rostock, Germany

Today we arrived in Germany. As mentioned in a previous post, we decided not to take the long train ride to Berlin, and instead took a short bus ride and did the tour of Rostock. This fishing village has a mix of modern (and expensive) apartments on the outskirts, terra cotta style buildings (like the main building of the university) and 13th century buildings (the Town Hall). St. Mary’s church, which used  to be Catholic and is now Lutheran, is in the Gothic style, and has a very large and impressive astronomical clock inside, which was built in 1472. It also has elaborate sculptures, with one including a skeleton!

In the afternoon we rested and took a stroll through the little town by the dock. Besides shops and restaurants, it also has a sandy beach along the water. The latter was not manageable with my chair, but I am pleased to say that I did the morning tour (although slow and only about one hour long) without it, so that’s progress!

June 5/18 - Gdansk, Poland

I don’t really have a bucket list, but I thought that some day I would go to Auschwitz. It somehow seemed like an important thing to do. Although my father was born in Germany, he came to Canada before the war. Still, I guess I’ve always felt a bit of a connection with it. My father had an older half brother who chose not to come to Canada. He stayed and fought in the war, and died there. I don’t know any more of the story, as my father didn’t seem to have any more details, or perhaps he just didn’t want to discuss it with me. My dad had no desire to go to war, and fortunately, because he has almost no sight in his right eye, he was denied. Had he been made to serve in the Canadian army he would have, in essence, been fighting against his own half brother.

When I saw that this Viking trip offered the chance to go to a concentration camp, I thought that perhaps this might fill the desire, if you can call it that, to go to one, even if it wasn’t Auschwitz. The camp we went to is called Stutthof, and it’s about an hour’s drive from where we docked at Gdańsk. As you can imagine, it was an intense experience, but we aren’t sorry that we went. Our guide’s husband lost his grandfather in Auschwitz, so this camp visit is very hard for her. I asked her if Viking makes her lead this trip, and she said ‘no, I want to do it” although she doesn’t do it very often.

Stutthof was the last camp to be liberated at the end of the war. It started out with about 400 prisoners in 1939, and had 67,000 by 1945. As was the case in other countries, our guide acknowledged that there were people in Poland who knew what was happening but did nothing to stop it. Some even turned in their neighbours who were hiding Jews, as they were rewarded with vodka or some such thing.

Many of the buildings in the camp are no longer standing, but the ones that are had lots of photos, documentation forms, bowls for food (but no cutlery), bunks (the size for one person but instead holding three), a so-called hospital which had almost no medical aide, and the crematorium that we actually stood in. There was one enclosed case that had a huge mound of soles from people’s shoes.

There were two men that were largely responsible for the deaths at this camp. One was eventually executed, and the other ran away. When finally caught, he served very little time, which sadly was the case with most of the Nazi criminals.

June 4/18 sailing day

Today we sailed from Estonia to Poland. It was a very relaxing day on the ship. I went on the exercise bike and did two short walks around the deck (without nerve pain!!) while Michael went in the snow grotto area. We also attended a cooking demonstration, tried out our new colouring books, napped and listened to a great jazz duo on guitar and flute. While walking around the ship in the afternoon, I was surprised to see a fellow with a banjo in the corner of the lounge, and an iPad giving him beginning instructions. Good for him!

June 3/18 Tallinn, Estonia

Estonia is a country that I had never heard of until we booked this trip. It used to be under the Soviet umbrella, but in the 1991 the residents had a peaceful freedom ‘singing’ revolution, where millions formed a human chain and sang songs to promote independence from the USSR. There was not a drop of blood shed, and they were successful! This is primarily a country of agnostics, and like other Baltic countries, they have free education and health care. The younger people are quite forward in their thinking, but the older generation still believe in communism. The city is very green and pretty, but within it lies a 13th century medieval town, including an old tower entrance and a medieval wall.

Michael took the tour of the Old Town, but since nerve pain prevents me from walking much, I opted to take a shuttle into the lower old town just to see what it was like. There was a young fellow with a carriage bicycle, and he accepted my 20 Euros (normally he charges 30) for a ten minute ride. I was thrilled at being able to see most of the old town this way. Of course there were lots of shops and buskers, the latter being quite good. One played an accordion which sounded like an organ, and the other was playing harmonica and a steel drum - quite a lovely combination.

In the afternoon we attended a one-man show on wheels. The actor gave his perspective on Estonian life in the Soviet days, while we rode in an authentic Soviet bus. And he even served us vodka shots and pickles! It was intended to be a humourous look at the history of the area, which it was at the beginning. Later on when discussing things like the free health care and education Estonia has, I think that at least some of the Americans felt quite uncomfortable.

Tomorrow we will spend the entire day on the ship, as we sail to Poland, so I may not have anything to write about until the next day. We have chosen to see a concentration camp there, so I’m hoping that my mini transport chair will be able to navigate the stone pathways. As strange as it may seem, going to a concentration camp is something that I feel everyone should do if they are in the vicinity. The survivors will soon be gone, and we must never forget.

June 2/18 St. Petersburg, Russia

This morning we had a St. Petersburg canal tour, which included stops at the Church of our Savior on Spilled Blood, and St. Isaac’s Cathedral. St. Petersburg was called “Venice of the North” because of all the rivers and canals. This city is newer and more modern than the rest of Russia. None of the buildings were allowed to be taller than that of the Tsar’s, so as you look down the rivers all the buildings are the same height, many of them in pale colours with pillars.

The church was amazing inside, as the walls and ceilings are completely made up of colourful mosaics. Everywhere I turned my mouth was gaping open in awe (and I’ve seem some pretty impressive churches in my time!) The name comes from the fact that Tsar Alexander II was assassinated on this site. The Cathedral was named after the patron saint of Peter the Great. It’s the fourth largest in the world, and it’s huge pillars and paintings inside were also impressive.

When taking the buses to the Hermitage, as well as to the canal cruise, I was struck by the stretches of run down apartments, with the occasional beautiful mosque or church. There are no single family dwellings except for country homes about an hour outside the city. I heard that one tiny 270 square foot apartment in one of the newer buildings was renting for the equivalent of $500/month!

June 1/18 St. Petersburg, Russia

In the morning we took a tour of the Hermitage. It’s considered to be one of the world’s greatest art museums, with an amazing collection of masterpieces. It’s housed within the opulent Winter Palace of the tsars, and has lots of columns, marble statues and glittering chandeliers. Although magnifient, I can’t honestly say that the art was to my taste.

After resting in the afternoon, we attended the St. Petersburg Russian Ballet’s performance of Swan Lake. It was held in the concert hall at the Hermitage that was built for Catherine the Great, and is where she hosted events. The lead prima ballerina did a 28 point turn, and she was amazing! Although this company is not as highly regarded as the one in Moscow, it was still very well done and seemed like a must-do in Russia.

May 31/18 - Helsinki, Finland

Today we took a bus ride around the city of Helsinki, which included a brief stop at their downtown market. There seemed to be more to see here than there was in Stockholm. We also stopped at Sibelius Park to view the sculpture commemorating Jean Sibelius, Findland’s greatest composer. The sculpture is made up of more than 600 steel pipes set in a wave design, visually representing Sibelius’ music. While very impressive, it seemed out of place in a green park just set off from the main road.

In the afternoon I had a spa treatment on my hands, as they have been extremely dry and rough lately, despite Calgary’s warm weather (perhaps due to the new nerve pain medication.) Michael tried out alternating between the steam room and the snow grotto. He really enjoyed the latter - the former not so much.

Russia tomorrow!

May 30/18 Stockholm, Sweden

We had a long day traveling Monday and arrived with no significant problems. Because of the 8 hour time difference it was Tuesday afternoon when we arrived. The ship (Viking Sea) is quite lovely, and in spite of the fact that it’s a much larger ship than we have experienced in the past we haven’t found that it feels crowded or busy. Our previous two cruises were river cruises with 150 passengers each, whereas this is an ocean cruise with 900 passengers. We spent some time Tuesday evening exploring the ship; there are nine decks, with lots enough different areas and facilities that we should have no difficulty keeping ourselves occupied. On previous cruises, dining areas have had tables for 6-8 people, but here there are also smaller tables. That means that we will have to make a concerted effort to meet people. The food has been excellent so far, although of course Michael has fewer options than I do because of his celiac disease.

There are tours on land every day except one, which is a day that we are at sea the whole time. This follows our two days in St. Petersburg, Russia, which is Friday and Saturday. Wednesday morning we had a bus tour in Stockholm, and tomorrow there will be one in Helsinki. Stockholm was pleasant and very clean. It is one of 14 islands which are connected to the mainland by 57 bridges.We stopped briefly at City Hall where the Nobel Prize ceremonies are held. Nobel had no children to pass his wealth on to, so instead he decided to set up prizes in several categories, in which each recipient would get about one million dollars.

We set sail for Helsinki in the afternoon. Later in the day we had to speak with guest services to switch some of our tours which we had prebooked before I developed plantar fasciitis last Fall, and nerve pain in my feet this past April. The former is uncomfortable, but the latter has been much more difficult to manage. I’m now on nerve pain medication and as of last week a cream that has helped greatly, but I cannot walk for more than ten minutes straight before my feet give out. We brought a transport chair with us, which is a  smaller and lighter version of a wheel chair. It folds up quite compactly, and can be taken on the tour buses, but despite that, some streets are cobblestone and therefore not suitable for chairs. We tried to find the accessibility information out at home before we left, but because the tours are conducted by the locals rather than the ship staff, it seemed to be not possible  until our arrival. Fortunately we were able to switch the walking tours to bus tours, and are currently trying to arrange a Danish home visit for me while Michael does his Viking tour. Luckily that is the only time he signed up for something different from what I did, as legally the staff are not allowed to push me in the chair, and he has to do that in order for me to go on the tours.