Copenhagen and the cute little mermaid

Well, here we are. It's the end of something we've waited all year for. In fact since last year in Spain. Now we look forward to another trip another time.

Today we finished in Copenhagen. An amazing city. We got up as early as we could stand to considering our beds were among the most comfortale we've had the entire trip to go into the city. Anneka'd had some McDonalds pancakes nearly two weeks ago in Sweden and had it in her mind that it would be nice to have them this morning since breakfast was not covered in our room cost. We didn't make it to the McDonalds in time so she settled for something else. McDonalds actually has awesome bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches.

We started the day at the Danish National Museum. For its amount of antiquities I'd say it ranks among the very finest in the world. Anneka and I have always thought medeival junk is really groovy and this place is full of it. From there we wandered the streets of Copenhagen. They have the first and oldest major pedestrian zone in Europe and traversed it up and down. We did have a bout of heavy rain during the day that put a damper on things. Later in the afternoon we split up so I could go see the hippie haven of Christiania.

It just dawned on me as I write this that Little Dave is married.

Crazy...

So, where was I?



I got seriously rained on. I was wet through and through. Anneka and I met up about an hour later for dinner at this little Italian place on a quiet square away from crowds and traffic. If there was one fault in the day it was that it was a bit chilly. We've said over and over on this trip that it has been sunny when it needed to be and today was no exception. Still, in spite of the off again on again sun it was a bit chilly for the better part of the day. We seem to bring out the extremes in weather when we travel. Last year was crazy hot in Spain and this year for the most part it was crazy cold. I mean, not really cold, but we'd hoped for temps in the 80's and we got temps mostly in the mid 60's. I only had sandals the whole trip and rarely wore socks (they bunch up in the toes in these sandals) so I walked around with perpetually cold feet for the last two weeks. After dinner we split up again after I put Anneka on the three stops to the airport train and I went out wandering for another 2 hours. They rent these little tourist bikes here that you can put a coin into and unlock from a bike rack and use for as long as you need. Just find another bike rack that takes the bikes and lock it up again and your coin will pop out. I spent like an hour and half looking for one of those darned bikes to make my wandering easier. finally found one and by then it was almost too late to bother. I rode it around for a little while. Went out to see one of the most touristed sites in Copenhagen. The "Little mermaid" statue of HC Anderson fame.


What a bust.

I almost can't beleive I went out to see it. It's in a totally ho hum section of town and it's just this piddley little naked lady with a fish tail statue. Sad to think my sightseeing ended on that. But that may ensure I travel again.



Tomorrow will be the easiest departure we've ever undertaken on a trip. We're staying at an airport hotel and our flight leaves at a comfortable 11am. The terminal is but a solid 5 iron away from the hotel (unless your Andy or Matt for sure, then it's like a chilli-dipped driver off the tee, a shanked fairway wood, a worm-burned 8 iron and probably two skulled wedges followed finally by a woefully short putt) Anyways it will be nice to roll out of bed at a comfortable time and glide over to the terminal in a matter of minutes. Should make the commencement of the journey home fairly stress free.

So, we're at the end. Our last blog. We hope you've enjoyed reading them. If so, please tell us since if no one likes these then we'll stop since at times they're a pain in the butt. Usually it's late and we just want to go to bed. For those of you that got post cards, or will get them, we hope you enjoy them. For everyone else we're sorry we couldn't get a card off to you. Again, we hope you enjoyed the blog.

So, following lots of walking, lots of wind, lots of staring in amazement, lots of pondering, lots of chilly days, LOTS of McDonalds, lots of digital pictures, lots of artifacts and paintings and finally, lots of wonderful memories of Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Legoland and Copenhagen, it's time to go home.

See you again some time, Europe.

And we'll see all of you soon!

Chris and Anneka

Aero Island

Today we spent the day in Aero Island, an hour ferry ride from Jutland Denmark. It's a tiny island 18 miles long by 4 miles wide and was filled with lots of leaning 17th century houses and small cobbled lanes. We covered the town in about 3 hours and had lunch there, then it was back on the ferry and we drove into Copenhagen tonight so we could have a full day in the city tomorrow. Our trip is winding down, tomorrow is our last day, it's been a great trip even though the weather hasn't been too great. I think we wore our jackets every day. Anyway again it's very late about 11:30pm so time for bed.

Jutland, Denmark

Well today we spent the day in the Jutland region of Denmark. We drove about an hour from our hotel to a town called Ahrus. There we went to AROS modern art museum as well as Dem Gemble By - another outdoor folk museum but this one was a bit different as it showcased what "town" life was in the 1800's, lots of town buildings were brought in from around Denmark and clusterd together with demonstrations, etc. The highlight of the day wasy LEGOLAND! Even though we were only there an hour and a half. It's free after 7:30 and closes at 9:00. All the rides were shut down but we enjoyed wandering through the LEGO villages and creations. Chris was as excited as all the little kids to be there. He's a big lego fan. The Lego manufacturing headquarters are also there and we drove by building after building filled with large molds which make the legos. It's another late night so this will be short. Tomorrow we drive to Aero island, hopefully the weather will be better or we may not stay long. Today it rained off and on all day. It feels like fall here it's so wierd. Good night!

Southern Sweden

Well yesterday we flew in early from Tallinn to Stockholm where we picked up a rental car and drove south about 5 hours to Kalmar Sweden. We drove in to quite a rain storm in Kalmar. We checked in our hotel and had about an hour before the museums closed so we stopped by the Kronan ship museum. It was another warship from 1636 that exploded and sank during battle and they recoverd several artifiacts from the ship, it was really interesting as they are still exploring the site and finding things to add to the museum. That evening we wandered around the town in the rain under umbrellas and found dinner.



Today we toured the Kalmar Castle which is a true medieval castle with moat and all. Most of the rooms were empty but the tour guides make it interesting with tales of the kings who live there.



We then got back in the car and drove further south in
Sweden and west to Denmark. We got to cross the new bridge that links sweden and Denmark. It expanded over the ocean linking the 2 countries. Another 6 hour drive and we arrived tonight in Kolding Denmark. Tomorrow we head up to Arhus Denmark about another hour north to see a famous modern art museum, another folk air musuem and if we have time... Legoland! It's free after 7pm so we may check it out for dinnner.

Until tomorrow!

A day in Tallinn

Today we had all day to explore Tallinn. We spent the morning looking for a laundry mat as it was time after a week to get it done. We went to one place listed in the guide book as being open at 8 and will do your laudry for you, wash, dry and fold and you pick it up the same day. Problem was they don't open at 8. Chris found that out the hard way. So, he went back at 10 which is what the sign on the door said and that time there was a lad there that spoke no English and only pointed to the day of the 25th on the calendar as if to say, "I cant do your laundry until the 25th". So we found another place and went there. To make a long story short we spent the whole of the morning and in to the afternoon doing laundry up till 1:30. With that business finished we headed out to explore. Unfortunately right about the time we were done with laundry it started to rain, and turned much colder. It must have dropped about 20 degrees in around an hour. Made the sightseeing miserable. Thankfully
Tallinn is so beautiful it made you continue in spite of the cold, wet weather. Sad thing is that now, the skies have cleared and it looks like clearing is on the way. But the day is done. We need to get to bed for our 6:15am wakeup call to make it to the airport for a 7:50am flight back to Stockholm.



We found lunch at the local McDonalds (of course) then headed off to the town square. In the town square was the town hall with a tower, we climbed up the tower and had a great view of the town, though it was pretty windy at the top with the storm. We then toured the town hall which was pretty cool, dating from the 15th century and completly restored. We then did a walking tour from our guide book that took us through all the small cobbeled lanes and churches as well as the overlooks for some great views of the town. It was pretty cold today maybe in the 50's? Our coldest day yet, hopefully tomorrow it will warm up. We stopped in the afternoon at a cafe to get hot chocolate to warm up. Can you believe it? It's July! and 100 degrees at home, it feels like fall here. At least that gave us a chance to fill out some post cards while we warmed ourselves up. After dinner I came back to the hotel to pack for tomorrow. We have an early flight 7am out of Tallinn back to Stockholm where we pick up a rental and head south to Kalmar. It's about a 5-6 hour drive from Stockholm but we plan on stopping lots along the way and hopefully do some sight seeing.

More tomorrow.

Chris and Anneka

Tallinn, Estonia

Three countries on one day. Started in Russia, flew to Finland and took the boat to Estonia. We were in Helsinki just long enough for Anneka to pick up her copy of Harry F. Potter (Harry Freakin' Potter). She was absorbed in it the whole two hour boat ride. I guess I can't complain as I was absorbed in a Formula 1 race that was being contested somewhere in Europe.





Tallinn is remarkable. We got to the hotel after twenty minutes of dragging our bags accross seriously cobbled streets. But we walked accross the historic center of town in the process and I was salivating from the exposure. Tallinn represents everything I love about coming to Europe. The cobbled streets the 14th and 15th century buildings sagging gracefully. I meant to write in yesterdays blog that St. Petersburg lacked any form of quaintness. Tallinn has oodles of it. There more quaintness in one block of the historic town center here then in all of St. Petersburg. There's obviously been a huge infusion of tourism, business and money and it shows in the increasing level of preservation evident in the buildings of town center. While many have been preserved there are many more that are waiting. I walked down quiet streets and lanes with building after building in a graceful state of decay. Nothing like St. Petersburg though, strangely. This place just feels different. For one, it's just smaller. So the scale of decay doesn't seem so overwhelming. And, its evident in looking at other buildings that the whole of historic Tallinn will one day be fully restored. We got to the hotel, checked in and then out wandering. Well, actually, to do a walking tour. We got half way through before stopping for dinner. Then Anneka wanted to come back to the hotel to read.





I wonder what she was reading...

Anyways, I was happy to have the freedom to go out and wander truly aimlessly. Tallinn is simply breathtaking.

Oh, I forgot, in yesterdays blog I mentioned how Anneka was tardy getting to the Hermitage making us late for the tour I'd bought and that it was OK. That, in reality she was "on time" since I'd never been to any meeting place on time ever in the past. Well, that happened this morning. I got up at around 8am and couldn't fall asleep again so I just got dressed and decided to go out and explore. Anneka told me to get back no later then 9:30, to which I scoffed thinking I'd only be out for a little while and would be back, with breakfast in hand, by 9.

I wasn't even close. I wandered out further then what I could cover in the time alotted such that by the time I got back to the hotel it was 9:50. Low and behold as I waited for the elevator in the lobby when the door opened it was Anneka with all our junk in tow.

If looks kill my life would have ended in the lobby of the Baltic Rennaisance hotel in St. Petersburg. She gets a little antsy when we travel just with nerves about making sure we get to where we need to be without any stress. I didn't help this morning. Needless to say, we made it to the airport with tons of time to spare.

Well, it's late as usual and I'm tired so I'll have to write more tomorrow. It just freaks me out that it is 11:30 at night and the sky is still quite light.

One final thought: Paris Hilton's influence is felt as far away as little Tallinn, Estonia. All the chicks walk around wearing goofy huge sunglasses that look like bejewelled ski goggles. What's worse is that the rest of there outfits generally speaking look really dorky so its as if a pair of those mondo eye glasses makes up for the complete absence of any other "fashion".

Talk to you tomorrow.

Chris

Russian Impressions

Wow, where do I start. What a day. I got up a little before Anneka and was antsy to get out. We bought a two day pass to the Hermitage so I thought I’d go back to wander through it some more then hook up with Anneka a little later in the a.m. I stopped by a little pastry shop on the way over, one that we’d noticed the night before, and got a couple of pastry’s. Next door was a little “convenience store” for lack of a better term, where I got a Coke and that was my breakfast. We broke the bank on dinner ($90) the night we arrived and on breakfast ($45) the next morning eating at the hotel since we didn’t feel like stumbling around for either until we got a little more comfortable with our surroundings. I also thought that an extra day would suddenly help us figure out Russian.

Not a chance.




I still panic a little every time its my turn to order a meal or buy a ticket and I divert my eyes away from whoever I’m dealing with to look at the print of a menu or ticket price sheet only to see letters and words that make me think, “Did someone print all this upside down and backwards?” It’s shocking how isolated you feel when you look back up into the emotionless face of some babushka ticket lady and realize one of you might as well be on the moon, that’s how far apart you are. More amazing is when you, in complete and total exasperation, still state what you need in the slowest English you can produce and they rattle off some long chain of words, likely asking you what you want or telling you where to go or whatever, and the words go right over your head to the Russian dude in line behind you who is rolling his eyes wondering why you sit there, motionless, with that deer in the headlights look on your face doing nothing. I actually can’t wait to get back to Sweden so I can “understand” what is being said.

Anyhow, I got to the museum a little early so I waited around a bit for it to open. There was a very long line and I was grateful for already having a valid ticket as it allowed me to bypass all of it and go right in. I went first to the ticket office to inquire about entrance to the “jewels” section of the museum. Come to find out




Wow, Anneka just got back from the sauna. She was gone for like two minutes. Why bother spending four minutes getting to a sauna that you can only stand to be in for two?

So, anyways, come to find out that they only let 30 people in per day to the jewels and gold section of the museum – two groups of 15. So I went ahead and purchased two tickets to the 12:10 pm entrance and hoped that Anneka would be to our predetermined meeting place sharply at noon as we’d agreed so that I could get her and we could go in. Well, she was about 20 minutes late and I can’t blame her. I can’t name a single incident in our nearly ten years of marriage where I’ve actually met her somewhere when I said I would. So, it’s really no surprise that she’d be late since in practicality, she was perfectly on time. When she arove (past tense of arrive, like unto arrived, but sounds better) we hustled inside and with a little sweet talking (done all with hand gestures since we speak no Russian, see above) they called a guide down to pick us up and take us to the rooms. We had no idea that your tickets bought you a guided tour, in English, of the rooms. Interesting thing here is how did they know to send for an English guide? Must have been that classic “I don’t speak Russian” deer in the headlights look (see above, again) I gave the babushka at the ticket counter as I slid the 12:10 entry tickets across to her at 12:30. Somehow it all worked out and we were told in the heaviest of Russian accents to “ghwait ghere”. A guide showed up a couple of minutes later and after a brief tongue lashing, in really good English, she took us on our tour.

Two things: Turkish Sultans know how to diamond encrust their gifts to their Tsar friends, and, our guides breath made garlic smell like perfume. The outside of the Hermitage is under restoration and they grind, scrape and sand on it all day. I’m sure if you just pointed this woman at it and had her regurgitate her memorized spiel over the course of the day the paint would fall off on its own… Seriously though, take everyday objects – swords, horse riding gadgets, personal hygiene stuff – and make it out of solid gold, then encrust it with diamonds and that is what this room was full of. I could live high on the hog for the rest of my life selling one chalice in there on the open market. It was truly remarkable.



After the Hermitage we hopped on a boat for a “hydrofoil” ride to the summer residence of Peter the Great – Peterhof, on the outskirts of town. We thought the hydrofoil would be really speedy and would offset its cost in time savings. Not so. It cost $12 per person per ride, there and back for a $48 total. The bus took just as long (half hour) and cost significantly less. What really made the trip crazy though was that, unbeknownst to us, you buy your ticket for the boat ride over at the dock at the Hermitage and you disembark onto this jetty just out of sight of the palace when you get there. You buy your ticket to the grounds of the palace while still on the fenced in dock.

We didn’t have enough cash for the tickets to the grounds.

There are no ATM’s on the jetty.

The booths were manned by babushkas that speak no English.

Deer in the headlights (see above, again)

We literally were stuck. Just paid fifty bucks to get to a dock that we couldn’t get off of and had no money or ability to get any money. About the only option we had was to get back on the boat we’d just got off of and go back to the Hermitage and call it a really nauseating (motion sickness from the turbulent water) one hour trip to no where.
Alas, I saved the day. Pulled out my best display of dismay to the guard on duty who lets people back onto the dock. Kept saying the word “Bancomat” which is the word for an ATM in virtually all other countries in Europe and hoped he’d get it. When he was done with his explanation to no one (I was on the moon) he called a gal over that was loitering that he must have known and she addressed us in broken English. What a godsend. We were able to successfully explain to her our dilemma, that of having bought tickets to get to the palace without actually having enough money to go get off of the dock much less into the palace. I’ve never felt like a bigger dork in my entire life. That sense of dorkiness was however mitigated by the fact that likely 99% of the others on the dock at that moment didn’t understand a word of what we, or she, was saying. In hindsight some British dude came up to me and asked what time the last boat returning to the Hermitage left at and I told him only because it was pointed out to us when we bought our tickets before we’d left. After I told him, “Five thirty” and he walked away, I realized I should have sold him the answer for the 240 Rubles we were short.

So, this gal helped us out. We’re not sure how but in essence she talked to the guard who basically let us go in the out gate, or out the in gate depending what side you were on. But we gave her what money we had, roughly enough for one of the two needed tickets, and we assume she gave that to the guard who let us pass. It was a really weird moment of silent communication. Just the flick of the head and a glance with the eyes told us it was time to make our dash off the dock. Once we got off we found out that there are cash machines on the other side of the palace but off the palace grounds and so to get some money we’d have to leave and then pay another entry fee to get back in. We thought we’d do it, just leave, get some money and come back in. Or, have one of us leave, get the money and pay to get back in. That would be equivalent, cost wise, to if we’d paid to get in in the first place. In the end we decided against it since we only had an hour and a half to see buildings, gardens and forests as sprawling as Versailles. Plus I had to pee really bad and they charged 15 Rubles to use a potty. Since we had no money we occupied a decent chunk of our time looking for a suitably private enough tree to water…




We did see the amazing cascade of water that is the highlite of the palace grounds. Kudos to the Russians since in all our years it is the only fully operable set of fountains we’ve ever seen among all the palaces that is fully functional. And they were in amazing condition. The guilding (sp?) was fresh and the figures sparkled in the off again on again sunlight. It helped that the G-8 summit was there last year and they wanted the place spruced up for all the G-8 leaders. It was stunning in every way. We can only imagine what the inside of the palace and the formal gardens on the other side of the palace looked like. We had no money and so we couldn’t pay any entrance fees to do or see anything. It wasn’t a total bust. We were grateful to have seen what we did and we left Peterhof with an appreciation for what palace fountains across Europe’s finest capitals would look like if they were restored and if they could afford to run them. We’re still wondering how they afford to run the ones we saw. Even Versailles can’t run theirs except on weekends and holidays.



It was an amazing day. St. Petersburg is a truly amazing city with so much potential for the future. The Hermitage is perhaps my favorite large scale museum with truckloads of art and artifacts. We read in a guidebook today that only 5% of it is on display. Heaven only knows what else they have in there. Perhaps E.T. or Micheal Jacksons real nose?

More tomorrow.

Chris

The Hermitage

Well today we spent all day in the Hermitage museum. The line was at least an hour long but luckily we pre purchased our tickets online and were able to walk right in. This museum is huge! We made a start on the ground floor and worked our way up to the 3rd floor by the end of the day. We basically started at 11:00am and finished at 6:00pm with 2 - 15 minute breaks to get a snack and drink. The collection ranges from Egyptian to modern art. The museum consists of several "palaces" that were built next door to each other. Catherine the great was the art collector and built several buildings just to house her collection. I kept thinking how can one person acquire this much art! It's not even all on display. I've heard other people say the Hermitage makes Versailles look like a commoners house and that the Tsar's spent way more money on their palaces, it was true, many of the rooms were covered in gold leaf, wood carvings all over the ceilings, wood floors with intricate patterns and just so many rooms! The art alone inside each room is worth millions and millions.

Chris here. OK. A couple of observations - It's light enough out still, to take pictures and it's now 11:30 at night,
every third person on the street is carrying and drinking an alcoholic beverage, regardless of age, sidewalk, street, same difference, your not safe regardless of which one your one, they drive like maniacs, decroded doesn't describe the state of the city, it's decrodeder then decroded. I just got back from a long, meandering walk through what a guidebook called "Beauty in decay". It took me on a stroll down streets showing some of the glory and beauty of the city lost to years of communism, plaster and bricks falling off in heaps and a layer of soot and dirt so thick you could sow seeds in it. St. Petersburg is actually younger, by over 50 years, then New York, but it looks like it was built overnight then abandoned. It's amazing the sheer number of absolutley glorious buildings 99% of which are as described above - decroded, to quote Napoleon Dynamite. In fact the hotel we're staying in is a five star top of the line establishment and right across the street is a building that is completely falling apart. It's quite sad in reality to see things like palaces of Dukes, Dutchesses and other royals and members of high society that are in deplorable states of disrepair or outright abandonment. The Hermitage itself is in less than stellar conditions in many areas. Parts of it rival all the best of Europe in both beauty and preservation and not ten steps later you are in a hallway with restrooms that feel and smell as though they haven't been cleaned in years. Everything is either beautiful or groadie. It's all or nothing.





Actually, my mind has wandered back many times during the day to the idea that this is what communism wrought. Near complete and utter destruction. I think of France having nuked it's monarch in 1790 whatever then moving into, for lack of a better description, a capitalist society. And, a hundred years later they have a modern society with standard levels of decay. But also certainly with highly cared for and preserved monuments to their history. Here the Bolsheviks tossed out the Russian monarchy and resorted to communism and 60 years later you have an entire neoclassical city in need of complete rescue. I'm not sure all the billionaires in the world could contribute money enough to restore this city. It seems like there's just no pride here. Trash and litter abound. Everything is just dirty. There's no grass to mow anywhere. Just weeds.

But still, there something magical about this place. A sense of "what if?" I think if every building in a two mile radius of the Hermitage could be restored to its former glory this city would outshine all others. In spite of the near architectural sameness of the buildings, due to the city in essence being constructed in about 100 years, there is amazing potential in each one. The network of canals winding through the streets lend a Venetian feel to countless neighborhoods.

But, enough about all that.

So, we went to the Hermitage today as I'm sure Anneka mentioned at the beginning of this blog.

Indescribable.

How do you begin to put words to a palace so large you literally get lost in it? How do you wrap your mind around what one guidebook said about the collection - so big that if you glanced at each piece for a mere three seconds it would take eleven years to see the whole of it? I'd mentioned above that there are many beautiful rooms with a couple of rather run down ones interspersed within. Some rooms where gilt from the baseboards to the bellybutton in the ceiling where the chandelier hangs from. The art is overwhelming. I've never seen more Rembrandts in one place in my life. I overheard a guide say they have the second largest collection of Rembrandts in the world. They have a huge collection of Matisses and the largest urn I've ever walked under! It was like seven feet tall and some 10 to 12 feet wide at the rim and weighs 19 tons! One nasty part of the day is they were refinishing a very large parquet floor, as best we can tell, in one of the rooms and they were using a material that smelled just like they were smearing deisel fuel all over. So at times and in places the museum stunk to high heaven. There was a mosaic table about three feet in diamter made of mosaic peices about half the size of your average pinky finger nail clipping. Must have been a million or more little pieces to make up that table.




When you see me next, ask me about the Hermitage, there was too much to see to cover in simple words in this blog. Plus I'm exhausted and want to go to bed.

I'm actually having a hard time writing right now since I'm so tired. More tomorrow. We're off to Peterhof for the better part of the day and I'd like to go back to the Hermitage for another hour or so just to soak it all in. I'm not likely to ever make it back here again for the rest of my life so I need to fill the mind up with images...

Mighty Russia

Wow........ Russia is crazy! We arrived about 1:00 today into St. Petersburg. I was nervous about coming to Russia this morning. Add to that when our flight took off about 10 minutes into the flight (which was bumpy as we were coming out of a storm) the pilot turned the plane around and hovered in the clouds some more and announced in Finnish, then Russian then English that there was a technical problem and we were heading back to Helsinki. That was all he said. I was freaked out thinking our plane had some major problem and a engine might fall off. Much to our relief we landed safely and taxied to an empty parking lot where we sat for an hour while they determined if the plane was fit to take off again.

The pilot then came back on explaining in Finnish, Russian then English that the problem was fixed and we would be taking off, assuring us that it was not a safety issue but a navigational issue. With that we tried again and took off then landed in St Petersburg after an hour flight.

Once we landed we had to line up for the passport control and hand them our papers, at the passport control the booth was lined with mirrors (to see the backs of our heads?) and a measuring system on the side (to see how tall we were?) after much shifting of papers and stamping (no speaking) they waived us through in which we proceeded through the customs hall, since we didn't have anything over $3000 to declare we passed through and were met at the baggage claim by a nice russian girl holding our name on a sign.

I paid extra for the hotel to come pick us up. (For my peace of mind) I read too many stories on how impossible it was to get a cab unless you speak Russian and the only public transport was a bus which took you to a metro, etc. After seeing the state of the bus's and taxi's we were very glad to be in our nice Mercedes provided by the hotel. The drive in was from another world! There were stark contrasts between really poor and really rich. The taxi's and public transporation cars were so old and decrepid as were many personal cars, then you had brand new Hummers, Mercedes and Lexus SUV's on the road. In the suburbs we could see the comunist block housing, stark, grey and scary looking. As we got into the city the buidings became more colorful but again they were either nice and restored or falling apart decrepid.

After checking into the hotel we ventured out to find a way to get some money and lunch. We happened upon a bank and went inside to exchange money. To get into the bank they required us to show our passports (strange) then showed us to a nearby desk to wait and exchange our money, the security guard then let us out. The adventure continued as we found a McDonalds, inside was packed and the line very long, we waited, and waited and not going very far, waited some more. We then realized we needed to be agressive and not let the Russians cut in on us. Then it was time to order and discovered the young man taking the order spoke no english... can't blame him as we don't speak Russian but I would have thought the younger generation would be taught english??? Anyway through much pointing at pictures and other peoples food we managed to order a big mac, fries and 2 drinks.

With some food on our stomaches we headed out on the streets to sightsee, we walked over to the Hermitage, a difficult endeavor again since there wern't many cross walks and the streets were a chaotic traffic jam. Dodiging cars as we crossed for our lives, we made it to the square that faces the Hermatige, the place is huge! The buildings go on and on, I've heard they put a lot of money into restoring it, even with that it still looked very run down. I imagine that a place that big is just too large to keep up. Wood was rotting away from the window seals, etc. We just walked around the courtyards, we will try and cover the museum all day tomorrow. They say if you looked at all 3 Million (Yes 3 Million) pieces of art for only a few seconds each it would take you 11 Years to see everything.

Well we just have one day tomorrow and will let you know how much we conquer. After walking around the Hermitag we walked over to the "Church of Spilled Blood" this is where one of the Tsar's was assisnated so they build this monument in his honor, it's pretty cool covered in mosaics on the inside. Again because of communism?? Lack of money?? the place fell into disrepair and was turned into a warehouse, but with some recent refurbushment and probably lots of money they restored it and it opened up again as a monument in 1998.






We then spent the early eveing walking to a Russian Orthodox church and happened upon their church service, which was cool to watch, lots of singing, reciting, singing, kissing of pictures and crossing, as well as insense.

We got back to the hotel around 7pm and instead of venturing out to try and find dinner, we wimped out and opted for dinner in the hotel with a nice english speaking staff.

The city is amazing with great museums and sights but exhausting at the same time, lots of cars, noise, exhaust (tons of exhaust) and little green space, the buildings contrast just like the cars, either really old and falling apart or restored and new. Don't get me wrong I'm glad to be here and experience it but it's the hardest city we've traveled in in terms of just getting by in language, culture, etc.

Anyway tomorrow we head to the Hermatige and will let you all know how it is. Chris is already sacked out. Good night!

The boat to Finland

Well we made it to Helsinki this morning. Yesterday we had most of the day in Stockholm which we just stuck around Gamla Stan and wandered the shops and Royal Palace. We watched the changing of the Guard at the palace which was a big fanfare, they have a 40 minute marching band show with the changing of the guard. After that we then went to the Royal Armoury which held various suits of armor belonging to Swedish kings as well as royal clothing. At the end of the museum they take you down to a cellar which houses the old coaches used by royals for weddings, coronations, etc. They are over the top! I'll post a few pictures. These coaches were used one or two times and cost a mint!





We picked up some postcards and souviniers then headed back to our hotel to pick up our bags and catch a cab to the ferry. It just started to rain as we got to the hotel. We had to check in on our cruise about 3:30 or 4:00 and got there right in between. This was our first cruise experience and it was wierd for us. We've never been on such a large ship. We found our tiny cruise cabin with 4 bunk beds, the room was so small! We also got an inside cabin and the no window thing was hard to get used to. We left our stuff in the room and headed out to the front balcony of the ship to watch the boat leave the harbor. Right after the boat left the harbor it started to rain again and everyone scattered indoors, we stayed out since it didn't rain very much and watched the scenery for about an hour. The ship had lots of different restaurants and buffets but the buffet was about $45 a person so we opted for one of the restaurants instead. I think we were one of the few english speaking people on the ship, most seemed to come for the duty free alcohol. The duty free shop was packed all night with Finn's and Swedes buying cases of the stuff. It was so crazy to watch. We wandered over to the casino which was another crazy thing. You would think you were in Wendover as it looked like any other casino with the exception that children are allowed in and allowed to play the slots! There were kids all over dumping money into the slot machines.... wow. At least there was an age limit on the card tables of 18 or older!

The casino even had a live band on stage and a dancing stage, I think Kareoke was on tap for later at night. They had a spa on the ship and we decided to get a massage since it was 2 people for $100 for an hour massage. That was another experience, they told us to wear shorts for the massage, we weren't sure how they did things over here so it was a bit akward at first. My massage felt great while Chris got beat up by his masage guy from Estonia. I don't think he will do another one for a while. The massage came with free use of the sauna which we lasted 1 minute it was so hot. I guess we wouldn't make good Finn's as they love their sauna's.

Late after the massage we went to the duty free shop and bought some chocolate and cokes and sat ourside for a bit then headed to bed, we're not big partiers as you can tell, we skipped the kareoke.





This morning we arrived in Helsinki about 10:00am, we made our way off the ship and walked around the harbor to our hotel. We then went out to explore. They have a market everyday on the harbor filled with Fish, fruits, veggies, etc. We then did a walking tour of the city from Rick's book and toured the Lutheren cathedral and the Orthodox cathedral. Helsinki has a Russian feel to it, a lot of the trinkets sold are things you would buy in Russia.



Chris is off touring the Finland culture museum while I'm doing laundry and catching up on email at the hotel. I'll let him post some more later.

Oakie Doakie, my turn. I just got back from the Finnish national museum. Quite small as compared to others but it had just the right amount of stuff to see as to not be overwhelming. Helsinki's a crazy little town. It has an amazing feel to it.

Cold and windy.

Actually, they're saying today is more windy than normal and that wind has a colder edge to it than normal. Feels like were just on the verge of either crappy or perfect weather. Hopefully things will take a decided turn for the better starting tomorrow.

The market we walked through this morning was remarkable. The vibrant colors and freshness of the fruits and veggies make you want to be a chef. Then you walk a few more feet to the Finnish fried fish stall and that makes you want to vomit. Seriously, there were these mammoth wok like pans with piles of fish frying away with wafting odors strong enough to overwhelm the faint of nose... All in all though the market was groovy. It's part Farmers market, arts festival and mammoth woks of fried fish.


Crazy part about Helsinki is there aint much here. It's just too new. The Finns have really only relatively recently been a completely free, autonomous country. For centuries they were won and lost back and forth between Russia and Sweden. So, the street signs are all in Finnish and Swedish and the buildings are all pseudo Peter the Great Russian. As you walk around there is a noticable lack of medieval leftovers like walls and motes and what not so common in more southerly European places.



Anneka's ready to bug out and get some dinner and we're going to search for this Italian joint that we've been told about. The prospects of eating herring and reindeer aren't too appealing so it's either this Italian place or some other place thats been recommended too.

McDonald's

Funny thing is we can predict where the McDonalds will be in any city. Today I bet that there'd be a McDonalds within a half block of where we were standing at that moment. Anneka said, "How do you know?" I said, "Because the main scenic icon in the city, the large and looming Lutheran church with its accompanying plaza was only up the block a little bit." Sure enough, on the way there we passed a McDonalds.

I had lunch there... what can I say.

More later!

Chris