Baltic Cruise: Days 10-12
Page 1: Tuesday, June 29 to Friday,
July 1. (Amsterdam airport, Copenhagen)
Page 2: Sat., July 2- Sun. July
3 (Estonia, St. Petersburg)
Page 3: Sun. July 4 - Mon. July
5 (St. Petersburg, Helsinki)
Page 4: Wed., July 6 - Thurs., July
7 (Stockholm and Visby, Sweden.
Page 5: Fri. July 8 - Mon. July 10 (Wismar and Schwerin, Germany; Aarhus, Denmark; Copenhagen again!)
Fri., July 8, 2005
Wismar and Schwerin, Germany
Laura
and I were scheduled to go to Berlin today and to Legoland in Aarhus,
Denmark tomorrow. I just didn’t see me going to Legoland without
her, and I’m not sure what happened with Berlin, but I’ve
been feeling pretty ambivalent about going there all week.
Part
of it might have been the five hour round trip on the train, although
that was initially what attracted me to this trip. Starting out at 7 a.m.
for a 14-hour trip wasn’t all that attractive and finding out that
the cars on the train wouldn’t be air conditioned was a bit of a
deal-breaker. (It turns out that the cars did have air conditioning, but
the two people I talked to who were there today said that they spent the
entire day, with a few brief five- to ten-minute exceptions either on
the train or the bus. I’m pretty sure that’s not how I want
to do Berlin.)
I
think I just wanted something a little smaller, a little older, and the
tour of these two towns, which I had never heard of before this week,
sounded pretty neat. And it turned out to be a lovely, diverse and well-paced
day. We got to Wismar and could either go with the guide or take the hour
to explore on our own, which I chose.
Something
I remembered from our trip to Dresden in 2001 was how much harder it was
to find people who could speak English in the former East Germany, especially
in these smaller towns. The good news is that after a week in countries
in which I neither speak nor understand the language, I was finally in
a place in which I could kind of get by, rusty and rudimentary as my German
is. (Certainly enough to change a few dollars and buy a couple of postcards,
for example.)
The
thing that struck me about Wismar was its similarity to, say, Brussels.
A true northern Hanseatic town (part of an early version of the European
Union built around the trades), the influence of (or simply the similarity
to) the buildings in Holland or Belgium was pretty remarkable.
Another
thing that struck me was how nice and pretty the houses and buildings
were. We were told that after reunification in 1990, people had to produce
documentation to take ownership of their homes or buildings and in many
cases, the papers were lost in the war. There are a number of unoccupied,
run-down places that are needing to be claimed. I don’t know at
what point they will be taken over or auctioned off, but our guide pointed
out many buildings that are simply waiting for a documented owner to show
up.
After
Wismar, we headed to another town, although in contrast to the Merchant
town of Wismar, we were told that Schwerin was a “residential town.”
(Much of these places were destroyed and rebuilt during WWII, by the way,
though a number of medieval buildings remain.) We went straight to a lovely
restaurant where we were served lunch, which, with one beer, wine or soft
drink, was included in the tour. Evidently there were options for vegetarians,
but not for non-vegetarians who don’t like pork and cabbage! (The
potatoes were good!)
We
spent most of the afternoon walking around the town, touring the local
church, an unusually tall brick structure dating back to the 13th century.
Quite different from other churches I’ve seen in the area.
Then
we walked to the castle, a 400-room building with 365 turrets, terra-cotta
panels, incredible details. The rooms we got to visit were wonderful,
beautiful and quite unique (no photographs allowed, which is not uncommon
for a lot of these buildings). We climbed a lot of steps, with no accommodations
for Terry (who is now using crutches to support a knee that’s been
bothering her all week) or the lovely 93-year-old woman who was otherwise
in a wheelchair!! Troopers, all!
We
walked around the grounds of the castle, too—more gardens and a
lake, a really beautiful setting.
By the way, did you notice the cloudy skies today? We
have really had the most remarkable weather. Warm, but sunny and clear
skies every day. This was the first day that was not full sun. It even
started to rain—but not until we were on the bus heading back to
the ship!! A very full, lovely day.
Just
noticed it's now 1:10 a.m. (Time seems to stand still down here in the
Internet cafe and there are still people around here checking email and
two people talking about how various features of a piece of software work.)
I’m gonna upload these photos and this page and then head back up
to my room. I don’t have an excursion tomorrow but would love to
squeeze in a bit of local exploration on my own before getting to a class
in the afternoon.
Must sleep!!
Sat., July 9, 2005
Aarhus, Denmark
I
did today on my own. Aili and Terry had a tour out of town, so I decided
to explore. When I got off the boat, there were these 8 dancers, 4 couples,
in traditional Danish dress, dancing near the bottom of the gangway. Very
Scandinavian, a culture with which I have very limited experience. (Or
did before this trip!)
I
was told to head toward this church tower, which stood out above the rest
of the town and was very easy to spot from the departure area, about 15
minutes away. I’ve really been surprised by the brick churches.
(I’m far more familiar with the stone churches I’ve seen elsewhere
in Europe.)
On the way, I passed something I’d never seen
before. There are these
bicycle racks with public bicycles in them, chained with a coin-release
chain. You put in 20 Kroners (around $3.50 or so) and get to take the
bike and use it until you return it or drop it off at another public bike
rack. Someone told me that a similar program was available in Portland,
Oregon. I think it would be difficult to pull this off in many parts of
the US, and I was just happy to be in a place where a program like this
really works.
So
I get to what I think is the center of town and while I’ve been
hearing words like “storybook” and “charming”
associated with Aarhus, all I’m finding is a pedestrian area with
a bunch of regular type stores. I meet two guys from Atlanta trying to
find the Information center and follow them, only there’s no one
there—just a bunch of maps and attraction flyers.
One
of the guys mentions this place, Den Gamle By (“By” meaning
“village” and being pronounced like something between the
words “bee” and “boo”. I can’t think of
anything in English that sounds like it, but it’s definitely not
like the way we say the word “by”!)
Anyhow,
it’s a lot like a medieval, Danish version of Colonial Williamsburg,
with a bunch of original buildings from the 15th and 16th century or thereabouts
(I’m not quite sure how old the oldest building is) that were moved
to this area in the botanical gardens to create a living museum. The insides
were more recent, generally 18th and 19th century, as was the overall
feel of the place, but the structures themselves were much older.
There
are people all around in period dress and it was a really neat place in
a really lovely setting. There’s a stream (with ducks and geese
and fish) in the middle of the attraction, horse-drawn carriages on the
streets, an occasional windmill in the background.
I
was looking over some local crafts at one of the display booths and this
man came over with his daughter and son. I asked if I could take their
pictures and he said yes. The boy became very shy and hid behind Dad,
so I didn’t even try to get a shot of him, but his sister (left)
thought he was being very silly. Here is her very giggly reaction caught
on film!
Unfortunately,
it was ungodly hot—and after a walk there that took me over an hour
to find my way through these various sections of town, the very uneven
cobblestone streets were doing a number on my feet. I spent about an hour
and a half there, going in and out of houses, wandering the streets, looking
in the shops and sitting by the stream.
You
couldn’t actually walk into the rooms of these houses. All the displays,
whether the inside of a home or a shop or workshop, were set behind glass
partitions. In some cases, there was a very small area, maybe 4’
x 5’, if that, and generally with a low ceiling, in which you could
walk in and look in a few rooms.
It
was starting to get late and I wanted to get back in time for some lunch
before the afternoon classes on the ship. We don’t normally have
any sessions while the ship is in port, and when the the original schedule
was set, we were supposed to be at sea today. But the ship added this
stop in Aarhus so they decided to hold the classes any way. (I think the
morning sessions were pretty light but the afternoon class on the new
Mac operating system was absolutely packed!)
I
realized that the ship was a couple of miles away and between my feet
and the heat, I thought I’d hitch a ride back on one of the tour
buses from the ship. The guides and drivers were all amenable but none
of the buses were leaving for at least an hour and some weren’t
going back to the ship directly. So I hailed a cab and rode back to the
ship in comfort and style!
Now
just as a PS before I sign off, here’s something I learned on this
cruise: You know the squiggle on the “Command” or Apple key
on the Mac keyboards? Well, they came from a Scandinavian symbol that
appears on signs on roadways and campgrounds, for example, and they represent
a special attraction (or feature). Recognize the symbol in the sign above?
This is where it came from!!
Sun., July 10, 2005
Copenhagen, Denmark
I
am currently in a beautiful, air-conditioned hotel room at the Marriott
in Copenhagen, sprawled out on a crisp, clean, white bed with a zillion
down pillows, updating my blog. I'm looking out through this big picture
window onto a great view of the canal, and with the water below, it feels
like I’m still on the ship.
A nice thing! I felt like the cruise ended very suddenly
and I found myself at a quarter to two last night wandering around the
deck of the Internet cafe and feeling like I was on a ghost ship! There
were crew members I didn’t remember seeing before, setting up the
same displays in the shops that had greeted us when we arrived 10 days
ago, vacuuming, polishing the glass and railings, getting ready for the
next batch of passengers! There were suitcases all along the hallways
and piling up the elevator lobbies. Sort of sad.
It seems as if everyone else had the good sense to get
in bed, knowing that the first disembarkation releases would be announced
around 6:30 the following morning. I was a little wound up—in a
good way—to just go to bed! Too many goodbyes in too short a time!
I was off the ship around 8:00 this morning and after
picking up my luggage, headed over to the hotel at which I had reservations
for tonight and tomorrow. I wasn’t knocked out by the place when
I stayed there before the trip, but I attributed that to all the stressful
stuff that was going on at the beginning of this trip. The main problem
is that the building is not air conditioned (I never would have booked
there had I known that), but I managed to get through the night last time
with a fan blowing directly on me all night.
No such luck this time. The fans had all been assigned
and there was a waiting list from the night before. I went up to the room
around 1:00 pm and immediately showered and tried to take a nap. But by
that time, my room was 81° (about 12-15° warmer than I tend to
keep it, especially for sleeping) and I was getting a migraine.
I
packed my stuff up and went down to the front desk and asked them to cancel
my reservation and find me a room in another hotel. So I ended up here,
at the Marriott, in a much brighter, much bigger and much cooler room with a great view (left), two queen-sized beds (the other hotel
had singles) and eight fluffy pillows between them (the other hotel had
I-don’t-know-what for pillows, tiny, flat things). The weird thing
is, this is only slightly more expensive than the other room—and so much more comfortable. (It’s a very comfortable 70°
in here right now.)
While
I was waiting for my room to become available, I went for a walk, down
toward the pedestrian area—no particular reason or destination.
It’s Sunday, so a lot of places aren’t open and foot traffic
was light. There was a guy with his German Shepherd, a true “ball
dog”, she was carrying a ball across the park, chasing it enthusiastically.
I
came upon them about an hour later and the guy was in a store. So the
dog just took the ball up to various other pedestrians, dropping the ball
and stalking it until some kind soul would kick it for her. I found her
ploy irresistable and gave her a good chase, and got my “fur fix”
in the process.
I
walked back down to the canal, down to what once was the old fishmarket—only
this statue of a fishwife and a couple of restaurants remain—and
caught the canal tour boat. The guide documented our surroundings in three
languages, seamlessly switching from Danish to English and then German.
Quite impressive. We
actually got out into the harbor where I caught a glimpse of our ship,
by that point, already taking on new passangers for its next cruise. This
is where the famous Little Mermaid is, surrounded by people off the numerous
tour buses. We did a drive-by, slowed enough to get a couple of photos.
The
tour lasted about an hour, and even with the occasional breeze off the
water, it was very hot just sitting in the open boat. I was anxious to
get back to my hotel and shower, but in the heat of my room, that relief
did not last long.
Which brings us back to the beginning of this day’s
narrative. I did do another walk in the evening, but I’m kind of
at a point where I’m mostly waiting to get back home!
Sun., July 10, 2005
Copenhagen, Denmark
The
day I arrived in Copenhagen, I met Aili and Terry at a Brazilian restaurant
where they were with a friend (cousin of a friend, really) who, with his
partner, dances Tango there on certain nights. For his day job, he dresses
like Hans Christian Andersen and gives walking tours of the city.
I knew that he started at 10:30, but I couldn’t
figure out where he “collected” his group. I did know that
he came through the square at some point, so I decided to wait. About
a quarter to 11, I see a group of tourists led by a man in a purple waistcoat
and a top hat. (I didn’t figure he’d be that hard to spot!
I just wasn’t sure when he’d be by.) The tour had just started
so I hopped on board as they were going into the town hall.
With
2005 being the 200th anniversary of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen,
his name and face are everywhere! There are busts and statues throughout
the city and all remarkably look like Aili’s friend, Richie. He
did a terrific tour—well-paced, well-informed and quite funny (often
with classic New Jersey humor).
“Hans”
pointed out that every resident of Copenhaven has a bicycle, but only
two in ten have a car. There are bicycles everywhere, and although
he said they are usually locked with some kind of pin through the back
wheel, if this was indeed the case, I didn’t see it.
Although
I had done quite a bit of walking with Terry and Aili, and then on my
own, this tour took me down streets and past buildings and stores I hadn’t
noticed, including this round observation tower built in the late 15th
century.
I’m
a little overloaded on information and at the moment can’t remember
what the building on the left is, or when it was built. Neat design elements,
though.
I
learned that the citizens of Denmark pay some of the highest income taxes
in the world, around 52%, with a 25% tax on stuff they buy. The other
side is that its people are well cared for 
with free education and hospitalization,
subsidized medicine, one year paid maternity (or paternity) leave, and
good pensions and care for the elderly.
There
are also a lot of bookstores and clothing shops, but with no air conditioning
and the temperature climbing into the humid high 80s, I really couldn’t
spend much time in the stores. I did stop in this shop, briefly, as the
window desplays (left) definitely caught my eye.
I spent the remainder of the day in my room, watching
three movies in a row (taking advantage of having spent nearly $25 for
the unlimited privilege) and packing for a very early departure. I’m
actually finishing this on the plane. It’s 5:15 a.m. at home, but
I am still about 17 hours from walking through my front door.
In retrospect, the cruise was absoltuely fantastic.
As vacations go, the ports and the weather were outstanding. As Geek cruises
go, I enjoyed the classes and the people involved, some of whom I knew
from before, many new acquaintances. I’m excited about what I learned
and look forward to playing around with the new software and operating
system.
Finally, this blog was quite a bit of work and I do
appreciate the people who have checked it out. I’ll probably leave
it on my site for a while, if for no other reason than as a souvenir of
a really great trip!
Page 1: Tuesday, June 29 to Friday,
July 1. (Amsterdam airport, Copenhagen)
Page 2: Sat., July 2- Sun. July
3 (Estonia, St. Petersburg)
Page 3: Sun. July 4 - Mon. July
5 (St. Petersburg, Helsinki)
Page 4: Wed., July 6 - Thurs., July
7 (Stockholm and Visby, Sweden.
Page 5: Fri. July 8 - Mon. July 11 (Wismar and Schwerin, Germany; Aarhus, Denmark; Copenhagen again!)
Other “Highlights” pages: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008. For an index to all blogs, photos, and other personal information, click here.
Jane’s current Blog.
Where in the World? 100 Countries: Check progress on my life goal.
