Saturday, June 26, Stockholm, Sweden

At 12:42 a.m., as we were getting ready for bed, it was still just slightly light in the sky. We couldn't read a newspaper, but could probably find our way, if we were a Baltic sailor.

Planning out our shore excursions for the next couple of days, we decided not to take any of the ship's excursions, but will use the $10. round trip shuttle to go into Stockholm today, and into Tallinn, Estonia tomorrow.

We had a very short night of sleeping! By 3:30 a.m., we were awake, and out on the verandah watching the sun come up as we sailed through the "Swedish Archipelago." This is a long string of islands just off the east coast of Sweden and is the ship's route to Stockholm. At the orientation lecture yesterday, the speaker said that we should be sure to get up and enjoy this beautiful scenery as the ship maneuvers its way through the narrow channels between islands. Very similar to the San Juan Islands of Puget Sound. Suddenly, a speedboat came zooming up to the ship, waving and shouting a welcome to us. Obviously, the locals don't get much sleep either during these very short "white nights of midsummer."

The water was absolutely still, and at times the ship was so close to the rocky shore of an island that it seemed quite possible to throw a tennis ball and hit one of the pine trees! The ship was also going very slowly--this is probably a very tricky area for navigation.

The islands have obviously been heavily glaciated--with our big binoculars we could even see the striations on the exposed rock, from the grinding glaciers. The exposed rock looks like granite--perhaps more like the Maine coast, than the San Juan Islands. The islands are covered with trees--both hardwoods and fir or pine, but it's hard to see where they find enough soil to take root on that bare rock!

Once in awhile, we would see a small hamlet, or a cove with several sailboats. Later, we learned that this is Stockholm's vacation area, and right now, as they celebrate Midsummer, these islands are full of people camping or in their vacation cabins.

Looking behind our ship, now and then we would have a glimpse of another big ship following the same route to Stockholm. This turned out to be one of the huge passenger-ferry ships that ply the Baltic. When our ship made another angled turn, we got a good look at what was in front of us--and there was another big ship heading through the Archipelago. We were just part of a long line of ships this morning!

As the ship sailed northward, the signs of habitation on the islands were more evident--we saw a lumber mill and even a gas station near a little harbor. Also saw a good bit of birdlife--swans, cormorants, ducks--well, we are very certain about the swans, the I.D. of the other birds is a bit more iffy.

By 6:30 a.m. we could see the skyline of Stockholm in the distance. After enjoying all this pretty Swedish scenery, we gave up on getting any more sleep, and went up to the Lido for a nice (and very early!) breakfast.

We got in the first of what would be many "queues" on this cruise, lining up to get our shuttle bus tickets. By 9:15 we were on our way into Stockholm, just a short drive, but a very LONG walk from the ship. They dropped us off right by the Opera House and just a canal bridge away from the Royal Palace. We walked over that bridge into "old town" known as "Gamla Stan," making almost a complete circuit of the palace, negotiating the very rough cobblestone street in front, and admiring the palace guards, stationed at various points around the grounds. We debated taking a palace tour, but I poured cold water on that suggestion--walking was already proving very painful, and the idea of trooping up and down a lot of steps and along long corridors didn't sound very pleasant. Glenn went along with me on this, and we just took a leisurely stroll through the big square where a bunch of Swedish noblemen lost their heads, back in the 16th century. One of the first uprising of the lower classes.

I think "old town" in all these European countries is synonymous with "cobblestones." Sometimes big rocks, sometimes little ones, but always, cobblestone pavement. We saw charming little coffee shops around the square and interesting shops, many of them displaying antiques in their windows. But--all closed up today! Yes! On a Saturday in Stockholm, almost everything was shut up tight, because this is a national holiday to celebrate Midsummer and most of the city is down on those pretty islands in the Archipelago. On our walk we saw only a couple souvenir shops or glassware shops open. Sweden is the home of beautiful glassware--Orrefors and Kosta are big names here. We stopped in one glassware shop, to see if "our" Kosta crystal pattern was still available, but nope, no longer made. Gee! and it was only 54 years ago that we bought the crystal wineglasses in Vancouver, B.C. on our honeymoon!

We found a beautiful old church with elaborate spire which turned out to be a German church--a remnant of earlier times when Germans either controlled Sweden, or at least were a major player here. (Note: need to figure out the history of the Baltic area--but don't think I will live long enough!)

Glenn spotted a dandy statue of St. George--busily slaying the dragon. We completed a short circuit of Old Town, then decided the best way to spend the rest of our time in the city was to take the Royal Canal Tour. We went back to the boat dock and signed up for the 12:30 tour which gave us time to sit on a bench, munch the apples carried from our cabin's never-empty fruit bowl, and observe the rest of the tourists. The best weather of the day had been at that early dawn when it was mostly blue skies and a rising sun. Clouds had been gathering ever since we docked, but we enjoyed a few sun breaks waiting for the canal tour.

Stockholm, like Venice, is built on a series of islands in the Baltic Sea--now all connected by bridges. The Royal Canal Tour took us by the "Park Avenue" of the city, with very upscale homes along the canal, then we made a circular tour around a huge island which encompasses a lot of nice, open woods and green space on the northern side, and some of the major amusement centers of Stockholm on the south and east side--we saw a little "Tivoli" park with roller coasters, and other ways to turn your stomach upside down; several museums, etc. On the wild side of the island we saw flocks of a very handsome goose, which Karen later identified as the Barnacle Goose and more of the beautiful Mute Swans.

Our tour was in the typical, low profile canal boat which was needed to go under some of the canal bridges, but we saw one unusual tour boat--a replica of a Viking ship.

By the end of the tour a fine, fine mist was falling but we felt lucky that it had held off while we walked through the Old Town. A shuttle bus was waiting and we climbed aboard for the short trip back to the ship. No souvenirs in my shopping bag--hard to spend money when the shops are all closed!

We were pretty well chilled by the time we got back to our cabin--58 degrees and misty rain--on Midsummer's Day, yet! We headed up to the Lido buffet for a late lunch--which featured nice, warm soup for me. Glenn intended to get a thin slice of good roast beef for a sandwich at the "Deli" island, but they cut him an inch-thick slab, done exactly as he liked, and he wasn't a bit unhappy that it was too big to put between two slices of bread!

Back to the cabin for a nap--the next thing I heard was Glenn saying, "Time to get up and get dressed--it's dinner time!" Just before dinner, the ship set sail out through that beautiful Archipelago again, this time it is pointed toward Estonia and the city of Tallinn. With our nice window view from our dining room table, we enjoyed a second look at those lovely islands.

After dinner, I talked Glenn into going to the ship's movie theater to see "Something's Gotta Give" a comedy I had already enjoyed, but it was just as much fun the second time around. Tonight's Vista Lounge program was a magician, which didn't sound as good as the movie. All in all, we found little in the ship's evening entertainment to entice us away from other activities. After the movie, we made another visit to the casino which put some nickels in Barbara's bucket and no big losses for Glenn.

Earlier in the evening, we ran into a patch of heavy fog, with the ship's horns blowing a steady warning. Apparently we sailed out of that. When we gave up gambling, about midnight, a glance out of a ship window showed that the sun had set, but it was still a rather light twilight. In our cabin, we had a note, "please turn your clocks one hour forward." We are getting farther and farther from Salem, time-wise!

Sunday, June 27, Tallinn, Estonia

The Westerdam pulled in just on time--7 a.m. and docked at a pier close enough to the city for us to see the church spires clustered on a high hill, plus some down below in the "old town." Beyond the dock was a little area of green space--sort of a little wetland, and apparently a popular place for people to take a walk with their dog. Not a park, just a little open green space. To the north, beyond the spires of Old Town, is the working part of this port--a row of the huge cranes used to move containers from ship to shore. Also what appeared to be the remnants of some huge processing plant, with a tall smokestack and much use of concrete in the buildings. Looked like it might be a relic of the Russian era here. No sign of activity around it now.

The brief printed guide for Tallinn says it has had a hard time being independent. A little country between Russia and Germany, and not all that far from Sweden--it has been under somebody or other for most of its existence. The last "boss" was Russia, and it wasn't until 1991 that Estonia declared its independence from Russia and everyone else. This of course, coincided with the major change of government in Russia. No doubt realizing that this little country needed to be part of a bigger unit, Estonia applied for, and just this year was accepted into the European Union. There is still lots of evidence of the Russian governance, including signs written in Russian and some similar alphabet, which we assumed was Estonian.

Our starboard side of the ship got to be on the "port" side here, and we were treated to a concert by a little band, set up on the dock. They played both American and what must be Estonian music for us. There was another sound to be heard: that of rain drops, falling! We certainly did not sail out of this rainy weather even though we have come a good bit farther east.

After walking about Copenhagen, this very long ship, and Stockholm, my right hip and leg were really bothering me. Glenn tried to see if any of the bus-type excursions were still open for Tallinn, but nope, all full. So, he got the shuttle bus tickets with the idea that we would see what we could see with my limited walking ability.

We dawdled on board the ship for awhile, hoping that the steady rain might let up. Since it didn't seem inclined to do that, we finally headed for the shuttle bus about 10:30 a.m., armed with our umbrella plus the very nice umbrella supplied by the ship. It was made of clear plastic which helped a lot in seeing what was coming at us, plus it was sturdy enough that I started using it as a cane at times.

The bus dropped us off right at the beginning of the lower section of "Old Tallinn." I could see a very modern, high-rise hotel nearby, but the city fathers had wisely chosen to preserve medieval Tallinn for the tourists. Once we entered the pedestrian-only cobblestone street, we were transported back to another century--one where people's feet must have hurt a lot--from stumbling over those nasty cobblestones! Some of the side streets' cobbles were basically river bed rocks. Amazingly, we never tripped or stumbled on the cobbles--I guess they were so big it was hard to ignore them!

Tallinn was full of pretty little shops and sidewalk cafes--all covered up in today's very rainy weather. At least, there were brief periods without showers. Just as in a similar medieval town--Rothenberg ob Tauber, on the Romantic Road in Germany, we went through the old town gate and could see parts of the wall that once surrounded the city, complete with the little wooden walkway suspended from the inner side of the wall.

As we were walking along, a very little, very old lady politely asked if we would buy one of the little pins of butterflies, with fluttering wings, that she was selling. Hardhearted Barbara shook her head "no" but soft-hearted Glenn said, yes, he would very much like to buy one of her pins for $2.00. Probably they were the most authentic souvenir in Tallinn! In one shop, I chuckled at the sight of the "matryoshka" nesting dolls, a typical Russian souvenir. But these dolls had the faces of George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein on them! Somehow, I doubt these were made in Tallinn.

There was the main square, with narrow little side streets leading away in all directions. Some people were dressed in medieval-style costume--advertising a nearby restaurant.

We wanted to find an Internet cafe today, and let our children know we had survived the first part of the trip. A stop at an Information Center provided us with a map and a general idea where the one and only Internet Cafe might be. Actually locating it took us down some of those interesting side streets, and it was only with the help of a waitress at a soggy sidewalk cafe that we pinned down the location. This was a genuine Internet cafe, complete with cafe! We had to wait our turn to use one of their three computers, so decided to try out Estonian coffee for Glenn and Estonian tea for Barbara. Added to that were a couple very tasty sweet rolls. The coffee looked and tasted as you might expect and I thought my tea might be something special, since the waitress scooped up the loose tea leaves from a canister and put them in a little tea strainer, pouring hot water over them. But then......nothing much happened. Glenn sipped his coffee, we ate our sweet rolls and I waited for some color to appear, signaling that the tea was brewed. It finally achieved a very pale amber color and I sipped a truly insipid cup of tea!

For five US dollars total, we had our beverages, snacks and about 15 minutes Internet time. Long enough to send a brief message after once again figuring out how to find the "@" key on a European keyboard. Not easy, let me tell you!

"June 27 from Tallinn to Mark and Karen

Hello from Historic Tallinn, Estonia,

Rain, rain and more rain! But we are seeing some interesting sights. Please pass this on to Betty, Terry.We have 15 minutes on this computer. Tomorrow and next day, St. Petersburg. All is well, probably next check in from Helsinki or Rostock.

Love to all from Barb and Glenn"

We took a different route back through the old city to our shuttle bus stop. While the buildings within the inner Old Town were the usual half-timbered design of much of Europe, the homes on the outskirts all had wooden exteriors--some of them reminded me a lot of older homes in Northwest Washington.

We were back on the ship about 1:30 p.m. and had a light lunch in the Lido, with a window table overlooking the city. Another nap was in order and then....time for dinner! (Eat, sleep, eat, gamble, sleep seems to be the pattern here!)

Before dinner we went up to the Crow's Nest for beer and again, too many of those good peanuts that grace every table up there. The ship was scheduled to leave at 5 p.m., but as in Copenhagen, a couple slightly smaller ships--ferries, actually, but huge, took precedence over us. It was fun watching the ships depart, with the help of the tugboats--who probably shepherded the Westerdam as well, but we didn't get to see that, as we were at dinner when the ship steamed away from Tallinn.

Again, we ignored the show in the lounge, just gave the casino our attention for awhile. Back at our cabin--another note reminding us that we must move our watches forward another hour. We are now ten hours ahead of Salem, Oregon--no wonder we still get sleepy at odd moments!

At 10:53 p.m., the ship was steaming east toward St. Petersburg from Tallinn. The sun had probably set, but the sky was still light--and full of clouds, at least in our eastern view.

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Trip Log, page two, Sweden and Estonia

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