Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Sometimes things don’t go as planned, and that's OK
This year, the wife and I took another trip overseas, this time to visit the Nordic countries, or, as our travel brochure put it, “The Viking Homelands.”
We’ve – meaning my wife, who did all the hard work – planned this trip for over two years and were really looking forward to it, the way we always look forward to overseas travel.
Part of the romance of “going abroad” is that you get to go on a big adventure and explore strange new cities, seek out new cultures and ancient civilizations, boldly going where – well to be honest – lots of tourists have gone before.
But most organized tours are so well structured, planned out and/or timed that there’s often little surprise. What you read about in the brochure is often exactly what you get, and that sometimes takes the thrill out of exploring an unknown territory.
That’s why trips where things don’t go exactly as planned tend to stand out in our memories more than those vacations where things go off like clockwork.
And that’s exactly what happened with our trip to Scandinavia and Northern Europe.
Four days into our cruise, our brand new ship broke down and instead of getting to see “The Viking Homelands,” we got a pretty in-depth tour of Estonia and Russia with a side of Norway thrown in.
Was it the trip, we wanted or planned on?
No.
But nor did it ruin our vacation. We still got to explore some strange new cities – albeit fewer of them than originally planned – meet people from cultures new to us and explore their ancient sites. And best of all, the uncertainly of what was going to happen next added a touch of excitement that any real adventure needs.
So the following is my “captain’s log” detailing our adventures aboard the MS Viking Star and her aborted tour of the Nordic countries.
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View of Stockholm's Old Town as we left port.
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DAY 1: STOCKHOLM SYNDROME
Our trip began in Stockholm, Sweden with a two-hour bus tour of the city, which is spread out over 14 islands linked together by 54 bridges. We mostly toured around the Gamla Stan, the "Old Town" part of the city which dates back to the 13th century. This island/neighborhood features many gabled merchant houses and an array of architectural styles – from the enormous baroque Stockholm Palace to the Art Nouveau Royal Dramatic Theater. In 1897, the city hosted the World's Fair, leading to a revitalization boom designed to show off its beautiful setting. A legacy of that period is the Strandvagen, which has been called one of Europe's loveliest waterfront esplanades.DAY 2: TO HELSINKI AND BACK
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My wife and I in front
of a statue to
Czar Alexander of Russia in Senate
Square. Helsinki Cathedral is in the background. |
It was a long, fun day, but we wished they would have stopped the bus at more places, like the Old Olympic stadium, so we could take proper pictures instead of trying to snap one as we drove by. The other disappointment was not having a bit more free time to spend exploring this city on our own.
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| A view of the Czar's Winter Palace, from across the Neva River. Today this complex is known as the Hermitage Museum and is home to one of the largest collections of Western European Art in the world. |
DAY 3: BACK IN THE USSR…ER… RUSSIA
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| Though it looks like a church, The Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood is really a monument to Czar Alexander II who was assassinated on this spot in 1881. |
The sea port we docked at and all the new buildings as well as those still under construction – including a soccer stadium for the 2018 World Cup – were still part of the Gulf of Finland in 2004, but the central city looks much the same as it did when we first saw it.
Today's bus tour took us around to familiar sites, with three stops to take photos: In front of St. Isaac's Cathedral, an 1818 Russian Orthodox cathedral and museum known for it's gold-plated dome and an opulent, multicolored interior; The Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood, built as a monument to Czar Alexander II who was assassinated on that spot; and a park along the Neva River where we got great views of the Winter Palace (now the Hermitage Museum) and Peter and Paul Fortress, the city's first defense edifice and now home to Peter and Paul Cathedral where the remains of several czars and czarinas, from Peter the Great to Nicholas II and his family, are buried.
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| Diorama in the basement room of Yusupov Palace showing where Felix Yusupov tried to poison then shoot Rasputín |
DAY 4: STILL RUSSIAN AROUND
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Here's a look at the exterior of Catherine's Palace,
as seen from the rear gardens. |
Then in the afternoon we drove back into the city to see the Yusopov Palace, the home of an old Russian noble family. While not nearly as ostentatious as some of the czars' palaces, this place was still grand and served as a great contrast to what we saw this morning. This building's main claim to fame is that it was the site of the barely successful assassination of Grigori Rasputín.
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| A view of the Lower section of Tallinn's Old Town seen from an observation terrace in Upper Town. The big spire in the center is St. Olaf's Church, one of the tallest buildings in Estonia. The building with the red conical roof is one of the guard towers that line the old city walls. |
DAY 5: TALLINN TALES
At least it wasn't an iceburg.... |
| I call this, my what's wrong with this picture, picture. The remains of a medieval city wall and watch tower gate with a McDonald's in front of it. Talk about clash of cultures! |
Our brand new ship appeared to have developed engine trouble and since we were only "running on the starboard side propulsion" we were at least four hours behind schedule. So instead of making port in Tallin, Estonia at 7 a.m., we got in about 11:30 a.m.
This turned out for the best, as it allowed us to sleep in today after our early day yesterday. Then after a leisurely lunch we headed out into a rainy Estonia to see "one of Northern Europe's finest medieval Old Towns."
Tallinn is the capital of Estonia and about one-third of the country's entire population live in the city. Its old town section is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, complete with cobblestone streets, plenty of old buildings, onion-domed churches, stone watchtowers and city walls. Our three hour walking tour started in the Walled Upper Town on Toompea (Dome Hill) where churches like the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral mingle with government buildings like the Estonian Parliament building. Then it was down to the Lower Town, which was a mix open squares, gabled houses and shops and even more churches.
After the tour, we spent an hour or so wandering the town on our own before heading back to the ship and finding out the status of our engines.
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| Centuries after it was built, the plaza in front of Tallinn Town Hall is still home to lots of vendors who set up booths here to hawk their wares to visitors. It's no wonder that this place is still called Market Square. |
DAY 6: STUCK BETWEEN A ROCK AND ESTONIA
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Holy Spirit Church, built in the 14th century
features this elaborate painted clock on its facade. It's the oldest and only street clock in Tallinn, that's been marking time for the citizens of this city for the past four centuries. It is the smallest and oldest place of worship in Lower Town and originally considered a refuge for the poor. |
Gdansk, Poland, we were stuck in Tallinn for another day. Unfortunately this means we won't be able to see Berlin, as they've cancelled that stop, but it did give us another afternoon to get to know this wonderful, picturesque little city.
After another leisurely morning onboard, we walked back into town, this time stopping to see a couple of more things we didn't get to visit yesterday, such as St. Olav's Church. Originally standing 159 meters tall (today it's only 124 m) it was the tallest structure in the world during the 16th century.
Today's visit was a made even better by the weather. While yesterday when we began our walking tour in a steady cold rain, today we had sunny and comfortable temperatures for our entire three-hour visit.
DAY 7: OUT OF STEAM
We got word from the captain in the morning that the engines wouldn’t be repaired for another few days, at which time we will sail directly for our last port of call, Bergen, Norway. This means we will miss three-quarters of the places we were set to visit, ruining the rest of our trip.To say that we were disappointed was an understatement, but the staff on board have been bending over backwards to keep us happy and as the ship itself is a mini, luxury hotel with lots of fine dining, we're not exactly roughing it.
On the bright side, I did get a 50-minute, deep-tissue massage (my first ever) at the ship's spa today so that should take sting out of being "marooned" here.
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Tallinn's Old Town is lit up beautifully at night. This shot was taken from the sun deck of our ship.
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| Exploring interior of Padise Monastery (above) in Happsalu, Estonia. The church and monastery complex inside The Episcopal Castle of Haapsalu (left). This castle was built in the 13th century and for the next 300 years or so was the center of the Oesel-Wiek Bishopric, or Catholic ecclesiastical state of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and subject to the Holy See in Rome. |
The town had lots of old medieval ruins for us to explore. First up was Padise Monastery, the ruins of a former Cistercian Monastery established in the 13th century. We didn't get much of a tour here, as our guide wasn't an expert about this part of Estonia. About all she was really able to tell us was that this place is one of the best preserved monastic ruins in Northern Europe and gives visitors a good idea of what Estonian medieval architecture was like. Still it was fun climbing around on wooden ladders and up and down ancient stone steps to explore the place. Back home, they never would have allowed us to do this, for fear someone would get hurt.
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| Kadriorg Palace. Peter the Great had this palace built after capturing Tallinn during the final phase of the Great Northern War in 1710, and dedicated to his wife Catherine I of Russia, hence it is sometimes referred to as Catherine's Palace. It was started on July 25, 1718 but wasn't finished until after Peter's death in 1725. Peter and Catherine visited the unfinished residence on several occasions, but after her husband's death, Catherine showed no interest in the seaside property. Peter, however did stay in Tallinn many times, but in a small, modest, one-room house located elsewhere in the park. Today this building is used as a branch of the Art Museum of Estonia |
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A look past one of the model lighthouses on
the grounds of the Viimmsi Open Air Museum out to the Baltic Sea where a
cruise ship makes its late afternoon
departure. |
so we can at least see that city – we embarked on one more impromptu trip here: to see Kadriorg and the Viimsi Peninsula.
The first stop on this excursion was to the contemporary part of the city to see Kadriorg Palace and park, which was built on command of Peter the Great. Then it was off to the Song Festival Grounds, where important Estonian Song Festivals are held every five years. After that, we went to the Kose-Pirita district where we got to walk around the ruins of St. Birgitta's Convent. Our final stop of the day was at the seaside Viimsi Open-Air Museum, which is built around a historic farm that showed us how serfs and fishermen used to live in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
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The Estonian Festival Song Grounds. Song festivals in which
choirs from across the country come together to perform are held here every five years. The big statue seated looking at the stage is of Gustav Ernesaks, a beloved choir leader and composer lovingly called the Father of Song by the people. For nearly half a century he was one of the main initiators and general leader of the Estonian song festival movement. |
DAY 10: BERGEN BOUND
We finally left Tallinn after nearly a week here and while I was anxious to move on to see a new city, I was sorry to leave the ship behind. It was a very comfortable, relaxing place to stay and the staff aboard was wonderful.Since we were one of the last groups to leave – our flight to Bergen didn’t depart until late the afternoon – we spent the morning packing, then browsed the little shops on the pier, giving the Estonian economy one last boost before returning to the ship for lunch. After we finished eating, we still had some free time, so we spent it up on the sun deck catching some rays and taking in the scenic Tallinn waterfront one final time.
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| Our first view Hardangerfjord as seen from the bus |
DAY 11: PINING FOR THE FJORDS
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| Holdhus Church (or Stave Church) has been on this site for over 700 years, and according to it's sign, there has been a church here since 1200 AD. The current wooden structure dates back to 1726. It, like hundreds of other country churches of the time, were made of wood instead of stone because stone was too expensive for these small parishes. Now there are less than a handful of these churches left in Norway. |
known for; its fjords.
What's a fjord, you ask?
Well according to our guide Undi, a fjord is a flooded valley between two mountains where seawater mixes with fresh water coming down from the cliffs. This pretty much matches what Norway's official fjord website, www.fjordnorway.com, says about them: "A fjord is a deep, narrow and elongated sea or lakedrain, with steep land on three sides."
By either definition, the one we were taken to see today, Hardangerfjord, in the town/province of Hardanger, was absolutely gorgeous. It's know around here as the "Queen of the Fjords" because the scenery is so stunning. And the drive to and from it wasn't that bad either.
On our way to Hardangerfjord we got to stop at the Steinsdall waterfall, which you can actually walk under; saw the spectacular vistas surrounding the town of Oeystese, which included a view of one of Norway's glaciers; and make a stop at Holdhus Church, a cute Norwegian country church which dates back to 1726.
Now I've seen quite a few old churches on this trip as well as others we've made on other overseas trips, but I think Holdhus Church is my favorite. Instead of being made from stone it was completely made from wood, which really appealed to the woodworker in me. Then on the way home we got a short ferry ride across another fjord before driving back into Bergen.
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| A shot from the train looking down into Flam showing the river with its glacial waters running through it as we returned from our in our journey up into Flam's mountains. |
DAY 12: WHAM! BAM! THANK YOU FLAM!
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| Tvindefossen waterfall stands 152 meters tall and
locals believe its water has "magical" properties that enhance your love life. In otherwords, liquid Viragra. Needless to say all the men on our bus, myself included, were looking around for things to bottle this water in! |
The day started with a trip to Oppheim Lake to see yet another waterfall, Tvindefossen, the waters of which are said to have "magical" powers. Then it was on to the Stalheim Hotel for lunch and an absolutely breath-taking view of the Naeroyfjord valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Getting to the hotel wasn't as nearly as much fun as leaving there however. On the way down, our bus took a road with 19 hair-pin tours that was so steep it seemed impossible for such a big vehicle to navigate it without going over the edge. Adding to the drama was a guy in a Mercedes who decided to come up the road the wrong way, forcing our driver to have to maneuver around him and those really tight turns. I don't think I've seen a group of people over 50 so nervously in my life!
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One of the railway cars of the Flam historic railway (Flamsbana) sits
on the tacks at the station with one of the town's nicer buildings behind it. |
But the highlight of the day came at the end with a ride on the Flam Railway. This 20 km (12 mile) journey, starts in Flam at just 2 meters above sea-level and climbs up more than 3,000 ft to 866 meters above sea level. It travels through 20 long tunnels cut into the mountains, only two of which were NOT dug out by hand. During the hour-long ride, we were treated to more splendid views of this beautiful country and the stopped at yet another waterfall, Kjosfossen, to see the "Skogsra," legendary female forest spirits said to seduce men into the woods and to their doom.
After a short stay at the second-to-last station -- Vatnahalsen, a mere 811 meters above sea level -- for an after-lunch snack of waffles and some time to wander around, we got to see the sites all over again on the way down.
All and all a great day to see the natural wonders of Norway.
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| The Bryggen or Hanseatic Wharf which lines the eastern side of the fjord Bergen are a series of commercial built by the The Hanseatic League, a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and their market towns. This Germanic business group dominated Baltic maritime trade (c. 1400-1800) along the coast of Northern Europe. It stretched from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland during the Late Middle Ages and early modern period (c. 13th to 17th centuries). It has been on the UNESCO list for World Cultural Heritage sites since 1979. |
DAY 13: NORSE CODE
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| An exterior shot of the FantoftStavekirke (stave
church). It was was originally built in the Sognefjord area around the year 1150 and during the 19th century, when it was threatened with demolition, along with hundreds of other stave churches in Norway, it was bought by a man named Fredrik Georg Gade and moved in pieces to its present location in the Fantoft district in Bergen in 1883. |
Surrounded by seven hills and seven fjords, Bergen, founded in 1070 by King Olav Kyrre, was started as trading post, and trade has been an important part of this city ever since. Today it is probably best know for its Bryggen Hanseatic Wharf, a medieval warehouse district set up by a German confederation of merchants in the harbor district. These colorful, wooden-clad boat- and warehouses date back to 1702 and are on the UNESCO World Heritage list of historic places.
The morning began with a steady, light rain, which is fairly typical in this country which averages more than 270 days of rain a year. But that was okay since we were mostly touring the city by bus. We did, however, make a few stops during this part of the tour, the highlight of which was Fantoft Stavekirke, another all wooden church.
The weather drastically improved after lunch, just in time for us to spend our remaining free time walking around the city. So we make a beeline to the Floibanen, a funicular that runs up to the top of Floien Mountain, to get a panoramic view of the entire city. After that, it was back down the mountain to where we spent the next few hours wandering through the fish market, Hanseatic wharf and all the other historic places this city has to offer.
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| Looking down on Bergen from the top of Floien Mountain after riding up on the funicular. |
DAY 14: BYE, BYE BERGEN, BYE, BYE!
Well we wanted an adventure and looking back on our trip as we departed for the airport, I can certainly say we got one! While disappointed we didn't get to see all the places we'd planed on, we did get to see some unexpected places we didn't, and the best souvenir of all was a good story we can tell (and perhaps embellish on) for years!
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