Baltics Continued...

That last post left me blogger drained. 

Going through that whole experience in Germany was incredibly draining and little did I know that 

retelling the story would have the same effect.

 I just couldn't bring myself to be witty anymore. It took me a few days to make amends with the blogger in me and get back in the game. Anybody else have that experience with writing? I could just be weird.

Well, I'm back in the game. Onward and upward!

After Germany, the next stop was Estonia. The older part of Tallinn, the capital city, is the most well-preserved medieval city in the world. We strolled for hours through cobblestone streets. We climbed up into the old city walls and really tall, spiraling stair case up a church tower that had a lookout built by the KGB. Cool, huh? We meandered through the huge Russian Orthodox church where a baptism service was going on. I couldn't believe they were having a service while letting hundreds of tourists hang out in half the room. It was very interesting to listen  and watch something completely out of my element.

Tallinn city walls

Standing on the lookout atop the church tower built by the KGB

That day was freezing and I was ill prepared so I came back to the ship about an hour before Seth. I swear that guy could wear shorts and a t-shirt in a snow storm and still want a slurpy. That's my CA boy.

The next port of call was St Petersburg. Did you know its considered the Venice of the north? Or that its the arts and culture city of Russia? I didn't either until we were there. Maybe a little ignorance was playing there, but I like the thrill of surprise too. We took 3 shore excursions from the ship. I'm not usually a shore ex kind of traveler, but we were unable to get a Russian visa in time for the trip and the visa is included if your on an excursion. So we packed up our canes and bengay and signed up for a few of them. I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of younger people on the tours. Seems like we weren't the only ones with visa issues.

We saw things just in St Petersburg proper. We didn't venture out to the couple of palaces outside the city. I've seen Versaille among other palaces and Seth wasn't interested so we chose to get more up close and personal with the city. One of the tours we chose because it allowed us walking time on our own in the city. That was fun. Really, I just looked through a bunch of little shops for stacking dolls and wood hand-carved Santa. We also got some people watching in, which is always a good time. We also took a boat tour through the canals. Fabulous but a little rainy. We saw the Hermitage, a huge art museum which is housed in the Winter Palace. Yes, the same palace that the Bolsheviks stormed during the revolution. SOOO interesting. It really showed the opulence the czars were living in contrast to the cold, hungry people of their empire.

The welcoming view from the ship of USSR block housing

The architecture was the best part of the city

The scowls come from dealing with stupid tourists all day.
Standing in from the Winter Palace housing the Hermitage Museum .

The stairs the Bolsheviks stormed during the revolution...and in the movie Anastasia :)

Our 3rd excursion in that city was a "Russian Extravaganza!" dancing show that Seth actually chose. That was so fun! Russian dancing and singing. Loved it. That tour gave us a night drive through the city too. St Petersburg has pretty much all 3-5 story buildings built attached to each other along the streets with concrete or stone carved cornices on the edifice. They light them up at night and each building is its own color to distinguish the buildings. The buildings aren't like any other city I've seen, but the closest that I can compare them to are the buildings surrounding St Marks square in Venice or the old buildings of London like Scotland Yard. I love architecture so my I was in heaven.

The next stop was Helsinki. I am really lucky to have a Finnish friend that lives in the city. I met him and his friend while I was backpacking in China. We met in one of those random travelling moments that only other travelers understand and spent a few days in really remote village surrounded by thousands of rice terraces. That weekend was one of the most memorable and awe inspiring experiences of my life. I've kept in touch here and there with Anssi over the years and I finally made it to Finland as I promised him I would years ago. He was a great host and put up with our touristy questions and picture taking. I'm sure we bored him with doing things like strolling through a grocery store and walking through the streets of Helsinki. He took us on a ferry to a UNESCO site thats on an island nearby. That was beautiful to walk around. I'm not sure why its a UNESCO site, but it was a nice day out and there were coastal views. It was great to see Anssi again and have a non-US view of world politics. This was when the election was in full heat so we talked a lot about the effect of America on the world etc. I absolutely loved it.

With Anssi

Taking the ferry to Suomenlinna, the UNESCO site

Standing on the steps of the big white church. GREAT people watching.

The next stop was Stockholm. The old town, called Gamla Stan, is about 1000 years old. Very charming with little nook and cranny shops that I love. We saw the Vasa Museum. It has a17th century ship reconstructed inside this huge room of a museum. It was a very intricately built ship with several carved statues and designs. It was the pride of Sweden until it set sail and sank about a mile into its first sailing. The culture of Sweden is my favorite. Absolute favorite. Its healthy, happy and enriching.

Gamla Stan, the heart of old town Stockholm

The Vasa Museum 

Sailing for 4 hours through the Stockholm archipelago in and out of the city

When we had some time in Copenhagen before we boarded the ship, I insisted we take the train to Malmo, Sweden. I had gone there years on my first trip to Europe and fell in love instantly. It has charming, meandering streets and a large park with a fort and windmill that are centuries old. A lot of people use bikes as transportation so there are rows and rows of bikes parked near the train station and office buildings. I took Seth to the same spot I had taken a picture at years before and insisted we take the same picture with us together in it. It meant a lot to me. I remember my thoughts from that day clearly. I was 24 and single and was thinking I didn't want to ever get married or live a 'regular' life if I wouldn't be able to travel and explore the world like I was then. Well, years later, with my husband, there I was in the same spot traveling and exploring. It was one of those strong moments in life when you realize you CAN actually accomplish your dreams. It was surreal.

Malmo, Sweden

Taking this trip was a dream come true. Seth is starting a new job in February (more details of that to come) and work is about to get really busy for me as it always does in the spring so it was the perfect time. And who knows where we'll be or what will be going on in the future, but I've learned that I never regret when I just seize the day.