Musings on the Baltic

Musings on the Baltics:

I have just disembarked in "Wonderful, wonderful " Copenhagen after a seven day cruise around the Baltics visiting Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Russia.  This is an interesting part of the world, and I got to travel with several decedents of immigrants from this region.  Because I still use my married name, which is easily identified as Scandinavian, I was often addressed in Swedish, Finnish or Danish on this trip.  I smiled politely and replied that I merely marred into a Swedish-American family, and only knew the curse words my late husband taught me...he had learned them listening to his great aunts and uncles at family gatherings.  His own grandmother who lived with him spoke to him only in English, and would never use such improper language, but Aunt Tilly and Uncle Olaf certainly would.

On a lark, we took the train across the new suspension bridge to Malmo, Sweden from Copenhagen and spent time tooling around this port town.   Visiting the Swedish Church (Lutheran) was a serendipitous stop; I got to meet some German tourists who gave me some suggestions for our trip to Berlin, and I was able to witness an Armenian Orthodox wedding ceremony that took place at the high altar.  The officiant and assisting deacon were decked out in ornate vestments that made the blushing and beautiful bride look like an "also ran".     

The first stop on the trip was Stockholm, a town we have visited before. 
We opted to walk around on our own and enjoyed Gamla Stan again shopping for Dala horses, watching the changing of the guard, and enjoying a classic Swedish lunch in Sally's Restaurant; it consisted of Swedish meatballs, gravy, mashed potatoes, cucumber salad (almost as good as Aunt Eleanor's) and lingen berries served with a nice salad. If you are ever in Stockholm, I would recommend a lunch or dinner stop here. They have fixed price meals and a daily special for each day of the week. The owners are actually Italian, and they have an extensive wine cellar as well.


It  seems odd to be able to freely enter places that were located behind the old "Iron Curtain", and to leisurely stroll the streets of Tallin in Estonia buying items with Euros along the way was a real treat.  I picked up an 18th century Russian icon in a small antique shop haggling a bit with the owner for a better price. At one  point in recent history no one could take older icons out of countries under Soviet domination, so I was pleased to know it was now possible. A fellow traveler got some nice amber jewelry: an antique bracelet and newer earrings to go with a piece bought on a prior visit to Copenhagen.

St Petersburg was another story.  There are still remnants of the old Soviet Union: we had to go thorough a painfully and unnecessarily long passport check complete with unsmiling clerks who issued us the necessary "paper"...literally a visa with our name and passport number written in Cyrillic,  and fierce looking supervisors with big hats and pistols. One can only get off the ship in St Petersburg if one has purchased a shore excursion from the ship or an approved provider.  We opted, with the advise of our travel agent, for a local tour operator; we designed a tour tailored to our sightseeing goals. Since we were only there for one day we hit the hits, so to speak:  Catherine's Palace and the recreated Amber Room; Peterhof's magnificent gardens with wonderful flowers and fountains, the main synagogue and the Hermitage. In addition, our agent arranged for a coin dealer to meet our two collectors at the tour operators' office...we were all happy and exhausted campers at the end of the day.

Helsinki was a rather short stay.  I went on an excursion though Helsinki to Porvoo where I purchased another icon, but was able to convince the owner to ship it to me.  It was written ( remember, icons are not drawn or painted; they are written) by a local woman.  I have seen very few Finnish icons, and this will make a nice addition to my collection...however, I need to re-think the current icon space in my apartment.

We are now sitting at the Central Station Train Station in Copenhagen waiting for a train to Germany.  It will be a seven hour odyssey including a ferry ride from Denmark to Germany and a half an hour layover in Hamburg.


So the adventure continues....more to come.







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