We've been home since late on August 20th, feel great, everything's unpacked and put awsy...so we're ready for something new. This Russia river cruise and driving around Finland is absolutely one of the best trips we've ever taken...and we thoroughly recommend Viking River Cruises; we'll probably take another one sometime in the relatively near future.
And the "something new" just might be building/finding a retreat cabin somewhere within 2-4 hours of Yatahai here in Longmont. If we do, we'll start a new blog, hopefully with photos this time!
But, for right now, this blog has come to an end...thanks so much for being a reader.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Sunday, August 19, 2012
It's been a long time since the last post...and this will be the LAST POST as we'll be flying home tomorrow. But so much has happened since the last post:
Wednesday we took the ferry to Tallinn, Estonia...a medieval town that, unfortunately, was also a tourist trap gilded in old stone and wonderful (kind of) churches. In other words, it was worth going to but we won't be going back.
Far better was Thursday-Sunday: we rented a car and went to the lake country of Finland, staying in a wonderful two-story log cabin on a beautiful lake. About four hours NE of Helsinki, we had a vacation from vacationing! The logs were about 18" thick and although there was some traffic noise outside, there was none inside. The lake was totally calm, the dock into it invited Harley to dive in. A loon floated by and maybe even a swan on the other side. We grilled salmon and Finnish bratwust for two dinners and chicken inside for another. On Friday we drove north to visit a castle built in 1475...marvelous. The cabin was so great that we've decided to sell the Tucson property and build a log cabin somewhere in Colorado, Wyoming or Utah and have asked the owner of the Finnish cabin to share his plans. It really was great!
We're off for Munich at 6:35 AM tomorrow and land in Denver at 6:50 PM with stops in Munich and Dulles in between. We'll be glad to be home but this has to be one of our very best trips ever!
Wednesday we took the ferry to Tallinn, Estonia...a medieval town that, unfortunately, was also a tourist trap gilded in old stone and wonderful (kind of) churches. In other words, it was worth going to but we won't be going back.
Far better was Thursday-Sunday: we rented a car and went to the lake country of Finland, staying in a wonderful two-story log cabin on a beautiful lake. About four hours NE of Helsinki, we had a vacation from vacationing! The logs were about 18" thick and although there was some traffic noise outside, there was none inside. The lake was totally calm, the dock into it invited Harley to dive in. A loon floated by and maybe even a swan on the other side. We grilled salmon and Finnish bratwust for two dinners and chicken inside for another. On Friday we drove north to visit a castle built in 1475...marvelous. The cabin was so great that we've decided to sell the Tucson property and build a log cabin somewhere in Colorado, Wyoming or Utah and have asked the owner of the Finnish cabin to share his plans. It really was great!
We're off for Munich at 6:35 AM tomorrow and land in Denver at 6:50 PM with stops in Munich and Dulles in between. We'll be glad to be home but this has to be one of our very best trips ever!
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
We spent a delightful morning yesterday on a walking tour of Helsinki's city center. Blessed with bright blue skies, it only took about three hours to stroll by & through most of the important buildings because this is a relatively small city of about a half million unless the surrounding towns are included in which case it's close to a million.
The buildings are mostly built in the 1800s in a style similar to most of St. Petersburg...four to six stories in height, no space between buildings, some trim and various muted colors. There is water visible from almost any location. Unlike Russia, there are relatively few churches and they're almost all Lutheran meaning that even the cathedral is relatively plain although imposing. The Finns have two "state" religions: Lutheran and Russian Orthodox; "state" meaning that for those people who declare a religion, the state collects 1% of their salary and gives it to the church! The Finns are about 90% Lutheran and 10% Russian Orthodox although those numbers are decreasing since the younger generation wants to keep the 1%...until they get married, need a baptism or funeral service, all of which require a church membership.
While we're on statistics, the Finnish government provides free education through four to six years of university and free health care. For that (and other services, of course, they pay a tax of 28%-36& for most, 60% for a few. It's no wonder the Finns seem a happy, relaxed people although unemployment is creaping in.
One of our stops on the tour was at the open air market down by the ferry port: marvelous selection of fresh fruits (it's berry season and they can be picked almost anywhere outside of the city, even on private property without asking permission) and veggies, fish, hand-made craft items, great fur products, etc. We came back after our tour, bought a great lunch from a couple of stands and then strolled the whole market before returning to the Radisson, window-shopping along the way.
We ended the day with our usual scotch, cheese & crackers in our room then strolled back to a great Finish restaurant, the Fishmarket, located across from the market. Excellent, Harley even had a whole smoked whitefish.
Today at 10 AM we'll take a fast ferry (about 90 minutes) across to Tallin, the capital of Estonia, spend the day there then return in time for a 6:45 PM dinner reservation.
The buildings are mostly built in the 1800s in a style similar to most of St. Petersburg...four to six stories in height, no space between buildings, some trim and various muted colors. There is water visible from almost any location. Unlike Russia, there are relatively few churches and they're almost all Lutheran meaning that even the cathedral is relatively plain although imposing. The Finns have two "state" religions: Lutheran and Russian Orthodox; "state" meaning that for those people who declare a religion, the state collects 1% of their salary and gives it to the church! The Finns are about 90% Lutheran and 10% Russian Orthodox although those numbers are decreasing since the younger generation wants to keep the 1%...until they get married, need a baptism or funeral service, all of which require a church membership.
While we're on statistics, the Finnish government provides free education through four to six years of university and free health care. For that (and other services, of course, they pay a tax of 28%-36& for most, 60% for a few. It's no wonder the Finns seem a happy, relaxed people although unemployment is creaping in.
One of our stops on the tour was at the open air market down by the ferry port: marvelous selection of fresh fruits (it's berry season and they can be picked almost anywhere outside of the city, even on private property without asking permission) and veggies, fish, hand-made craft items, great fur products, etc. We came back after our tour, bought a great lunch from a couple of stands and then strolled the whole market before returning to the Radisson, window-shopping along the way.
We ended the day with our usual scotch, cheese & crackers in our room then strolled back to a great Finish restaurant, the Fishmarket, located across from the market. Excellent, Harley even had a whole smoked whitefish.
Today at 10 AM we'll take a fast ferry (about 90 minutes) across to Tallin, the capital of Estonia, spend the day there then return in time for a 6:45 PM dinner reservation.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012
Well, Sunday was fabulously full...almost seemed like "work" to get up before 7, have breakfast and be on the road my 8 but oh, was it worth it!
We spent the morning at Peterhof, one of Peter the Great's summer residences about 20 miles outside of St. Petersburg. He'd visited Europe, especially Versailles, in the early 1700s and decided to outdo Versailles which he did without question. Built on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, the building itself is 900+ feet and the 160+ fountains that cascade down to the Gulf are operated purely by gravity from 160+ springs that surface in some foothills about 12 miles away. The grandest fountain is 37' tall and it and most of the others spout out of gold statues. The palace itself is certainly not shabby by any means given all the gold, crystal chandeliers, etc., etc.
In the afternoon we took a canal cruise through many of the canals of St. Petersburg...no wonder it's called the Venice of the north. Absolutely lovely.
And after that we and seven others had the opportunity to visit a gentleman who lived in a communal apartment like about 30% of St. Petersburg's five million inhabitants. It's a little difficult to explain but basically it dates back to Stalin in which a large apartment was broken down into homes in which each family lives in one bedroom and all the families share the single kitchen and the single bathroom. These units are owned...purchased from the state initially and then resold on the open market. Most interesting was we were able to ask both him (the owner of one of the bedrooms which he'd made into a bedroom & living room) and our guide (who lived in similar housing) all kinds of questions. The other piece we learned about housing is that about 60% of all inhabitants have a country dacha that they use mainly in the summer and grow most of their own fruits and vegetables there.
About 8:30 this morning we boarded a bus for the Finlandia railroad station...the same one Lenin came into in 1917. Beautifully landscaped with fountains and flowers everywhere and a huge statue of Lenin pointing to the future. It even had his original train in a glass "garage" that had been given by the Finnish government to the Russians several decades ago. The train was quiet and high speed...about three and a half hours to Helsinki where we were met by a Viking River Cruise representative who also arranged to have our luggage delivered to our room at the Radisson down town.
We spent the morning at Peterhof, one of Peter the Great's summer residences about 20 miles outside of St. Petersburg. He'd visited Europe, especially Versailles, in the early 1700s and decided to outdo Versailles which he did without question. Built on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, the building itself is 900+ feet and the 160+ fountains that cascade down to the Gulf are operated purely by gravity from 160+ springs that surface in some foothills about 12 miles away. The grandest fountain is 37' tall and it and most of the others spout out of gold statues. The palace itself is certainly not shabby by any means given all the gold, crystal chandeliers, etc., etc.
In the afternoon we took a canal cruise through many of the canals of St. Petersburg...no wonder it's called the Venice of the north. Absolutely lovely.
And after that we and seven others had the opportunity to visit a gentleman who lived in a communal apartment like about 30% of St. Petersburg's five million inhabitants. It's a little difficult to explain but basically it dates back to Stalin in which a large apartment was broken down into homes in which each family lives in one bedroom and all the families share the single kitchen and the single bathroom. These units are owned...purchased from the state initially and then resold on the open market. Most interesting was we were able to ask both him (the owner of one of the bedrooms which he'd made into a bedroom & living room) and our guide (who lived in similar housing) all kinds of questions. The other piece we learned about housing is that about 60% of all inhabitants have a country dacha that they use mainly in the summer and grow most of their own fruits and vegetables there.
About 8:30 this morning we boarded a bus for the Finlandia railroad station...the same one Lenin came into in 1917. Beautifully landscaped with fountains and flowers everywhere and a huge statue of Lenin pointing to the future. It even had his original train in a glass "garage" that had been given by the Finnish government to the Russians several decades ago. The train was quiet and high speed...about three and a half hours to Helsinki where we were met by a Viking River Cruise representative who also arranged to have our luggage delivered to our room at the Radisson down town.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
As you might expect, the performance of Swan Lake in Catherine the Great's intimate private theater was fabulous. Hard to believe that the small stage could hold a full performance. In preparation for the "show", our guide led us through several different endings (I thought they were all the same!) and even with that, the ending was different from the theater blurbs, i.e. the good prince kills the black swan (male) and lives happily ever after with the white swan. The dancing was absolutely outstanding, especially since we were sitting just four rows from the stage!
Home (the Rurik) slightly after 11:00 PM, we read for a bit, slept and were up at 6:45 AM, breakfast at 7 then off for our shore excursion at 7:45, a visit to Catherine's Summer Palace. Everything about Russia is huge...this "small" vacation home is almost 1,000 feet long with who knows how many rooms, it's filled with an incredible amount of gold, everything an empress might want. The grounds look like Versailles and are oh, so peaceful. The worst part is that the Nazis were there while laying siege to St. Petersburg and when they left, set fire to most of it. The reconstruction has been phenomenal.
In the afternoon we were out again to see two more cathedrals, the one at Peter & Paul's Fortress and St. Isaac's down town. In the latter, the word "huge" has no meaning it's so big and so beautiful. Both are now museums, the former with the crypts of most of Russia's emperors and empresses (all identical white marble coffins with gold double-headed eagles and large gold orthodox crosses) and the latter with stone mosaics, hundreds of columns weighing tons and gold, gold, gold.
This evening after dinner we went to a cossak show...between the ballet troupe and the cossak dancers, we're thoroughly convinced that the Russians are incredibly strong, fun-loving and capable of moves we just can't comprehend.
Home (the Rurik) slightly after 11:00 PM, we read for a bit, slept and were up at 6:45 AM, breakfast at 7 then off for our shore excursion at 7:45, a visit to Catherine's Summer Palace. Everything about Russia is huge...this "small" vacation home is almost 1,000 feet long with who knows how many rooms, it's filled with an incredible amount of gold, everything an empress might want. The grounds look like Versailles and are oh, so peaceful. The worst part is that the Nazis were there while laying siege to St. Petersburg and when they left, set fire to most of it. The reconstruction has been phenomenal.
In the afternoon we were out again to see two more cathedrals, the one at Peter & Paul's Fortress and St. Isaac's down town. In the latter, the word "huge" has no meaning it's so big and so beautiful. Both are now museums, the former with the crypts of most of Russia's emperors and empresses (all identical white marble coffins with gold double-headed eagles and large gold orthodox crosses) and the latter with stone mosaics, hundreds of columns weighing tons and gold, gold, gold.
This evening after dinner we went to a cossak show...between the ballet troupe and the cossak dancers, we're thoroughly convinced that the Russians are incredibly strong, fun-loving and capable of moves we just can't comprehend.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Friday, August 10, 2012
Some of you may have begun to wonder if we were still in this world, let alone Russia!
Actually we had two days of bad weather...rain, gray skies and, be crossing Lake Ladoka, very rough seas. But all is well. Yesterday we entered the Neva River and are now docked in St. beautiful Petersburg. To make up for missing two sites, Viking took us on a great bus tour of the city yesterday in preparation for our three days of exploring in detail. St. Petersburg (formerly Petrograd and Leningrad) is a planned city unlike Moscow which just grew over 850 years. St. Pete's began in the early 1700s when Peter the Great decided to move the capital from Moscow to a marshy location on the Baltic and hired Italian and French architects to do the design. The buildings here are huge, more than a block long, made of bricks coated with inches of plaster and then painted light green, pink, and lots of yellows all highlighted with white...a pretty city that looks like it should be the capital of a great nation.
Today, our shore excursion from 10:30-3:15 was of The State Hermitage located inside the Winter Palace (almost as large as the Louvre for those of you who've been there). Its original occupant was Empress Elizabeth then Catherine the Great. Catherine decided she wanted an art collection that would rival any in Europe so she sent out her representatives to buy ancient art, da Vincis, Rembrandts, the impressionists, Michaelangelos, El Grecos and many more. Set in the splendid Winter Palace with its very high ceilings, columns of malachite, gold, granite, etc., doors of gold, it was totally overwhelming. Our guide was excellent and seemed to know so much about both artists and art...it was fabulous. I took lots of photos but also purchased a book since it'll be hard to remember everything.
Tonight we're going to see a performance of Swan Lake...that's good enough but even better it's going to be given in Catherine the Great's intimate 200 seat theater in the Winter Palace. Tomorrow too will be a very full day: palaces, fortresses, the largest cathedral in Russia and, after dinner, a cossack show. It'll be Sunday at least before I get back to blogging...whew!
Actually we had two days of bad weather...rain, gray skies and, be crossing Lake Ladoka, very rough seas. But all is well. Yesterday we entered the Neva River and are now docked in St. beautiful Petersburg. To make up for missing two sites, Viking took us on a great bus tour of the city yesterday in preparation for our three days of exploring in detail. St. Petersburg (formerly Petrograd and Leningrad) is a planned city unlike Moscow which just grew over 850 years. St. Pete's began in the early 1700s when Peter the Great decided to move the capital from Moscow to a marshy location on the Baltic and hired Italian and French architects to do the design. The buildings here are huge, more than a block long, made of bricks coated with inches of plaster and then painted light green, pink, and lots of yellows all highlighted with white...a pretty city that looks like it should be the capital of a great nation.
Today, our shore excursion from 10:30-3:15 was of The State Hermitage located inside the Winter Palace (almost as large as the Louvre for those of you who've been there). Its original occupant was Empress Elizabeth then Catherine the Great. Catherine decided she wanted an art collection that would rival any in Europe so she sent out her representatives to buy ancient art, da Vincis, Rembrandts, the impressionists, Michaelangelos, El Grecos and many more. Set in the splendid Winter Palace with its very high ceilings, columns of malachite, gold, granite, etc., doors of gold, it was totally overwhelming. Our guide was excellent and seemed to know so much about both artists and art...it was fabulous. I took lots of photos but also purchased a book since it'll be hard to remember everything.
Tonight we're going to see a performance of Swan Lake...that's good enough but even better it's going to be given in Catherine the Great's intimate 200 seat theater in the Winter Palace. Tomorrow too will be a very full day: palaces, fortresses, the largest cathedral in Russia and, after dinner, a cossack show. It'll be Sunday at least before I get back to blogging...whew!
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Our visit today was to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery which was founded in 1397 by St. Cyril. Located on a lovely lake near the small town of Kuzino, it consists of many large three-story buildings with brick walls about six feet thick. Today there are only six monk in residence who pray and take care of the extensive grounds and their many, many flower beds. The main monastery is now a museum filled with clothing and other items from the middle ages including Russia's most extensive collection of icons.
Almost back to the Rurik, we went to a Viking and RUS culture presentation held in a new two-story log structure built especially for this purpose. A large, bearded man, Erik the Viking, invited us to hear about his times and then chose four passengers to become the key players: the prince, princess & two Viking guards. He dressed each of them in elaborate costumes and they really did look quite authentic. The men, of course, were bearded so Harley was not invited to participate much to his relief.
Over these past six days, we've come to the conclusion that the government and Putin in particular have done everything possible to make Russia inviting, intriguing and safe. In the cities, the streets are clean, flowers are everywhere, the waterways are incredible (the building of them took more effort & materials than the building of either the Suez or Panama Canals), there are many UNESCO World Heritage Sites and we've learned so much history and culture of the people; it's been a great trip so far.
This evening we participated in a vodka (pronounced "wadka") tasting. Frank, our restaurant manager who is a German sommolier (and married to a Russian) who led us through six different Russian vodkas, describing how they were made and explaining the differences. Of these, two seemed quite harsh to us, two were OK and we definitely preferred Russian Standard (owned by a Russian billionaire who bought 51% of Campari, [which also owns multiple liquor brands] in order to quickly obtain manufacturing and distribution channels) and Prestige's Cranberry Vodka Liqueur which tastes very much like Grand Marnier.
Since tomorrow our shore excursion doesn't start until 3:15, we'll sleep in!
Almost back to the Rurik, we went to a Viking and RUS culture presentation held in a new two-story log structure built especially for this purpose. A large, bearded man, Erik the Viking, invited us to hear about his times and then chose four passengers to become the key players: the prince, princess & two Viking guards. He dressed each of them in elaborate costumes and they really did look quite authentic. The men, of course, were bearded so Harley was not invited to participate much to his relief.
Over these past six days, we've come to the conclusion that the government and Putin in particular have done everything possible to make Russia inviting, intriguing and safe. In the cities, the streets are clean, flowers are everywhere, the waterways are incredible (the building of them took more effort & materials than the building of either the Suez or Panama Canals), there are many UNESCO World Heritage Sites and we've learned so much history and culture of the people; it's been a great trip so far.
This evening we participated in a vodka (pronounced "wadka") tasting. Frank, our restaurant manager who is a German sommolier (and married to a Russian) who led us through six different Russian vodkas, describing how they were made and explaining the differences. Of these, two seemed quite harsh to us, two were OK and we definitely preferred Russian Standard (owned by a Russian billionaire who bought 51% of Campari, [which also owns multiple liquor brands] in order to quickly obtain manufacturing and distribution channels) and Prestige's Cranberry Vodka Liqueur which tastes very much like Grand Marnier.
Since tomorrow our shore excursion doesn't start until 3:15, we'll sleep in!
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