| Tallinn, Estonia | Gdynia, Poland | ||
In Transit May 26-27
We left Prague at 8:05, which sounds nice till you realize it's a half hour to the airport, they need a half hour to get the bags into the bus and being an international flight, you need to be at the airport 2 hours before flight time. So we got up at 0 (dark) 4:30, and cruised to the airport. They were able to check everything in mass, so that went smoothly (and avoided any over weight luggage fees). There was quite a crush at security, but we still had an hour wait in the lounge to get on our airplane (a prop jet).
Smooth flight, but as we got to luggage claim, heard the rumor that 11 of our 35 bags didn't make the flight. That rumor was soon confirmed and since we had bulk checked, that means we had to go through the collection of stubs to which 24 had made it through. Two of our bags were among the lost, so we stayed for all of that. (Some of the pictures shown on this page and following are available in a larger form that is downloadable on the webshots site.)
| Since it was still before noon when we got through all this, and you can't get on the boat till noon, they took us to the SAS hotel for a holding pen. The good news is that the registered us there, and that they were using a LIFO queue for moving from there to the pier. So, we arrived at 11:00, and were on the 11:30 bus to the pier. It was only 20 minutes later when we good see the back of the boat through the front windows of the bus. |  |
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At pier side, they had these tents set up for registration (which we just walked through), then up the gang plank where they ran your id card through the reader (for the first time; you log on and log off every time you go through the door), took your picture and sent us on our way to our stateroom. |
We spent most of the day just wandering (and wondering where our luggage was). Luggage finally showed up about 6:30 as we went down to the central meeting place for a drink with the rest of our pre-cruise team.
We spent the first day "at sea" and this was a nice time to get used to the boat. Lots of things to do (I mean, in addition to the necessary trip to the laundry). That evening was formal dinner so everybody got dressed up, they had photographers all over trying to sell you a picture of yourself ($19.95 for an 8x10, not bad prices).
Stockholm May 28, 2001
| You don't really park a big boat at Stockholm (any longer, they used to), you anchor at sea, take a tender to Nynashamn, take a bus about an hour to Stockholm. The country side is rolling hills, lightly populated farm land with deer and elk visible from the bus. When we got into town, the let us get out and stretch our legs right across the bay from the City Hall. We did not get inside the hall, but were told by others that did so that it is a worthwhile stop. "Very impressive to see" was the comment. |  |
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Stockholm actually sits on an archipelago made up of more than 2000
islands, so every where you look, it's a seascape with buildings as
background (or visa versa). You will also note that the architecture
is quite eclectic with a mixture of vintages of buildings.
This picture is just about 180 degrees from the city hall above. |
The highlight of Stockholm is the Vasa museum. The Vasa was supposed to be the first 2 deck frigate built by Sweden, and was for about 20 minutes. The design (as was typical at that time) was one of a kind, and after the builder finished, the king decided it wasn't impressive enough, so asked him to add another deck on top of what he built.
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They loaded the boat with sailors and set sail to pick up the soldiers. When they worked their way out of the protected harbor, the ship began to sway more than usual, water poured into the lower deck gun ports (only 5' above the water when still) and the boat quickly sank. Luckily, being Swedes, the sailors could all swim and there were few deaths. The boat was such an embarrassment that the king had the masts cut off (they still were above water) and left the boat there. Three hundred years later, with many stupid ideas to help, the raised the ship. It turned out to be largely undamaged; since the water was brackish, neither fresh water nor salt water organisms could attack the wood. They've built a museum for the boat, with air locks so they can climate control it, and 3 layers of walk arounds so you can see the boat from all angles. |
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In addition to the problem with the extra deck, they really got carried away with ornate carvings (all out of oak). Here's a picture of just one section of the back of the boat. It really isn't visible in the picture above, but there are carvings all along the side as well. Each of these had to add to the weight at the top of the boat. |
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They dropped us off at the city center at about 11:00, we got money exchanged (the trials and tribulations doing that won't fit here) and went into the old town. Marnie wanted to see the Stockholm Cathedral, but on the maps that was marked as Storkyrkan, so it took a while to figure out what it was. It dates back to 1300, so has the classic columns and domed ceilings. |
| When we walked into the Cathedral, we heard a band playing and
remembered that they make a big deal of the changing of the guard.
They were still having the band concert, on horse back, as we left, so we
got about 15 minutes of that. Here's the band in formation, they
also played while riding. I thought playing while marching was
tough, it looks like doing so and controlling a horse at the same time is
worse.
All the concert was inside a relatively closed space, so the resonance of sound was very interesting. |
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Right across the canal is an interesting church which is used to bury the kings (and for no other purpose). It used to be a monastery, when the monastery closed, the church was kept by the state and the rest destroyed. |
| Inside the church shows the same Romanesque design features as above. The Plaques on the walls on the side are the seals of the knights of the realm who have died. The kings and their families have side rooms dedicated for them. |  |
| Tallinn, Estonia | Gdynia, Poland | ||
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