Living in London

Gosh it’s great to be back in England! When we were “out there” it didn’t feel like we had a home to come to, but as we arrived at Heathrow, and saw the orderly queues and the great multi-cultural throngs and drove home via the roundabouts, and came into our light and quiet flat, we realized that we are home. And happy to be living in London.

Our corner room in the Royal Hotel	Mercantilism lives!	A courtyard in the heart of the city

Because our room was not ready when we arrived on Saturday morning, we decided to venture out of town to visit Louisiana, the Museum for Moderne Kunst, er, I mean Art. We loved the museum (a small but very impressive collection) and the beautiful site. However, we were most impressed with our own ability to navigate the train system (without help) given how totally and completely exhausted we were and that the ticket machines and all the signs were completely in Danish.

When we checked into our room and did some research on the hotel, we were surprised to learn that we were staying in a work of art!  Arne Jacobsen was one of the greatest Danish architects, and in 1960 he completed his masterpiece: the Royal Hotel and every single thing inside it (including the silverware). We had a delightful corner room and the windows and mirrors made it feel as though we were floating high above the city.

On our last full day in Copenhagen we went on a city tour with a guide who walked us through the downtown area from the perspective of the 18th and 19th centuries. Denmark is a very small country with 1/10th of the land mass of California but it is ideally located at the entrance to the Baltic Sea. As a result, the enterprising citizens of Copenhagen learned very early in their history that trade and mercantilism would be a key factor in their success. This link to business and commerce is still very evident in the city today.

We spent the evening (sans camera. Doh!) at Tivoli, the city's very old and famous amusement park. Visiting a theme park is rarely on our list of things to do but Tivoli was unexpectedly charming. Very small, with a blend of old-fashioned rides and games with modern favourites. Everyone (and the numbers of young were easily matched by the old) seemed to be really enjoying themselves. We had a fine dinner featuring classic Danish food.

The bus queue from the ship	One last look at the ship's attrium	Our favourite spot — The Horizon Lounge on Deck 11

We disembarked in Copenhagen on Saturday 13 August, and felt really sad to leave our big ship. We had travelled 1,019 miles, and visited six different countries. Overall, we loved the luxury and the logistics of travelling by ship, but would caution people to avoid trips that keep travelling east through the time zones — it sure is hard to be rested enough for the shore excursions when you have to set your clock back each night.

The only downside we experienced was that the cruise felt very American. The onboard currency was US dollars, the evening entertainment was aimed at Midwestern sentimentality and we never did meet one other person we felt we had anything in common with. There were a lot of people who seemed to be happy with the most superficial look at another place, and we were struggling to really experience as much as we could in the few days we had.

There is a strange sensation you experience when you step ashore and your feet aren't sure if you are on solid land or on the deck at sea. The American oriented cruise felt that way as well — although we knew we were visiting these fabulous foreign cities, there was a dissonance where it felt like I was back in America.

Would we do it all again? Probably, but on a smaller ship with more direct cultural experiences, and with a more culturally diverse group of passengers.

A few more days of vacation and then back to the jobs (sob . . .) that make all this possible!

Life Boat / Tender	Tenders in the Water
Gotland Coastline	Muramaris Gardens

Today we visited Visby, Gotland, a place we had never heard of before this cruise. It was a beautiful day, and after St. Petersburg, the city looked extremely tidy and well kept. We left the ship in little boats called tenders. The tenders double as life rafts but there are not enough of them to hold all the passengers and crew. When Heather and I were poking around on a lower deck we found some big barrels that looked like they contained inflatable rafts, so I guess tenders are for the first few hundred lucky souls who make it to deck 5 and those crappy inflatable rafts are what they don’t tell you about until the “moment” comes so as not to panic you.

Anyway, the crew lowered the tenders from their suspended state, and pulled them up against a little loading area on deck 3 (at the water line) where about 50 of us boarded each one. Once into the city's dock area, we all dispensed to various tours. We took a bus out to the country and hiked back with about 20 of our fellow passengers. The coastline is wonderful, and the guide, a Swede who worked for the Swedish intelligence agency for 40 years during the cold war, really helped us understand what a great place Gotland is to live. We found ourselves thinking 'dacha in Visby' ... and hey it could happen.  After all, they have 22 flights in and out daily just between Sweden and the island.

The hike ended at Muramaris, the former home of a sculptor named Ellen Roosval that was an absolute inspiration. The house was small and cozy and had an amazing mantlepiece that she had designed, and fantastic gardens overlooking the Baltic. Again we could totally envision ourselves living there. Back in town, they were having their medieval week which seemed to involved a lot of dressing up and archery, but it wasn't really that interesting. This was a short visit to a memorable place.

The Independent has a wonderful article on the undiscovered island of Gotland:

"Many visitors never get beyond Visby, which is a pity, as the rest of the island is incredibly beautiful. Three miles north west of the city is Muramaris, an Italianate house with an incredibly romantic history. It was here where Ellen and Johnny Roosval fled early last century to avoid the scandal when Ellen, the wife of a Swedish diplomat, ran off with her son's young tutor. After roaming the world, they came to Gotland where they found this spectacular site overlooking the sea and immediately staked out their future house with champagne bottles. Contrary to expectations the love affair lasted all their lives. Ellen became a great sculptor and Johnny a professor of art history and Muramaris, which was built in 1917, a hub of artistic life. Now after a period of neglect (Ellen died in 1952) the house and garden are being lovingly restored and it is hoped that Muramaris will once again become an important arts centre."

Helsinki from a bus window	Pilot boat

One of our tour guides told us that many consider the Nordic summer to be three months in length - May, June, and July. She joked that the seasons are "nine months of anticipation followed by three months of disappointment." 

Today we had a brief stop in Helsinki, Finland where winter may have already begun .The weather was intensely stormy, so we spent only a few hours in the city. We hopped on a shuttle bus provided by the ship to the city centre, where we visited the Museum of Contemporary Art (waaaaay too post-modern for us) and managed to purchase a newspaper - a real treat in spite of the little one page summary of news we receive on-board ship each day. Back to the ship to enjoy the storm, and our departure from Helsinki, from deck 11 where tea and cakes were served. 

We also observed a phenomena we had noticed before as we were leaving port - a small official-looking boat would come tearing up to the side of our ship, and a man would jump over from our deck 4 to this small boat. Today we learned that we have to have a port "pilot" on-board to guide us out of the harbour until we are a certain distance out. Presumably this pilot knows all the nuances of exiting through the channels, etc. Once his work is done, his ride home is that little boat.

We are leaving St Petersburg today. A tugboat towed us through a narrow channel to the open Baltic Sea, and we are now rockin' and rollin'. We are experiencing 50 - 60 mile per hour winds as we travel in a boat that is as long as a football field and stands 9 stories tall above the water. Fortunately, the ship is equipped w/ stabilizers that dampen the effect of the effect of the rough water.

Even so, the motion of the sea is very pronounced, and Linda is definitely sick of hearing Heather say, over and over again, "it's not rough enough, we need open ocean."

Today, a bit weary, we rose early to take a small shore excursion (15 people) to the Hermitage. I don't know what we were expecting but it was SPECTACULAR and worth every moment of lost sleep. From Rembrandt, Da Vinci, and a sculpture by Michelangelo, to Van Gogh, Picasso, and Monet, every room had at least one famous work that we recognised, and the stories of the Russian royalty were amazing to hear.

The Hermitage is the most impressive collection of art work we have ever seen, but is housed in a 300-year-old palace that does not offer the best conditions. Lighting is terrible, many paintings are covered with some type of glass that reflects glare, and there is no climate control whatsoever with regular windows that open to the streets (and pollution) outside. The rewarding part of the conditions is that you can walk right up to most of these art works and examine them in detail.

En route to all the beautiful places we have seen the real "people's" St Petersburg. Communism and collective ownership resulted in 75 years of deferred maintenance, and most buildings that are not palaces or tourist attractions are crumbling. The apartment buildings, automobiles, and general demeanour of those average Russians walking down the streets appear to be very run down.

On a hopeful note, there is an enormous amount of restoration work underway in St Petersburg, and we hope that when we visit next the Russian people are more sure of their own important place in history.

Catherine's Summer Palace	Cathedral of Spilled Blood
Cemetery Sculpture	Elena and Vladimir, our guide and driver

Today we took a private tour (highly recommended) to Catherine's Palace, Cathedral of Spilled Blood, and some miscellaneous spots like art galleries (we are looking for a painting), a cemetery, and lunch at a restaurant recommended by a colleague. Elena was our guide and Vladimir our driver — and yes, we are SO happy we paid extra for an air-conditioned car!  It's 80 degrees F and humid. 

We learned all about the occupation of the summer palaces by those dreaded Nazi's, as well as more about Peter, Alexander, Paul, Catherine, and the Romanov's. It's all a bit of a blur ... possibly because the alcohol is flowing somewhat freely now that we are back to the ship. Typical tourists, what can we say?

The photos are of Catherine's Palace (blue for her eyes, white for her skin, and gold for her hair), of the roof line of Spilled Blood Cathedral (a truly impressive interior that is completely marble and mosaic), and a sculpture that captured our attention at a city cemetery. This cemetery houses the remains of many authors, musicians and composers including such recognizable names as Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Igor Stravinsky.

Fountains at Peterhof Palace	Fortress of St Peter and St Paul	Nazi front line during WWII
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Today we took a ship-sponsored excursion (meaning 25 of us on a big bus) to Peterhof Palace, lunch at the Grand Hotel, and a quick visit to both Fortress of Peter and Paul followed by St. Issacs. Writing this after 8+ hours of tourism, we are exhausted. The Peterhof was wonderful and interesting, lunch was terrible but entertaining (with some ethnic singers), and the last two stops were a friggin' blur of information, marble and mosaic art.

It is hard to imagine the sacrifice of the people of St. Petersburg who endured 900 days (that's three years) of siege during WW II. The Nazis surrounded the city and occupied many of the summer palaces that lie short distances from the city. In the end, although St Petersburg lost half its population, the people endured and Hitler went home without his party at the Astoria Hotel.

It was wonderful to learn about the incredible devotion and extraordinary effort exhibited by the curators and workers at the museums and palaces. As the Nazis were approaching, they exercised great creativity in hiding many of the great works of art in their care. Although the Nazis left rubble and ashes in their wake, the efforts of the curators paid off as many of the original paintings, sculptures and tapestries are now displayed, once again, in their original homes as the palaces are restored to pre-war glory.

Today is the first day of the cruise when we haven't lost an hour of time during the night due to sailing eastward. The result of this 23-hour day is that we feel chronically tired ... can't imagine how the Americans who flew here from the west part of the U.S. must be feeling right now.

Our room from the balcony	Diligence at sea	Starboard view from the room
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This is what we are living in for the week on-board. Heather is able to work both the champagne glass AND the binoculars simultaneously.

We have arrived in St Petersburg where we are parked way out in some industrial port. Most people would find distressing but Heather is, of course, completely bewildered by the fact that a tour of the port logistical
centre is not listed for tomorrow!

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After our first night at sea, here we are in Estonia, schlepping around in our tennis shoes and jeans, looking for all the world like two tourists from Amerika. We spent a few hours in the city of Tallinn, but mostly are trying to get used to our new life of luxury here on the ship! You can can see we are small, but what you cannot see is how luxurious we are compared to our parking neighbor.

We are parked next to the Celebrity cruise ship, Constellation which is almost three times as long as our 7 Seas Voyager and carries almost 3 times as many passengers. There are only 614 guests on our ship versus almost 2,000 on the Constellation. Some of the larger cruise ships carry up to 3,000 passengers. It feels like the difference between being on a floating hotel and a floating city.

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It's 8:30 pm and darkness will descend in an hour or so. The captain explained that we must be out of the archipelago before dark, and so we left the Stockholm pier 30 minutes earlier than scheduled.

We write this from the 11th floor observation deck, Brandy Alexanders in hand, as the Seven Seas Voyager winds its way out of the Swedish archipelago, past rocky promenades and every size and shape of island covered with dense fir forests.

Since 3:30 pm we have checked in (one glass of sparkling wine), unpacked, then done a safety drill involving our life jackets and assembling on the deck under the life boats (could have, should have brought a glass of champagne), then a reception on the main deck (two more glasses of champagne), then a lecture on St. Petersburg and the history of Russia (one glass of champagne), and now we are up on the observation deck where we are in complete agreement that we could sit for the entire trip.

The ship is quiet but you can feel the engines humming under your feet, and it's a very powerful experience to see the islands melt away on either side.

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Today we segway'd, taxi'd, and cruise'd. We started the day with a Segway tour of Djurgarden, a beautiful garden island that is part of Stockholm. We rode past all kinds of beautiful flowers and vegetable gardens, all set in a gorgeous park. As I would have predicted, Heather is trying to figure out where we should live in order to justify owning one.

Then we set off to the National Museum, which turned out to be fantastic ... They had a very good design exhibition, and some genius curator has finally put 18th century paintings with modern in the same gallery. Heather was reminded of the etiquette of museums.

Then we did some fun people-watching as the city readied itself for it's Gay Pride parade. We longed to stick around to see the parade, but hey, we had a ship to catch. We wound all around the parade route in a taxi en route to the piers to begin our cruise. 

We loved Stockholm and hope we can return to this lovely little city soon. However, now that the day is here, we are both amazed at how excited we are to board this very impressive ship. 

Not to state the obvious, but there is A LOT of water up here. We took the obligatory boat tour this morning, and viewed a few dozen of the islands in the archipelago that is Sweden. The city of Stockholm is spread over about 20 islands, but when you are just looking at the pretty little harbour, its difficult to understand the true ratio of water to land, and the fact that this city isn't on the water as much as in the water. The landscape is as you might expect ... blue sky with fluffy white clouds, lots of evergreen trees, and a rocky shoreline. Temperature is in the mid-sixties (17 - 19 C), which our tour guide assured us is plenty warm for summer swimming!

After the boat tour we went to Ostermalmshallen, the market hall, which is gastronomy personified. It's not as big as Harrods, but fruits, vegetables, and fish were all stunningly presented. After lunch, we headed to the Moderna Museet (Museum of Modern Art), in a new building designed by Rafael Moneo, on the island of Skeppsholmen. (All these sights were within easy walking distance of each other; Stockholm is a small and easy-to-get-to-know city.) The museum had a special exhibit of architectural models, and we visited the regular collections as well (Picasso, Miro, Magritte all included). A highlight for Linda was when Heather was scolded not once, but twice, by the security guard because she could not keep from playing with the Alexander Calder mobile. (Heather's defence was "it's a mobile, it's supposed to move.")

We walked back to the Grand Hotel and talked over the day while sipping our Pol Roger and looking out over the harbour. There were lots of ferries departing this Friday evening with Stockholmers looking forward to a weekend at their cottage on a far north island. Seems a nice lifestyle here ... while summer lasts. Tomorrow we have a Segway ride planned, followed by our embarkation on the cruise!

Although we have found that our colleagues in Britain work just as hard (long intense days) as we do, the Europeans place a higher value on vacation time than most of our American colleagues. Three or four weeks of holiday per year is the norm, and some people even take this all at once.

At the office this means that it is challenging to make progress in July and August because so many people are out. Under this influence we have been able to actually schedule a two-week vacation for ourselves this year, for the first time ever, and it begins today!

We flew to Stockholm where we will spend a few days before embarking on a cruise of the Baltic countries. Yesterday we shot these photos as we walked around the harbour and into the old city, where we drank copious amount of bad red wine and heard some low-key jazz.  (Lesson for the day: beer or vodka in Sweden)