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Eight
go cruising in the Baltic After a day at sea getting our onboard bearings - and doing the mandatory lifeboat drill - we arrived in Copenhagen and most of us set off to explore on our own rather than pay the inflated organised shore excursion prices. As Andy and I had visited the Danish capital before we acted as tour guide. First stop was the famous statue of the Little Mermaid near where we docked. One of the tour girls on the ship told us she had once been asked by an American the cost to take the elevator up the Little Mermaid! We continued to Amalienborg Palace, the royal residency set around a square, where you can walk right up to the guards, unlike British castles. Not wishing to wait until noon for the changing of the guards we walked to Nyhaven with its colourful houses and restaurants along the canal. We also saw the spiral tower and green roofs of the Bourse, which is the Danish stock exchange and government building. Then onward to the famous Tivoli Gardens. By this time it was raining quite heavily, so the park had a completely different feel on a quiet wet Monday morning from when we had previously visited on a busy Saturday night, with all its twinkling lanterns and outdoor entertainment. After lunch at Tivoli, we went to the Round Tower where 25 krone gets you wonderful views of the city. The tower is where Catherine the Great is said to have ridden up the cobbled ramps in a horsedrawn carriage, only to realise the horses could not turn at the top, so she had them shot. But the horses got their revenge as she was apparently crushed to death by one! After the tower visit some returned to the ship whilst Barbara Whitbread, Ursula Rutherford and I wandered round the Botanic Gardens. We missed looking in the palm house by a minute as the gardener was just locking up. Then a route march back to the ship, boarding one minute before our deadline! Stockholm was the first of our three Swedish ports of call. It's a strange capital city on lots of islands linked by lots of bridges. We took the shuttle bus from the ship to the Opera House and from there walked the short distance to Gamla Stan (old town) passing through the Royal Palace courtyard en route. Amongst the narrow cobbled streets we found Stockholm Cathedral and went inside to see the statue of George and the Dragon. Then we headed to catch the 100 year old ferry to the neighbouring island of Djurgarden; home to the Vasa Museum. Rather like the Titanic, the Vasa warship became famous for sinking in the harbour on its maiden voyage in 1628. The King looked on in horror as the crew drowned because the cannons and other weapons had made the ship top heavy. And rather like the Mary Rose, the Vasa has since been salvaged and restored to its former glory and is now housed in its own museum. Apart from viewing the enormous ship itself, which takes some time as your eyes adjust to the gloomy light in which the ship has to be kept, there's an informative film (with English subtitles) and various exhibitions. The cost of living is noticeable in the Vasa café - Swedish meatballs cost four times as much as for the same meal at Ikea at home! Barbara and Ursula opted to take a stroll around Djurgarden whilst Andy and I returned to Gamla Stan to visit the Nobel Museum to discover how the prizes were founded and how winners are chosen today. Oh, and the pedestrianised shopping street was interesting with concrete sculptures of what looked like Dougal at every corner! Having left Newcastle in the rain the weather had improved daily. By the time we arrived in Helsinki, the sun was shining constantly. I found the Finnish capital much more navigable than the Swedish one. First stop was the Tourist Board to buy a "Helsinki Card" which gave us unlimited access to public transport and various tourist attractions. Having attended the port talk on the ship we knew that taking a ride on tram 3B or 3T would give us a free city tour. We alighted at the Olympic Stadium of 1952 and took the elevator for 2 Euros to the top of the tower for lovely views over the sporting facilities as well as the whole city. From there we could stroll to Sibelius Park to see the organ pipe monument in tribute to the famous Finnish composer. Back on the tram we travelled to Temppeliaukio Church which is carved out of rock and that most of our group thought was a surprise highlight of their city visit. Because our "Helsinki Card" allowed us a free ferry ride over to Soumenlinna Island we took the opportunity of a quick visit to this sea fortress out in the bay. Then just time for a photo call on their street furniture. Not Dougal this time, but turtles! St Petersburg was billed as the holiday highlight and the reason most people had booked the cruise. We arrived at 8.00 am on Friday morning and departed at 6.00 pm on Saturday evening thus giving the opportunity for evening shore excursions. Choosing not to endure the hassle and expense of obtaining our own Russian visas, the only way we could go ashore was by booking an organised tour. Most of us opted for the city tour seeing the Neva River, the spectacular Church of the Saviour of the Spilled Blood with its colourful onion-domed roof, Decembris Square and other landmarks. Jane Hogg and I booked to see the ballet in the evening, which was Swan Lake and took place at the historic Conservatoire Theatre. The price included a souvenir brochure in English and a glass of champagne during the interval. Having not been to the ballet for many years it was an enjoyable experience for me, and also rather humorous. Knowing we were supposed to arrive back at the ship at 10.30 pm, when the dancers took a bow and the prima ballerina was presented with a bouquet of flowers at the end of the second act around 10.00pm we got up to leave amid grumbles we had not seen the famous dying swan act. It was only when we had reached the foyer that we heard a bell ring for the third act so dashed back into the auditorium! Needless to say we were much later arriving back on board but were able to watch sunset at 11.40pm. The next day a few of us had chosen to visit St Peterhof Palace and the Hermitage. The tour cost £71 each but still cheaper than getting our own visas. Peterhof is a baroque style palace built by Peter The Great. Firstly we donned overshoes (to protect the floors) and shuffled round the rooms before our guide accompanied us around the gardens. The gardens are famous for the many magnificent fountains and golden statues on the edge of the Gulf of Finland. Whilst returning to the coach we had chance to peruse the stalls selling matroishka dolls (traditional wooden dolls stacked inside one another) as well as T-shirts, hats with Russian military badges, a Russian space helmet and other tat. Lunch was a wonderful surprise - a four course silver service meal in the historic Last Palace restaurant near the Hermitage with mineral water, vodka and champagne included. When in St Petersburg one has to visit the Hermitage Museum. Our young guide had just graduated in art history and was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable, but after three hours competing with other tour groups to look at dark religious paintings, it got a bit tedious. Our group perked up a little as we reached the impressionist paintings and more so when our guide announced we were leaving! Tallinn,
the capital of Estonia, was my personal favourite port of call and a mix
of medieval, Russian and European. A 15 minute walk from the dock brought
us to the cobbled streets of the old walled town. Our first sight was
Fat Margaret's Tower with St Olaf's Church just behind it. The legend
is that someone designed a new church but the powers-that-be refused to
pay the amount required to do the work. So the designer offered to build
the church for free provided it was named after him. Alas, Olaf fell to
his death whilst climbing on the new church roof. Barbara, Ursula, Andy
and I did our own - less dangerous - climbing up the City Hall Tower and
Kiek In De Kok. The latter translates as "peep in the kitchen"
and soldiers in the tower could literally peer into the kitchens of the
homes below. We also wandered the streets and saw Estonia's first pub
founded in 1993 and the world's oldest functioning pharmacy founded in
1422. Having purchased a 6 hour "Tallinn Card" costing 8 Euros
we took a hop on/hop off bus ride to Kadriorg. [Prices were quoted in
both Euros and Estonian Krooni, but I guess you're more familiar with
the Euro rate so I quote that here.] Situated around 30 minutes outside
the city Kadriorg Palace was built as a summer home for Catherine The
Great by her husband Peter. Unusually for me, because there is just so much of the world to see, Tallinn is a place I'd like to revisit so we picked up some information from the tourist board including accommodation guides and details of the 72 hour "Tallinn Card". This costs just 27 Euros and includes guided walks, coach tours out to the countryside, over 40 museums, three hop on/hop off bus routes, spa days and discount at shops and restaurants. Coupled with a cheap flight and a day trip by ferry over to Helsinki, this would make an excellent long weekend break. So watch this space for a possible Mensa Tallinn Weekend in the future! After five
hectic days our sixth port of call was relaxing Visby on the Swedish island
of Gottland in the middle of the Baltic Sea. The town is nicknamed "roses
and ruins" and is just that; crumbling city walls encircling cottages
with roses in abundance. Being a tender port meant that those passengers
booked on an organised excursion were allowed to disembark first so Andy
and I didn't arrive ashore until midday. The ride from ship to shore in
a tender boat (actually the ship's own lifeboat) was rather choppy but
an interesting experience. Being a small town we soon bumped into our
partners in crime, Barbara and Ursula, and we enjoyed some time sitting
on the beach. But only Barbara was brave enough to go for a paddle. Brave
because although the water temperature wasn't too cold there were lots
of slippery rocks to negotiate. Andy and I were back on board within three
hours and enjoying a late lunch on deck. I bagged a prime spot by the pool and hot tub to soak up some sun interspersed with a noon Mensa meeting in Horizons bar. We had asked for this to be advertised in the newsletter delivered daily to each cabin intrigued whether any other Mensans were on board. None appeared but some prospective members did and an impromptu session of the Mensa Connections boardgame was arranged for the afternoon. Gothenburg was our next port of call and although Sweden's second largest city it is surprisingly easy to explore. Having docked early morning and disembarked immediately we then discovered that the locals don't actually surface until much later and shops didn't open until after 10.00 am. We whiled away the time sauntering in the Botanical Gardens then made our way via a shopping mall to meet up with Chris Lonsbrough at the distinctive red and white Skanskaskrapan building. This is basically an office block but you can ride the elevator to the viewing gallery at the top for only 20 krone (less than £2). From here Chris and I, both rollercoaster enthusiasts, could see our next destination - Liseberg, the largest theme park in Scandinavia. Though billed as being similar to Tivoli in Copenhagen it is, in fact, far superior in terms of rides. We arrived at the opening time of noon and spent 3½ hours dashing round the rollercoasters - the wooden "Balder" coaster was great fun - and cooling down on the water rides. We got a free tram ride back to the shuttle bus as the driver's machine had broken and he couldn't issue tickets. Had this been England I'm sure the driver would have made us go to find a ticket machine elsewhere! Chris' partner, Jo Sidebottom, meanwhile spent a relaxing afternoon being pampered in the ship's beauty salon. Oslo was our last port of call and, as a couple of us had already visited the city, we'd arranged to meet up with local Mensans. But before that there was time to explore Oslo Castle and dash around the National Art Gallery to see the work of Munch including, of course, the famous Scream painting. This is actually quite small compared to his other work and only noticeable due to the Perspex screen around it. At 11.00 am we waited in front of City Hall - where the Nobel peace prize is awarded - to meet Kirsti along with her husband Trom and eight month old baby Adrian. From there we hurriedly purchased tickets - bizarrely at the Post Office - for a guided tour of the Royal Palace and walked the short distance for the noon tour time. None of us, including the locals, had toured the Palace before as it has only recently been opened to the public. We saw the ornate rooms with an informative guide - and Andy and I managed a quick tango in the ballroom! Barbara and Ursula then went off to explore Vigeland Sculpture Park whilst Ann Tarper, Andy and I enjoyed an al fresco lunch with the Norwegians. At 3.00 pm we met up with Trude, who is Norwegian Mensa Chair. Jane, Jo and Chris had already bagged tables in the bar so we had a full complement of Mensans. Having sipped cool drinks and caught up on the gossip for over an hour, it was time to saunter back to the ship wishing Trude a fond farewell en route. Andy and I rushed to get dressed for dinner so we could get good seats in Horizons bar high up at the bow of the ship and watch us sail up the Olso Fjord whilst sipping cocktails. Lovely! On our last day crossing the North Sea it was a little cloudy for sunbathing. In the morning the Captain - or BBC (Big Bald Captain) as he liked to call himself! - had a farewell party, the Cruise Director spoke about the perils of organising onboard entertainment and there was opportunity for a backstage tour of the theatre. Then the Mensa ladies enjoyed a leisurely lunch in the waiter service Meridian restaurant rather than the self-service Lido restaurant. In the afternoon we napped, read and generally had a relaxing time. We arranged to dine together for our last meal and drank the wine we had won at a quiz earlier in the week. Then a final Buddy Holly themed show and final cocktails in our favourite bar before bedtime. Would we do it again? You bet! Do join us next time! First published in VISA issue 70 (Dec 2006) |