Copenhagen to Stockholm
July 8-26, 2022
Mike and Judy Henderson
I'll leave this map on each page so you know where we are.
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July 20, 2022 (Wednesday) We're in Klaipėda, Lithuania this morning.
We woke up to some bad news. Janet and Jean tested positive for COVID and will have to quarantine for five days. They contacted the medical staff and the doctor prescribed Paxlovid, an antiviral for COVID, and some antibiotics.
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A bit of background on Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia (called "The Baltic States"). Germany and the Soviet Union signed an agreement (the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) in August 1939, and the Soviet Union invaded and occupied the Baltic States in 1940.
But with the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 (Operation Barbarossa), Germany occupied the Baltic States from 1941 to 1944.
With the end of the war, the Baltic States became part of the Soviet Union, who forcibly moved residents of the Baltic States to other parts of the Soviet Union and forced Russians to move to the Baltic States. They also required that all students study Russian. Their goal was to destroy the national identity of the citizens of the Baltic States.
But the citizens of the Baltic States maintained their national identity and language and eventually gained their independence in 1991 when the Soviet Union broke up.
Old habits die slowly, and I observed that people of this area are hesitant to talk against Russia, or even to talk about Russia at all. I expect that while the Soviet Union was in control, any negative comments about it could get you arrested or deported to Siberia.
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Judy and I had signed up for a tour of Klaipeda and Palanga, which is a town about 31km north of Klaipeda. Its a resort town on the Baltic coast, very popular during the summer season.
We began with the drive to Palanga to visit the botanical garden at Tiškevičial Palace. There is also an amber museum at the Tiškevičial Palace.
The tour guide we had was very nice, but had an accent that made her very difficult to understand. Much of what I have here came from research on the web.
When we arrived at the palace, we entered the garden, and after a short walk came upon this statue.
The statue represents a folk tale of Eglė, Queen of the serpents. The story is too long and complex for me to relate here, but if you're interested, you can follow the link.
We continued our walk and arrived at the palace.
We toured the amber museum, which is on the second floor. One very interesting fact we learned is that most amber is recovered from the sea. Trees containing amber would wash down the rivers to the sea, where the wood would decay, leaving the amber.
While visiting the amber store in Gdańsk, we learned that the test to see if amber jewelry was genuine, was to put the amber in water. Real amber would float, while plastic imitation amber would sink. But here, the amber they recover from the sea is at the bottom of the sea, not floating. Still, it's often caught in submerged debris.
All of the amber was behind glass, which made it difficult to photograph without reflections in the glass. Here's one exhibit. Raw, uncut amber often looks like a dirty lump, to the amateur eye.
Between Judy and me, we took a lot of pictures of the amber jewelry, but I can only put a few here.
A foot pedal crank machine they used years ago to work the amber.
After leaving the museum, we went into the town of Palanga, and visited the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. (picture from the web). There are stairs up to the top of the tower and visitors are allowed to go up there. We were told that there's a great view of the town from the top of the tower, but Judy and I declined. That's too many stairs.
A view toward the altar.
A closer view of the altar.
A view toward the rear of the church showing the organ pipes. Note the decorations on each pew. There had been a wedding in the church, just before we visited.
The bride and her party were still outside the church, and she allowed us to take her picture.
As we came back into Klaipeda, we passed this statue of Antanas Poška who was a traveler and political prisoner during the time Lithuania was under Soviet domination. The link fills in his story.
We went to the main square in old town. On one side of the square is the Klaipeda Drama Theater. Also shown in this picture is a statue known as Ann of Tharau, which is actually dedicated to Simon Dach.
We then walked through the old town, and along the way we came upon this small statue of a mouse. After this neighborhood was destroyed by bombs, the locals said that only a little mouse survived. Tradition says that if you make a wish and rub his ears, your wish will come true.
Next was the obligatory sales stop - this time at an amber shop. No one was really interested. Then we went to The Fat Cat tavern and had a beer, and then back to the ship.
At the dock, there was a statue of a boy facing the sea, waving his hat, with his dog. I could not find the story behind this statue, but the guide felt that it was a lonely boy hoping to find his family.
Here's the dog (web picture).
As we went aboard the Splendor, I took this picture of Judy on the gangway.
Janet and Jean are isolated in their cabin, feeling fairly sick this evening. Hopefully, they'll feel better tomorrow.
We had dinner in the Pacific Rim Restaurant, and were both disappointed in the food.
That was the end of our day.
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July 21, 2022 (Wednesday) We're in Liepāja, Latvia this morning.
Janet and Jean had a rough night, but are starting to feel better.
We started our tour at the Liepāja Holy Trinity Lutheran Cathedral where we heard an organ concert.
A view of the altar area.
The organ pipes. It is reported to have 7,000 pipes and 157 registers.
The concert consisted of the following:
1. Boellman - Chorale from the Gothic suite
2. Zarins - Ugāles sarabanda
3. Bach - Choral "Ich ruf uz dir Herr Jesu Christ"
4. Bach - Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
5. Weber - The Phantom of the Opera
I took a video of the church while the organist was playing that crowd favorite "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor". Turn up the volume before you hit "play".
After we left the church, we walked by Rose Square. There's a round bed of roses in the square but they were not in bloom yet.
The main part of the square was filled with small stalls selling all sorts of things. Displayed on one side was this restored Porsche tractor! It's a single cylinder diesel engine of 885 cubic centimeters - less than one liter - quite a small engine. I never knew Porsche made tractors.
We boarded the bus and drove to a residential area near the beach. Liepāja is a musical town and there are musical notes set in the paving stones, marking a path toward some musical point of interest.
For example, here's a statue of a set of drums. These are not real drums, they're just made to look like a drum set.
There was a park-like area with square concrete blocks, each topped with a brass plaque honoring a Latvian musician or group. Sort of a "Walk of Fame" I suppose.
This "tree" in the park is a monument to Latvian musicians. There is a button on each bench, and pressing it will cause a popular Latvian song to play.
From here we walked to the beach. It's on the Baltic Sea.
Judy at the beach. The town is known as "Where the wind is born", and this beach features fine white sand.
Next we went to Saint Anne's Church.
They don't allow photography in the church, but it has a very elaborate altarpiece and I was able to find a picture of it on the web.
Then it was back to the ship. Judy and I had dinner in the Compass Rose.
Jean and Janet are improving but still have some mild symptoms. At least, it's clear they're not going to develop any serious issues with COVID.
That was the end of our day.
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July 22, 2022 (Friday) We arrived in Tallinn, Estonia this morning about 9am.
Judy and I have a small group walking tour of old town and a concert excursion. When we got to the bus, we discovered there were only six of us on the excursion.
We left the bus just outside of the Old Town. As we approached the Old Town, we could see the Fat Margaret Tower.
We entered through the Port Gate, on Long Road.
A view through the gate, down Long Road (Pikk Road). The people of Tallinn were very practical. This was the longest road in the Old City so they called it Long Road. There's another road that was the widest and they called it - you guessed it - Wide Road.
This round building was a horse-driven mill. The horse circled around the mill which ground grain.
We walked to St. Olaf's Church. Buildings are so tight in Old Town that I couldn't get a picture. Here's one from the web.
The door to St. Olaf's. We did not go in.
As we walked the street, the guide pointed out this house. Back in Soviet time, it was a KGB prison facility. It's been renovated - I'm sure it didn't look this good when the KGB used it.
They give tours of the prison cells now.
The Swedish Embassy
The Russian embassy was a bit further down the street, and the Estonian police had placed barriers in front of the building, with two policemen keeping watch.
The barriers became the place to put anti-Russian posters, especially relating to the invasion of Ukraine.
Next we passed by the Church of the Holy Spirit.
Note the clock on the outside wall. It's reputed to be the oldest clock in Estonia. It has two hands and is 12 hours, so it's not a very early clock.
This street led to the town square. The building in the middle of the next picture is the Town Hall. There were many small merchant stalls in the square selling a variety of goods.
We had some free time to explore. After looking at the merchant wares, Judy and I went to a cafe and had a latte. We were joined by Jan and Susan. They were both teachers in Chicago - Jan taught Spanish and Susan taught French.
In front of one of the cafes was this sign.
After the free time, the guide took us to St. Catherine's Passage, leading to St. Catherine's Monastery, where the concert will be held.
Here's the inside of St. Catherine's Monastery. It's under renovation, but they have seats for viewing the performance.
The three performers were specialists in medieval music. They played a drum, a lute, a Hurdy-Gurdy, a recorder and a Torupill (an Estonian bagpipe). They used different instruments for different songs, and the woman sang in Estonian and possibly in Latin.
After the concert we walked to Viru Street and exited Old Town through the Viru Gate.
Right outside the gate was a long row of flower sellers. We considered buying some flowers to bring to Jean and Janet, but were afraid the ship would not allow the flowers on board because of agricultural rules.
A closer view of one of the flower stalls. What variety and color!
Looking back into Old Town, along Viru Street.
One thing we missed was the Alexander Nevski Orthodox Cathedral. If I had known about it at the time, I would have used our free time in the square to go see it.
I think we were all a bit tired and ready for lunch, because no one decided to stay in town and return on the Regent shuttle bus. We all took the tour bus back to the ship.
Judy and I had lunch and then took it easy in our stateroom. I worked on this blog.
I needed to discuss some return travel arrangements with Jean and Janet that were too complex to do by text. So I went to their room and I stood out in the hall (masked) and they stood just inside their door and we made the arrangements.
Overall, I think they're doing well. We all have hopes that they can get out of jail tomorrow afternoon.
After dinner, it was to bed. So ended our visit to Tallinn.