Helsinki, Finland

 

We arrived this morning early in Helsinki the Capital of Finland. A city on the water surrounded by small rocky islands. It is a very green city, with classical architecture. Finland became independent from Russia in 1917. A country with a population of 5.3 million people in a vast northern territory.

Presidential Palace once prior to 1917 was the residence of Tsar Nicholas II.

We are stopped here for a few hours, we took the opportunity to visit the downtown core with its Lutheran and Russian Orthodox Cathedrals, the Presidential Palace, the Central bank building and Parliament all located within a few blocks of each other. The market area is just off the docks where all the cruise ships arrive. We made a few purchases, tempted to buy vacuum packed smoked ell and herring for our friends back home as gifts, an unusual sort of gift.

Russian Orthodox Cathedral

Helsinki appears as a quiet city, it has in its architecture, the look of Russian classic city planning of the late 19 or early 20^th century. Our stay is too short to give us a better appreciation for it all but I am happy to say we came and were able to walk around on a sunny day.

Parliament of Finland

Fountain on the Esplanade, Lady and the Seals.

Helpful sign on the dock.

Tomorrow is the highlight of this cruise St-Petersburg, Russia. The old Imperial Capital of Russia in the happy days prior to 1917. Much restored since 2001 for the greater enjoyment of visitors. 

Harbor of Helsinki.

The Ship and the SPA

 

Our ship the AZAMARA Journey is very comfortable and offers many activities, I went for a day at the SPA while we sailed the Baltic Sea towards Helsinki. The SPA was very nice, facial, massage with hot volcanic stones and manicure, nice feeling of relaxation. Never tried the hot stone massage and it was great.

The food on board is really exceptional, last night we had an Indian Buffet dinner, very good food, curry made to order, many classic dishes all made to perfection. I think the secret is that they make small quantities and simply replenish them, so your food is always fresh. They also have an Indian chef and the ingredients are authentic, no substitutes. Tonight its an Asian buffet, offering a variety of dishes from Asia. If you prefer more western fare they also have the main restaurant Discoveries which offers a standard menu of well known dishes and a menu du jour with changing fare each day, there is always a variety of sea food, beef, chicken and vegetarian dishes. If you have an allergy the Chef can prepare a menu for you, that is truly a bonus. They also have two other premium restaurants, one offers gourmet speciality dining with wine pairing and the other is a fish and seafood restaurant. Both are located on the top deck offering a great view of the sea all around. The ship has one Executive Chef and several others who appear to specialize in one cuisine.

The wine selection on board is remarkable and the house wines change everyday, again very good wines. There are also several lounges for music or reading or offering some presentation on a topic related to our trip. You can listen to piano or harp music performed by very good musicians. There is also a full orchestra and a guitarist.

Last night we went to one show of famous songs given by the cruise director, Erik de Gray from Morrisburg, Ontario. He is truly talented, he had the audience wrapped around his finger, he knew exactly what to say and how to make his show interesting. It was only one of 3 shows on board including a dance party. There is also a Casino on board but we have not been yet.

This company Azamara Cruises was recommended to us by friends who have cruised 7 times with Azamara. I am really impressed with the quality of everything on board. Be it the personnel, the food, the entertainment, the cabins and the public rooms. All is very clean, the crew is constantly polishing and cleaning. I also like the fact that there are few announcements on the PA system, so not to disturb the passengers. They have 2 stores selling various luxury products but again no aggressive sell techniques as is often the case on other cruise lines. Things are on offer but politely, so as not to intrude if people are not interested.

Being between the 56 and 60 parallel, the Sun does not set before very late in the evening. At 8PM the Sun is still high up in the sky and does not set before 10PM. This morning as we approached Helsinki, Finland, the Sun rose at 3.48 AM and will not set this evening before 10.58PM. It is quite strange to go to bed at night with the Sun still shining.

Bornholm Island, Denmark

 

We arrived in the morning early at the town of Ronne on the island of Bornholm which is located on the North East point of Denmark, close to the coast of Sweden. Population of this island around 40,000 people and diminishing. The main industry in the summer is tourism and smoked herring. It is very green, it has nice Danish houses and stone churches. We visited a Smoke House in Hasle and ate herring with a glass of beer. It was good as a snack but not something I would make into a meal, though it is a good source of protein. We then proceeded to Jorn or George the butcher who lives on a farm in a lovely country setting, the farm buildings date back to 1500. We sampled some excellent meats, a real delight. Visited the production line and saw how meats where cured or smoked, an interesting process. 

Fish smoke house on Bornholm

Smoked Herring

Jorn the Butcher in his shop.

We walked in the village of Gudhjem (godhouse) full of half timbered buildings painted in yellow and orange, very typical of this part of Denmark.

15th century farm house on Bornholm

a typical house in Gudhjem

Danish flag

I can see why Bornholm is a nice summer retreat and a pleasant holiday destination for Danes. Tonight we sail for Helsinki, Finland and this will take us a day and a half to get there at the other end of the Baltic. So I am spending my day at the SPA.

Copenhagen, Denmark

After passing the Kiel canal we arrived at Copenhagen for a day of sightseeing. Both Will and I know the city, we have been here before. For Will it is a return trip after 40 years and for me after 12 years.
Copenhagen remains a beautiful city with nice people.

Our ship the Azamara Journey docked just in front of the St-Albans Anglican Church by the Kastellet Citadel fortress just a few steps away from the Royal Palace Amalienborg. This year 2012 Queen Margaret II celebrates her 40^th anniversary as Sovereign of Denmark. Next to our ship was the Royal Yacht, very elegant looking.

We went into St-Albans because Will had been there some 40 years ago and a former priest from his parish in Toronto had worked there around 1966. St-Albans is a Royal Chapel it was founded by H.R.H. Alexandra,Princess of Denmark and Queen of England, wife of Edward VII who was the son of Queen Victoria. Royalty has endowed this church and several famous Kings and Emperor have visited. It his the church of the British embassy and community in Copenhagen.

It is a small church celebrating 125 years of service and has beautiful stained glass windows by Boure-Jones who glow in the brilliant morning sun.

Then we walked to the Royal Palace Amalienborg and saw the changing of the guard. Palace guards here are not shy about shooing nosy tourists away, you do not want to tease them. We also visited the Marble church or Frederick Church which is the State Church of Denmark, (Evangelical Lutheran). Then we went to a lovely little cafe for coffee and proceeded to visit some shops, Royal Copenhagen and Illum Bolighus and made some little purchases. Our lunch was typical Danish fare, a Tuborg beer and 3 open face sandwiches on dark rye bread, one being Herring with capers, egg with tomato and one of pate.

Its a beautiful day, brilliant sunshine, clear blue skies, we had been promised rain, rain, rain since last week but so far we have been lucky, the rain comes during the night or when we are driving somewhere.

In the evening we went to Tivoli to see the famous Chinese Peacock theatre and for dinner.

 

We saw an 18th century Pantomime at the Chinese Peacock Theatre at Tivoli Garden, one of the world more famous amusement park. It is said that Walt Disney found his inspiration for Disneyland while visiting Tivoli. I did not know what to expect, what I saw was a beautiful garden along the lines of a botanical garden with top restaurants set in the garden, a lake, a midway with old fashion rides, a band stand with a full orchestra doing light classics and the Chinese Peacock Theatre. Tivoli was built in 1844 and remains to this day a private company. The garden attracts young and old, many of the customers in the evening are elderly, strolling in the garden and enjoying one of the many music shows or the pantomime. Restaurants offer many different kinds of cuisines and classic Danish cuisine.

We went to Faergekroen Bryghus for dinner after the theatre and had wonderful food, lobster cream soup with big chucks of lobster, Veal steak with different types of onions quickly pan fried and boiled potatoes and for dessert Rodgrod Med Flode which is a typical Danish dessert, essentially described as a porridge of berries with cream, it is more like a thick berry soup. Delicious but the name of the dessert is unpronounceable because all the pronunciation comes from the throat.

Tivoli is beautiful, clean and peaceful, a real delight in a busy city. Will waited 40 years to see the Chinese Peacock Theatre which is a marvel in itself.

Have you ever.....

 

We had a lovely time today in Hamburg, the 10^th largest sea port in the world processing 12 million containers per year and with a growth rate of 15% a year in ship traffic. Hamburg has been a member of the Hanseatic League for the last 823 years, making it a very old commercial city in Europe. Hamburg is all about trade, the architecture, the make-up of the city, its neighbourhoods everything says trade, banking, shipping. It is a fascinating city of 1.7 million people of which 420 citizens bringing in 400 million euros per year in income alone. The neighbourhood of Lake Alster is impressive with its beautiful parks and grand villas. The old brick warehouse neighbourhood has been revitalize and turned into new offices and houses set amongst canals on the sea port, a must see neighbourhood. The tide in Hamburg is said to be 3.5 meters high which by itself is impressive.

The Rathaus of Hamburg or Regional Parliament, just a small snapshot the actual building is much larger.

We visited the Rathaus, which is also the seat of the regional parliament, a grand building in the Wilhelmine style, we had an excellent meal in their restaurant Parlament, see www.parlament-hamburg.de

The speciality is pickled herring, I really liked it and ate a whole plate by myself. Upon our return by coach to the Kiel canal to join up with our boat who had taken all day to travel from Brunsbuttel to Kiel Holtenau we arrived on the wrong side of the canal, so we backtracked to the other side. Only to find our ship passing us by, so we stalked it for 3 km until it finally stopped at the last lock before the open sea. Have you ever stalked a 180 meter long, 30,277 ton ship going 5 km per hour in a canal. It was hilarious, as the captain was signalling to go a little further up the dock and the other passengers on board looking down where joking and the local German Firemen band was playing for the enjoyment of all those who had stayed on board that day to enjoy a bar-b-q. Finally the ship stopped and all of us (90 passengers) got back on board.

Azamara Journey finally stopped for us.

Tomorrow its Copenhagen and W is already doing is Danny Kay impersonation, you know the song about Copenhagen in the movie musical Hans Christian Andersen. I think the Cruise director Eric on board wants to hire him to sing in the Star Dust Lounge on board.

On to Kiel, Germany

Sidd on board.

The Kiel canal allows ships to avoid having to sail around the Jutland which can be often hazardous. Built in 1887 it took 8 years to build and used 9000 men. It was named Kaiser Wilhelm canal and has been a vital commercial link ever since. We are entering the canal today at Brunsbuttel and will exit at Kiel Holtenau a distance of 99.7 km, the ship will need 8 hours to complete this journey from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea. We will get off the ship once pass the main entrance lock and go Herring tasting instead, lovely fresh herring with a little glass of wine, I know Sidd is looking forward to it and so is W.

At the moment we have a red light at the entrance of the lock which is to our left, we left the North Sea and we are at the mouth of the Elba river and we are waiting for the lock pilot and the green light to allow us to proceed. Having our cabin right at the prow of the ship allows us to see the operations, we are right under the command deck. After crossing the canal we will be only a short distance from Copenhagen, Denmark.

Amsterdam in general

On this trip we have taken our friend Sidd everywhere with us. He follows us, always has a big smile and is just one of those happy campers whiling to try anything. Though we gave the live sex shows and pot a pass in Amsterdam.

Canal traffic who has right of way I wonder.

The other thing that intrigue me was the Blue Imperial Austrian Crown in the Coat of Arms of Amsterdam. What is that about I wondered after all this is a Calvinist country and no obvious association to Austria a Catholic country. It turns out that Emperor Maximilian I of Austria who is well known in Europe as the promoter of trade and who made of Innsbruck a great trade city had an association with the Netherlands. He supported the people of Amsterdam against the country gentry in a war and in return the people of Amsterdam made generous loans to Maximilian I in his wars against his enemies. In gratitude the Emperor allowed the city of Amsterdam to use the emblem of his crown in their Coat of Arms. So you have the red and black colours of Amsterdam with the 3 crosses of St-Andrew surmounted by the blue Imperial Crown of Austria. Even after the Protestant reformation the symbol of Catholic Austria remained because of what it meant to the people of Amsterdam, a symbol of their independence.

Bicycle dealership.

In terms of food in Amsterdam we had some great food, one French restaurant, one excellent Chinese restaurant and one great cafe for breakfast. De Belhamel French restaurant www.belhamel.nl at 60 Brouwer gracht was tops, service, wines, food, presentation, with superb views of the canals in an old Art Nouveau decor, highly recommended. New King Chinese www.newking.nl at 115 Zeedijk was one of the best Chinese food restaurant since my days in Beijing. Their duck crepe and duck egg roll was pure heaven, the duck meant was moist and tender. The Chinese broccoli perfectly prepared with oyster sauce and garlic, just a little crunchy and full of flavour. Predominantly Asian customers, noticed a few Chinese clients drinking cognac on ice with their food, reminded of Hong Kong.

For breakfast Baton Cafe was a delight, long tables where people read their newspapers and Illy coffee from Italy, great breakfast menu beautifully presented, loved also their spice cake fingers they served with each cup of coffee. Beautiful porcelain cups in an enchanting Canal setting with very nice staff. All where within walking distance of our B&B at 6 Brouwer Gracht at the intersection with the Singel canal. Our host Kevin M is a charming fellow and is place made us feel as if we were living at home, simple but good. He even escorted us to the Passenger Marine Terminal only steps away from the Central Train Station and helped us with the luggage, those staircases are challenging, but this is a feature of Amsterdam.

Breakfast European style with a bowl of Cappucino.

We have now left Amsterdam, our ship the Azamara Journey sailed up the long sea canal for 2 hours to the main Sea Lock so we could enter the North Sea. The process of sailing away from Amsterdam to this great Sea lock took us along green farmland with geese, sheep, cows and horses and a few people fishing. Once at the lock the ship is lifted up so we can enter the North Sea. They do not call it the low countries for nothing, the Netherlands is really below the sea level, I can say I saw it.