Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Brave Boy
Betsy recently wrote about the so-called baby nook, about which you can read more by clicking here. One of the treats I had while staying with Betsy, Pete, and Henry was a night out at Hackney's, a restaurant that serves great burgers, although I opted for an excellent corned beef on rye with lots of horse radish. Betsy and I also split a heaping pile of onion rings, while Henry opted for a good-ole grilled cheese.
After dinner and a little fooling around with what I think was a foosball game, Henry demonstrated how brave he could be as you will see below.
After dinner and a little fooling around with what I think was a foosball game, Henry demonstrated how brave he could be as you will see below.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Estonia, Sweden, Poland
Returning to reports on our recent trip to northern Europe...
After visiting St. Petersburg, we traveled overnight to the little country of Estonia. Our port of call was the capital city of Tallinn. For our tour, we chose to visit the "old town" part of the city, with its narrow cobblestone streets and a lively plaza where we were able to do a little shopping. We found cute, handmade dolls for great-nephew Felix and granddaughter Eleanor there. Buildings in these old cities very often have interesting features, like the clock and the dragon you see here.
Like many of the cities in Europe, old town Tallinn was once a walled city. We rendezvoused for our trip back to the ship at the city gate you see here, where vendors were selling flowers and other items.
Overnight, we traveled to Stockholm, Sweden. Stockholm sits at the eastern end of a vast archipelago, so the last several hours of the trip, which occurred at dawn, were spent winding through beautiful waterways and between islands and other slips of land. For those of us who arose with the sun, it was a beautiful ride. Because Kathie and I had visited Stockholm some years ago, and because we were a bit tired from the many tours on preceding days, we elected to spend most of the day aboard ship, so there are no pictures of Stockholm itself to offer here. But, here are a couple of shots of the trip through the archipelago.
Our next day was spent at sea. Each evening, we dined in a formal dining room and always had four full courses from which to choose (appetizer, salad, main course, and dessert). The food was exceptional. We were assigned to a specific table, and so we became well-acquainted with new friends Johnny and Cindy from North Carolina who were seated at the same table. Here we are. You can see the Baltic Sea out the window.
Following this day at sea, we were in Poland. We docked in Gydania. However, we had chosen a tour of Gdansk, home of Lech Walesa, the leader of the Solidarity Movement in Poland during the late 1980s. Like Tallinn and others, Gdansk was a walled city at one time. Below is a shot of one of the gates to the city. We passed through this gate to enter an interesting little shopping area, which you can see in another photo below.
The above picture was taken from a bridge just outside the gate. From that bridge, we were able to see this medieval port crane, a facility used to load and unload ships. Gdansk was a member of the Hanseatic League, a federation of trading guilds around the Baltic Sea. We eventually learned more about this league in Hamburg and other cities we visited.
The shopping area was filled with bakeries, cafes, and numerous jewelry shops that specialized in amber jewelry. We heard quite an interesting talk on amber and how to distinguish it from the plastic fakes that are sometimes pawned off on the unsuspecting. Did you know that real amber burns or that it floats in water?
After visiting St. Petersburg, we traveled overnight to the little country of Estonia. Our port of call was the capital city of Tallinn. For our tour, we chose to visit the "old town" part of the city, with its narrow cobblestone streets and a lively plaza where we were able to do a little shopping. We found cute, handmade dolls for great-nephew Felix and granddaughter Eleanor there. Buildings in these old cities very often have interesting features, like the clock and the dragon you see here.
Like many of the cities in Europe, old town Tallinn was once a walled city. We rendezvoused for our trip back to the ship at the city gate you see here, where vendors were selling flowers and other items.
Overnight, we traveled to Stockholm, Sweden. Stockholm sits at the eastern end of a vast archipelago, so the last several hours of the trip, which occurred at dawn, were spent winding through beautiful waterways and between islands and other slips of land. For those of us who arose with the sun, it was a beautiful ride. Because Kathie and I had visited Stockholm some years ago, and because we were a bit tired from the many tours on preceding days, we elected to spend most of the day aboard ship, so there are no pictures of Stockholm itself to offer here. But, here are a couple of shots of the trip through the archipelago.
Our next day was spent at sea. Each evening, we dined in a formal dining room and always had four full courses from which to choose (appetizer, salad, main course, and dessert). The food was exceptional. We were assigned to a specific table, and so we became well-acquainted with new friends Johnny and Cindy from North Carolina who were seated at the same table. Here we are. You can see the Baltic Sea out the window.
Following this day at sea, we were in Poland. We docked in Gydania. However, we had chosen a tour of Gdansk, home of Lech Walesa, the leader of the Solidarity Movement in Poland during the late 1980s. Like Tallinn and others, Gdansk was a walled city at one time. Below is a shot of one of the gates to the city. We passed through this gate to enter an interesting little shopping area, which you can see in another photo below.
The above picture was taken from a bridge just outside the gate. From that bridge, we were able to see this medieval port crane, a facility used to load and unload ships. Gdansk was a member of the Hanseatic League, a federation of trading guilds around the Baltic Sea. We eventually learned more about this league in Hamburg and other cities we visited.
The shopping area was filled with bakeries, cafes, and numerous jewelry shops that specialized in amber jewelry. We heard quite an interesting talk on amber and how to distinguish it from the plastic fakes that are sometimes pawned off on the unsuspecting. Did you know that real amber burns or that it floats in water?
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Maryann and Barbara
Why do we allow so much time to pass and not stay in better touch with those who are dear to us? When Paula and I were young, we periodically got to spend time with two very special cousins--Maryann and Barbara. (I can't say "Maryann" and not have "and Barbara" roll right off my tongue!) Unfortunately, as we entered our adolescent and adult years, we became so involved in our own lives that we failed to maintain these ties. Our respective parents were connected, and through them, we would hear occasional news about our cousins, but with the loss of our parents, even these opportunities diminished. The good news is, though, that retirement and personal interests have compelled me to work at correcting these kinds of situations. So, after some recent exchanges of emails, I had the distinct privilege this last Monday evening of meeting Maryann and Barbara for dinner.
Not one of the three of us could recall with any certainty the last time we had seen each other, but it may very well have been 20 years or more. Here are the three of us (Barbara, me, Maryann) circa 1947-1948. Don't you just love their bonnets and my matching coat and cap?
And here are the three of us at dinner on Monday.
We just about closed the restaurant, even though we met there at 6PM for dinner. We talked and talked, caught up on our respective lives, and shared pictures with each other of our children, grandchildren, spouses, and others. We agreed that we need to continue to stay in touch and to get together periodically. We were all sorry that others, including their sister Kathy and my sister Paula, couldn't have joined us. But this is something we can and will correct as we go forward. As I said at the outset, Maryann and Barbara and Paula and I enjoyed being together when we were young. (Paula: One of the first things Maryann recalled at dinner was the famous story about how she and I conspired to try to frighten you and Barbara one evening at their house. You will know the details, of course!! So many of us remember this story, that I guess it must really be true!!) Anyway, in closing, here are all four of us many years ago.
Not one of the three of us could recall with any certainty the last time we had seen each other, but it may very well have been 20 years or more. Here are the three of us (Barbara, me, Maryann) circa 1947-1948. Don't you just love their bonnets and my matching coat and cap?
And here are the three of us at dinner on Monday.
We just about closed the restaurant, even though we met there at 6PM for dinner. We talked and talked, caught up on our respective lives, and shared pictures with each other of our children, grandchildren, spouses, and others. We agreed that we need to continue to stay in touch and to get together periodically. We were all sorry that others, including their sister Kathy and my sister Paula, couldn't have joined us. But this is something we can and will correct as we go forward. As I said at the outset, Maryann and Barbara and Paula and I enjoyed being together when we were young. (Paula: One of the first things Maryann recalled at dinner was the famous story about how she and I conspired to try to frighten you and Barbara one evening at their house. You will know the details, of course!! So many of us remember this story, that I guess it must really be true!!) Anyway, in closing, here are all four of us many years ago.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
St. Petersburg
I definitely took the greatest number of trip pictures during our visit in St. Petersburg, mostly because of the opulence of the summer palace of Peter the Great that we toured at Peterhof. On our way to the summer palace, we saw this interesting church alongside the road, so I snapped a picture. I'm sorry I don't recall what denomination it was, but I loved the ornate architecture.
The summer palace sits within a vast park, which is filled with trees, groomed walks, flowers, fountains, and statuary. The palace itself is filled with treasures and has many many features covered with gold leaf. Anticipating German occupation, steps were taken to remove many of the treasures, at least to take samples, including samples of wall coverings, furniture, china, and other items. The palace was painstakingly restored follwing the war. At the risk of showing you too many pictures of it, here is an initial view of the palace as we approached it for our tour.
There are many paintings in the palace. Here is one from a series related to some famous naval battle. There are also many of members of the royal family.
We saw several immense chandeliers.
Here you can get an idea of how much gold leaf adorned walls and features throughout the palace.
This dining area included very fancy china, silver, and crystal settings.
This was a throne that Tsar Nicholas used. That "H" is an "N" in the cyrillic alphabet.
Nearly every room had an ornate porcelain or tile stove like this one.
Here is a view from the "front" of the palace looking toward the sea and some of the fountains.
There were some rooms, an "oriental room" for example, where pictures were not allowed. The room below was described as a portrait room. However, the portraits were simply for the purpose of decoration and were not family members or other well-known individuals. In fact, we were told that all of the portraits were posed by about 12 individuals total, and so you could see similarities in the faces, though the poses varied significantly. The artist had "hidden" several of himself throughout.
Most of the floors and much of the furniture involved various kinds of woods and many intricate inlays.
The following three shots provide a sample of the fountains in the garden. The first and third are the major fountains that extend from the front of the palace toward the Baltic Sea.
Following the tour of this palace, we were transported by hydrofoil across the sea to St. Petersburg. This took approximately a half hour. Peterhof and the palace sit at quite some distance from St. Petersburg itself. Once we arrived there, we were treated to a beef stroganoff lunch at one of the grand hotels in the city. A small group of musicians played authentic Russian music for us during the luncheon.
After lunch we took a bus tour of the city, with a few stops at selected sites. The building below was the winter palace for the Tsars. Now it is occupied by the Hermitage Museum.
We must have seen at least a half dozen wedding parties during the afternoon. Most were at famous or important locations for picture taking. I thought the brides' dresses were quite different from the more delicate styles we typically see.
Below is the cruiser Aurora, which fired a first shot to signal the beginning of the October revolution of 1917 (that is to signal that the winter palace should be stormed).
Finally, we toured the Church of the Resurrection (Church on the Spilled Blood) which was constructed atop the spot where Alexander II was assassinated in 1881. In addition to its fascinating exterior, the interior is completely (and I mean every square inch) covered with tile mosaics documenting the life of Christ from birth to ascension.
St. Petersburg is filled with history and elegance. There is so much to see there. If you are interested in learning more about some of the places mentioned above and other sites in St. Petersburg, you can find an interesting virtual tour of the city here.
The summer palace sits within a vast park, which is filled with trees, groomed walks, flowers, fountains, and statuary. The palace itself is filled with treasures and has many many features covered with gold leaf. Anticipating German occupation, steps were taken to remove many of the treasures, at least to take samples, including samples of wall coverings, furniture, china, and other items. The palace was painstakingly restored follwing the war. At the risk of showing you too many pictures of it, here is an initial view of the palace as we approached it for our tour.
There are many paintings in the palace. Here is one from a series related to some famous naval battle. There are also many of members of the royal family.
We saw several immense chandeliers.
Here you can get an idea of how much gold leaf adorned walls and features throughout the palace.
This dining area included very fancy china, silver, and crystal settings.
This was a throne that Tsar Nicholas used. That "H" is an "N" in the cyrillic alphabet.
Nearly every room had an ornate porcelain or tile stove like this one.
Here is a view from the "front" of the palace looking toward the sea and some of the fountains.
There were some rooms, an "oriental room" for example, where pictures were not allowed. The room below was described as a portrait room. However, the portraits were simply for the purpose of decoration and were not family members or other well-known individuals. In fact, we were told that all of the portraits were posed by about 12 individuals total, and so you could see similarities in the faces, though the poses varied significantly. The artist had "hidden" several of himself throughout.
Most of the floors and much of the furniture involved various kinds of woods and many intricate inlays.
The following three shots provide a sample of the fountains in the garden. The first and third are the major fountains that extend from the front of the palace toward the Baltic Sea.
Following the tour of this palace, we were transported by hydrofoil across the sea to St. Petersburg. This took approximately a half hour. Peterhof and the palace sit at quite some distance from St. Petersburg itself. Once we arrived there, we were treated to a beef stroganoff lunch at one of the grand hotels in the city. A small group of musicians played authentic Russian music for us during the luncheon.
After lunch we took a bus tour of the city, with a few stops at selected sites. The building below was the winter palace for the Tsars. Now it is occupied by the Hermitage Museum.
We must have seen at least a half dozen wedding parties during the afternoon. Most were at famous or important locations for picture taking. I thought the brides' dresses were quite different from the more delicate styles we typically see.
Below is the cruiser Aurora, which fired a first shot to signal the beginning of the October revolution of 1917 (that is to signal that the winter palace should be stormed).
Finally, we toured the Church of the Resurrection (Church on the Spilled Blood) which was constructed atop the spot where Alexander II was assassinated in 1881. In addition to its fascinating exterior, the interior is completely (and I mean every square inch) covered with tile mosaics documenting the life of Christ from birth to ascension.
St. Petersburg is filled with history and elegance. There is so much to see there. If you are interested in learning more about some of the places mentioned above and other sites in St. Petersburg, you can find an interesting virtual tour of the city here.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Finland
The day after our stop in Germany and tour of Berlin was spent at sea as we traveled toward Helsinki, Finland. The following morning we found ourselves docked there. We had selected a tour for the day that included a chance to see rural areas as well as Helsinki itself. Our first stop was in a charming medieval community called Porvoo, which offered picturesque shops along cobblestone streets. In addition to a photo of Porvoo, here is a shot of my beautiful wife on the walking bridge leading into Porvooo.
Next, we traveled to Savijärvi Farm. This farm originally specialized in dairy cows, but some years ago the Finnish government determined that there were too many dairy farms and encouraged diversification. So, the owner of Savijärvi Farm at that time (a couple family generations ago) sold his cows to someone in Russia in exchange for horses. Breeds of horses from Russia are evidently excellent, including Arabian and other lines. The farm trains horses and riders, offers breeding services, and raises its own horses. The farm is a total family operation. There were several houses on the property which were occupied by grandparents and their various children and families. Part of the family manages the horse breeding operations, others manage events and training, and others manage tourist services. Below is the original family home. After an introduction to the horses, we were treated to a wonderful meal in this home.
Below are a couple photos of horses shown to us. Although I failed to take a picture of them, they also showed us two Shetland ponies. The story was that the grandfather had always been opposed to having ponies, that is until his grandchildren arrived on the scene. He therefore surprised everyone one Christmas by arranging for the two ponies to be brought into the living room as a gift to the grandchildren. They have been at the farm ever since. All of the animals we saw were beautiful. I know Kathie would have loved to go for a ride.
I mentioned a meal in the main house. Below is a shot of the desert included with that meal. Those are locally grown berries, including currants and cranberries, which were dressed with a light, sweet sauce. The other courses had consisted of nettle soup and a stew made with fish. That's right, nettle soup, which we learned is not uncommon in the Baltic region. If you have, like me, experienced pulling nettles as weeds and getting your hands stung, you can't quite imagine eating the things. But the plant is evidently even healthier for you than spinach, and when properly prepared, it has a wonderful taste. Kathie and I both liked the soup.
After the tour of the rural areas, we were treated to a tour of Finland's capital city, Helsinki. One of the most unusual sites there was the Rock Church. As I understood it, the original plan had been to build a more traditional church at the site, but residents in the neighborhood objected to their views being obstructed. So, the architect decided to blast a recess into the rock and set the church down into it with a dome erected overtop as the church's roof. Although we didn't get to hear anything except recorded music inside, the church is supposed to have outstanding acoustics. Below is one picture from outside and another in the sanctuary.
Finally, here is a picture of the Lutheran Cathedral that dominates one side of Senate Square in Helsinki. This square is bordered on its other sides by government buildings and shops.
Next, we traveled to Savijärvi Farm. This farm originally specialized in dairy cows, but some years ago the Finnish government determined that there were too many dairy farms and encouraged diversification. So, the owner of Savijärvi Farm at that time (a couple family generations ago) sold his cows to someone in Russia in exchange for horses. Breeds of horses from Russia are evidently excellent, including Arabian and other lines. The farm trains horses and riders, offers breeding services, and raises its own horses. The farm is a total family operation. There were several houses on the property which were occupied by grandparents and their various children and families. Part of the family manages the horse breeding operations, others manage events and training, and others manage tourist services. Below is the original family home. After an introduction to the horses, we were treated to a wonderful meal in this home.
Below are a couple photos of horses shown to us. Although I failed to take a picture of them, they also showed us two Shetland ponies. The story was that the grandfather had always been opposed to having ponies, that is until his grandchildren arrived on the scene. He therefore surprised everyone one Christmas by arranging for the two ponies to be brought into the living room as a gift to the grandchildren. They have been at the farm ever since. All of the animals we saw were beautiful. I know Kathie would have loved to go for a ride.
I mentioned a meal in the main house. Below is a shot of the desert included with that meal. Those are locally grown berries, including currants and cranberries, which were dressed with a light, sweet sauce. The other courses had consisted of nettle soup and a stew made with fish. That's right, nettle soup, which we learned is not uncommon in the Baltic region. If you have, like me, experienced pulling nettles as weeds and getting your hands stung, you can't quite imagine eating the things. But the plant is evidently even healthier for you than spinach, and when properly prepared, it has a wonderful taste. Kathie and I both liked the soup.
After the tour of the rural areas, we were treated to a tour of Finland's capital city, Helsinki. One of the most unusual sites there was the Rock Church. As I understood it, the original plan had been to build a more traditional church at the site, but residents in the neighborhood objected to their views being obstructed. So, the architect decided to blast a recess into the rock and set the church down into it with a dome erected overtop as the church's roof. Although we didn't get to hear anything except recorded music inside, the church is supposed to have outstanding acoustics. Below is one picture from outside and another in the sanctuary.
Finally, here is a picture of the Lutheran Cathedral that dominates one side of Senate Square in Helsinki. This square is bordered on its other sides by government buildings and shops.
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