Long Journey Home (Part 2)

Sorry for the long delay in getting part 2 (and part 3, sheesh) of our trip home, but a funny  thing happens during the summer... we are so busy doing summer things, ice cream, lake, family, friends, that this little story just gets put by the wayside.  But now we are getting back to school, and suddenly, well, this just seems to be more fun.  So, on with the story.

Here we are, in Tallin, Estonia.  Now, and be honest here, what do you really know about Estonia?  If you are at all like us, the answer is, well, not much, really. 

Tallinn has two parts, the main modern city, and the old walled part of the city.  The old part is much more photogenic, and so it is to that part that we set off.

There were a lot of tourists around, so we decided to take off in the other direction, and came across this guy playing an instrument.  R-man, being interested in music, stopped to listen.  After making a small donation, we got to hear a brief history of the "key harp", a Swedish instrument, being played by this guy here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyckelharpa

This is St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox cathedral.  When you go inside the ladies (not the tourists, the parishioners) wear traditional head coverings and will sell you candles to light.  

The wall of towers square.

This is part of the town hall square.

That cool tower is part of the Cathedral of St. Mary the Virgin.   All of these churches let you inside, but you can't take pictures.  Well, maybe you could, for a small fee.

Lots and lots of cobblestone.

Waiting to get inside.

What fun is a medieval city without archery???

Another musician.  We got this guy's CD.

The town hall square in full swing.

Sitting on the Bench of Dreams!



The view of the Tallinn harbor.  If you are planning to visit Tallinn, here is a link to the tourism board.  It also has more info on some of the places we visited:

http://www.tourism.tallinn.ee/fpage/explore/attractions/cat-370

The next day was a tour of St. Petersburg.  We decided to take a cruise sponsored tour because the application process for a visa to Russia was pretty complicated  http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1006.html and also expensive.  The cost of the tour was about the cost of the visa.  And so, if you will be in Russia for less than 72 hours and are taking a state approved tour, they let you come in. 

After driving for about 45 minutes through communist era buildings (think Ivan Drago concrete block style) we come to Peterhof.

As you enter you have to put away your camera, put little protective booties over your shoes (like these, below) and generally assume an air of seriousness.

and so, there are no pictures of the inside, but you can see more here:

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/peterhof/index.asp

and if you scroll down a little bit here:
http://www.saint-petersburg.com/peterhof/grand-palace.asp

you can see some of the inside rooms. 

One thing that we liked that was not shown is Peter's bed.  I guess Peter the Great was about 6 feet 6 inches tall, but he had this short little bed with all of these pillows.  It was popular at the time to sleep sitting up, for good health, but if you happened to see anyone with a big bunch of pillows (Gary) you can ask them, "What, do you think you are Peter the Great?"

Anyway, here are some more of the gardens surrounding Peterhof.

This is the entrance to the lunch restaurant. 

Of course, even here in the middle of Russia, I am anticipating the Fourth of July... see you soon! 

So we learned that Peter the Great was a pretty hysterical guy, he made his guests drink vast quantities of vodka, and  for the ladies...

he would get them to stroll down this promenade and then soak them, fancy dresses, make-up, and all.

If you see a guy in a black Zorro mask, watch your cash.

I had the kids pose here by the water so that I could pocket a rock from Peterhof. 

Of course, amid all of this grandeur, Porta-pottties.  Which are not grand. 

Next stop, the pier, where we get to ride a hydrofoil across the water.

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We stop at a gift shop with typical souvenirs, and of course, fur hats!

We didn't see a heavy police presence, but our tour guide told us about the changes that have taken place since communism.  Now the former KGB headquarters is the police headquarters.... hmmmmm....

Next stop, the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul. 

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/cathedrals/Peter-Paul-Cathedral.asp

This place is amazing.

Inside, along with some amazing art and architecture, are the coffins of many of the former rulers of Russia.

The lights on one of the bridges was designed by Eiffel, the same guy that did some tower in Paris.

The Church of the Resurrection of JC, 

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/cathedrals/church-resurrection-jesus-christ.asp

we just had time to jump out and take some pictures in front of this one.

and yet somehow managed time to also get this shot.  Meatheads!

The bronze horseman, a tribute to... can you guess.... let's see....

yup, Peter the Great!

Drive by... not sure what this building is, but it sure is pretty.

Leaving St. Petersburg...

and Gary said he found the perfect house for me... love it!

The Long Journey Home

This summer we decided to take the long way home, via northern Europe and the Baltic.  We started in Daegu and made our first stop in Copenhagen.  The first thing we noticed about this city is that the train/subway system is very easy to use.  Even though we had been flying and laying over for about 20 hours we figured that since it was still daylight, we would take the rail to Tivoli, an amusement park in downtown Copenhagen. 

This is the front of the central train depot... nice, right?  Also, there is parking for about 10,000 bicycles out front.  And all of them were filled. 



According to the 1000 Places to See Before You Die iPad app, Tivoli Gardens is the 191st place in the world, and the only one in Copenhagen (other than new Nordic cuisine, and Danish design, which I am not sure are specific places), and so, armed with some Kronor, we set off. 

Again, according to that same app, Tivoli Gardens is one of the world's oldest theme parks, said to have inspired Walt Disney.  The park opened in 1843 and it is quite nice. 

The difference here is that you pay as you go, instead of paying one price for all of the rides, you pay admission, and then everything else is a la carte...

The decorations are nice.

Of course the suckers always look good.

There are come cultural attractions.

Of course we only had a few kronor, and you could only use a Danish credit card,  so the kids had to make do with just looking...

The tower of terror...

The main difference with Tivoli and Disney is that these buildings are authentically old, not just sets of old looking new buildings.

The background of the park.

There is a section called Petzi's World,where the kids can meet all of their favorite characters: Petzi, Pingo, Pelle, and Old Salt. 

For 1 kronor you could feed the ducks.  And if you shook the machine, more would come out!  After that strenuous activity we decided to head back to the hotel... with the time change we had been awake for about 23 hours.



The next morning we decided to take a walk around and check out the area around our hotel (the GO Hotel, if you were wondering).   

Across the street was this beautiful church.

With this beautiful vestry house.

Because I was having a problem with my camera, I don't know the name of the church, but it was nice. 

After our walk around we had to head to the pier to get on our cruise.  The best part of the kids getting bigger??? Guess...

Again we took the train (for about $12USD) rather than a taxi (for about $50), and it was so clean, safe, and easy to get around.  They even have special cars for people that want to bring their bikes on (or huge amounts of luggage???).

R-man's favorite sign :)

So on the cruise we are heading out of Copenhagen harbor.  These windmills are the most amazing thing.  They span the length of the harbor and are just slowly spinning.  It was like Rise of the Machines, long after humans are gone, these will still be collecting wind energy... spooky....

Our first stop on the cruise: Warnemunde, Germany.  As part of the day, you could take a train to Berlin, but it was like, 3 hours, EACH WAY!  And so, instead we decided that we would stretch our legs in a long walk around the town. 

On the pier there was a little bit of fun.

We try to take a picture with the name of the place in it so that we can tell where we are. This is the train depot, again clean, safe, and cheap.

The weather was not the greatest, overcast, a heavy mist, and quite chilly. 
In case you were wondering how come it was so cold, take a look at this world map:

 now you might find Germany up there between Poland and the Netherlands.  But now, take your finger and draw the latitude (that's the horizontal one) over to North America.  See how it lines up with somewhere up in Canada?  Like that part that is north of most of Quebec?  Like up in Newfoundland??? That is why it is cold, because we were UP there!  That makes NH look tropical!  And Florida?  Well, that is tropical!

Anyway, back to the story.  Our first two stops were lighthouses. 

At the top, with the Baltic behind us.

Walking down the street, a little alleyway.

Next place, a windmill converted into a restaurant.

More walking, this time past little hippy-dippy shops, veggie marts, jewelry stores.

And a toy store selling these kind of creepy toys.

Another church, where of course I lit some candles for a safe trip (see Aunt Lucille, I have my own hoo-doo voo-doo)!

Across the street was a grocer, where we stocked up on chocolate, lip balm, and wondered at American dressing.  What do you think?

As it started to clear up, we took a walk along the waterfront, and saw these scenic sights.

Of course, no trip would be complete without some smoked fish, which Gary thought was also among the 1000 Places to See Before You Die, but I am not sure.

Back to the boat, to drop the kids off at the kids club (they are done walking).

And back out for some more "sight-seeing".

And a little LOVE from Lisa and Frank, the fabulous vocal duo performing at a little shop outside the pier. 
Coming up... Estonia and Russia.