May 2-3, 2018 Baltic Cruise Stockholm to Helsinki
Voyage of discovery. 8 countries. This is our story.
15 days aboard a Viking ship. Starting in Stockholm and ending in Bergen. Are you a Viking? Ok, take your hand out of your pocket and look at your palm. Do you have thick skin on your palms causing some your fingers to curl in toward your palm? If yes you may have Viking heritage. It is called Dupuytren’s contracture. If no, you are Neanderthal. You are susceptible to belly fat and schizophrenia. Sorry about that. Bill is a Viking. Unfortunately He also carries Neanderthal genes.
9:15 pm SAS Flight from Chicago to Stockholm Sweden. The journey is seriously underway.
The Viking Sea. 900 plus happy passengers.
Stockholm starts with a good breakfast!
Our Viking tour guide. Observe right hand. Don’t ask if he is related to Jon Jonson from Wisconsin.
Street scene from the bus. On the way to a ride through history.
Anno Domini 963. Ragnfrids saga. We rode four person cars meandering through two years in the life of a Viking Rägnfrid. Shamed by his wife Rag embarks on a two year raiding mission to capture silver and slaves for sale. Amassing a fortune a series of unfortunate events results in the death of partners and theft of his booty by pirates. In the end he gains enough wealth to please his wife and provide a husband for his daughter. And you call yourself a Viking! Lay around and drink mead all day! Shame on you. Be a Viking! Go forth and plunder somewhere.
More Mead beer please. Why you might ask? Notice it is dark. We were taken into a cellar with blood on the floor. Ok, it was red wine.
Mead beer-over 6%. That is not a pear. It is Elk, calf liver, a little pork and seasonings. It tasted a lot like liverwurst.
OK. A couple of street scenes and that’s all folks. Although the rules are no longer enforced buildings are limited to a height of the church steeple. That is why many buildings are only 5 to 6 stories high.
We really didn’t get a chance to get quality street scene pictures of which Stockholm is famous. Took this picture thinking I would remember the statue. Ha! Too much information not retrievable without lots of mead.
There are rune pictures and rune texts. Rune texts often paid homage to relatives. The following picture most likely shows Odin stealing mead from the giant Suttung. Speaking of Odin: God of war and death, involved in the creation of the world, god of poetry and wisdom. And more. Not pictured but interesting: Skule and Folks raised this stone in honor of their brother, Husbjorn who became ill while gathering taxes in Gotland. Hmmmmm...
We will leave Stockholm with this admission: Maybe Carol had to help me a little.
Helsinki, Finland. Wednesday May 3, 2018 6:30 am 6 C. Foggy morning to you! I put my hand in front of my face and ran into it.
And so, we have journeyed from Sweden, the ever incrementally rising land of 9.9 million people to Finland, Home to 5 and one half million people. Why rising you might ask: post glacial rebound. Glaciers compress the land mass. The land mass rebounds slowly. There you have it. We are listening to classical music in preparation for our Sibelius concert later today- At the moment Eroica if you want to know....and now Ave Maria. History lesson: Do you know the difference between Nordic and Scandinavian heritage?
Sweden 🇸🇪 Norway 🇫🇮& Denmark 🇩🇰 are monarchies. Note the flag similarities. I think the cross represents Christianity. They are the Scandinavian countries. They are also the Nordic countries and include Finland and Iceland.
Therefore, Finland and Iceland are not Scandinavian countries. Got it? Hmmmm...Is this line of reasoning a syllogism? Where is Aristotle when you need him?
The early lunch menu.
And wine or beer at every meal-all you want.
This weird. In front of the yellow building (Tallberg commerce building) note the Three Smiths Statue. They are hammering an anvil in the nude. I don’t know. Carol wouldn’t let me ask. During the summer an orchestra plays Peruvian street music at this site. It is a popular meeting place. Tallberg made a financial contribution to the construction of this statue in the 30’s.
Visited the Rock Church. Built in 1969. People were upset because it didn’t look like a traditional Lutheran Church.
Great place for meditation. Copper roof and 7,600 pipe organ. Must be a beautiful sound reverberating off the walls and ceiling.
Recital
I should’ve videoed some of Finlandia but it didn’t seem like the right thing to do. So here’s a little bit of something else played by a very accomplished violinist and pianist
Monument to Sibelius. People had difficulty associating this with him or anything for that matter. Carol sees a score of Finlandia. What you hear if you see Finlandia. Or maybe what you see if you hear Finlandia. I see a bunch of pipes. I like her artistic interpretation better.
Hence, they added a bust. That clears it up, yes?
Lutheran Church. Depending on the municipality, an average of 1.4% of your wages can be withdrawn and sent to the church. You can opt out by giving a note to the church. Interesting, no?
Finish Orthodox Church. Likewise, money can be transferred to support this church. These are the only two churches where this is allowed.
Will Break this up. Next up St. Petersburg Russia to Tallinn Estonia. By the way, in Germany the worship tax or cult tax extends to nonchristian groups.