Just off the Silhouette..May 24-June 6 Scandinavia

[raudacruise]

DH and I were in the Army, stationed in West Berlin (Teufelsberg)1977-79.  Never allowed to visit East Berlin, relations were not good then.  We were married in Berlin.  I’d like to return and tour a couple days but don’t think I’d recognize much.  I believe our barracks (former SS) have been torn down.  You could see where they covered up swastikas.

[Nancycat]

Enchanting Visby…

After a restful sea day following the busy day in Berlin we were ready to explore Visby.

Advertised as a Swedish Fairytale town and yes it lived up to its name.

 

This visit required using the shuttle, it is $10/ pp/ round trip. You are able to use your sail and sign card to pay or it. Roro,was free, and they easily were able to take the stroller.

 

We were dropped off just outside the walled city, it was a beautiful,sunny, cool day and as with our other ports not crowded. We walked into the city which is a medieval town dating back to the 12th century and our first words were WOW!!!

There were cobblestone stone streets, and gorgeous old and I mean old buildings at every turn and in places very steep inclines.

 

Our plan was to walk the wall, and of course eat locally and shop. The girls and my sister found a shop to “look” around in and I took charge of Roro, well off he went up up up ..part of the beauty was there were no cars. Luckily along the way we ran into some stone animals, not sure if they were sheep or lambs but no worries Roro was happy to climb on all of them.

 

 

 

[Nancycat]

More Visby….

 

One of the things we enjoy on these trips is to sometimes just wander around, without a specific destination.

 

The walled city of Visby was perfect for this, we walked on the main paths, but at one point decided to head down a long narrow street. When we go to the end we found a lovely restaurant overlooking the Baltic so we decided it was time for a snack.

Again the menu was not in English, we decided to get a number of dishes to share as well as local beer, another favorite of ours.

I actually can not recall all the items we ordered but all were delicious, we did not want to eat too much as we definitely wanted to stop for crepes.

After a fun lunch we headed off to walk the wall around the city, even as I write this I can feel the calm and joy we felt.We were together ,laughing, talking and enjoying life.

 

 

 

 

[hcat]

how wonderful.. family is a blessing!

glad you are enjoying each other!

[Tom47]

Thanks for a great review.  We are on this cruise next May.

[Nancycat]

More and more Visby..

As you can tell we loved Visby, after our walk on the wall we continued to wander  around as we needed to make room for crepes..😉

Roro being 2 has his own pronunciation of everyone’s names, I am clearly Nana, and yes there is a point to this other than his adorableness .

He called Emily, Ami, Eileen, lean , Steve , tee, Becky bety , and Conor ,Donner 

so during our walk suddenly we come across Donners Hotel, of course this brought laughter within the group and sadly we are sure Conor will forever be known as Donner ..

 

[Nancycat]

Time to say goodbye to Visby..

After a wonderful day it was time to start our trek back..but not without a stop for Crepes..

Emily brought us to a fabulous restaurant called Creperie and Logi, We were seated on a back patio, which was private and scenic. We all ordered different crepes, which were absolutely delicious, unfortunately we did not take any pictures.

Following our lovely lunch, we walked out of the walled city and spent our last hour in a lovely park and at the waters edge of the Baltic 

[Nancycat]

Tallin Estonia..

 

After our relaxing day in Visby we now arrive in historic Tallin.

 

I had set up a private walking tour via Tours with Locals, we met our guide Eryc right outside the port. We walked toward the old town as he told us about his home.

Tallin is an independent county which had been part of the former Soviet Union, only gaining independence since 1991, having been occupied over the centuries, and he made it clear how proud they were of their history.

 

The architecture was beautiful and Eryc told us he was going to help find dragons for Roro as we went along.

This again was a cobblestone, hilly terrain and we did notice the crowds were increasing as compared to our earlier ports. Eryc was an excellent tour guide and took us off the main roads to the more quiet neighborhoods.

 

While walking we did pass the Russian Embassy and there were many signs of protest.

This prompted me to ask him about the war in Ukrainian, as Estonia shares a boarder with Russia that is 183 miles long.

He shared with me that everyone in Estonia are concerned daily, he told me that although Estonia is a NATO a member he worries. As with all young men he is required to serve in the military, and has an escape plan for his young family if Russia invaded.🥲

We did hear some fighter jets , he assured me those were NATO jets, not Russian.

 

As we continued our walk we did come across a number of dragons, which Roro was able to view with the binoculars that Eryc had for him.

We did stop,for some sweet treats, we went to a bakery which also had marzipan 😀

Not only did they sell marzipan but we were able to watch them being decorated, they seemed to beautiful to eat !! 
 

Our final stop on the tour was an old pharmacy, there was a “back room” with old and questionable methods for certain illnesses.

 

After our 3.5 hour tour we bid goodbye to Eryc, and went off on our own, he gave us detailed directions to get back to,the shuttle back to,the ship.

 

We spent the rest of the day wandering, and oh yes shopping, my girls found some great stores and purchased, sweaters, sneakers among other things.My sister and I took a break for a snack and we had the most delicious mushroom soup.

We easily found our shuttle and bid goodbye to Tallin…

 

next up Stockholm and the third recovery story….💔

 

 

[Karen450]

Tallin is indeed a treasure. I agree, the Russian threat was palpable.  We also had a wonderful day! 

[Nancycat]

Stockholm…

Its all about the Swedish Meatballs….

We arrived in Stockholm and had another walking tour via Tours with Locals Our guide this time wea Zenid. He met us at the dock and guided us to the city. there was a marathon going on that day so some of the buses were not running. He quickly led us to a city bus and off we went. 
We again received a detailed history of Stockholm, which was interesting to hear another perspective. We did not get to the Vasa Museum, I thought that would be overwhelming for Roro.

 

Zenid did tell us the history of it during our walk, I have been before and would recommend it.

We continued our walk through the back streets of Stockholm with Zenid giving us tidbits of fun information.

 

One of our stops was in a small garden area where we saw the “iron boy”

This is the story of the iron boy…

 See the tiny statue over there? The name of it is “Iron Boy” but many call it “Boy watching the moon”. It’s known as the smallest public monument in Stockholm and it came here in 1967. The artist is called Liss Eriksson. He was inspired by his own childhood; whenever he couldn’t sleep he’d cuddle up in his bed and watch the moon through his window. This little boy seems to touch a lot of people. When the winter is really cold you’ll often find a small woolly hat on his head and a scarf round his neck. And sometimes you’ll find sweets next to him. See how his head is shiny? They say this pretty little statue has magical powers. If you make a small offering of a coin, for instance, and pat the boy on his head it will bring you luck. It would be a shame not to try, wouldn’t it?

Well Zenid then told us why he would never touch the head…I will leave that to the imagination 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nancycat]

In search of the Meatballs….

this is the third recovery story …5 years ago I was on a similar itinerary, with the exception of a port call in St Petersburg. During that cruise I was not well, unbeknownst to me I was in heart failure due to a failing pulmonary valve and was having a difficult time walking and at one point needed to be in a wheelchair. 

During our port call to Stockholm we were on a bus trip, during one of the stops there was a steep hill that I could not possibly walk up.🥲

I was dropped off at a different location to sit and wait, there was another women with me. She had difficulty walking as well, we separated pretty quickly and I found a restaurant to wait in and ordered a lunch of Swedish meatballs, lingonberry jam ,mashed potatoes and a cold local beer.😋

 

While enjoying my lunch, my phone rang and it was my husband, for some reason that women decided to tell my husband I needed help.I did not!!!

I assured my husband I was fine and knew how to walk the short distance back to,the bus, but he was very concerned and worried for me.

Due to that I paid my bill and left without finishing my lunch..I was so upset with this stranger.My visit to Stockholm was ruined.

 

Fast forward 5 years…in 2020 I had 4 surgeries in 5 months ,including open heart for a valve replacement, yep in the midst of COVID, and now completely recovered and determined to finish those meatballs..🤪

We continued our walk with the end goal of meatballs, on the way we were taken to a fun yet steep staircase, I walked right to the top.

 

Our guide brought us to a wonderful local restaurant for my meatballs, we had a fabulous fun lunch with lots of laughs and fun,Steve and “Donner” enjoyed Aquavit.My family toasted my recovery, but sadly my meatballs were not as good as the others ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nancycat]

Not done in Stoc😀kholm 

I sort of went out of order with my excitement to talk about my triumphant return to Stockholm..

Before lunch our guide gave us the most wonderful tour with some fun insights, for those who are Game of Throne fans you of course remember the “red wedding “

Well as it turns out there was a red wedding type of event in Stockholm and we got to see where it happened and hear the story.. for history buffs this is it.

 

Stockholm Bloodbath as it was depicted in Blodbadsplanschen.

The Stockholm Bloodbath(Swedish: Stockholms blodbad; Danish: Det Stockholmske Blodbad) was a trial that led to a series of executions in Stockholmbetween 7 and 9 November 1520. The event is also known as the Stockholm massacre.^[1]

 

The events occurred after the coronation of Christian II as the new king of Sweden,^[2]when guests in the crowning party were invited to a meeting at Tre Kronor castle. Archbishop Gustav Trolle, demanding economic compensation for things such as the demolition of Almarestäket's fortress, questioned whether the former Swedish regent Sten Sture the Younger and his supporters had been guilty of heresy. Supported by canon law, nearly 100 people^[3] were executed in the days following the meeting despite promises of amnesty. Among those killed were many people from the aristocracy who had been supporting the Sture Party in the previous years. Thereafter King Christian II became known in Sweden as Kristian Tyrann

After this we had the privilege of seeing the changing of the guard, I have seen this in a number of places, And no matter where I always enjoy the pomp and circumstance.

 

As I mentioned earlier there was a marathon going on while we were there, and by the time we were heading back to the ship the streets were very crowded and buses were not running. That required us to walk and take the subway. As a girl who grew up and went to college in NYC public transportation is in my blood. But as good as I am this was beyond my ability.

Thank goodness for my daughter Becky, she is adept at both navigating public transportation and the internet. With her skills we made it through the marathon crowd, onto the subway and safely back to our ship..

…My return trip was a success!!