Tallinn, Estonia

 Tallinn is Estonia's capital on the Baltic Sea and used to be part of the USSR. It is 130 miles west of the Russian border.  We took a shuttle bus into town where there are old buildings from the Middle Ages.

A short walk in town and we came across the largest display of flowers for sale that we had ever seen.

The town has many large and very old churches.

We saw these young school children downtown on a field trip.  Notice that they are all waring safety vests.

We found a street with a row of protest and missing person signs.  Most were supporting Ukraine against Russia.

Here is one of the street signs up close.  Notice the addition scribbled above the word "Russia."

This building made us think of home in the Detroit suburbs.  Note the Estonia flag above.

Like in so many old European and Scandinavian cities the ancient buildings are fascinating to see.

This attraction reminded Bill of his heart procedure last year.  

The pier back near the ship took us past this man-made sea barrier protecting the city shore.  There must either be a shortage of large rocks or logistical problems gathering them.

 🚜

Gdansk, Poland

 On Tuesday, May 5, we arrived in Poland.  The weather was overcast and cool.

We got off the ship in the morning and grabbed a shuttle bus into town that was running every half-hour.

In town we stopped at a small convince store and noticed these potato chips with an unusual (to us)  flavor.

Poland was devastated during WWII and many buildings still show the scars.

We were surprised at how much of the English language we saw downtown.

After lunch we got on a bus for a tour of this castle that was in a small town called Malbork.

This is what the castle looked like at the end of WWII.  The city and the country of Poland put up the money to restore it and make it a tourist attraction.

Our full bus load of tourists got a two-hour guided tour from a local Polish lady that spoke pretty good English.

On the tour e even got to see where the monks, knights, and royalty went to relieve themselves.  Notice the large cabbage leaves above they used for their TP.  (paper was very expensive and a rare commodity)

These three knights/kings all ruled the castle and the monks at different times.  The monks had tough rules to obey, hard work, and hard beds on which to sleep.

This gate kept out invaders like the Vikings.

This is the surrounding moat that used to be filled with dirty water.

The courtyards at the castle.

The monks made beautiful amber jewelry and there were plenty on display in secured glass cases.

💠

Our trip through the Polish countryside to the castle was interesting and fun even though it rained.  We were surprised at the lack of safety features at the castle such as guard rails on the stone stairways.

🏰 

Karlskrona, Sweden

 Here is an updated map of our voyage so far.

We started in Norway and now have stopped in at Sweden's most southern port.

Their port is not deep eough for our ship so we anchored about a quarter mile off shore and took these tenders in.

               Our tour guide was a local lady and here she is standing under a statue of the town's founder.  The town is full of military buildings and a large naval base and Air Force base are here.

                          In Swedish folklore this fellow was stingy and mistreated the poor.  Now you can tip his hat and put donations in for the needy.  

After a two-hour guided tour around town, Bill followed this chick back to the tender for a lift to the big boat.

🚤

Northern Germany

 On Sunday we docked in Northern Germany in the town of Waremunde.  The majority of our passengers gathered very early to take a four-hour train ride to Berlin.  As Karen and I had visited Berlin back on our honeymoon, we decided to pass on that all-day adventure.

There was a long boardwalk with fishermen, tourists, and even campers not far from our ship.

This large Ferris wheel and small amusement park were attracting a few visitors.

The motor homes were much smaller than most in the United States.

There were four large sand sculptures on display built by an artist from the U.S.

I think you can see the California influence from the 80's.

In the afternoon Bill took a bus and guided tour to the ancient city of Gdansk.  Our guide was a college student studying theater(above).  He spoke broken English but we could understand most of what he was saying.  The old city had once been surrounded by a wall for protection.

Here is what remains of the old wall that used to protect the  city from Viking raiders.

Passengers that traveled to Berlin by train for the day were welcomed back with a special welcoming ceremony by the Viking crew and staff as they emerged from the customs building.

🚊

Copenhagen, Denmark

 On Saturday, May 2, we awoke in the port of Copenhagen which is the largest and busiest city in Denmark.  The weather again was sunny and so warm that we did not need jackets.

We checked the sign and got on another hop-on-hop-off bus. It connected to four different routes.

We purchased our ticket for the day....

...and hopped on. We sat up top with our hearing devices plugged in to listen as the sites were explained.

We passed Tivoli which is their version of Disneyland in the middle of the city.

Because it was Saturday and the weather so warm and sunny we found Copenhagen to be a bit too crowded and busy for our real enjoyment.  Bicycles everywhere and narrow streets for our bus.

Our bus stopped at the little mermaid and we learned how she has been misused over the years.  Her head was stolen once and a new one had to be made!

This tower was beautiful and could be scaled for a healthy walk.

This city power plant also has rock climbing and serves as a ski jump in the winter.

There was a small flea market going on in one of the city squares.  We rode three different bus routes, saw plenty of neighborhoods and made it back to our ship by 4 PM.  We were exhausted after dealing with the crowds.

As we sailed away from Denmark we noticed that they did not waste good farmland with their wind generators.  

🚩

 

Alborg, Denmark

 After sailing south through a foggy and windy night we arrived Friday morning in the port of Alborg, Denmark.

The town is not huge so we skipped the guided tours and chose to walk through this beautiful clean city on our own.  We did some shopping for a few essentials.

We explored  this town on our own as the weather again was clear and beautiful.  This is the main rail  station.

The streets and sidewalks again are made from bricks. They are not level but there are no loose blocks and no curbs to trip over.

We are seeing this American franchise in every town in Scandinavia so far.....

...and this one as well.  Just for the record we both had a sandwich at a McDonald's instead of going back to the ship for lunch. Our fish sandwiches with fries and drinks cost $70 Danish Krone (DKK) and were pretty much identical to what you get in the U.S.

In the afternoon we noticed this beautiful little city park next to the harbor.  Kids were jumping off into the cold clean ocean water.

Here is our Viking ship The Neptune.  It holds 900 passengers plus its crew.  It is spotlessly clean and the entire crew so far has been helpful and friendly - as are most passengers.

🚢