Three Weeks in Northern Europe

Originally, I did not intend to write about this trip – it was a travel which hardly had anything to do with “simply just walking.” I was on a cruise for 2 weeks and afterwords travelled to Norway to do two workshops with my friend and colleague Aud Marit. However, as it turned out, I walked nearly each day between 6 to eight miles and during this time, I learned and saw a lot.  I would love to share my experience with you.

The cruise was a family trip – this time with part of the family of my husband David.

The cruise ship “Serenade of the Seas” to the left was our ship

The big advantage of this cruise was that we did not have to care about accommodation and travelled to 6 countries in two weeks.. How did I like it? My original resistance against cruises did not change much. However, the sites we saw where fascinating. Thanks to David’s brother Ron, who prepared the trip and was often our tour guide, we spent a lot of time learning about history and culture of each country.

Stairway of the Schwerin palace with Billie, Ron, Larry, Marie and David

Schwerin in the northern part of Germany had also a personal connection to my family history. My greatgrand father was an officer in the army of the duke. His fate was the same as the fate of the duke of Mecklenburg, who had to abdicate in 1918 and lost nearly everything. My greatgrandfather not only lost his estate  in Upper Austria in 1927, but also his dignity and the love of his family. It was a tragedy!

Although a cruise is not my cup of tea, I still enjoyed it. One time, a seagull came to my breakfast table and fished for the seaweed in the miso soup. It also stole my croissant.

The windmills in the background are placed in front of the harbour of Copenhagen. Here the seagull is waiting to eat more fruit from my plate.

My most valued time on the ship, after an intensive time of sight seeing, was the sauna in the evening. Most of the time I stayed there alone.

Our trip started in Stockholm. My favourite site in Stockholm was a 17th century battle ship, which sank on the first day on sea. The Vasa ship was the biggest and most powerful battle ship in the world at the time. It sank because it was designed too narrow and too high. Some of the crew members died when it sank, the skeletons can be seen in the lowest floor of the museum,

Vasa Battleship. Photo made by David Ricks

I am not sure how this crew member would have liked to end up in a showcase in the museum.

It was also fascinating to visit the city hall of Stockholm where the Nobel prizes are given to the most outstanding individuals.

Place of the Nobel prize celebration

Helsinki was the next stop. What made the most impression on me in Helsinki? The Sibelius monument, consisting of more than 600 hollow steel pipes arranged in a wave like pattern.

Sculpture commemorating the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865 – 1957)

Part of the Sibelius monument created by the Finnish artist Eila Hiltunen with the title “Passion Musicae”

The miracle and beauty of nature is for me always the most fascinating thing!

Beside the Rock church carved into solid granite, I also loved the modern library. It was a place of creativity, where young and old not only could read but also be creative. There was even a place designated for babies to sleep. It was truly a place for everybody to enjoy.

Public library

The three days in St. Petersburg were filled with visits of palaces, gardens and parks, with the show of  incredible wealth and power. What did I take with me? In the winter palace Hermitage I was intrigued by the painting of Madonna and Child by Leonardo Da Vinci. Despite the masses of golden ornaments, chandeliers, expensive porcelain, it stood out by its beauty and simplicity.

Hermitage, consisting of 6 buildings. One of the buildings is the former winter palace of the Tsar.

Although I am familiar with baroque luxury in Vienna, the luxury of St. Petersburg was blowing me away. No wonder that there was an uprising against the ruling class.

One of the hallways in the Hermitage

Madonna and Child painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the Hermitage

View from  Peterhof  Palace into the Fountain Park. This park is really unique –  a park with gorgeous flowers, walkways and fountains. The visit of the palace was very difficult because of the masses of tourists. Especially Chinese travel groups have discovered St. Petersburg and acted quite often aggressive.

St. Petersburg has many canals and resembles Amsterdam and Venice. This is a view of the Neva River with the sailing boat of Tsar Peter and in the background the  Peter and Paul Fortress with the church, where nearly all the Tsars beginning with Peter the Great are buried.

Beside the many churches, we also visited Yussupov Palace, where Gregory Rasputin was murdered. In the basement, the place he was murdered  (actually, he was poisoned and did not die, than shot and still could run away and again shot in the head and still did not die until he drowned in the Vetava river where his body was thrown into). When walking down the basement, my body shivered.

Rasputin with his assassinator

Very impressive was the underground system of St. Petersburg. It was not only clean but built with expensive materials and artistic considerations. We have been told that at the time it was built, it was an honour for the workers to be part of the project. They were selected and partially worked with no salary.

The underground, opened 1955,  is the deepest of the world and goes down more than  2400 feet.  Everything is shiny and in pristine condition

One of the murals in the underground system of St. Petersburg

After St. Petersburg, we went to Tallin, the capital of Estonia. Tallin is a medieval city with a city wall, gothic houses, lively market place and very friendly people.  One of the houses on the market place was a pharmacy existing since 1422. Very strange medical remedies were shown there – like a dried frog and a porcupine in a glass jar. Unlike to Riga, the capital of Latvia, Tallin was not destroyed during World War II.

Part of the city wall in Tallin

View from the upper town of Tallin to the lower town

Central market in Tallin. All the wool, the lady said, is from her sheep farm. I bought a pair of colourful gloves and a scarf.

This group of people showed traditional dances on the stage of the central plaza

Another incredible charming town we visited was Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland. Timing was perfect. The whole town celebrated the Middle Ages with different events. Outside of the city wall, a whole camp with tents was built up in order to commemorate the victorious battle against Danes in 1639. People from all over Europe came to live and reenact the live at this time for one week. When I walked through the camp and talked to the people, they all said that historic accuracy was crucial. It was like walking into the past.

Locals were dressed in medieval outfits, even children and babies wore linen cloth made in an authentic way.

Preparing the horse for the training of the battle between Swedes and Danes.

Preparing for the battle

City wall from outside the town

Resting on stairs on our walk through Visby

David also had fun meeting a boar

After visiting Riga, the next stop was Fredericia, a former army town. It had still existing fortification walls and moats. The town itself was not so special, but it did the best it could to be beautiful. I loved the earthen fortification walls turned into a recreation area and the former moats covered with a green blanket of water lilies.

A walk to the moats

In Fredericia I also rented a bike and discovered the area for 6 hours.  I loved the time at the beach were I created some land art and took a rest from constant sight seeing.

Playing with the fruit of wild roses

The vibrant green of seaweed I contrasted with dried stems of mugwort full of seeds. It stayed there only for a moment – the next wave washed it away.

Part of an artistic construction to help blind people go into the ocean

We finished our cruise in Denmark. I was highly impressed by Copenhagen, a town with a high quality of life. The goal of the town is to be carbon neutral in 2025. They really take this goal serious. Copenhagen has many very broad bikeways, hardly any traffic anymore, and a huge pedestrian zone. We wandered around in  lovely streets and past a stock exchange building from the 18th century, which was never used for that purpose. It became a public market place. In Copenhagen, we also visited the Free town  Christiania, a former military complex. The area covers nearly 7 hectares. About 1000 residents live there. Christiania is a successful social project and the 4th biggest tourist attraction in Copenhagen.

Parking place for bikes in front of the train station

Designated bike way

One of the canals in Copenhagen

Christiania

Symbol of Christiania – 3 yellow circles on red background

After the cruise I spent five days in Norway where I met my friend and  colleague  Aud Marit. We did two workshops in Oslo – art and constellation and creative art meditation in the Munch museum. We also visited her home town Oppdal north of Oslo. It recently was designated the best place to live in Norway. Here I met not only her relatives but also a troll.

Troll paint by artist Gro Viken, a relative of Aud Marit

Grace, Marit, Aud Marit and I in front of the Munch museum

The stay in Norway was a great ending of the journey to Northern Europe. I loved the wildness of the country, the huge forests, crystal clear rivers, massive granite rocks, the deep green colours of the mosses, the red wooden farm houses with grass roofs, the brilliant colours of the flowers. It is a country I want to discover more.