12 September - Berlin, Germany

 

Hip, energetic Berlin has grabbed the world’s attention with its exuberant urban life and vibrant arts scene. Gone are the days of drab Cold War Germany and a city divided by the Wall. In this cosmopolitan and affordable capital, neighborhoods like Mitte, Friedrichshain, Prenzlauer Berg, and Kreuzberg bustle with restaurants, cafés, and nightlife. Museums and sights such as the Pergamon on Museum Island, the Brandenburg Gate, and the Jewish Museum provide a window into Berlin’s rich history. Today the stitched-together heart of Germany beats fast.

Berlin is a place of stark contrasts. On one hand, reminders of its turbulent past are everywhere. But it's also a modern megalopolis—that's geographically nine times bigger than Paris—with exciting new attractions and an inherent subversiveness. This juxtaposition makes it a destination unlike any other.

The big question for most travelers when venturing to Germany's once war-torn capital then becomes how to navigate the past while living in the present. It's essential to confront the heavier aspects of the city's history. However, that doesn't mean a visit to Berlin is all memorials and museums. (Though, it bears repeating that you should absolutely carve out ample time to do all that.) The contemporary side of things very much deserves exploration, too.

An artsy mecca with a slew of galleries and eccentric installations, Berlin transformed the last pieces of the wall that once divided it into a permanent open-air exhibition.

This sprawling city also has a wild side with nightlife at its center. There are hedonistic drinking dens with cabaret acts, swanky speakeasies and anything-goes clubs where people party for 48 hours (that's not an exaggeration). Add to that picturesque parks, a thriving food scene that's garnered international acclaim of late, a world-class zoo and a cool aesthetic sensibility with homegrown designers making a global name for themselves.

The transfer fro0m the ship to Berlin was a three hour drive each way but well worth it to visit this beautiful city. Once there I took a Hop-On bus tour. The weather was fantastic. 

Had lunch in a sidewalk cafe and then was back on the ship for the ride home. 

Checkpoint Charlie was the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War, as named by the Western Allies.

Remnants of the Berlin Wall.

Berlin was one of my favorite stops on this cruise, it was incredible.

11 September - At Sea

 

Today was a relaxing day at sea. I love sea days, you can sleep in and experience the ship. I had breakfast on my balcony and relaxed.

10 September - Tallinn, Estonia

 

Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is truly one of the gems of Northern Europe. The city lies on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, only 70 km (43 mi) south of Helsinki. At the historical heart of the city is the hill of Toompea, covered in cobbled streets and filled with medieval houses and alleyways. The lower town spreads out from the foot of the hill, still protected by the remnants of a city wall. Around the city wall is a series of well-maintained green parks, great for strolling.

Estonia's history is sprinkled liberally with long stretches of foreign domination, beginning in 1219 with the Danes, followed without interruption by the Germans, Swedes, and Russians. Only after World War I, with Russia in revolutionary wreckage, was Estonia able to declare its independence. Shortly before World War II, in 1940, that independence was usurped by the Soviets, who—save for a brief three-year occupation by Hitler's Nazis—proceeded to suppress all forms of national Estonian pride for the next 50 years. Estonia finally regained independence in 1991. In the early 1990s, Estonia's own Riigikogu (Parliament), not some other nation's puppet ruler, handed down from the Upper City reforms that forced Estonia to blaze its post-Soviet trail to the European Union. Estonia has been a member of the EU since 2004, and in 2011, the country and its growing economy joined the Eurozone. Tallinn was also named the European City of Culture in 2011, cementing its growing reputation as a cultural hot spot.

MY EXCURSION: HOP-ON-HOP-OFF

This town is small so I walked around on my own and did some shopping and then took a hop-on-hop-off tour.

After a late lunch I headed back to the ship. After dinner I went to the "Take Five" jazz club and had a few drinks with my Quebec friends, then off to bed for an early night.

9 September - Helsinki, Finland

 

This morning we arrived in Helsinki, Finland. 

MY EXCURSION: BEST OF HELSINKI & PORVOO

Today  I took a Princess excursion which showed us the best of Helsinki and also a visit to a quaint town called Porvoo. 

A city of the sea, Helsinki was built along a series of oddly shaped peninsulas and islands jutting into the Baltic coast along the Gulf of Finland. Streets and avenues curve around bays, bridges reach to nearby islands, and ferries ply among offshore islands.

Having grown dramatically since World War II, Helsinki now absorbs more than one-tenth of the Finnish population. The metro area covers 764 square km (474 square miles) and 315 islands. Most sights, hotels, and restaurants cluster on one peninsula, forming a compact central hub. The greater Helsinki metropolitan area, which includes Espoo and Vantaa, has a total population of more than a million people.

Helsinki is a relatively young city compared with other European capitals. In the 16th century, King Gustav Vasa of Sweden decided to woo trade from the Estonian city of Tallinn and thus challenge the Hanseatic League's monopoly on Baltic trade. Accordingly, he commanded the people of four Finnish towns to pack up their belongings and relocate to the rapids on the River Vantaa. The new town, founded on June 12, 1550, was named Helsinki.

For three centuries, Helsinki (Helsingfors in Swedish) had its ups and downs as a trading town. Turku, to the west, remained Finland's capital and intellectual center. However, Helsinki's fortunes improved when Finland fell under Russian rule as an autonomous grand duchy. Czar Alexander I wanted Finland's political center closer to Russia and, in 1812, selected Helsinki as the new capital. Shortly afterward, Turku suffered a disastrous fire, forcing the university to move to Helsinki. The town's future was secure.

Just before the czar's proclamation, a fire destroyed many of Helsinki's traditional wooden structures, precipitating the construction of new buildings suitable for a nation's capital. The German-born architect Carl Ludvig Engel was commissioned to rebuild the city, and as a result, Helsinki has some of the purest neoclassical architecture in the world. Add to this foundation the influence of Stockholm and St. Petersburg with the local inspiration of 20th-century Finnish design, and the result is a European capital city that is as architecturally eye-catching as it is distinct from other Scandinavian capitals. You are bound to discover endless engaging details—a grimacing gargoyle; a foursome of males supporting a balcony's weight on their shoulders; a building painted in striking colors with contrasting flowers in the windows. The city's 400 or so parks make it particularly inviting in summer.

Today, Helsinki is still a meeting point of eastern and western Europe, which is reflected in its cosmopolitan image, the influx of Russians and Estonians, and generally multilingual population. Outdoor summer bars ("terrassit" as the locals call them) and cafés in the city center are perfect for people watching on a summer afternoon.

A drive through this remarkable capital reveals a broad spectrum of stunning architecture. Golden onion domes top the mighty red-brick edifice of Usperski Cathedral--the largest Orthodox church in Western Europe. The white walls of the 1,300-seat Opera House soar majestically, and the smooth asymmetry of Finlandia Hall defines Alvar Aalto's architectural masterpiece. In the center of the city lies Market Square, a huge marketplace selling traditional foods and crafts.

Temppeliaukio Church (Rock Church) Helsinki's most important architectural site is carved straight into a solid bed of rock. The huge oval structure is lit in part by skylights that punctuate the rock walls, and it features a roof formed from a dome lined with copper and supported by concrete beams. Inside the church, rough rock lines the walls with an Ice Age crevice serving as the altarpiece. Benches hewn from birch and local mauve, and red and gray granite accents grace the interior. 

Porvoo

Finland's second oldest city, founded in 1346, is steeped in the past. Porvoo's red riverside warehouses were painted in the late 18th century in honor of King Gustav III's arrival, and graceful Porvoo Cathedral took its present form at the end of the 15th century. A guided walk of the city's historic old quarter along a network of cobbled streets lined with colorful old buildings, curio shops, cafés and museums gives you ample opportunity to experience Porvoo's rich history. 

         We had a fabulous candlelight lunch at an old distllery, great atmosphere.

Returned to the shp for a late afternon nap, dinner and a quiet evening. Tomorrow we are in Taillin, Estonia.