Helsinki and St. Petersburg

 It has been a VERY BUSY past two days. Yesterday was spent in Helsinki, Finland – the farthest north we get on this cruise, barely above the 60^th parallel. Today was our first say in St. Petersburg, Russia – the former capital of the Russian Empire. We’ll spend the night in port and have another full day in St. Petersburg tomorrow, and then leave in the evening for our next stop, Tallinn, Estonia – the longest-serving capital city in Europe.

I went to some of my favorite places to visit in Helsinki. Our first stop was “The Rock Church,” a Lutheran Church that was blasted out of a rock quarry in the middle of town. The rough-hewn rocks on the interior add to the acoustics, and the 3,000-pipe, 4-manual pipe organ is such a delight to hear. The almost flat domed roof lets in the natural light, and the center has copper plate on the outside and about 7 miles of copper wire underneath on the inside.

Then we went to the Sibelius Monument, which was a multi-year undertaking by a petite woman in the mid-1960’s. With over 500 steel pipes welded together, the monument created a significant controversy when it was unveiled. Why? Because it was abstract, and no one could identify it with Jean Sibelius, so a bust of the famed composed was added nearby. We then drove by Olympic Stadium, actually built in the late 1930’s for hosting the 1940 Summer Olympics, which were moved to Japan because of World War II. Those were cancelled, also, and Helsinki eventually hosted the Olympics in 1952.

Drive-by photo-ops were aplenty as we went by numerous highlights in town, finishing up in Senate Square. I toured the massive Lutheran Cathedral, and enjoyed the views from the big open square. Sadly, we said goodbye to Helsinki (and another hour of sleep) as we sailed away from the Finnish capital city.

We arrived in St. Petersburg early this morning. After going through Russian customs, our first stop was Catherine’s Palace, home of the famous Amber Room. After sufficient time to view the palace and the grounds, we drove toward the town of Peterhof. There we had lunch that included a shot of vodka, some caviar, a glass of champagne, and a big meal. We then drove to the Great Palace of Peter the Great (aka, “Peterhof”) where we toured for about 90 minutes on the outside. We went through some of the gardens, viewing many of the 150 fountains, and were amazed of the engineering feats. For example, the fountains are all gravity-fed, meaning that their tops are all even, regardless of where the fountain begins. At night, huge pools of water are collected from the underground springs. Then, in the morning, the pipes to the fountains are opened, and the fountains display their beauty for all to see.

Arriving back at ship at 6 PM, it was a tight race to drop bags at the room, change shirts, and get to the 6:15 dinner. Some didn’t show up (either doing something late, or ate at buffet), so it was a rather empty dining room. The setting sun was nice, given that it won’t be going down until after 10 PM. It’s 9:40 PM right now, and only some clouds prevent a shiny sun being reflected in the water. Overall, I took 126 pictures and 15 videos today – I’ll get some posted soon.

Stuart