Lerwick, Scotch on the Rocks land

We arrived into Lerwick Scotland on June 5th and found our tour guide Shelia waiting for us in her van. She is a long-time resident of the island and was very knowledgeable about the history and people of this remote island. 

The landscape is generally flat and there are more sheep than people. After looking at so many historic sites and buildings for weeks, the flat landscape with sheep, Shetland ponies and water was a welcome visual relief.

The remains of farm buildings can be seen all over the place, the result of the movement from farm life to town life.

The cliffs on the north side of the island offer protection for many bird species, especially Puffins who come to land in spring and summer for nesting.  The rest of the time they live at sea. So cute!!!

The major site on the north end of the island is the old light house

Here's Lynne and Louise checking out an old settlement named Jarlshof. This place is famous for having well preserved stone remnants from up to 4000 years old.

Of course the Shetland ponies are here, Also so cute!  These are babies.

Our tour guide set up a traditional Scottish lunch of soup, bannocks, soup....and a beer.

With limited resources, the Scots do not waste a single thing. here's an old boat that was turned into a roof for an out building on a local farm.

 The sea is a big part of the life-style. Most of the cottages have fabulous sea-views.  On approaching the Shetland Islands we saw lots of oil platforms in the North Sea.  Even from a cruise ship they seemed huge.  Scotland imports may alien workers to man the platforms and they have "accommodation hotels"(re-purposed cruise ships) in the port for housing.

Copenhagen-Das

Tuesday June 3rd, 2014

Copenhagen is the capital and most populated city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,246,611 and a metropolitan population of 1,975,361 (as of 1 April 2014). It is situated on the eastern coast of Zealand, 42 km (26 mi) northwest of Malmö, Sweden and 164 km (102 mi) northeast of Odense. The city stretches across parts of the island of Amager and also contains the enclave of Frederiksberg, a municipality in its own right. Originally a Viking fishing village founded in the 10th century, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the early 15th century.

Recognize this guy in front of the City Hall?  Hans Christian Anderson (1805-1875)!!  He wasn't born here but moved from a small town in Denmark to this capitol city as a teen.  We spent our one day here doing the Rick Steves walk through the city and left frustrated with so many unseen sights both in outside of the city.

This colorful barrier was actually hiding construction behind it but it turned out to be a great photograph.








The most colorful areas of the walk was Nyhavn, along a canal, established in the 1670s as a sailors' quarters.  Now it is gentrified with cafes, jazz clubs and tattoo shops.

On our walk we found a great outdoor Italian market in the old town center, Gammeltorv and had fun buying olives, cheese and bread.  Some of this and some of that please......

As you all know there were many great Danes in history. Here's one we met.  He was taking his owner for a walk.

The Polse, sold in sausage wagons is a danish institution.  We got one with crispy, fried onions.  Tasted good with our beer.

The stork fountain is the Amagertorv.  Across the street is the Royal Copenhagen store-  3 floors of porcelain for you lovers of dishes. 

We took a canal boat ride back to the ship but it started to rain and blow.  It was a long ride and we are only pretending to be happy.

As we rode the canal boat we passed the 2005 new opera house paid for by Maersk Shipping as a gift to the city and designed by Henning Larson.  Later in the blog you will see another of his new buildings. 

Our rainy day concluded with another reminder of Hans Christian And erson.  The Little Mermaid sculpture is really very small and is outside of the main city but was next to our ship.  She was a gift to the city from beer magnate Carl Jacobson in 1909.

Soaking up Stockholm

Saturday May 31st and June 1st 2014

Sweden borders Norway and Finland, and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Øresund. At 173,860 sq mi, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of about 9.6 million. Sweden has a low population density of 54 /sq mile with the population mostly concentrated to the southern half of the country. About 85% of the population live in urban areas. Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested.


Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides universal health care and tertiary education for its citizens. It has the world's eighth-highest per capita income and ranks highly in numerous comparisons of national performance, including quality of life, health, education, protection of civil liberties, economic competitiveness, equality, prosperity and human development. 
In other words, it's all free.  Ha ha

We arrived in Stockholm in time for the Stockholm Marathon. It was like everyone in town was running in this event.Well every Swedish looney was running in it.

The race blocked off most of downtown, so we took a harbor cruise. 

But, we started our first morning in the old town of Gamla Stan.  

Not sure what the faces are about.  

Oh, I know…….

Martha and Julie disembarked this day, they only did the first segment of this month-long cruise. 

Love the colors of the old town.

 Located on Bollhustäppan is, arguably, the smallest public sculpture in Sweden, named Pojke som tittar på månen ("Boy Looking at the Moon") or Järnpojken ("Iron Boy") but colloquially called "Olle". It is sculpted by Liss Eriksson (1919-2000) in 1954 and was inaugurated in 1967.

Mårten Trotzigs Gränd, less than a meter wide, the narrowest alley in the  city.

  

The flaming gold phoenixes under red-crown medallions told firefighters which homeowners had paid fire insurance and could thus be saved in case of fire. 

No-Pay, No-House.

The royal palace, completed in 1754, in Gamla Stan,  has a daily changing of the guard ceremony.  

The royal family doesn’t live here anymore- they have digs at another palace. 

Outside of Christmas shop that was guarded by a troll.

The gardens in Stockholm are fabulous. Here's an example.

Inspiring museum opened in 2001 for the 100^th anniversary of the Nobel Prize, located in Gamla Stan. 

They have great film clips of many of the recipients of the prize.  The bottom of the chairs in the café all have different signatures of various recipients. 

 We ended our day at the Ice Bar followed by dinner (so expensive in this beautiful city).  The Ice Bar was a fun experience but a repeat is not necessary.  The drinks are served in ice glasses. 

Our second day began with a tour of the Vasa Museum.  This ship sunk 40 minutes into its maiden voyage in 1628.  In the mid 1950’s the ship was brought up from the bottom of the Stockholm Harbor and after 30 years of resoration/preservation it now has its’ own museum.  Impossible to get a full pic without wide angle lens.

 Nest stop was the Stockholm City Hall.

  

This is a shot of the hall where the Nobel Prize dinner is held.

This is the Golden Hall in the City Hall where the Nobel recipients dance after the award dinner.  This whole wall was an over the top glimmering mosaic.     

Here's a shot of the beautiful archipelago leading out of Stockholm and into the Baltic Sea.

Hello Helsinki

Thursday May 29th

Helsinki is Finland's major political, educational, financial, cultural and research center as well as one of northern Europe's major cities



Here's a pic of the girls, Bill and our cruise director Roy in front of the Helsinki City Hall.  

Unfortunately, it was not only a rainy day but a national holiday so many places were not open and the beautiful water surrounding the city was grey and foggy.

We walked through a street market. 

Foxes??

"Yes, we'll take that one"

Here Lynne samples some of the local food. Little fried lake fish. Yum

 Louise tries the yummy fish too.

The fruit stands looked great, what color.  We were told that the berries are so sweet because they are in they grow in the land of the midnight sun. 

Here is the monument to Jean Sibelius, a Finnish composer of the late Romantic period. His music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity.

The monument was designed by Eila Hiltunen and unveiled on September 7, 1967. Originally it sparked a lively debate about the merits and flaws of abstract art, for which reason an effigy of Sibelius was included in the work. It consists of series of more than 600 hollow steel pipes welded together in a wave-like pattern. The purpose of the artist was to capture the essence of the music of Sibelius. 




Here's the famous Temppeliaukio Church. It is a Lutheran church in the Töölö neighborhood of Helsinki. The church was designed by architects and brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen and opened in 1969. It is also known as the Church of the Rock

 Lynne and Louise check out the local reindeer store.

Marimekko is a Finnish company based in Helsinki that has made important contributions to fashion, especially in the 1960's. It is particularly noted for brightly colored printed fabrics and simple styles, used both in women's garments and in home furnishings.  Of course a few purchases were made here while Bill patiently waited outside.

More shopping for the girls. Martha spots something interesting.

Next stop is a day at sea as we sail to Stockholm, Sweden.