Baltic Capitals

Another game from my little pack of tricks "how many words can you find in the name of your destination". Good thing we weren’t going to Pisa as it would have been a very short game. Copenhagen - with a little bit of help from the plane enthusiast sitting beside me we came up with 50 words, 2 seven letters – not bad for 10 minutes of brain power.  Why do airlines all have different rules about weights and numbers of bags?  A rhetorical question.  We spent a wonderful 5 minutes repacking our bags as Norwegian Air insisted that each bag could not be over 24 kgs - where other airlines insist that one bag can be lighter as long as the combined weight is not over the maximum for two people.  At Copenhagen airport we waited a long time for our bags and when they arrived they appeared to have been left out in the recent downpour (either that or someone had poured a very large jug of water over them).  Did you know that passport stamps are beginning to be a thing of the past – we haven’t had one since we left the UK (how sad is that?). A taxi ride (fast) to the boat and we were ready for our 7 day cruise around the Baltic capitals.  First impressions – had we booked a room at a Las Vegas casino? Glitzy and full of excited people. There are places for everyone - rooms for different languages (8 different ones of which English is a minority), a library for those wanting some quiet, outside sunny spots by the pool or up front to see the view, places you can eat any time until the early hours of the morning and friendly staff from all over the world (high percentage from the Phillipines, India, South America and 1 from Liverpool to help those few English speakers). We had an indoor room (cheaper by far) and found it quite large and unexpectantly nice (two year old ship means modern design and bright decor), reasonably quiet and very very dark at night.  There is music and shows every night (dance shows can only be described as spectacular – break dancing very very good, but even the singers and other artists managed to keep our attention for 60 or so minutes).  We could even croon and practice our waltz steps with ‘Love Boat’ music.  We went on a tour of the kitchens, shiny, sparkling clean (just like the ads for sunlight liquid) where we learnt about managing waste, how they prevent cross contamination with specific areas designated for dealing with meat and designated staff only allowed in certain areas eg cooks in cooking places, cleaning staff in clean up areas etc.  We thought that a cruise would be the easy way to see the Baltic capitals – a bit of a treat with not having to lug our suitcases around too much (our new black one already has a broken wheel).  But after walking the decks a few times from our cabin in the back to the food places in the front we’ve decided it might have been less exercise to walk between hotels and stations in towns. First day at sea we had a life boat drill - up early to put on our life jackets and stand on the deck in queues to watch the staff put on and take off their life jackets in 8 different languages (interesting though if an emergency called for it there would be strict loading priorities on the life boats - woman and children first - even though there is enough room for everyone or so they say!).

Our first stop was Tallin – a delightful little city (400,000 people) which reminded us of Bratislava. A place we could have spent more than 1 day wandering around.  A number of cruise ships had arrived during the morning and the town was abuzz with markets, cafes and food places (one McD’s, two Irish and one Australian pub) with many locals dressed in medieval dress.  It rained a bit but up went the umbrellas and the walking tours continued.  We stopped in a cafe for some nice desserts (I know it was lunch time but just too tempting) and then walked up to Parliament (where the tv cameras were out but we had no idea why), around the church of  Alexandr Nevsky (Tallins oldest church and well maintained) and into the Dominican Monastery (13^th century which was lovely and tranquil), down to the Occupation Museum (which was closed on Mondays which was disappointing as we were keen to learn about the fall of communism in Estonia and the War of Independence which appears to have shaped the political life of the country since the early 1920’s).  On our way back to the ship we walked up and across the roof of the Tallin Concert Hall near the port.  Although no history was available to us at the time we decided that it was built during the communist regime (grey, dominant and large) and it had been left intentionally to slowly return to nature - a reminder of the times, but not a monument to something the country would prefer to forget.

Then on to St Petersburg where we visited Catherines Palace (lots of gold and white with one room completely outfitted in Amber).  Sheer decadence built to suit the tastes of an over indulged Princess.  The palace had been destroyed by Hitler and his troops and rebuilt and renovated during the communist era. We wandered the garden, took a boat ride around the canals (tide high so we were allowed outside if we lay on the floor as the boat went under bridges) and went to Swan Lake in the evening.  It is hard to describe our impression of St Petersburg and our first visit to a Russian city.  Was it where the tour took us, was it the well informed but unenthusiastic tour guide with her monotone of history but we detected a ‘heaviness’ and a lack of vibrancy.  We had a sense of being excluded from the real Russia – no smiles, no enthusiasm, people walking from A to B with a determination, a city without laughter. The streets were wide, traffic heavy (Harry noted that most cars were either European or Japanese with only Russian commercial vehicles), but we saw no market stalls, little socialisation on the streets and certainly no bars or cafes over flowing on to the pavements on quite a sunny day.  It is interesting though, if the tour had taken us to the Nevsky Prospekt which is the cultural and commercial centre of the city we might have seen a different and far more interesting city and this is confirmed by friends who have also visited the city.  So our advice to fellow travellers is be careful about choosing organised tours - paying the $120 visa and ‘doing your own thing’ just might be the way to go.

It rained all day during our visit to Helsinki and so at the last moment our cycle trip around the Finnish capital was cancelled and we had only one option ‘a boat trip around the islands’.  Donned in lycra and high vis tops (only joking but we did have our shorts on) we arrived on the boat and during the trip we learnt alot about the health and education systems, climate (in summer you travel by boat but in winter you can make the same trip by car over the ice) and the economy of Finland but didn’t get to see much as the windows were scattered with raindrops and the cloud was low.  Apparently the city is a mix of architectural styles, has many museums and art galleries and lots of churches but we’ll leave others to experience them and be on our way...

Ever been to a city and thought ‘we could come back here’ but you know you probably won’t as it will be too far away from home for another trip and besides there is too much else to see. Well, Stockholm is one of those.  It is a pretty city built around the harbour and a fresh water lake – lots of bridges where only pedestrians can wander.  We visited:

• The city hall (where the Nobel prizes are not given out but the dinner and dance is held). The exhibition included a dinner setting of the nobel prize dinner - each diner gets 70cm  to enjoy their meal.  The salt holder is in a shape of a koru leaf. We were impressed by the architecture and design (not as grandiose as palaces but built with a purpose that commoners could visit and admire). The organ is huge and apparently takes some playing as it takes 2 seconds for the music to travel from  the keyboard to the pipes. 
• The palace where we learnt heaps about the royal family (at one point in Swedish history the king was elected and if he wasn’t liked he was shot – "better than torture" our guide said). The king and queen now inherit the position from their parents but it is the first born and not the first male that does the inheriting - and there is no coronation simply a ceremony of allegiance.  The royal head is also far more active in politics and meets at least quarterly with all the Ministers (see photo of all the red chairs in the meeting room) to discuss political issues (get the impression impartiality is not required).  
• Parliament (on an island by itself) which looked down the pedestrian mall busy with shoppers (where you could get a street massage). 
• Stockholm’s narrowest street (Harry could just walk down it without going sideways) and the smallest statue (not much bigger than Caramello).  We were also shown a "gossip mirror" - before tv, people would sit in their chairs and look at the mirror to see if friends were coming along their street - upon seeing friends windows would open and invites for afternoon tea would follow.
• The Vasa which was a Swedish warship that was built in 1628.  The ship sank on its maiden voyage - it only got about 2 km out from its moorings.  The model showed a beautifully carved and painted ship, and the ship was salvaged in 1961 and was in surprisingly good condition (low salinity in the Baltic sea we heard). 

We sailed from Stockholm early evening and spent a long time out on deck as we left the city - many kilometres of Sounds and little islands.

On the last night of the cruise I began to feel a sore throat coming on (was it all that airconditioning) and  our second day in Copenhagen I spent in bed.  The first we decided to catch the hop on hop off bus and said 'Hi' to the little mermaid on the sea front, wander through the park and castle, took photos of fountains and the second day Harry wandered to the Resistance Museum and up and down some canals to see where Hans Christian Anderson lived and worked

 

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Tuscany

It was a long trip – although the plane was on time it took a while to drive to the airport.  Friends at work had given me a pack of cards “52 things to do on an aeroplane” (they know me well) and so I had tried it on the first leg to Paris 1. Stretch lots of parts of your body (which I will practice more since it is rather like doing Pilates in a confined space but you don’t need rubber mats, balls or weights).  The second activity I chose on the Paris to Pisa leg was to think of things that begin with each letter of the alphabet.  I had a little help. So here we go...

A is for the Airbus A320 we travelled on to Pisa

B is for the teal blue teeshirt worn with pride

C is for the carry on luggage which looked a bit oversized

D is for the duty free goods that come down the aisle

E is for the earrings on the man with long curly hair

F is for the French language we heard uttered somewhere

G is for Google which we weren’t allowed to use

H is for Harry who helped with k, t and y

I is for the interior of the new plane orange, white and grey

J is for Jim sitting a few rows in front

K is for the four kiwis snoozing, eating or reading

L is for the liquid refreshments we had with our muffins

M is for the bushy and black moustache on the gentleman in front

N is for the nuts you could snack on for €3

O is for orange the colour of the Easyjet brand

P is for the purple painted toenails resting in jandals nearby

Q is for the queue for the loo which grew and grew

R is for the runway where the plane arrives and departs

S is for the safety sheet in the pocket of our seats

T is the tannoy which is the public announcement system

U is for the umbrella packed in our bags

V is for the velocity 900 km per  hour

W is for wing that we sat behind 

X is for the x on the no smoking sign

Y is for the yellow strip to light the path if we land somewhere unplanned

Z is for Zealand imprinted on our teeshirts after New.

I’ll never be a poet but it kept me amused which Harry is grateful for – just think there are 50 more activities to go and only 27 more flying hours during our holiday.

Tuscany is the land of olive trees, sunflowers, grapes, figs and corn. Harry and I had one lazy day by the pool and we walked through the little village of San Baronto close to where we are staying.  It has a few houses, a couple of pizzerias open in the evenings, a little supermarket and a tourist information centre which is open sometimes. The town is perched on the top of a hill above a fairly densely populated area of Tuscany and we found that the goal of many a cyclist is to get to the top (careful driving and patience is required as they often go two abreast or ride in the middle of the road on the country roads).  Our house is colourfully decorated, orange, yellow and red with a pool (open all hours if you are quiet) with no more rules or hidden charges that you would expect in a house you hired for a week, so we could swim and listen to the sounds of crickets and just relax...

We spent a day in Volterra (followed a slow campervan with a huge kiwi decal on it) where a medieval fair was held in the village on the hill.  Although the town was similar to many others it came alive with the community dressing up and acting the life of medieval Volterrians (I made that name up).  We were conspicuous (white skin, cameras, and ‘glowing’) but enjoyed the re-enactments of sword fighting, acting, drumming (snored to the beat in the shade at one point) and flag throwing.  When looking for the cool we headed inside to the council chambers (which doesn’t feature in the guide books but had wonderful wall paintings) and the Duomo which is a 12^th century building with some rather elegant engravings and paintings.  There were also heaps and heaps of touristy type shops – particularly those selling alabaster ornaments the pride of the Volterra area since VIII century BC  (dig the chess board – oh how I wish we had given into temptation – but our bags are so full – perhaps an online purchase when we return).  

Another day we went to Pisa (we chose probably the hottest day – 40 plus). Have you ever wondered how many photos that other people have taken you might feature in?  The square around Pisa was really packed and we would have unintentionally been in quite a few. I didn’t really have high expectations of visiting the leaning tower as we had seen it so often in photos.  But there was a WOW sensation when we walked into the square and saw the tower – we weren’t prepared for the exquisite architecture all around us.  We were in time to book a slot to walk up to the top of the tower and so we spent most of the day until 3.40 walking around viewing the sites (of which there weren’t that many outside the immediate area around the tower) and finding places to sample long cool drinks (watermelon slushies go down a treat – and when you are trying to make them last a while a good game to play is to make ice sculptures that friends have to guess – imagination and some expertise is required to accurately guess Mona Lisa, Mercedes Benz insignia, flower, volcano, leaning tower of Pisa, octopus, pyramid to name but a few).  Climbing up the tower was an experience – stepping on to the first floor had the ‘ooh’ factor as you stepped into the first lean – but you soon got used to walking up a spiral staircase of 300 on a lean – to the right and then to the left.  Italy seems to be one of the few places where we have been where the bell tower is built separately to the rest of the church (or perhaps we just haven’t noticed before). The tower was built in 1350 and originally had seven bells pealing from its heights. The foundations have of course been reinforced and will probably need to be done reasonably often to keep this masterpiece from falling over.  However, they are taking good care of it by limiting the number of people going up it (40 every 20 minutes). At the square we also had our first real experience of a pickpocket gang – though we are proud to say they didn’t get away with it.  We had placed our beloved little soft toy (who has so many memories of our travels) on a post to take a photo of him and the tower and a girl (slim, brown and good looking) walked along with a group and took him from the post without even looking.  Harry yelled at her and went after her and she handed over our friend without a glance.   No doubt if Harry had left a bag at this feet it would have been missing when he returned.

A day trip to Firenze (Florence) was a must said the guide book - there is lots to see. We had booked to go and see Uffizi but for Harry and I the highlight was a visit to the Accademia where we saw Michelangelos original David.  What an amazing monument to his ability as a sculpture.  We also saw a range of other sculptures' work and I was particularly taken with Luigi Pampaloni – a sculpture of a boy and his dog.  This has amazing similarities to a painting that has been in our home since I was little.  A sailor on the boat on which my grandmother travelled to NZ in 1888 gave her the painting (she was 5 at the time).  So, when I get back to NZ and have a better internet connection I will do more research – we just might have found the original artist. We wandered around the Duomo in this rather hot day and found there was no queue to climb the 400 or so steps to the top so up we went.  The Duomo is rather large and from our birds eye view we couldn’t really see all the seats that it would take for 20,000 people and the grandness of the paintings and decor.  That was ok cos the view from the top was spectacular – we towered above all the orange roof tops to the river and other sites. They are cleaning the Duomo up (an everlasting task I imagine) and one of the most spectacular sights was the doors to the Bapistry which each took about 30 years to complete (Michelangelo described them as the ‘gates to paradise’ rather a compliment for Ghibetti who created them).

One day we made the short trip along the fast flowing motorway to Lucca – a city with its walls still intact.  We had been looking forward to walking the wall, but found it had undergone a number of ‘reconstructions’ and was now wide enough to have a two lane road along it – even though the road was for pedestrians and cyclists only.  So, we hired a four person cycle and went for a tour.  I couldn’t easily touch the pedals so Harry, Jim and Margot did most of the work although I did help when going up hills (I really did!!).   This is the town where Puccini was born and so we went in search of his birthplace and then after dinner in the square went to a concert in a rather magnificent old church to listen to his music and a range of other Italian composers. We all enjoyed it.

One of the highlights for us (this was Jim and Margots pool day) was to drive down the windy, narrow road (avoiding cyclists at every corner) to the town of Vinci where Leonardo Da Vinci lived during his childhood.  Here we drove and wandered through the countryside (Anchiano is the little village where he was born illegitimately to a maid – although he was brought up in his fathers household).  We walked the cobbled streets he would have skipped along in the mid 1400’s and enjoyed thinking about the surroundings that had inspired such an amazing person.  We spent rather a long time in the museum (the airconditioning was an added attraction) and viewed many of his drawings which had come to life in models - cars, bikes, cranes, armoured tank, machine gun, sculptures, paintings, weaving looms, clocks and construction machinery.

And if I was ever to write a travel book for those travelling in the middle of summer in Tuscany I would include these helpful hints – I suspect they are not found in other travel books....

• If you buy bounty bars and carry them around in your back pack without eating them – put them back in the fridge and when hardened cut them up – that way you save most of the chocolate.
• If you pack biscuits at the bottom of your back pack be prepared to eat crumbs (licking the packet is a good option).
• If your bag is overweight load up your friends bag – they have to carry it and you avoid the £10 a kilo surcharge (very important for those going shoe shopping at their holiday destinations).
• Hot weather during the nights causes great bed hair in the morning – avoid your mates laughing by looking in the mirror and combing your hair before leaving the bedroom.
• If you are lost, or in doubt about what turn to take, go around the roundabout as many times as you need - this allows the navigator time to work out the right place to go and avoids taking a wrong turning which can lead to rather lengthy and unnecessary travel.
• The street sign for the town you want will always appear just after you have been past the turn off – it is a good idea to find a safe place to do a ‘Uee’ and not to emulate Italians who slam on the brakes and make quick turns in front of unsuspecting tourists. 
• Speeding can have its advantages as it tends to reduce the number of Italian drivers honking their horns at you and passing on dangerous corners – but beware Audis and BMWs don’t come with indicators and so sticking to the 2 second rule might not provide enough time for corrective action.
• When drinking slushies on a hot day in Pisa purchase them at the bar and then sit down, drinks bought this way are half the price of the same drink that are bought if you sit down first.