berlin, germany

Europa Center - Philharmonie - New National Galerie - Jewish Museum - Checkpoint Charlie - Remains of the wall - Prussian Parlament - Potsdamer Platz - Friedrichstreet - Gendarmenmarkt - German and French Cathedral - Konzert Haus - Nikolai Quarter - Berlin Town Hall - TV Tower - Alexander Place - Museum Island - Berliner Dom/Cathedral - Lustgarten - Old Nationalglarie - Crown Prince Palace Unter den Linden - Brandenburger Tor (Gate)- Reichstag (Parliament Building) - Bundeskanzleramt - Palace Bellvue - Victory Column - Kudamm



As you can see from the list above we saw a LOT in Berlin. Half the stuff I can't remember but maybe some of you will recognize some of the names and be able to relate to what we were seeing.

Germany was a beautiful country. That morning we docked in Warnemunde and took a 2 1/2 hour bus ride into Berlin. I am embarrassed to say that before our trip I didn't really know much about the history of Berlin. I knew of the wall and had heard Reagan's famous words, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall", I vaguely knew of Checkpoint Charlie and what it was, but other then that I was clueless. I'm sure it was my fault for not paying attention in history but I was sad that I didn't read up on it more before visiting this amazing city.

Our other ports were beautiful and full of lovely sites but Berlin was more of a history tour and we had the best tour guide to teach us. My mother and I loved to sit at the front of the bus so that we could get the best shots of the city as we drove and so that we could pay attention to the tour guide. Stephen, was our tour guide for the day and it felt like he was speaking directly to my mom and I throughout the entire tour. Stephen was born in East Berlin and was very open about sharing his struggles and experiences and what it was like growing up with the wall and the division between East and West Berlin.

Once again I was embarrassed that this was all recent history and I knew nothing about the hardships and struggles that took place, the separation between families and how, to this day, many Easterners have been brain washed and still believe that they are separate from the West. Luckily they are slowly becoming unified but our tour guide believes it will be several more years before they are truly one again.

We drove past many sites and made our first stop at the Brandenburg Gate which is the site where both President Kennedy and Reagan made their famous speeches. It was one of the few remaining structures after WWII and was used as a symbol to the Nazis. Next to the Brandenburg Gate is Hotel Adlon, the famous site where Michael Jackson flung is hooded baby over the balcony for all of the fans to see. Isn't it sad? We are in Berlin where so much history took place and the tourists are wanting to see the hotel where Michael Jackson made a fool of himself.

After listening to the stories of the events leading up to the destruction of the wall we walked down the street to the Holocaust Memorial. The Holocaust Memorial consists of a 4.7 acre site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs (that vary in height and size) arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. According to Eisenman's project text (the architect), the slabs are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason. The Foundation for the Memorials official English tourist pamphlet, however, states that the design represents a radical approach to the traditional concept of a memorial, partly because Eisenman did not use any symbolism. Nowhere inside the memorial, or around it, does it say what it commemorates. Some think that this is a deliberate attempt to encourage visitors to reach their own conclusions. At first I thought they could have built a more honorable memorial for the victims of the Holocaust but after walking around it for a while I began to appreciate the architects design and loved that he left so much to the imagination.

Next we boarded the buses and saw the government buildings in Berlin along with several Churches, Cathedrals and embassy buildings. Our tour guide wanted to show us the difference between the neighborhoods of East and West Berlin. While the West side was very modern and new, the East side was older with a lot of Russian influence. We also drove past a portion of the wall the is still standing so that we could see what it actually looked like. Several sections have been divided and artists have depicted scenes of unity to help reunite East and West. In one of the waterways that divides East and West Berlin is a very large statue of three men coming together, to symbolize the reunification of Berlin. We were shown where the walls stood and the section between the walls known as the "death strip" (isn't that an awful name?) where Russian soldiers were instructed to shoot anyone that set foot in that section.

Before our stop at Checkpoint Charlie we stopped for a traditional German lunch of different kinds of meats and sauerkraut at the Sony Center. Once again not very much German beer was consumed in our group. I have never dared to try sauerkraut but I have to say that this sauerkraut was very good.

Our last stop of the day was at Checkpoint Charlie, were we saw a replica of the original checkpoint. Along the streets we were able to view a storyboard of pictures that captured the building and destruction of the wall, the passage between the east and west at the checkpoints and how some tried to creatively escape East Berlin. Above the checkpoint a picture of an American and Russian soldier is displayed to signify the reunification. The American soldier faces East Berlin welcoming them to the West and a Russian soldier faces the West side, welcoming them to the East. Unfortunately, our time was short and we didn't get to read and see all that was there but I am so glad that we decided to make the trek to Berlin so that I could learn of the history behind the Cold War and all that took place in Berlin.

We said goodbye to our fun little guide and headed back to the ship. Before we got back we had a little scare with our crazy German bus driver. He couldn't speak English and none of us could speak German so it became a problem when we had no AC and couldn't communicate to him that we were dying. After getting a little frustrated and speeding along the Autobahn and pulling off to the side of the road, the bus driver finally got it figured out and we were able to enjoy the rest of our ride in comfort. I will say as we were driving we saw several cars fly by going faster then I've ever seen a car go on a regular highway.

Brandenburg Gate


The Hotel where Michael Jackson pulled the crazy balcony stunt


A famous statue in the lobby of one of the local banks


Holocaust Memorial






The Wall




The Unity Statue


Checkpoint Charlie (I don't know the people in the picture)


The American soldier facing the East


The Russian soldier facing the West


A quote from JFK inside Checkpoint Charlie


Some of the photos on the storyboard




A German police car (my mom thought they were cool)

stockholm, sweden

Stockholm is a city of 14 islands linked by boats and graceful bridges. It is widely acknowledged as one of the world's most beautiful cities and is often called the Venice of Scandinavia. It is also as famous for being the home of the Nobel Prize.



As we were arriving in Stockholm early that morning my mother noticed that the waterway we were sailing through was lined with lush islands covered with cute little quaint Swedish homes. She was up earlier then I was and sat out on the veranda and watched as we passed all the beautiful homes and I woke up just in time to see the ship pull into the port. Everything was so beautiful and we got a taste of what was yet to come.

Our first stop of the day was the Vasa Museum. The museum was built around the 17th century warship "Vasa", the oldest, fully-preserved ship in the world which has the distinction of sinking on its maiden voyage in sight of the King in Stockholm's harbor. The King was a stubborn man who wanted to build the world's most magnificent and powerful battleship as a sign of his power and wealth and demanded that it be built longer and taller then the average warship. He was advised against his decision but ignored the warnings and told them to build it. As it was setting sail a gust of wind caused the "top-heavy" ship to swing too far and began to fill with water. 15 minutes after it set sail it slowly began to sink in the harbor as the King, and the rest of Stockholm, watched.

After examining the massive ship that was restored in 1961, we learned that the ship was buried in silt for most of those 333 years, preserving wood that should have rotted long ago. They also found several remains of the sailors that drowned with the ship and have restored their faces to what they would have looked like in 1628. As you can see in the picture below, they were a little creepy. When thinking of the Swedish people and how they take such pride in the Vasa one question was raised, "What kind of country puts so much work into celebrating and showing off their biggest folly?"

After the Vasa we drove through several of the islands as we passed the medieval Old Town, the Royal Palace, the Parliament building, the National Museum, the famous parade row (one of the streets along the water lined with magnificent buildings that lead to the Royal Palace) and then we made a stop at Fjallgatan where we were able to view 8 of the 14 islands of Stockholm. The view was amazing. I hate that my camera doesn't do it justice but after seeing this site I think Sweden became my favorite of all of our destinations.

After checking out the sites we were given the choice to go back to the ship or stay in the city for 3 more hours and then catch a bus back to the ship. Of course, we weren't going to waste the rest of our day doing nothing on the ship, so we jumped off and did some exploring of our own. We walked through the fashion district but we weren't in the mood for clothes shopping, so we crossed one of the many bridges and shopped on all the little cobblestone streets surrounding the Royal Palace.

This afternoon was my favorite time on our trip. My mom and I were finally able to go off on our own and find the local shops we had been looking for. My mom bought some beautiful pictures of Stockholm and some souvenirs for Shae. One of our finds was a jam made from a rare berry that can only be found in the forests of Scandinavia called a Cloudberry. The cute girl in the shop told us it was amazing on top of ice cream but I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't tried it yet so I don't know if she was telling the truth.

Next we ventured over to the royal palace to see the changing of the guards. It was fun to see the strict guards as they did their little routine and traded places. My mom said it wasn't near as big as the one at Buckingham Palace but it was fun to see how much pride they took in defending their Royal family. After the guards we made our way down one of the cute little cobblestone streets where we found a little cafe for lunch. We weren't starving but we noticed a common item on several menus was a baked potato with any topping you could think of. My mom and I decided to try the seafood salad on ours and it was delicious. I don't know if it was all the dill they put in their salad or just the combination of the potato with the salad but we loved it and it was the perfect lunch in such a cute little city.

Our time was up so we crossed the bridge and waited a really long time for the bus to pick us up and then it was back to the ship. Typically we would spend our nights on the ship eating a nice dinner, watching the performance for the evening and then going to the movie theater to watch the newest movie they were playing (I know, we're boring) but this night we were anxious to get back to our room after dinner so that we could sit out on the veranda and watch as we passed the beautiful islands and homes as we left Sweden. Call me old, but I loved this. My mom and I wrapped up in blankets and sat out on the balcony until it got too dark to see. My mom, of course, had her video camera out and would zoom in on all the beautiful homes as we imagined what their lives were like and secretly wished that we could come back with our families and stay in one. My mom has traveled a lot and she always talks about how much she loved Switzerland but the best part of the night was listening to my mom talk to the video camera as she continued to refer to Sweden as Switzerland, "Now here we are in Switzerland ... I mean Sweden ...".

The next day was spent relaxing at sea before our big day in Berlin.

The Vasa


A replica of the ship


One of the creepy sailors


Sites of Stockholm







Shops in Stockholm



Changing of the Guards






The islands as we left Stockholm

helsinki, finland

For some reason I was really excited to visit Finland. I don't know if it's just because it's not a common destination spot but in my mind it just sounded so pretty ... and it was just that.

We first drove through Helsinki and learned that it was the center of Finnish commerce and culture, as well as the nation's capital (we already knew it was the capital). Our first stop was Temppeliaukio Church (Temple Square in Finnish) one of the most unique structures in the world. It was built out of a large rock and has excellent acoustics; it's quality is ensured by the rough, virtually unworked, rock surfaces.

After the church we drove 45 minutes outside of the city to the quaint village of Porvoo. Porvoo is an old town situated at the mouth of River Porvoo and is one of the most photographed views in Finland. I loved Porvoo; the country side was so lush and green and the views from the old bridge of the red riverside storehouses were picture perfect. After taking a few shots at the bridge we walked through the charming little town of Porvoo with its idyllic little houses and narrow winding streets. We visited a few of the small handicraft stores but our favorites were the jewelry, candy and toy shops. We found several beautiful pieces of jewelry made out of fresh water pearls at the jewelry shop, but unfortunately the girl couldn't get her credit card machine to work and didn't accept dollars, so we had to leave all the lovely jewelry behind.

Our tour guide told us to be sure and stop at the local candy shop and try some of the delicious Finnish truffles. Little did she know she was on a bus full of grocers who had to try the amazing truffles along with everything else in the store. The store was pact with tourists and the little shop workers were going crazy. But she was right, the truffles were amazing! The toy store was perfect; I tried to find something for my future children but ended up helping my mom find something for Shae.

We were sad to leave Porvoo but we boarded the buses and headed to Haikko Manor for lunch. Once again, the Manor was breathtaking and we had a delicious traditional Scandinavian dish that was just a whole bunch of comfort food (just what we like). The fun (somtimes annoying) thing about this trip was that every time we would go somewhere we would always sit by someone new and learn a little bit about them. At this particular lunch we had the pleasure of sitting across from Kurt Bestor's parents. For those of you who don't know Kurt Bestor he is a very gifted LDS composer and performer and my mother and I both LOVE his Christmas CD's and have been to several of his Christmas concerts. He has lovely parents who shared several amazing stories about their family and their travels and who soon became our new cruise buddies.

Next we made a stop at Sibelius Park that had a beautiful monument for Sibelius, the most famous composer in Finland. Last we made a stop at the Senate Square where we had some time to stroll down the (hard to walk on) cobblestone streets and where we found the amazing Market Square. It's sort of similar to Union Square's farmer's market but it was fun to see the different local fish, fruits and vegetables.

Our mission on this trip was to find some unique jewelry that we could bring back with us. After our disappointing experience at the last jewelry shop we thought we wouldn't be finding anything in Finland. Luckily, we found a cute little jewelry stand with very unique rings that were just what we wanted. We found several other Finnish treasures for Shae and then we headed back to the boat.

Finally, as we entered our stateroom my moms luggage was sitting on our bed. We were both so excited we almost cried and the rest of the evening was spent going through all my moms stuff and finally enjoying some decent shampoo. At this point, my mom had gone 6 days without her luggage. Everyone knew her story and began to recognize that she still didn't have her luggage because she wore the same pants everyday. She was so excited to just wear anything else and show everyone that her luggage had come. Moms video camera was also in her luggage and she was very disappointed that she had missed so much, so she immediately pulled it out and started recording to make up for lost footage. This was probably my favorite part of the trip, my mom is a nerd and loved to bust out the video camera and start talking to it every chance she got (yes, she is one of those tourists). And the sad thing is, she's probably the only one that will ever watch it (love you, mom).

I'm kind of back and forth but I think out of all the stops on this trip, Porvoo was my favorite.

Porvoo






Inside Temppeliaukio Church



Sibelius' Monument


Around Helskink



The big boats that brake up the ice in the winter time


Some of our Finnish friends

st. petersburg, russia (day 2)

The second day of our stay in Russia was spent visiting the Summer Palace's of Peter and Catherine Romanov. Apparently their Huge palace's in St. Petersburg just weren't enough so they built summer palace's in the country.

Once again we had our lovely tour guide, Alexandra. She was such a cute 22 year old that knew everything, spoke 4 different languages and loved our silly American questions. Every time (without fail) she went to address our group she would start with "Dear ladies and gentelmen ...." we tried to catch her and see if she would start talking with out saying her opening phrase, but not once did she let us down.

The summer palace's were about 45 minutes outside of the city and we were all excited to get a change of scenery from the day before. I can say that other than the palace grounds, the Russian country side is not pretty. It just seems like a sad, gloomy country. I expected to see beautiful homes but apparently most Russian's live in apartments in the city and can't afford to own a home. We also learned that it is too expensive to have a lot of children and most families only have one or two.

We first arrived at Catherine's palace. Like the other palace's in the city it was a large museum with several rooms filled with gold. My favorite part of the palace's were the grounds and gardens. Once you've seen the inside of one palace you've seen them all. But they really know how to keep they're royal gardens nice and it was so fun to stroll through and see the amazing landscapes.

Next we headed to Peterhof, or "Russian Versailles" where we took a tour of the GRAND palace and park. The Peterhof was by far, the nicest of all the palaces we saw in Russia. It was Peter the Greats summer palace so of course it had to be the most beautiful palace of all. The rooms were beautiful but our favorite was the Amber room. This room's was were completely covered with Amber. There wasn't one inch that was bare. Now I think it was a little much and that Peter the Great was asking a little too much when he demanded the construction of the room, but I did enjoy seeing a room completely covered with presious stones.

The best part of Peterhof was the amazing grounds with its 150 fountains, cascades and various pavilions. The fountains were everywhere. In fact it was so beautiful that there were several brides getting their pictures taken there (basically the equivalent to our Temple Square). After walking around the grounds and taking pictures of all the fountains we walked down to the water and boarded a Hydrofoil (really fast boat) that took us back to St. Petersburg via the Gulf of Finland. There we said goodbye to our cute tour guide and boarded the ship and set sail for Finland.

Catherine's Palace



S&J waiting to go into Catherine's Palace


A crazy Russian bride and her groom's legs


The many fountains at Peterhof





The Tree fountain


The Hydrofoil