50^th Anniversary trip blog

On June 12^th1966 on a college campus in Tennessee, I met my wife. Of course, I did not know it then. I was in my second year and stayed for the summer semester and she was a Freshman from Florida up for the work-study program. Two years later we were engaged and by August of 1969, we were married. We still are.

To celebrate this 50^th Anniversary, we wanted to go somewhere cool. We have been to Southern Europe in August and vowed not to go back – too hot and too crowded. We have lived in Alaska and we have extensively toured all of Canada. Well, most all of it. The far Northern territories are still calling but not much there for a major Anniversary celebration, so we booked a 14 day cruise on our favorite line, RCL, with four extra days in London. Linda had been to London and most of the British Isles 35 years ago for our 15^th Anniversary while I stayed home with the kids and she made her first and only trip with just her sisters. (Their father was born in Chester, England and they still had an abundance of relatives there then)

The cruise would take us to ports in Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Russia, Finland and Sweden, in that order with new ports back to Norway and Denmark.

As you look through the accompanying pictures, please keep in mind that we are tourists; it is virtually impossible to take photographs without a lot of other tourists in them trying to accomplish the same things.

First up, London. We arrived on a Saturday morning around 7AM after “only” seven hours on a Delta A330 out of Atlanta. We were booked at the Radisson Heathrow Edwardian Bleu for one night. We cannot say enough positive about this old fashion but modern updated elegant hotel. The Concierge service was better than any we have experienced here in the States. Every one was very kind and accommodating. They stored our luggage, provided us a map and instructions, and off we went to Central London, 16 miles to the East. The hotel is 5 minutes from the major Heathrow terminals. A great bargain for a mere $149 a night! A 24 hour McDonalds sits next door. A free bus ride to the “Tube” (subway) and about $11 each gets you a round trip pass into all things London. The trains run about every 5 to 8 minutes. Each subway station has a friendly attendant to help you with ticketing questions and operating the machines.

We opted for the “Hop-on-hop-off” Bus. There are many variant company options for this bus. We have found it very useful in many large cities we have visited over the years and doing so in London gives you a great overview of places to visit and how long it may take to get from point to point. I will digress here to tell you with no sense of pride that I have driven in every major city in America at one time or another, but no where, here, is the traffic as congested as it is in central London. They even have a system that restricts traffic in central London to only vehicles with special emission controls and an electronic card reader that dings you £20 per day! Even with all of the double decker buses, cabs and marvelous subway system, the traffic congestion is mind blowing. We did the full route and then hopped off for lunch at Tower Bridge and ate in a very traditional Pub. We saw all the sights you can from the street: London Bridge, Westminster, London Eye, The Tower of London, Buckingham Palace entrance - and much more. At Buckingham, I took a picture of the wall around the entire complex. Note in the attached photographs that ancient spikes and barbed wire adorning the top then compare that to the simple iron fence around our White House and no fence around our buildings of National Government. Folks, we are Free! We are safe. We never felt unsafe walking London but absent from site were the infamous “Bobbies” (police). The Crowds at the Buckingham Place Gate were horrendous and they even did away with the “changing of the guard” except on special days and times.

We returned to our hotel late in the afternoon, retrieved our luggage and checked in. We were tired having been up now over 24 hours. A brief nap and we walked a couple of blocks to another Pub and restaurant. Portions for lunch and dinner were huge. A bit more expensive than our usual at home but in line with or even less than similar in NYC or San Francisco prices. You can order one dish and split for two and still have plenty to eat.

The next morning, we were up at 7AM, breakfast at McDonalds and then checked out and ready to catch the shuttle to Southampton’s Sea Port. The ride down the M3 was uneventful except for a north bound backup we thought was due to an accident, but turned out, several emergency vehicles and police were trying to capture a loose dog on the highway!

It would be two weeks before we returned to London but for continuity purposes, I will continue the London tour now.

Back from a marvelous two weeks on the Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas, we checked back into the Radisson Edwardian Heathrow for three more nights. This time, our room was ready and we were refreshed having slept well on board the ship. It was a Sunday and we had been without good internet service for two weeks! We had much to catch up on. All the Government buildings were closed so the planned visits to Westminster, Buckingham, Tower, etc. were out. We had already booked full day countryside tours for Monday and Tuesday, and we left early Wednesday back home, so, we stayed close, caught up on our e-mails and worked on pictures.

Monday morning we are up at 5:30 AM, breakfast at McDonalds then the bus and Tube to Gloucester Road Station to meet our tour bus at 7:30AM. We booked Stonehenge and Bath through Viatour.com. We have always had good luck with them. It was promoted as a “small group tour” but there were 60 of us on the bus! Our Guide was excellent. Stonehenge is 88 miles and 2 ½ hours southwest of central London down the M3 (we call them ‘Interstates’ they call them ‘Motorways’) Basically the same direction we had gone two weeks previously to Southampton. All of the major highways in England are speed camera controlled. They tell you ahead of time when a camera is coming up. Every one slows down. The cameras are marked with large yellow stripes. Then every one speeds back up. The posted speed limit is 70 K/H (44 mph) but mostly you go 90 k/h (56 mph) which is still slow to our brains! However, we never saw an accident and rarely, a banged up vehicle.

Stonehenge sits upon a windswept plain. It is gently rolling hills dotted with sheep, dairy and wheat farms. (https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge). We had great weather --- even a brief rain shower. The temperature throughout our 3 week trip was mostly sunny skies, 68 to 74 degrees, low humidity, light winds and evenings in the 55 to 65 degrees. Five years ago, on our Corps of Discovery/Lewis & Clark adventure, we visited the full scale replica of Stonehenge in Western Washington. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryhill_Stonehenge) I’ve included photographs of it in the attached link for comparison and interest.

On to Bath! The only natural hot springs in England. Developed by the Romans (of course). A marvelous city with the original baths restored, the Bath Abbey, and a lovely river-side park.

Bath is the largest city in the county of Somerset, England, known for its Roman-built baths. In 2011, the population was 88,859. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, 97 miles west of London and 11 miles south-east of Bristol. The city became a World Heritage site in 1987. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath,_Somerset. The drive through the countryside to and back to Central London was relaxing and lovely. A nice end of a 14 hour day. We ate supper at another historic Pub that evening before heading back to the Hotel via the Tube and free two decker bus.

Up early again the next morning (Tuesday) and back to the Gloucester Road Station for our next tour to Shakespeare country – the Cotswold’s, Stratford-Upon-Avon and Oxford with a side trip to Bibury.

Stratford-upon-Avon, a medieval market town in England’s West Midlands, is the 16th-century birthplace of William Shakespeare. While Shakespeare’s original birth-place home still stands, it has been greatly enlarged. The one he built after becoming rich and famous no longer stands as the fellow who bought it many years ago got fed up with the gawking tourists that he tore it down! Much of “old town” is exactly as it was 400 years ago – and full of tourists. Being a tourist ourselves it is almost impossible to get pictures without people standing in front of you trying to take the same picture! By the way, “Strat” is Old English for walking. “ford” means to cross a shallow body of water. “Avon” is Old English for river, so the name of the town means. “walk across a shallow place in the “river”. Learn more at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratford-upon-Avon

Bibury is a quaint little town nestled in a small valley with a cold water creek (they call it the Coin River that actually supports a trout farm that gives tours and sells Rainbow Trout filets and steaks. It has been a movie set for film producers for many years from both the US and England. The town boasts a population of under 700, but on any given day, more tourists show up --- and some rude ones also.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibury

Our last stop was Oxford. While Cambridge would certainly disagree, Oxford is the ultimate college town. It has a resident population of over 155,000. We walked several miles of campuses and entered 400+ year old historic buildings. Some had not changed their furniture in all that time. It was a real education! If the storefront is not selling consumer goods, the building is a college. There are 31 Colleges in Oxford. Entry requirements are stringent. By law, they cannot charge England citizens more than £9,000 tuition per year. Everyone else something north of £35,000 per year. A degree from any one of the colleges and you receive an Oxford Diploma. They are so proud of how tough their course requirements are, you also get an Honorary Masters Degree with the BS/BA degree. Yes, they have an even more elite graduate college and medical college. Or, you can get your Oxford Degree right here https://www.getdegree18.com/Samples/University-of-Oxford-degree.html

Our tour guide told us several shops in Oxford sell fake degrees. Oxford is also a major movie set and many of the Harry Potter Movies were filmed inside “Hogwarts” scenes here. It was the perfect end to a 12 hour day. Back at our Hotel, we opted for the Hotel Restaurant “Steak & Lobster” and to our surprise, the pricing was very reasonable. Steak dinner for £20 and a nice lobster roll for £18.

The next morning our final McDonald’s breakfast (the Hotel wanted £23 each for breakfast) and caught a cab to the airport to come home.

There is so very much to see and do in London we will be back for a much longer stay. It is a city of 9 million and extremely diverse. You never know at a pub if your server speaks good English or not until you sit down. English Television is totally different than American TV. Mostly news, documentaries, and Nature programs. Of course, the Brexit separation from the European Union dominated the News, but also, protest to the government to do more to stop KNIFE CRIME! Yes, folks, knife crime is apparently rampant there to the point youth groups are marching in the streets. (We never saw any nor did we ever feel unsafe). The English economy is a bit soft. They are experiencing many of the same problems we are with entitlement demands, education deterioration, lawyers soliciting accident victims …. They are becoming us! While you see many miles of large beautiful rock and brick built homes --- that once were single family residents of the merchant class – they have all been converted into small multifamily apartments. Socialism has certainly taken its toll there and their “free” medical system is stretched to the limits by “medical tourism”. Apparently, they don’t even charge for tourists who go there for treatment from countries that do not have free and/or the standard of care England offers.

On the Ship at Southampton. Check in was a breeze. Loyalty awards are worth something. Explorer of the Seas is the largest cruise liner we have sailed on. 3,752 guest and 1,200 crew. It even sported an ice skating rink that we were treated to two very nice ice shows in. We did get to watch the Queen Mary 2 leave port ahead of us on Sunday evening. Our first day was at sea. Tuesday August 6^th at 10:30AM we docked at Oslo, Norway.

We had initially signed up for an Oslofjord cruise that canceled due to lack of participation? We took a city tour and a tour out to the Holmenkollen Ski Jump “hill”, the world’s only totally concrete ski jump created for the 1952 Winter Olympics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmenkollbakken. Oslo is a modern city with ancient buildings having been founded in 1040. We wish we had more time to visit all things Viking and the Viking Museum. You can read more about Oslo here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo

In Copenhagen, Denmark the next day, we visited its three main castles. Copenhagen has a distinguished royal heritage. We toured the three distinct castles on the island of Zealand. First was Kronborg Castle, which was the setting for William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet. Then we moved on to the baroque gardens at Fredensborg Palace, the spring and autumn residence of the Danish royal family. Finally, we stopped at Frederiksborg, the largest Renaissance castle in Scandinavia.

Leaving Copenhagen, we had a full day at sea before arriving in the Baltic Nation of Estonia on our Anniversary date of August 9^th. Estonia was one of the three Baltic Soviet Socialist Republics, but thanks to Reagan and Gorbachev, they are now free for 30 years loving every minute of it. Here we got to experience the country and the city life. First, we visited a dairy farm and were served freshly made yogurt and cream with blueberries. Then we headed to the city where we visited a home of a local citizen and learned much of their Russian bondage and yearning to be free. We were served delicious homemade Rhubarb Cake and tea. Their economy has taken off and most are doing well. Then it was on to Old Town Tallinn.

We landed in the Capital and Port City of Tallinn. We visited Old Town and Toompea Hill. The views from Toompea Hill were remarkable and we explored historic St. Mary's Cathedral and orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

Next up, RUSSIA! St. Petersburg. The historic Capitol City founded in 1703 by Peter the Great. We spent two whole days here. What was accomplished in 200 years, torn down in the span of 26 and rebuilt over the last 75 is astounding! The official population is over 6 million. There were at least another million tourists in town! It was extremely crowded. Fortunately, as with the entire trip, the temperature hovered around 72F. The Historic City center is at the seaport area. The majority of the palaces are 45 minutes by super highway to the East. Two things struck me right off. First, the area is very flat. Second, there are no single-family houses --- just high-rise upon high-rise buildings. My guess is 95% of the Russian people that are not farmers, live in high-rise apartments. In our many travels back and forth through the Countryside, we saw very few farm houses – all modest – one subdivision typical of a small 1400 square foot house development and very little actual agriculture. We had very little interaction with Russian citizens. Observationally, judging from the wide variety of non-Russian made automobiles, trucks and buses crowding the streets, many citizens are doing well. Our tour bus was Russian made and for me, the seats was very Spartan and uncomfortable. The Russian currency is the Ruble – worth 15 cents USD. However, St. Petersburg is a VERY expensive City. No bargains were to be found, but of course, we did pick up several Russian made souvenirs, including Matryoshka Dolls.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matryoshka_doll .

Our first stop was Catherine’s Palace in Pushkin. WOW! Nothing we have ever seen comes close to the opulence of this Palace. Typical of all the Palaces of that time, it included its own Cathedral. The Palace is one of the most splendid summer residences of the Russian tsars and considered one of the masterpieces of world architecture. The Amber Room was once dubbed the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” The gardens cover 1,400 acres dotted with charming pavilions set around the central lake. We had a typical multicourse Russian lunch at a local restaurant then headed to Peterhof Palace, one of the summer residences of the royal family. A UNESCO World Heritage site, Peterhof is located 18 miles away from St. Petersburg on the Gulf of Finland. We did not have time to go into the Palace, but the terraced gardens featuring sculptures, numerous pavilions and intricately shaped foot-bridges and more than 150 gold clad fountains and four cascades — all gravity-fed. Then the tour bus drove across the Neva River to the Spit of Vasilievsky Island, flanked by two rostral columns stopping for a tour of the early-18th-century Peter and Paul Fortress. Within the fortress is Peter and Paul Cathedral, an ornate 18th-century church situated at the highest point of the city and the burial place of the tsars.

Our Second day, a Sunday, was supposed to start at The Hermitage with an entry ticket ahead of the general public, but that got moved to the afternoon, so first visit was an exhibit about the 1916 palace murder of imperial advisor Grigori Rasputin. Then we boarded a cruise of St. Petersburg’s waterways, passing magnificent palaces, mansions and cathedrals. At dinner between the two days, we were told about the boat ride and how children ran from bridge to bridge crossing the canals waving at you, and when you got back to the drop off point, they were there with their hands out hoping for money. Our dinner table group said they were all young boys. Well, we had a 15 year old girl that ran. Quite an athletic endeavor and the course was well over a mile with at least 6 bridges. I gave her 100 Rubels ($1.50 USD) Off the boat we explored the inside of Yusupov palace, one of Europe’s most lavish estates. This huge riverside was home of the Yusupov family, as wealthy as the tsars in the 19th century. Then we visited St. Isaac’s Cathedral to marvel at the dome decorated with 200 pounds of gold. Its vast interior is filled with hundreds of impressive 19th-century works of art. After a multicourse lunch at the Nikolaevsky Palace with servers in period costume we ventured deep inside the extremely crowded and hot Hermitage, housing 3 million-plus items. Afterwards we visited the Church of Resurrection of the Spilled Blood, a spectacular, Russian-style multicolored, onion-domed church. Like so many of these 18^th and 19^th Century buildings, the top dome was obscured by scaffolding under-going renovations. The inside of this church was absolutely spectacular. The 20-foot high double doors weight 10 tons each. We needed so much more time, but we were happy to leave the crowds behind.

Helsinki, the Capitol of Finland and Finland’s 2nd-oldest town. We had a ride through the modern downtown area out to the country-side and lunch in an old manor/distillery. On the way, we stopped briefly at Senate Square, then drove on to Sipoo and visited its 15th century-old church. Finally Porvoo established circa 1346, a quaint little village on a river where I captured by best photographs of the trip.. On the return trip, we enjoyed a photo stop at Rock Church.

On to Stockholm, Sweden and Its Famous Archipelago the next day. Like so much of Scandinavia and the Baltic the Archipelago is composed of a vast island chain east of Stockholm. We visited enchanting villages and a 16th-century fortress. We took a walk through Vaxholm, an island port of beautiful old buildings with waterfront views of Vaxholm Fortress. We enjoyed a traditional Swedish lunch of Salmon with pastoral views in Siggesta Gard. Next we toured the old porcelain community of Gustavsberg but were not impressed as mostly common dinnerware was displayed. Our tour guide was a 50ish Political Science and History Professor at Stockholm University. She was a real cheerleader for all things Swedish. Admittedly, from all appearances, the Swedes live well. The government provides all their needs from cradle to grave: free public education through college, free medical care, free job skills training, and low unemployment – now. The government controls EVERY LITTLE aspect of their lives! The pay 35% to 65% in income taxes. No property tax, but, gasoline if $6.50 USD per US gallon, they have a 23% sales tax on EVERYTHING (call ad valorum tax) which is always included in the price you see on the price tag so you don’t have to mentally calculate it in the bottom line. Their total tax bite is between 45 to 75% of earned income! When I challenged her that system only works because they have a homogeneous population, she jumped on me. 30% of Stockholm’s population (the largest City with over half the Nations population) are Immigrants. Well, as I listened to her explain that the majority are from Finland that immigrate to Sweden for jobs, then from the traditional Baltic Nations (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) North Germany, Russia, Norway and some Middle East refugees – mostly fleeing Christians, some Muslim, all young men and women who are highly educated. I did not argue with her but obviously, I was correct. Swede’s immigrants are overwhelmingly Northern European and White. The she tells us, ALL immigrants a condition of staying in Sweden MUST learn the Swedish language plus one other Northern European language. They MUST get a job. If they do have job skills, they MUST go to school to obtain the skills. On the medical care end, they are not allowed to become fat and lazy and become diabetic. Yes, the State even controls your diet and exercise program! They have very few lawyers as they do not allow negligence lawsuits as we know them. They do not tolerate misbehavior in the school classrooms. ALL of their families value education. Neither our Constitution nor our Culture here would allow the government to impose such strict life style living or taxation. Norway and Finland are similar but not as strict.

Another sea day and then to the Northern tip of Denmark to Skagen, Denmark. Pronounced “Skane”. This is a small port town and fish factory town. We could smell it a mile or so out from port. It was the only day that was overcast with rain showers the entire time we were there. There simply were no tours that piques our interest and there were no local cabs we saw, but there were cab stop signs all over town. The highlight was the ancient “light”. Not a light house per se, but a mechanism to lift a bucket of burning embers up high into the sky situated on a small hill top near the mouth of the small Bay. Read more about the Bascule Light here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vippefyr

Our last day in the Baltic. Back to Norway. Stavanger (pronounced Staven’ah) and Lysefjord fiord.

We took a 2.5-hour easygoing boat ride through the majestic Lysefjord, viewing stunning rock formations and enjoying complimentary refreshments. We set sail across the Stavanger Archipelago. I included a commercial drone picture of the famous Perikestolen, "the Pulpit Rock", which soars 1,982 feet above the water, while taking pictures of it from our boat. We stopped at a shore side restaurant with its resident Viking in traditional warrior garb, and enjoyed hot tea, coffee and waffles before heading back to the Explorer of the Seas and our last cruise day back to Southampton, England. It was a marvelous cruise!

The Baltic Sea is a shallow sea. It has no tidal changes. You will need to look at a large map of the area to understand why. It averages only 30 meters (98.4ft) deep. It is a great place to determine if “climate change” is causing ocean rise above the historic average of 1mm per year (about a foot per 100 years). It isn’t. Actually, the land is rising. Yes, the land is rising. The oceans are NOT rising. The deep permafrost of the last ice age that ended there a mere 10,000 years ago is still swelling from absorbed water, so many of the islands that were above water 1,000 years ago, then disappeared due to ice age ice melt and ocean rise, are now rising again. They are discovering many ancient Viking age artifacts now on beaches and dry land. Ancient maps are coming back to “life”. In other parts of the world, notable western Italy, land masses are sinking due to the great volcanic caldera there that are collapsing further under the sea. Of course, the claimant terrorist and alarmist want you to believe the oceans have dramatically risen there … just there, when it is the land that has sunk. This is true in many other parts of the world. Our Mother Earth is very active geologically. Climate has nothing to do with tectonic plate movements, volcanic magma rise and fall, the land mass sinking of Antarctica due to the massive weight of the ice and so many more factors. We still have much to learn!