One thing I didn’t mention was the number of gorgeous horses pulling carriages around. They went so fast in these little streets, it was hard to capture good pictures of them.

And now to Paris….

This is Belgium.

11.5 M. population with 3 languages…..Flemish (Flanders), French and German. Protestant with king since1831.

In 1st WW it became an important base for German submarines….that sunk 2357 ships.

9th C was the beginning for Bruges. 9, 10 & 11 c. Port 3 miles from centre of Brugge. The waterways became silted up but after terrible storm (the worst in 1000 years) it cleaned out a channel to the city and so they once again had access.

They started the 1st stock exchange in the 14th C. In the 15 century they developed a banking system that is still used today. Up until 19th century the city was very rich but in the 19C it became poor with 50% unemployed. That lead to the development of lace industry. And diamonds amongst other industries. It became the 1st diamond centre in the world.

Unemployment in Brugge now only 2-2.5%. The city is only 3sq mile but 8 million visitors come every year. It is the most important distribution centre for cars …,3 million cars per year go through the port pre COVID. Did you know that China now owns Volvo? 1700 different beers are produced here in Belgium. They have a beer pipeline to outside city to bottle because there is no room inside the city. And of course, the famous Belgian chocolates.

The city is surrounded by a canal. At one time there was a population of 45,000 but it is now only 18,000. It is the biggest gothic style city in world.

One of city centre was a fish market. It was decreed that you must eat fish 150 days a year. If you were found to have had 3 times meat in a week, you were decapitated right there in the market place.

Besides walking around this most incredible medieval city ever, we took a canal boat ride….wow!

Nothing much happened yesterday, the first of 2 sea days except sleeping in (no tours to run off to) and lazing by the pool. It was quite hot…. even if the morning started out cool. Got a slight burn in between dips in the pool.

Last night we were to enter the Kiel Canal…..supposedly at 2 am but who knows. I wasn’t awake. This captain is always ahead of schedule so it was probably earlier. We arrived at our exit point at the Elbe River at 9:30 am not noon as planned.

In the other lock we watched as they managed to get 2 larger vessels and 3 smaller ones.

This Kiel Canal (Kiel is the name of the town on the Baltic), was previously named Kaiser Wilhelm Kanal after William II of Germany. It was completed in 1895 to avoid the long journey around Denmark. Apparently it is the most used canal in the world according to Wikipedia but I had never even heard of it before.

As we were to exit into the Elbe River (Hamburg is further upstream in Germany), the managed to cram 2 larger and 3 smaller freight carrying ships into the lock opposite us.

The canal is 61 miles (98kms) long and saves nearly 250 nautical miles by avoiding the typically rough seas of the North Sea around Denmark’s Jutland peninsula.

Larger vessels than our “little” ship, cannot use the canal because they cannot clear the bridges.

Highlights of Tallinn is our tour today. It’s cloudy but supposed to go up to 26C.

Margaret Tower was the last built. It is 5 meters thick. Bastion built by Swedes. It is now surrounded by green belt.

400 kms to St Petersburg from centre of medieval of Tallinn to. “Vitu” Square. It also refers to the language and people. Peter the Great called this area Catherine’s valley. Any of the old houses of any period is not allowed to be altered.

Estonia is 45,000 kms in size….about the same size as Denmark. Only 1.3 million population in the whole country. They have never had royal hierarchy.

There is no written document previous to 1300ad when they were invaded by Danes. Some years later the country was sold for 700 kgs of gold. In 1600s they were conquered by Sweden. Then Danes, then Poland.

Great Northern War late in 17century by Peter the Great. Back then Russia did not have a sea port so no navy. 1703 was the beginning of St. Petersburg. The country was under siege by Russians but plague made them give up. Peter purchased land that had a hunting lodge on the grounds. He then built another bigger “cottage”. The pink building is the office of president….Not his residence. Independence was gained after Versailles…20 years between wars.

Palace built by Peter the great 1800’s is first stop.

Palace of Peter.. “small” a summer cottage. He met his love named Martha at the time… was a maid cleaning the windows. She became Catherine I. In 1725 Peter died and she ruled for 1 year. She was a straight shooter….said things as they were. Their children were born out of wedlock. Elizabeth their daughter come on the throne 15 years after Catherine’s death. His first wife was sent to a convent. Catherine I converted to orthodox. Her name was changed from Martha, on her marriage to Peter.

Estonia became member of NATO in 2004.

Russification by Tsar Alexander III. … people had to learned in Russian language, etc. 95% of language etc was safe up until then.

34,000 sang together … love songs. There was a reawakening in mid 1990s at culture song festival centre. 1988 Gorbachev made it easier. With the 1991 coupe in Russia, Estonia also said they wanted out.

Homes built during Russian era look like the “Wall of China”. 900% inflation rate after Russia. Russian built apartments given based on years of service to Russia with no payment. 24% Russian speaking are still not citizens. No Schengen visas are given to Russian tourists since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine..

Bridgedine Convent was started during the 100 year war when “Bridgette” travelling to Rome to get certified by the pope. It was then that she saw all the starvation so pleaded politicians to fix it. Both male monks and female nuns in the convents but headed only by women . She was instrumental in making prostitution legal but if you pay for a prostitute is a crime brought by on board by Bridgette. The convent was used only for 150 years after 15th century.

Russian destroyed all monuments from previous eras. 25,000 people were sent to Siberia for resisting after 1940. German occupation was for 3 years 1941-44. The Forest boys, that had escaped during Russians take over were hunted down til the 60s. They used families to get back the forest boys.

The IT sector developed first as means of crawling out bad period after Russia.

Timber exporting is big in the is country. Agriculture(rye) and dairy too.

Vitu gates… centre Wall is 1.8 kms long. All houses are authentic to their own period. The stone on the outside walls of the church used to be flooring inside the gothic church… were moved out in 19 th c.

Most of the buildings in the old town were built in 13, 14 & 15th centuries during the Hanseatic period

Tallinn was German town before Russia. It was until 1925 that the name became Tallinn.

Church is actually town hall….. medieval 1530… dragons are medieval. Education basis of Christianity according Lutheran. Lutheran church was town hall ..,,,poor peoples hospital.

Gate… this one of 2 gates called “long leg gate” cuz you needed take long strides to get up it.. Other was a staircase so called “short leg gate”.

Mid 19c was the last time suburbs were burned down when attacked in a war. Suburb homes were made of wood and no stone. Inside the town they had to be built of stone and no wood.

Today we are doing the Helsinki harbour cruise.

Population of city is 600,000 with total of 5.5 in Finland

Biggest Orthodox Church on Finland…across from our ship

20-22C today but no rain. May 17/22 Finland sent papers to join NATO. Only Turkey has not applied. They share a 3100 kms border with Russia so as the guide said “Its good to be a little awake”.

Yellow building is presidential palace. It looks like there is a cool market on the pier across from it. As we head out into the harbour guide points out where they have lively music in building on left in the summer. Sauna is only know Finnish word outside Finland. Out of that 5.5 million population there are here 10 M saunas. In this country they believe that political problems can be solved by sitting stark native in a sauna to discuss things.

It cost out in the country 1500 euros/square meter for a home but 9500euro/ in this area along the shore. There are 180,000 islands in Finland. Like Sweden, the islands keeping popping up cause by the earth is rising now that the glaciers are receding and the land isn’t being pushed down.

Click on each of the picture to see a much bigger and better picture

The tables on the docks are used for cleaning their carpets once a year. Then they leave them hang to dry while they go to the outside bars for a glass of week. Everyone gets 5 weeks of holidays every year.

188,000 lakes caused by glaciers. The Baltic is quite shallow …. Only 92 meters deep at most. Not very salty because it is fed by rivers. Only salt water comes in through channel between Denmark and Norway.

Ships that sail into city centre cannot be longer than 200 metres. There are 300 islands in Helsinki.

It cost 90 barrels of gold to build fortress….. 5 islands connected by bridges….that was never completed.

Kings gate at fortress. The Passage in front of us is only 80 meter wide and not very deep. That is why this little ship and a couple of the ferries that go out of here (because they are less than 200 feet in length.

In 1822 Russia attacked Finland … captured it because they could attack by marching over the ice. The church on the fortress was originally Russian orthodox but changed to Protestant Lutheran in 1917 when Finland gained independence.

High divorce rate. There is a lot of changing of partners so when the teacher asked a child what was family, he said it was bunch of people that all eat from the same refrigerator.

Last week they had snow here in Helsinki. In Lapland in the winter goes to -50 C.

So expensive to live here that mothers go back to work after 1 month even though they have 1 year maternity with pay. Both parents share maternity leave. The children get free meals at kindergarten. Books are expensive but university is free. Baby box is given to all new parents. Snowsuit are included because babies nap outdoors in pram. Foreign students have to pay for courses in English but not those in Finnish.

One new development being built will be home to 20,000 people.

Forestry used to be number one industry but not now. Surnames are named after things in nature like animals or birds including lynx or woodpecker.

Icebreakers manufactured here are sold to Norway and Canada. “Kontio” on icebreaker is pet name for bears. Bears are the national animal. There is a zoo on the island across from this.

Average wage 3500 euro income….3800 men, 3100 women/ month. Progressive taxes depending on amount you make.

Retirement age is rising to 65 but must retire by 68. Everyone is entitled to old age home at a cost of 85% of pension.

Sviarika is the name of the country in Swedish. More than 50% of the country is forested. Concert hall is only 1/3 above ground to be more in tune with nature. Ambassadors row ….US ambassador’s residency. first, British, Korean, etc. all along the waterfront.

Vasa museum opened 1990.
Royal dramatic theatre with brass sculptures.
We pointed out the bank where Stockholm a syndrome came from. There are 100 subway stations.
Lake is 3 feet higher than Baltic Sea divided by bridge which we drove over and a lock. Earth is rising in Sweden 100 feet every 100 years since the ice age so every 100 years they have to redo the lock. There are 14 inhabited islands that make up Stockholm.
Looking at Baltic with royal hunting island across, old city on left.
Swedes are not opposed to buying secondhand. Liquor stores are government run only.
1/3 parks, 1/3 water and rest for buildings.
The fortunes of Alfred Nobel -the richest man in world at the time. When he died all his wealth (except 6?% to relatives) were invested and have been distributed ever since each year as the Nobel Prize.
I/3 of population left to go to North American after the war for economic reasons so housing is promised to everyone. After getting put on the list, you could wait 15-20 years.

Vasa ship raised in 1960-1 but the museum that was build to house it opened in 1990. The Vasa was 225 ft in length. It sank in 1628. When it sunk the masts showed above water because the water wasn’t very deep. They were ordered to cut off the masts so as to not show the disaster and admit mistake. The reason it sunk was that it was top heavy with not enough ballast. Cannon holes were too low…. too close to water line plus they forgot to shut the doors to cannons. 400 on board but 1/3 perished ??? They have recovered a number of skeletons. The ship was so well preserved because the salinity level was only 1.2%. It was the 1st double decker ship ever built.

1967 changed from left to right hand traffic. That was when they took out tracks for the trolley except for the island where Vasa is, old town and hunting park.
Walked through the old city, had a beer now off to Sigtuna.
Apparently there were homes with a flame above the door. That would indicated that you had fire insurance and so the fire department fight the fire. Otherwise they would let it burn. 480 day paid time off for the birth of a baby. $US 130 paid per month to parents from birth to 18. No property Taxes

Sigtuna…..
Runes of Viking age and before. First capital of Sweden …..from 10th Century. Ruins of St Olafs church built
1100’s but what we see of the illage is all built in 16 &1700’s. Sweden was neutral during the war but was forced to sell iron and allow the use of their soil to Germany.
There are 400,000 moose in the country …too many so they try to keep it down to 300,000 so they kill 100,000 every year.
Less than 8% go to church, 2nd highest birth rate after Ireland… in Europe

Again…will send pictures later…. Off to Helsinki today.

Today we do a tour of City Hall and Lake Maelaren and then meeting up with two ladies we have met on previous trips.
Before arriving in port the area we travel through is dotted with an amazing number of island. It kind of reminds me of the Gulf Islands in BC or Portage Inlet but way more so. And there are cabins dotted all along the shoreline…. Very nice! I wasn’t expecting that. It must be “fun” for big ships to navigate these waters! And then there is drizzle!

The ship Vasa was built in 1622-28 …lasted 20 minutes before it sunk. But preserved because very low salt content of the water. It had 2 canon stacks which made it too heavy and not enough ballast. There are 40 islands & 60 bridges in Stockholm.
Iron is a major mineral near Lake Maelaren…..it has been exported since the Middle Ages.
It costs 100,000 euro per square meter for an apartment here.

City Hall … wow 1911-1923 Built in National Romanticist style….. inspired by Italian renaissance. It is mainly a political centre for the city but 1330 people can be served in main banquet (blue room that isn’t blue at all) hall for Nobel prizes. All local building materials are used in the building. Then up the low-rise stairs to the golden room. They are low so that the women can walk in high heels. When coming down you keep your eye on the star on the wall so that you walk gracefully down.

There are 4 islands to Old Town.
The rule of succession changed in late 20st century to oldest child instead of male heir.

Cruise of Lake Maelaren started near maritime museum, is beautiful natural like grounds. Nice houses for ambassadors and embassies but also rich people. Nothing new can be built now there. The Royal City Park was hunting grounds for the royals during the Middle Ages. Now the city park is used by more people than anywhere else in Stockholm. In 1912 rowing competitions were held here. It is a bird watching area.
You can see the old corn mill and on the other side there was once a blind and deaf school. There are massive amounts of apartments across from the school. Huge building on left is a retirement home. It looks like a palace. Fortress to right. “Old Town” from 1600’s, the water level was higher. Some are leaning 60-129 cms. Their is a difference in elevation between the lake and Baltic so in between there is a lock.

Ginkgo trees on the street we were driving on were planted to improve the air quality.
Olaf Palma prime minister was assassinated in 1986 coming from a cinema with his wife. It was never solved but closed because they believe the perpetrator is dead.
In 1523, Sweden gained independence from Denmark and 4 years later became Protestant.
1916 Olympics held here the building is the oldest standing Olympic stadium. … built in the romanticism style of city hall.

After returning from the tour, we meet up with the two ladies and one’s husband. We went back downtown to Old Town again but got a closer look. It is amazing. We had a wonderful time re-connecting . They treated us to dinner and drinks. And then successful got us back to the ship.

Having difficulty posting pictures so will try later….