Helsinki - August 2011

I arrived in Helsinki on Monday, August 22.  I took the bus to the city center.  If I wanted to take the train, I would have to wait until 2014.  The apartment I rented was only a few blocks from the main train station, smack in the middle of Helsinki.  I could not have picked a better location. 

I found an amazing grocery store in the basement of Stockmans, a large department store.  It reminded me of the food court in Harrods.  I bought dinner, coffee and food for breakfast. The following day the sun was shining and the temperature was perfect.  I walked towards the port, passing the city hall
and the presidential palace.  There was a nice outdoor market near the port.  I could have purchased a reindeer pelt, but there's no room in my luggage.

These are the only reindeer that I saw.

For lunch I had salmon paella.  If you don't like salmon I think you're out of luck here.  The prices were back in the normal range after Zurich.

I visited the cathedral which was very different from the rest I've seen on this trip.

In the afternoon I searched for a Finland cycling jersey.  After five attempts I gave up.  It started to rain so I took the opportunity to update my blog text - I'm over a week behind.

The following day I purchased a Helsinki Card - good for sightseeing, transportation and museums.  The first thing I did was a sightseeing tour.  Some things looked familiar, so when I got home I checked my pictures from my Baltic cruise in 1998.  And guess what, I was here.  Finland wasn't on my countries list, so I assumed I had never been here.  I just added it as my 65th country that I've visited.

The two highlights of the tour were cathedral built in a rock formation and a modern sculpture.  I had pictures of both from my previous visit.  We also drove past the 1952 Olympic site (postponed from 1940 due to the war).

After lunch I visited Suomenlinna, one of the world's largest maritime fortresses.

I ended the day by visiting the Design Museum and the Contemporary Art Museum.  Both were small and not very inspiring.

Are you surprised to see another train station?

These outdoor urinals are at the Olympic stadium.  I've also seen them on the streets in Amsterdam.

On the following day I planned on doing an 8 kilometer walking tour of the city, but to my surprise, I had already seen everything.  After visiting the Olympic site I returned to Stockmann's department store and bought an excellent bagel with lox. 

The bagel was as good as NYC.  I think I bought most of my meals there, and probably spent less in four days then I did for one day in Zurich.

Later in the afternoon I took another walk since the weather was amazing.

As I write this blog, I'm enjoying a split of Champagne - thinking of Ann and Norman.

Tomorrow my journey ends and I fly home through London.  This turned out to be a good thing, since my original plans had me changing planes in JFK just as Hurricane Irene was passing through.

I hope you have enjoyed the postings from my August 2011 trip to Europe.

Zurich - August 2011

I sadly left the river cruise ship for my bus ride to Zurich. Luckily I could check into my hotel room when I arrived.  The walk to my hotel was not too far from the central station, but uphill all the way.  I didn't know my ticket from the airport was good on the tram.  As usual with a 3 star hotel, no air conditioning, and it was hot in Zurich.

I wandered out for some lunch. I had been to Zurich in the early 70s, but didn't remember anything.
I was totally shocked with the prices. Lunch would run 20 or more Swiss Francs - over $25. Later I saw a sign for a hot dog for $8.00. Thank you Mr. Bush for the weak dollar.

I started in the old section of town, now converted to retail and restaurants.  I then went to the river, which has this amazing green/blue tint.

I noticed lots of people in the river, most floating with yellow duckies.  Every five minutes more people jumped in and joined the procession.  The river was very shallow so everyone could walk.  It was the Limmat River Swim 2011, which was in its 8th year.

Next I walked through a Saturday flea market to the lake.  It was filled with sailboats and had that beautiful hue.

I completed my walk passing the opera house, but couldn't get a good picture due to construction outside.

Lunch was a quiche and beer for $22, and for dinner I had a pizza and 0,5l of wine for about $50.  Yes, you read it correct.  I could have opted for a $9 hot dog or a $18 Double Whopper meal at Burger King.  I knew Zurich was expensive, but this was outrageous.

The following day my friend Thomas joined me for a city tour.  We purchased a travel card for the day, good on trams, trains and some boats.  We started with an hour and a half cruise in the lake.

We then went to the Kunsthaus Museum, where they had a nice collection of impressionist paintings.  We then tried two other museums, but they were closed. 

Our final destination was Uetliberg, where we had an amazing view of Zurich and the surrounding countryside.  I wasn't thrilled about climbing the tower, but it was worth the climb.  That evening I skipped dinner, since I had a large meal at lunch.

The following morning I packed and headed for the airport and Helsinki.

Rhine River Cruise - Amsterdam to Basel - August 2011

On August 13 I was joined by my good friends Ann and Norman Shuker for a week long river cruise from Amsterdam to Basel. We started with a short walking tour of Amsterdam. Of course I took them directly to the Red Light District. It was afternoon, so there wasn't much merchandise to choose from.

We returned to the ship - the Avalon Affinity - for an amazing dinner. We ate and drank for hours.

The next morning we rose early for the canal boat tour of Amsterdam. That was the earliest I had gotten up in weeks. 

The canal boat ride was over an hour and the only thing lacking was the sun.  I found out it rains in Amsterdam about 175 days a year. After the tour we passed on the diamond factory tourist trap. Ann and Norman visited the Handbag Museum, while I meandered back to the ship.

We left Amsterdam around noon for our 24 hour trek to Cologne, Germany. We went through two locks before entering the Rhine River.  The scenery was amazing, farmland, cyclists, campers, trains, and small villages.  Cologne was one of the first cities I visited in Europe in 1970.  The cathedral
was also the subject of one of my early paintings.  I have no idea where it is today - the painting, not the cathedral.

An interesting sculpture of a pterodactyl we passed.

A very interesting apartment building.

In Cologne had a walking tour of the city center.  The fist thing we did after the tour was to have a nice tall glass of German beer.

I took a detour to get yet another photo of one of Europe's pretty train stations in Cologne.

This is why I gained five pounds.  The bread is so good in Europe.

I collected 3 euros in tips.

The Avalon Affinity

The next day we had two ports of call - Koblenz and Rudesheim.  In between the two cities we must have passed 25 castles along the river.  We passed the Loreley Rock where many a ship did not make the tight turn in the river.  In Rudesheim we visited the Siegrried's Mechanical Music Instrument Museum.  I was the lucky one to play the Organ Grinder.

The next day also had two ports - Mainz and Heidelberg.  Our walking tour in Mainz started with the cathedral, of course, but the highlight of the tour was the Gutenberg Museum.  We saw a demonstration of a replica of his original press.  And then we saw four of his actual bibles.  Unfortunately no photos were allowed.

Our afternoon stop was Heidelberg and its famed castle.  Ann, Norman and I skipped the organized tour and climbed the mountain to see the castle and fantastic views.

Our next port was Strasbourg on the French side of the Rhine.  This city changed hands between Germany and France over the years.  We took a beautiful canal ride through the city.

That afternoon I stayed on the ship and read How the West Was Won.  I have been told I would like Louis L'Amour books.  It was okay and now I can say I read one of his books.

Our final port was Breisach near the Black Forest.  This was my most disappointed tour.  We drove for 75 minutes, stopped at a tourist trap, had some Black Forest Cake and returned to the ship.

Thus ended an amazing week.  The food was fantastic, the sights were breath taking, and it was so much fun doing it with friends.