The end of the boat ride… around a little pond called the Baltic Sea.

Today, was an early start.  Up at 5:30.  We disembarked.   Like dogs… we barked…. and then we schlepped luggage.  We set our little feet on the ground in Amsterdam.  (Some of us have littler feet than others… due to recent spa treatments… I’ll tell you.)

So….. We started walking… and then we we didn’t really quit walking until 9:00 p.m. tonight.  Okay… truth be told… we stopped and ate quite a few times today.  There is so much great food in Amsterdam.  On every corner of this place… it seems.  The best dang dark bread in the world.  With meats and cheeses.

And tonight… our fearless leader…. found an out of the way French Restaurant which really shouldn’t be missed.  It was pretty much sinful… it was THAT good.

We saw a lot of sights again today.  We had a good visit to the Anne Frank House. (It was good in that it gave us an appreciation for our current freedoms.)   And then…. at the completely other end of the spectrum… we took a quick tour through the Red Light District.

So.  I know you are probably tired of hearing this.  But I can’t say it enough.  What a interesting, compelling, and intriguing world in which we live.  I am simply astonished…. once again.

I am guessing that Anne Frank was about 13 years old when she wrote her diary?  I am also guessing that many of the women who were working the Red Light District were about 13 when they ran away from home?  How is it… that we are… who we are?

Like I said a moment ago.  Oh what a world we live in.

On a lighter note.  Much lighter.  My other big lesson for the day…..  If you are going to commit to having a tattoo… you better mean it.  Even if you are in the Red Light District…. in Amsterdam.  That’s all I can say about that.

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I am searching for abstract ways of expressing reality, abstract forms that will enlighten my own mystery.  –  Eric Cantona
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“We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears.”  –  François de la Rochefoucauld
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😉

“I like to think that the moon is there even if I am not looking at it”  –   Albert Einstein

The boat trip is coming to a close.  This was a sea day.  That usually equates to easy-does-it.  But there were still a lot of “goings on” and activity.  Tonight, we closed out the trip with an extravaganza of a show… lots of singing, dancing, magic, and acrobatics.  And tonight.. the moon lights the ocean as I look out the balcony.

So the recap.  Each and every city we visited brought great wonder and amazement to my senses.  This is a big world in which we live.  They don’t call it a planet for nothing.  But.  At the same time it is very small.

We are each as different as the day is long.  But we share a common thread…. humanity.  We are all in this world together.

So on to the Highlights… of quirkiness.  Amsterdam, the capital and largest city of the Netherlands.  A barrage of culture.  I was moved by the people of this city.  And the four of us were lost…. until we were found.  Sometimes you are standing right by your hotel… and you don’t even know it.

Berlin, Germany.  Great architecture. Old and new. History, history and more history.   Foghorn Leghorn on the bus.  Bill points out the Siemens Headquarters to Foghorn.  Foghorn is delighted…. I say, I say, I say.  HUGE highlight….  Butter  Injected Bread.  And for lunch we ate the best little sausages and sauerkraut ever.

Tallin, Estonia.  Old world…. like you would see in a Fairy Tale.  But the weather was pretty miserable.  Rainy.  We found the Russian restaurant under the city.  No one else found it but us.  Yeah Baby.

St. Petersburg, Russia.  Holy Smackerels.  And Holy Herring.  The Episode of “The Stolen Menu”.  And of course… the knock-down-drag-out Tour Guide… our beloved Helen.  Me and the Security Guard.  Glorious Cabbage Pie.  I want more…. cabbage pie.

Helsinki, Finland.  The Golden Butt Award.  The capital… pop. 579,504… and dwindling.  Great hand towels for Laurie…. and a big stop at the train station.   Swedish name of the city….. Helsingfors.  Pronounced…. Hell sing fours. Like…. Hell sing for you and me both… when in Helsinki.  All Fours of US!

Stockholm, Sweden.   Bathrooms are essential.  Never pass up a restroom…. or a toothpick…. which is my new  and beautiful philosophy in life.  Sigtuna the little town by the lake.  Vasa the ship that sank in the lake.   Old Town.   We needed more time.

Copenhagen, Denmark. Sad Foamy Mermaids Story….  Her tongue cut right out by the witch.  She walk around on knives.  But the Prince lived.  I will never look at sea foam the same again.  I was depressed the rest of the day.  Burger King like none other. Paula Dean on the Canal Boat.

Finally.  When you are at sea….. the topic of Gilligan’s Island seems to come up… more often than not.  We have a LOT of questions about that three hour tour….. like what were the Howell’s doing on a squatty boat like the Minnow.  And why did so many of them have so much luggage and outfits packed for a three hour tour?   And of course… everyone had their favorite character of the very divergent group.

And aren’t we all… one very big assorted group of people.  But whether on sea or on land… near or far… we all see the same sun, the same stars… a the same moon.

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”  –  Frederick Keonig
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“Hitch your wagon to a star.”  –   Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Whatever you are, be a good one.  – Abraham Lincoln

Today… my feet were on the ground in a place called Copenhagen.

The people here seem to really love their country.  Again… a unique and amazing city…. smack dab in the beautiful land of Denmark.  As I pass each person on the street… in each one of these foreign cities…. it makes me wonder deeply about the scope and the breadth of the people on this earth.  EACH and EVERY one of us have such great potential… to do.. and to BE.

But I digress. Back to Copenhagen.

Officially…  It is known as the Kingdom of Denmark.   And they seem to be very fond of their monarchy. ….  specifically…. Queen Margrethe II.  They also have a female Prime Minister.  Right off the bat….. two things in their favor.  Perhaps more aptly put… a Queendom.

And here we went again.  It was yet another great day of exploration.  We started with a taxi ride to Christiana.

For those of you who don’t know… and I didn’t……  Christiana is a hippie commune sort of place… with  about 850 residents.   A  group of “squatters”  took over a whole bunch of abandoned military barracks… back around 1971.

Since that time… it has become an assembly and bricolage of…. ‘artist community’ meets ‘homeless’ meets ‘free and peaceful spirits’.   And wouldn’t you know it? All seem to have a propensity for weed.  There are places on the infamous “Pusher Street” where people can buy hash openly.

It was interesting to see this completely unique lifestyle.  Like none other I have seen before.

From there we explored the city of Copenhagen on foot.  And that is Copen-HAY-gan.  Not Copen-HOG-en.  Once again, there is an enormous amount of history here.  Hans Christian Anderson… The Little Mermaid…. Tivoli Square… canals… palaces.  Diversity of people.  On Bicycles.

Next stop…. a canal boat ride.. with more sites.  And Paula Dean in the seat next to us.  Commentary with a southern accent.

Okay.  So this was indeed….. another WAY cool day… in a distinctive and intriguing city.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the deal….  was back on board…  and out to sea.  We were in the waters between Sweden and Denmark.  A military helicopter flew right up to us.  Like… reach out and touch someone… right next to us.  They were totally investigating the boat.  It was a tiny bit unnerving.

But away they went.  And so do we.   Once again…. to be just who we can be.

Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.  – Hans Christian Andersen

Life is a ticket to the greatest show on earth.  –  Martin H. Fischer

The flow of energy.  This is one thing I feel very strongly about.

Having a little bit of a chemistry background in my first college stint… I subscribe to the scientific proof of this topic.  Energy, in academic terms, is constantly moving.  It goes from one point to another.  Endlessly.

From the little spinning at atom on the tip of your nose …. to the far reaches of space and infinity.  That is WAY past Pluto.  Not Disney’s Dog, Pluto … but the the “Pluto” that was recently downgraded from a planet.

The flow of energy.  I  would have to classify this also as my “Religious Affiliation”…. or more accurately… my Spirituality.

We are constantly exchanging energy with the world around us… an vice versa.

I suspect that there is good energy, and bad energy.  The two are moving in opposite directions.   Positive vs. Negative.  Back to the whole science thing…. wouldn’t you know.

So in that way…. I think it is important for me to try and make as much favorable and constructive energy as I can in this world.   I also believe that the “good energy” which is created… counterbalances the bad.  The big circle.

And now…. my boat report.  Today… was a sea day.  Sailing, sailing, and more sailing.  (Can you call it sailing without any sails?)  Anyway.  It was a good relaxing day.

Tonight… a nice dinner with friends.  One person brought up the subject of being “ready” to go home.  All of sudden, she recounted … she was tired of the surroundings,  the food, the activities, and the whole nine yards.  But then she began thinking about the alternatives of being back at home… going to work, cleaning, the routine… and on.

Suddenly, life here, at this moment…. seemed infinitely better. Inviting.  Good.  It showed in her smile.  It made all of us smile.

And right back where we started… the flow of energy… at work once again.  Something as simple as a positive thought, or gesture…. can make all the difference in the world.  The more good we make….the harder is it for the bad to come around and gain momentum.

From the tip of your nose to the wet dog nose of Pluto.

And back again.

“There must be a positive and negative in everything in the universe in order to complete a circuit or circle, without which there would be no activity, no motion”  –   John McDonald
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“If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.”  –   Peace Pilgrim

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Infinite diversity in infinite combinations…
symbolizing the elements that create truth and beauty.
-Commander Spock, Star Trek

Now I know I’ve written on this subject before.  But this time…. dang it.  I mean it.

One of the things I am truly coming to appreciate is the cultural differences in our world.   As far as this goes…. I suggest that there is no right way or wrong way.  Simply put…. each of us were born in a different place and a different time.  That’s all.

We are different.  But all of us…. very much the same.

As it was so aptly put to me a couple of days ago:  There are three kinds of people in this world.  Good People.  Bad People.  And Politicians.

At first I wasn’t completely sure about this statement.  And then I realized it is quite true.  We draw separations between our cultures because of politics.  Power. Rooster Feathers.  And the like.

When in fact…. we are all here together.  What we wear.  How we eat.  Who we believe in.  How we pray.  All the same… but unique.

This little boat ride is teaching me a lot.

And. About today.  We stopped in Stockholm, Sweden.  Another amazingly beautiful city.  Clean. Vibrant.  Old.  Full of History.  Inviting.  Yummy.  Stockholm has a coolness about it.  Cool…. like… leather-jacket-meets-cotton-candy cool.   It was delightful and engaging.

We only had the chance to sample a morsel of this grand city today.  The city of Vikings… and nobles… and old ships.  Islands.  Swedish Fish.

We visited a little village called Sigtuna.  We explored Old Town near the Grand Palace in Stockholm.  And finally, toured the Vasa Museum.  The Vasa was a grand Swedish warship built in 1628.   It sunk to the bottom of the sea on its maiden voyage.  Really…. it only sailed about 1,300 meters, I think. They found it 333 years later… brought it up from the depths of the lake… and now it is on display in its very own museum.  This was quite overwhelming to see….and consider.

Yep.  It was a grand day. And just remember… a Viking is just a another dude in a little party hat.

It is difference of opinion that makes horse races.
-Mark Twain

A human being is a part of the whole that we call the universe,
a part limited in time and space.
He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings,
as something separated from the rest-
a kind of optical illusion of his consciousness.
This illusion is a prison for us,
restricting us to our personal desires
and to affection for only the few people nearest us.
Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison
by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living beings
and all of nature.
-Albert Einstein

What a difference a day makes.  I have heard that phrase many times in my life.   Give something a little bit of time…. and it will change.

This could apply to just about anything.   Change is inevitable in our lives.  Whether it is the weather, or a personal challenge.  Perhaps a relationship…..  or maybe, even….. a geographical location.  Ahhh.  Yes.  Location, location, location.

I’ll tell you what.   Hop on a big boat one day… get off in another city the next day… and things change.  I say that with…. a great, and sincere emphasis.

So there we were in magical St. Petersburg yesterday.   And today, Helsinki.

On our bus ride from the boat to the town…. a few people said… “It will be very hard to top St. Petersburg.”  And I responded…. “Helsinki will be every bit as spectacular… just in its own unique way.  It will simply be different.”

Well… I was right about it about it being unique, and different.  Maybe even spectacular.  But not necessarily in a “sparkly…. skip-in-your-step”  way.

We saw a church made of rocks… sort of. (Okay…. we walked by it twice.  THAT was something!)  Laurie bought a hand towel…. with big dots on it.  We looked at the train station, and we went into a department store.  And… uhhhnnnn… we uhhhh… caught an early shuttle back to the boat.

It was completely different here.  The city seemed oppressed to me.  It was dark, and the streets were a little dirty.  There was construction everywhere.  Or maybe just the looks of things being torn apart and put back together again.

The people seemed nice.  But they were slower.  There were a lot more people just sitting around.  And meandering.  Like they were waiting for something… or anything.

In St. Petersburg there was a buzz.   A bustle.  A movement everywhere… and in every direction.  In Helsinki… there was a shuffle.  A crawl.  Maybe even… a big unspoken secret.

Yet. I am glad I came here.  I am certain I have not seen “the spectacular”  of this place.  But I have a feeling it is here.   And maybe that is the secret.  Maybe the people of this place…. drape the town in a big gray blanket when the cruise ships pull in to port…. with all the frenzied tourists…. scooping up I love Finland trinkets… with elbows flying and cameras popping.

And when we leave… the town can breathe again.  And get back to being its own place.  Just give something a little bit of time… and it will certainly change.

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“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.”  –   Flora Whittemore
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“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.”  –  Ralph Waldo Emerson
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“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”  –  Pericles

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Russia is a completely infinite conglomeration of existences.  I don’t know how to else to put it.  The young meets the old.  The new meets the ancient.

The Soviet Union has gone through so much since Stalin’s consolidation of power in 1917 to the dissolution of the union in 1991.  Since that time, there has been an exploration in expression.  Not like in the USA.  But the Russians are a little more  demonstrative than ever before.

Well… not like I have EVER been here before.  But this is information I gathered from our Private Tour Guide.  Helen.

Helen the Queen of Gumption.  Helen “I know where you live” Tour Guide.  This woman KNOWS her way around St. Petersburg.  And because of this, we were able to see things that most tourists will never see. Eating in restaurants that only the locals are acquainted with.   She gave us the ins and outs of churches.  And incredibly….. a tour of Catherine’s Palace also called Elizabeth’s Palace…. with virtually no other people present.

But Helen would slap somebody down… anybody… who gets in the way of her job.  I was accosted by security when entering the Hermitage yesterday.  Helen jumped in, intervened…..  grabbed my arm…  and off we went.

Today, she nearly decked an able bodied door guard outside of an old pharmacy.  She really wanted us to gain access.  Helen gets what she wants.  She wanted to give us two days packed with Russian Culture and heritage.

I truly enjoyed every morsel of St. Petersburg.  It was exploration like I have never encountered before in my life.

But I must admit.  I was glad to get back through Russian Customs, and back on board.  I still say there is no place like home.  Even if home is on a big boat.  So.   We are now back out to see.  To see what we can see.

Next.  We are in Helsinki.  (It would make me feel a WHOLE lot better if it were called HelFLOATY… and not… Helsinki.)

“Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it.” – B. Bradley

Above:  The Hermitage

Above:  Church on Spilled Blood

St. Nicholas’ Church

Above: Grand Palace and Summer Gardens

Above: A Russian Folk Show

I spent my day in Russia.  Holy Smokes.  The big disappointment was this:  I couldn’t see Sarah Palin’s house from Russia.  But apparently, she can see Russia from her house.  Okay…. we got the bad news out of the way.

Now for the good.  Which was everything.

Words cannot justly describe this adventure.  Photographs certainly don’t do it justice.   We experienced so very much today.  This is something I will never forget.

It is funny.  I say that now.   BUT.

We started out at 6 a.m. this morning.  I am not sure what time we made it through Immigration.  ( You see.  The Immigration Officer looks at you… then at your passport… looks at you… then at your passport… and this goes on and on and on.)

Anyway….  Wouldn’t you know it?   It is nearly 10 p.m. and we are just now….. getting back to our cabin on the boat.

We started out touring the city of St. Petersburg.  We visited an amazing Russian Orthodox Church.  St. Nicholas’.  They were singing mass… somewhere in the church.  Goose-bumpy, I’ll tell you.

From there… We went to the Hermitage.  Oh my goodness gracious.  Incredible.  If you spent one minute… with each painting there (more than 3 million) … it would take you nine years to get through the museum.  Zhat is vhat Helen zaid.  We ate the pies for lunch.  Meat pies, cabbage pies, chicken pies, and mushroom pies.

The Great Palace was next, and the summer gardens, in Peterhoff.  We had to wear purple museum booties on our feet.  Peter the Great would have wanted it that way.

And then.  Dinner.  We can’t tell you where we ate.  Highly secretive.  But. Yuri was our waiter.  We wanted to take Yuri home with us.  From Beef Stroganoff to Cabbage Rolls to Potato Pancakes.  Dumplings.  More. Burp.   And what dinner would be complete without breaking at least one Russian Law?  So…. we managed to slip that one in.

Tonight a local show.  Their were dancers,  and  a military band, and singers.  I couldn’t understand a word they were saying.  It was all Russian to me.

So the truth of it is this.  I can’t begin to express the enormity of this day.  I am constantly amazed by the life on this planet.  Yet.  When you have the opportunity to visit a place, and a time.. that you never could have imagined existed …..  like this.  Well.  It knocks your booties right off your museum feet.

Finally… the Russian Word for the day IS……. Buedtzehrohf.  Pronounced “Boots Are Off”.  It is what you are supposed to say when someone sneezes.  Mary thought it might mean “God Bless You”…. but I think it means… “Hey, you have snot on your face.”

Enough.  As Mary & I began revisiting the day in our conversation… here back on the boat…. it all started to blur together.  Information overload.   I just never want to forget this.  It was a truly magnificent, and magical day.

“I can believe anything provided it is incredible.”  –   Oscar Wilde

The sad truth is this.  If you were born a LONG time ago… and you happened to come into this world via Estonia….  you were pretty much crap out of luck.

People have lived here in Estonia for 11,000 years or so.  But the country didn’t show up on world maps until about 700 years ago.  Way up here in the Baltic / Nordic Region.

Unfortunately, the Estonians have been second-class citizens in their own land for a long dang time.  In the 13th century,  the Germans and Russians kept overtaking this land.  They would charge high taxes for land, essentially making these people indentured servants.   Serfs, peasants… many starved.. suffered persecution… and on and on.

It just droned on, again and again, until very recent history.   Perhaps one of the worst eras was during WWII,  More than 30,000 Estonians were abducted from their homes and sent to Russian Prison Camps until 1949.   Many were killed.

Today.  Those Estonians are a proud and sturdy people.  We were in Tallin today.  It truly is a little fairy book town.  The fog was heavy today, so we could not see the surrounding beauty of this area.  But the town was quaint, and old, stony, and…. wellllll….. Estonia-ish.

We ate like Estonians Nobles or something.  With a Russian influence.  In just one meal, our table relished in Beef Stroganoff, Lamb Dumplings, Salmon Pie, Chicken Kiev, Fish Stew, and great bread.  Oh yes we did.

The rain made for a difficult photo day.  Difficult walking around day too.  But we made it back to the boat. On time.   Tonight, we saw a great show (called “The Man From Mars”) in the main theatre.  A husband and wife Cirque Team.  Super talented.

My personal lesson for the day is appreciation.    For people. This wide, wide, world.  History. Culture. Diversity. Everything, from a cup of hot water from a friend…. to an artist hand sewing a coat.   And even for Estonian Fruit Flies.  The lowest on the chain of command.  But they keep their little chins up… in hopes of finding a great rotten apple.  Now THAT my friends… is appreciation.

“Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can – there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did.”  —  Sarah Caldwell

First, you visit “A”… then “B”… and finally you are at “C”….

Well.  Today, we were “At Sea.”   We are on our way to Tallin, Estonia.  It is kind of like where they filmed Shrek, from what I understand.  I hope to meet at least one Ogre, I suppose.

Speaking of meeting people.  There are a lot of nice people on board.  As such, we have met a few.  Take yesterday, for example. Our bus stopped late in the evening for our final bathroom break. Thankfully. So we immediately disembarked and headed for the Public Restrooms.

Well, here is the deal.  You can’t pee unless you have Euros.  We didn’t have Euros.  And I HAD to pee.  Two very nice men from our bus gave us Euros…. which enabled us to pee.  Not everyone would do such a thing.  They were kind.

However, let’s revisit the subject of Ogres.  The big dining area on this ship…. is a huge buffet, with every type of food imaginable.  From Muffins to Minestrone.  People seem to really like it… you can eat as much as you wish.  Yet it has an odd effect on the common human.  Even though there is plenty to eat… and there is no apparent danger that this food source will run out…. people tend to get a tiny bit cut-throat at the diner.  No holds barred.  It is a bit like a full-contact-buffet …. in the middle of the ocean.  The Pro-Wrestling Channel Meets The Food Network Meets The Love Boat.

All in all, today was another great, relaxing day.  Tonight we had dinner, and then played some highly competitive Yahtzee among the four of us. In one game…. we were all getting crappy dice rolls.  It appeared we were in the same boat.

And then it dawned on me.  We are on a cruise.  We REALLY are all in the same boat here.

But in the broader scope of things… this is apropos to all of us.  We are sharing a big blue ball here. The biggest boat of all.  And.  The future of this ball is effected by what we do.  Everyday.

For that reason… maybe it truly is important that we all start with little things.  Sweep in front of our own doors.  Take good care of ourselves…. and of each other.  Start with little steps.  Venture into the journey.

Yes.  We truly are all in the same boat.  Ogres and Angels…. alike.

In a world where there is so much to be done, I felt strongly impressed that there must be something for me to do.  –  Dorothea Dix

Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.  –  Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama