Finland 2015
A road trip to Finland
The view from my hotel room in Ibsens Hotel in Copenhagen. It pays of to consistently ask for a top floor room.
Nyhavn, Copenhagen.
The Danish Royal Palace: Amalienborg.
Amalienborg is the winter home of the Danish royal family, and is located in Copenhagen, Denmark. It consists of four identical classical palace façades with rococo interiors around an octagonal courtyard; in the centre of the square is a monumental equestrian statue of Amalienborg's founder, King Frederick V.
Nyhavn restaurants.
Christiansborg, the seat of Danish parliament. Now forever knows as Borgen.
Meet Absalon, the supposed founder of Copenhagen.
Højbro Plads looks out onto Christiansborg.
Close encounter with M/s Viking Grace, the ship we took on our way to Helsinki.
A sizable thunderstorm at a respectable distance. On the Baltic Sea.
The pilot island off the coast of Helsinki.
Mr. Captain, sir, it might be about time to make a turn.
Sailing after a nice little thunderstorm.
A final look at Suomenlinna from our ship.
A final look at Suomenlinna from our ship.
Bye bye, Helsinki.
Exiting the Helsinki harbour.
Valkosaari Blekholmen
Leaving Helsinki.
Leaving Helsinki.
Casting off.
Getting ready to leave Helsinki.
This part of Porvo seems like a nice place to live.
Old Porvo train station.
Porvo is full of antique shops, sadly mostly glassware. No globes.
Porvoo is one of the six medieval towns in Finland.
Characteristic red houses in Porvo.
Ministry of transport, in Helsinki.
Sea didn't look that bad from here.
Looks like we weren't the only ones trying to get back to Helsinki, on the last boat out.
All waiting for the last boat out of Tallinn.
The boat back to Helsinki, unfortunately, was cancelled because of the rough seas.
This UFO landing pad used to be a big concert hall. It has been closed down for a while.
Viru Värav, the entrance to the old Town of Tallinn.
The Tallinn town hall tower is 37 metres high.
Tallinn is full of these medieaval looking carts. They sell sweetened nuts, and attract all the wasps in the western world.
Tallinn City Wall, with a sweetened nut cart in front.
Raekoja plats is a town square beside Tallinn Town Hall in the center of the Tallinn Old Town in Tallinn, Estonia.
Scandic Grand Marina, our hotel in Helsinki.
One of Helsinki's icebreakers.
Uspenski Cathedral is an Eastern Orthodox cathedral in Helsinki, Finland, dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary). Its name comes from the Old Church Slavonic word uspenie, which denotes the Dormition.
The view from the steps of Helsinki Cathedral.
Helsinki Cathedral. A statue of Emperor Alexander II was erected in 1894, and built to commemorate his re-establishment of the Diet of Finland in 1863 as well as his initiation of several reforms that increased Finland's autonomy from Russia. The statue comprises Alexander on a pedestal surrounded by figures representing law, culture, and peasants.
Helsinki harbour.
Enjoying the sun out on deck.
The Åland archipelago.
A lovely day on the Baltic sea.
A quick stopover on Åland
The Åland archipelago consists of nearly three hundred habitable islands, of which about eighty are inhabited; the remainder are merely some 6,000 skerries and desolate rocks.
Fredriksborgs in Värmdö, Sweden
Heavy traffic around the Swedish coast.
Jetski in dense fog out of Stockholm harbour.
Stockholm on sunday morning.
The soup the boat was heading straight in to.
A little panorama from the top deck of MS Viking Pride.
Stockholm Panorama.
Another Stockholm Panorama.
An early morning in Stockholm.
Our ferry to Turku, the M/S Viking Grace.
The Nobel museum in Stockholm.
Stockholms old centre main tourist shopping street.
Tiny steep streets in old Stockholm.
Swedish Royal Guard doing his rounds.
Leaving our ferry after a relaxing cruise.
Some pretty Stockholm architecture.
We used this ferry for a little tour of the harbour.
Vasa museum as seen from the water.
Boating around Stockholm.
SS Sankt Erik is an icebreaker and museum ship attached to the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. She was launched in 1915 and was a conventionally-built Baltic icebreaker with a strengthened bow shaped to be lifted up onto the ice to crush it and a forward-facing screw to push water and crushed ice along the side of the hull. Her reciprocating steam engines are the most powerful functioning ones in Sweden.
Swedish mine sweepers, open for tours to the public.
On board an old torpedoboat, in the naval museum in Stockholm.
An exercise sub.
Crew members of the HSwMS Kullen (M74) show off their sophisticated mine hunting droids.
A crew member of the Swedish Navy Ship Kullen explains to me why submarines are really hard to find.
The aft deck of HSwMS Koster (M73)
HSwMS Koster (M73), HSwMS Kullen (M74) and HSwMS Spårö (M12). Mine sweepers of the Swedish Navy.
Vasa was wildly unstable and top heavy. After 1km out of the dock, a little breeze tipped it a little bit. Immediately water gushed through the open gunports. The breeze went away, the ship stabilised, and then was already so deep it took in water from both sides. It immediately sunk to the bottom.
Vasa was to be the flagship of the Swedish Royal navy. Bad projectmanagement lead to its premature end.
The Vasa wreck is 98% original; you can see the lighter tints of wood and rope that were added.
The aft deck of Vasa was 14 metres high. Great for sniping at your enemies, not so great for the balance of the ship.
Vasa was the first Scandinavian warship with two gundecks. Designed by a Dutchman with dubious credentials, it was top heavy.
Vasa was recovered in 1961, and moved into the current museum in 1988. It had been on the seabed for 333 years.
Strandvägen (Swedish for "Shore/Beach Road") is a boulevard on Östermalm in central Stockholm, Sweden. Completed just in time for the Stockholm World's Fair 1897, it quickly became known as one of the most prestigious addresses in town.
A hip little flower shop in Stockholm.
Svea Livgarde was one of the world's oldest regiment still in existence, dating back to the year 1521 when the men of Dalarna chose 16 young men as body guards for Gustav Vasa. The Guards Battalion's Life Company is the world's oldest company.
Skomakargatan, leading up to the Lutheran church in the old centre of Stockholm.
Swedish meat balls. Not the muck from Ikea though, but the proper Reindeer kind.
Västerlanggatan, the main tourist shopping street in the old centre of Stockholm.
Tiny streets in the old center of Stockholm.
The Royal Guards (Högvakten), the Main Guard at the Stockholm Palace is carried out by units of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is the King of Sweden's guard of honour and is responsible for the protection of the Royal Family.
A view of the Vasa museum in Stockholm.
The German sailing ship Roald Amundsen, docked at Nybroviken in the centre of Stockholm.
Stockholm has some beautiful classical architecture.
Stockholm looking very Mediterranean.
My lovely room in the Clarion Collection Hotel Tapto, in Stockholm.
Leaving the harbour of Helsingør in Denmark.
A last look at Kronborg castle in Helsingor, from the ferry to Helsingborg.
Leaving the harbour of Helsingør in Denmark.
Kronborg is a castle and stronghold in the town of Helsingør, Denmark. Immortalized as Elsinore in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Kronborg is one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe and has been added to UNESCO's World Heritage Sites list.
Very fresh looking cannon on the walls of Kronborg.
A view on the town of Helsingor, from the walls of Kronborg.
Crossing the Fehmarn Belt on a Scandlines ferry.
