SUNGRL

On Thursday we spent the day in Stockholm which is the capital of Sweden. It is made up of about 24,000 archipelagos or islands so the sail into Stockholm was quite a sight. It took us over two hours to sail through all the islands before we docked at Stadsgarden. Stockholm, the city, is spread across 14 distinct islands on the coast in the south-east of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren. Stockholm is the most populous city in Scandinavia, with 905,184 people living in the city with about 2.2 million living in the metropolitan area.

The region has been inhabited for many centuries, but it was not until the middle of the 13th century that Stockholm was officially established. It developed as a commercial centre under the rule of Denmark. In the 16th century Danish rule was overthrown and Gustav I Vasa became king of Sweden with Stockholm at the centre.

We decided to do a hop on hop off boat tour of Stockholm. First stop was the Vasa Museum. The Vasa Museum is a maritime museum which is located on the island of Djurgården. The museum displays the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged, the 64-gun warship Vasa that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. The Vasa Museum opened in 1990 and, according to the official web site, is the most visited museum in Scandinavia. Together with other museums such as Stockholm Maritime Museum, the museum belongs to the Swedish National Maritime Museums.

Vasa is a Swedish warship built 1626–1628. The ship foundered and sank after sailing about 1,300m into her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628. She fell into obscurity after most of her valuable bronze cannons were salvaged in the 17th century until she was located again in the late 1950s in a busy shipping lane just outside the Stockholm harbor. Salvaged with a largely intact hull in 1961, she was housed in a temporary museum called Wasavarvet (“The Wasa Shipyard”) until 1988 and then moved to the Vasa Museum. The ship is one of Sweden’s most popular tourist attractions and has been seen by over 29 million visitors since 1961. Vasa has, since her recovery become a widely recognized symbol of the Swedish “great power period”.

The ship was built at the order of the King of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus as part of the military expansion he initiated in a war with Poland-Lithuania (1621–1629). It was constructed in Stockholm at the navy yard under a contract with private entrepreneurs in 1626–1627 and armed primarily with bronze cannons cast in Stockholm specifically for the ship. It was richly decorated as a symbol of the king’s ambitions for Sweden and himself, and upon completion was one of the most powerfully armed vessels in the world. Vasa was dangerously unstable however, due to too much weight in the upper structure of the hull. Despite this lack of stability she was ordered to sea and foundered only a few minutes after encountering a first wind stronger than a breeze. The order to sail was the result of a combination of factors. The king, who was leading the army in Poland at the time of her maiden voyage, was impatient to see her take up her station as flagship of the reserve squadron at Älvsnabben in the Stockholm Archipelago. At the same time the king’s subordinates lacked the political courage to discuss the ship’s structural problems frankly or to have the maiden voyage postponed. An inquiry was organized by the Swedish Privy Council to find personal responsibility for the disaster, but in the end no one was punished for the fiasco.

During the 1961 recovery, thousands of artifacts and the remains of at least 15 people were found in and around the Vasa’s hull by marine archaeologists. Among the many items found were clothing, weapons, cannons, tools, coins, cutlery, food, drink and six of the ten sails. The artifacts and the ship herself have provided scholars with invaluable insight into details of naval warfare, shipbuilding techniques and everyday life in early 17th century Sweden.

After the Vasa Museum we walked to see the ABBA Museum, ABBA having originated in Sweden. We didn’t go into the museum but had fun taking pictures outside with the life size photos of

It was back on the boat to visit the Queen at the Royal Palace. The Stockholm Palace is the official residence and principal workplace of the Swedish monarch, while the Drottningholm Palace, a World Heritage Site on the outskirts of Stockholm, serves as the Royal Family’s private residence. The Stockholm Palace is the largest palace in the world with 680 rooms.

The Swedish monarchy is one of the oldest in the world and is firmly rooted in a parliamentary democracy. Swedish monarchs date back a thousand years and have belonged to eleven dynasties, with the current one, the House of Bernadotte, ruling the longest. Jean Baptiste Bernadotte was the first Bernadotte on the Swedish throne. He was born in France in 1763 and was named heir to the throne in 1810. His name as king was Karl XIV Johan. The Swedish royal family is related to all the reigning royal courts of Europe.

The House of Bernadotte, the current royal house of Sweden, has reigned since 1818. Between 1818 and 1905, it was also the royal house of Norway. Its founder, Charles XIV John of Sweden, was adopted by Charles XIII of Sweden, who belonged to the House of Holstein-Gottorp which was becoming extinct.

The current Swedish Royal Family consists of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. The king and queen have three children: Crown Princess Victoria Ingrid Alice Désirée, Duchess of Västergötland, born on 14 July 1977; Prince Carl Philip Edmund, Duke of Värmland, born on 13 May 1979; and Princess Madeleine Thérèse Amelie Josephine, Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland, born on June 10, 1982. They are regarded as a very modern monarchy and are popular with the people.

They have a changing of the guard at 12pm each day so we were just in time to see that. The horse mounted brass band leads the procession through the streets around the Palace into the courtyard where they then go through the ceremonial changing of the guard. By the time we got up to the courtyard the crowd was about 8 deep so it was quite hard to see but we got the gist. I liked the colour of the guards uniforms – a dark royal blue.

We then had a wander through the old town, Gamla Stan. They are really into icecream – I would have thought it was too cold but it was very popular with all the tourists. We then went to see the City Hall where the annual Nobel Prize ceremony takes place. Sweden is also the home of Pippi Longstocking so there were all these dolls in the shops – very cute.

Pippi Longstocking is the protagonist in the Pippi Longstocking series of children’s books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Pippi was named by Lindgren’s then nine-year-old daughter, Karin, who requested a get-well story from her mother one day when she was home sick from school.

Nine-year-old Pippi is unconventional, assertive, and has superhuman strength, being able to lift her horse one-handed. She is playful and unpredictable. She frequently makes fun of unreasonable adult attitudes, especially when displayed by pompous and condescending adults. Pippi’s anger is reserved for the most extreme cases, such as when a man ill-treats her horse. Like Peter Pan, Pippi does not want to grow up. She is the daughter of a buccaneer captain and as such has adventurous stories to tell.

The first three Pippi chapter books were published in 1945–1948, with an additional series of six books published in 1969–1975. Two final stories were printed in 1979 and 2000. The books have been translated into 64 languages and adapted into multiple films and television series.

Today we had a day at sea – we are currently cruising between Sweden and Denmark heading for Germany. It was pretty rocky after we left Belgium and remained fairly rocky until mid morning today. It certainly makes for an interesting workout in the gym.

On sea days they always have plenty to do so I went to a presentation on Berlin (our next destination), Stockholm and St Petersburg. The presentation certainly got me very excited about the next few days.

I then went to the History of Fabergé presentation. Fabergé is one of the most famous jewellery companies in the world with their imperial easter eggs being world renowned. The President of the Company, Phillip Bernstein was on board and they had some items on display and for sale in one of the boutiques. They were also doing their world launch on board of two new egg creations. They were quite stunning and apparently one sold on board later today for USD30,000. I had heard of Fabergé but didn’t really know anything about it so the presentation was fascinating. The significance of Fabergé in respect of this Baltic cruise is that the brand has it’s roots in Russia. See below for more information in respect of the history of Fabergé and the Imperial Eggs.

After lunch I went to a seminar in the gym on exercises to lose weight – Igor the Brazilian trainer was quite entertaining. His accent was very thick so he was a bit hard to understand and if you had no idea about fitness or exercise you would have been completely confused.

Learning over for the day I settled into my sun lounger and covered myself with the blanket provided – this is the Baltic’s after all. Next minute we heard a helicopter and given we were nowhere near land and the boat has a helicopter pad we thought it must be coming to visit us. Mrs Nosy had to check it out so I went up to the front of the boat. It was a really big helicopter and it was hovering just off the boat while the crew frantically put down all the railing around the helicopter landing pad.

As you can imagine a big crowd had gathered to see what was going on. It took a little while but they worked out that the helicopter was actually too big to land on the heli pad so they lowered a guy down dressed in an orange jumpsuit. A few minutes later a second guy was lowered down – he had a big medical back pack with him and was rushed down the stairs into the boat.

The helicopter remained hovering but after a while decided to do a fly round the boat. The pilots were waving out to everyone. I went back down to get my camera and heard some people say it was just an exercise but I still wanted to see what happened next. By this time the helicopter was hovering at the back of the boat so a big crowd had gathered there to see what was happening. It eventually returned to the front where I had a front row pew.

The two orange jumpsuits reappeared along with some crew members carrying a stretcher with a person on it. This person was waving to the crowd but I couldn’t make out whether it was a young or an old person. A couple also appeared with some suitcases – they were obviously connected to the person in the stretcher. The man said good bye to the person in the stretcher and went back into the boat. The stretcher was hoisted up into the helicopter. The woman was then hoisted up with one of the orange jumpsuits – she looked petrified and I must say I felt really sorry for her as she looked as though she was hanging on for dear life. She had these black pump type shoes on and I thought they looked like they could fall off at any minute – probably the least of her worries. They hoisted the suitcases up and then they were away. The pilots waved once again and the crowd waved back. I still haven’t found out what happened to this person but I am sure I will by the end of the cruise.

Drama on the high seas over I returned to my lounger to finish my book. The boat had actually stopped while all this was going on but the Captain assured us there would be no delay in relation to us reaching Germany the next day – not sure how that works given they have such precise schedules they stick to – we had probably been stopped out in the middle of the ocean for an hour and a half.

We dined in the Tuscan Grille tonight and it was divine. We had a table right at the back of the boat overlooking the wake left behind by the boat.

The Story of Fabergé (Wikipedia)
The story of Fabergé is inextricably linked to the lives, loves and tragedy of the last Romanov Tsar Nicholas II and his Empress Alexandra, and to the Russian Revolution that changed the course of world history. Of Huguenot origin, with a febrile imagination, protean talent and entrepreneurial instincts, Peter Carl Fabergé became jeweller and goldsmith to the great Russian Imperial Court, creating exquisite jewels and objects, including the legendary series of lavish and ingenious Imperial Easter Eggs.

His worldwide reputation attracted royalty, nobility, tycoons, industrialists and the artistic intelligentsia of Paris, Moscow, St Petersburg and London. In 1917, the Russian Revolution brought a violent end not only to the Romanov dynasty but also to the House of Fabergé. The Bolsheviks seized the Fabergé workshops and their treasures, all production was closed down and Peter Carl Fabergé and his family fled from Russia.

In a legal settlement in 1951, the Fabergé family lost the right to produce and market designs under the Fabergé name. Yet, through decades of the 20th century, the noble Fabergé name, separated from the family despite their attempts to honour and perpetuate their legacy, showed an extraordinary resilience. Throughout, the legend has retained its mystique, charisma and awe-inspiring romance, along with a certain enigma tied to the mystery of the whereabouts of many iconic Fabergé works of art.

History came full circle in October 2007 when Fabergé, under new ownership and direction, announced the reunification of the Fabergé name with the Fabergé family. This opened a new chapter in the intriguing story of Fabergé, and set the stage for a total revitalisation of the Fabergé name and philosophy, in tune with its original values, aesthetics and spirit. Fabergé was re-launched on the 9th September, 2009, with three Les Fabuleuses de Fabergé High Jewellery Collections – Les Fleurs, Les Fables and Les Fauves de Fabergé.

Today, with Katharina Flohr as Creative and Managing Director, and her in-house creative team, Fabergé is forging a fresh yet strong identity. Paying homage to Peter Carl Fabergé’s genius as a visionary artist-jeweller, and benefiting from the expertise and guidance of Tatiana and Sarah Fabergé, his great-grand-daughters, contemporary Fabergé collections are imbued with poetry, artistry and refined ideals of beauty made possible by unrivalled craftsmanship, innovation and ingenuity, all underlined with a strong emotional engagement. Distinguished by Fabergé’s dedication to excellence and pursuit of perfection, the jewels are both linked to Fabergé’s world, yet of the moment and relevant today, demonstrating the modernity that Peter Carl Fabergé was always able to bring to his own eclectic cultural and stylistic references.

Peter Carl Fabergé, legendary artist-jeweller, goldsmith to the Russian Imperial Court, was the creative and entrepreneurial genius behind the world-renowned company that bore his name. He captured his extraordinary moment in time through exquisite jewels and precious objects that still resonate today with the passions and poignancy of a lost world. Deeply imbued with the spirit of their age, these masterpieces remain timeless in their recherché beauty, breathtaking craftsmanship and absolute dedication to perfection. Like the swan song of a dying civilisation, Fabergé’s jewels, personal accessories and objects of fantasy, richly layered with cultural references, conjure up a vision of Belle Époque, its leisured luxury and ravishing refinement, the fabulous new wealth of tycoons and industrialists. They trace the captivating story of the tragic end of the Romanov dynasty, of the lives and loves of the ill-fated Nicholas II and Alexandra, cocooned in the lavish opulence of their court, cut off from the harsh realities of a fast-changing world and rocked by encroaching forces of darkness. French in their artistic sensibilities but with a profound and poetic Russian soul, Fabergé’s works of art, like the stories they tell, continue to exert a powerful fascination as hypnotic today as it ever was.

Born in 1846, and apprenticed as a boy to his goldsmith father, Peter Carl Fabergé was educated in St Petersburg and Dresden where he fell under the mesmerizing influence of the Renaissance and Baroque treasures in the famous Green Vaults. As a young man he travelled extensively, immersing himself in the cultural delights of the Grand Tour, including the Medici Renaissance treasures in Florence. He studied in Paris and received expert tuition from goldsmiths in France, Germany and England.

The Imperial Easter Eggs
The series of lavish Easter eggs created by Fabergé for the Russian Imperial family, between 1885 and 1916, against an extraordinary historical backdrop, is regarded as the artist-goldsmith’s greatest and most enduring achievement. The Imperial Easter eggs are certainly the most celebrated and awe-inspiring of all Fabergé works of art, inextricably bound to the Fabergé name and legend. They are also considered as some of the last great commissions of objets d’art.

The story began when Tsar Alexander III decided to give a jewelled Easter egg to his wife the Empress Marie Fedorovna, in 1885, possibly to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their betrothal. It is believed that the Tsar, who had first become acquainted with Fabergé’s virtuoso work at the Moscow Pan-Russian Exhibition in 1882, was inspired by an 18th century egg owned by the Empress’s aunt, Princess Wilhelmine Marie of Denmark. The object was said to have captivated the imagination of the young Maria during her childhood in Denmark. Tsar Alexander was apparently involved in the design and execution of the egg, making suggestions to Fabergé as the project went along. Easter was the most important occasion of the year in the Russian Orthodox Church, equivalent to Christmas in the West. A centuries-old tradition of bringing hand-coloured eggs to Church to be blessed and then presented to friends and family, had evolved through the years and, amongst the highest echelons of St Petersburg society, the custom developed of presenting valuably bejewelled Easter gifts. So it was that Tsar Alexander III had the idea of commissioning Fabergé to create a precious Easter egg as a surprise for the Empress, and thus the first Imperial Easter egg was born.

Known as the Hen Egg, it is crafted from gold, its opaque white enamelled ‘shell’ opening to reveal its first surprise, a matt yellow gold yolk. This in turn opens to reveal a multi-coloured, superbly chased gold hen that also opens. Originally, this contained a minute diamond replica of the Imperial Crown from which a small ruby pendant egg was suspended. Unfortunately these last two surprises have been lost.

The Empress’s delight at this intriguing gift with its hidden jewelled surprises was the starting point for the yearly Imperial tradition that continued for 32 years until 1917 and produced the most opulent and captivating Easter gifts the world has ever seen. The eggs were private and personal gifts, and the whole spectacular series charted the romantic and tragic story leading up to the end of the mighty Romanovs.

Each egg, an artistic tour de force, took a year or more to make, involving a team of highly skilled craftsmen, who worked in the greatest secrecy. Fabergé was given complete freedom in the design and execution, with the only prerequisite being that there had to be surprise within each creation. Dreaming up each complex concept, Fabergé often drew on family ties, events in Imperial Court life, or the milestones and achievements of the Romanov dynasty, as in the Fifteenth Anniversary Egg of 1911, commemorating the fifteenth anniversary of Nicholas II’s accession to the throne, or the Romanov Tercentenary Egg of 1913 that celebrated 300 years of the House of Romanov, showing portrait miniatures of the Russian dynastic rulers. Although the theme of the Easter eggs changed annually, the element of surprise remained a constant link between them. The surprises ranged from a perfect miniature replica of the Coronation carriage – that took 15 months to make working 16-hour days – through a mechanical swan and an ivory elephant, to a heart-shaped frame on an easel with 11 miniature portraits of members of the Imperial family.

Alexander III presented an egg each year to his wife the Empress Marie Fedorovna and the tradition was continued, from 1895, by his son Nicholas II who presented an egg annually to both his wife the Empress Alexandra Fedorovna and to his mother the Dowager Empress Marie Fedorovna. However, there were no presentations during 1904 and 1905 because of political unrest and the Russo-Japanese War.

The most expensive was the 1913 Winter Egg, which was invoiced at 24,600 roubles (then £2,460). Prior to the Great War, a room at Claridges was 10 shillings (50 pence) a night compared to approximately £380 today. Using this yardstick, the egg would have cost £1.87 million in today’s money.

The Winter Egg, designed by Alma Pihl, famed for her series of diamond snowflakes, is made of carved rock crystal as thin as glass. This is embellished with engraving, and ornamented with platinum and diamonds, to resemble frost. The egg rests on a rock-crystal base designed as a block of melting ice. Its surprise is a magnificent and platinum basket of exuberant wood anemones. The flowers are made from white quartz, nephrite, gold and demantoid garnets and they emerge from moss made of green gold. Its overall height is 14.2cm. It is set with 3,246 diamonds. The egg sold at Christie’s in New York in 2002 for US$9.6 million.

Of the 50 eggs Fabergé made for the Imperial family from 1885 through to 1916, 42 have survived.

On Tuesday we docked at the port of Warnemunde in Germany. Warnemunde is a sea resort in Germany’s Rostock district. The city is situated on the Baltic Sea, in the northern most part of Germany on the estuary of the Warnow River. Together with Rostock, it is considered as one of the country’s major shipping centres. Warnemunde’s broad, sandy beaches are the largest on the German Baltic Sea coast and stretch out over a length of two miles. Because of the low current and good sailing conditions, Warnemunde is one of the best sailing grounds in Germany. The beach is especially good for kite surfing, windsurfing, underwater diving and swimming making it one of the most popular seaside resorts on the Baltic Sea.

Berlin is approximately 200km from Warnemunde. We had signed up to do a Berlin discovery trip. We were met at the Port by Felix, our escort for the day. He was in charge of getting our bus from the Port to Berlin and back in time for the ship’s sailing at midnight.

Felix was excellent – he was about 25 and is about to finish his medical degree – once he passes his final exams in October he will be a Radiography Oncologist. He does the tour guiding over the summer months during the university break. He was born in 1988 in the East – his father was a policeman guarding the wall. They did not have televisions in the East so many people were unaware that the wall had come down on the 9th November 1989. Felix’s mother went to work as usual the next day and couldn’t work out why half her colleagues were not there. She thought they were joking when they said the wall had come down.

The GDR or German Democratic Republic were very good at recording everything and you can go to the State Security Services and request documents that related to you. Felix’s parents did this and discovered their best friends were spying on them and feeding information to the GDR about them. Not all the documents from former GDR have been recovered. We will never comprehend how it was to live in these times.

The wall was built in 1961 and was constructed overnight. If people from the East were on the West that night and vice versa they were trapped. Felix’s Grandfather had a sister who happened to be visiting the West the night the wall went up. They were not reunited until 1994. There are many stories like this. The wall was built for the protection from capitalism, to protect those in the east from the bad influences of those in the west. The older generation still refer to the East and the West. The younger generation refer to the North and South.

The wall came down on the 9th November 1989 and the reunification started on the 3rd October 1990. The people in the West earn more than the people in the East but they pay a reunification tax. The cost of living in the East is lower. The reunification ends in 2019 and the wages in both the East and West will then be equalised.

Berlin is the largest city in Germany with a population of 3.5 million. It is also the poorest part of the country – unemployment is at 7.3% whereas the country average is 5.4%. It used to be at 10% in Berlin but Angela Merkle’s party has worked hard on reducing that. We asked Felix why Angela Merkle is so popular with the people. In the last election she got 63% of the vote – this is the highest recorded by any Chancellor since World War II.

She is very popular with woman and has put a policy in place that requires all businesses to employ at least 25% woman in their workforce. She is also very popular with the students – university education is free. They have to pay an enrolment fee which equates to about EU130 per semester. They will also pay your rent if you or your parents can’t afford it. However, you have to pay 50% of the rent back unless you achieve A grades. A pretty good incentive to work hard at university. Germany, as with NZ also has a brain drain issue with the highly qualified going offshore once they have qualified.

Angela Merkle is in favour of nuclear power but you won’t hear her say that. In order to get re elected she shut all the nuclear power plants down. 60% of their electricity comes from wind and solar, however, when they don’t have any wind and sun they have to buy power from Poland which is generated by nuclear power plants – a bit ironic really! We saw a number of wind turbines along the way as well as trucks transporting the parts. Apparently it is more profitable to have a wind turbine in your paddock than crops.

Angela Merkle lives on Museum Island (there are over 170 museums in Berlin) in an apartment block with ordinary citizens and has BBQ’s on a Sunday afternoon with them. She likes to go to the cinema and the shops and be amongst the people. She always has her bodyguards in tow but asks them to stay back. You could approach her if you wanted and you wouldn’t be stopped but the people have a high regard for her and generally leave her in peace.

Germany has a total population of about 82 million and has the largest population of the member states in the EU. It is the world’s third largest economy by GDP and the largest exporter of goods according to 2007 statistics. It has a federal parliamentary republic of 16 states and is home to the third highest number of international immigrants.

Germans like order so in the state that we were in they had counted every tree and given each one a number plate. Felix was at a bit of a loss to explain this but said that every tree is watered and checked twice a year. We saw these number plates for ourselves. Another irony really given the state is the poorest state and there are many incomplete construction projects all over the place. The efficient reputation of the Germans has been tarnished.

There is also no major airport in Berlin, instead it is serviced by three smaller ones. They started building a large airport in 1999 that was going to be completed in June 2014 – it is still not finished much to the embarrassment of the German Government. The first things they built were the runways and because so much time has elapsed and planes have evolved (A380’s for instance) the runways do not meet international standards – another dent in the German reputation.

There are two main airlines in Germany – Lufthansa and Air Berlin. Lufthansa has lost a lot of credibility with the people due to poor service and unfriendly staff so Air Berlin is the favoured airline.

We got into Berlin after about 3.5 hours on the bus. First stop was lunch – the food was good and Steve enjoyed a German beer. We then met up with our tour guide Thomas who was going to show us the sights of the city from the bus. There was so much to see and take in.

We stopped at the Brandenburg Gate which was originally intended to be a symbol of peace, but eventually the winged victory goddess, Nike, and four horse chariot were added to the top of the gate symbolising the strength of the Prussians.

We drove past the Reichstag Building which is where the German Parliament sits. It has a glass cupola and you can walk along and look into it while parliament is in session – the theory on this is that the parliament have nothing to hide. It is the most visited government building in the world with over 3 million visitors annually. It has been re built three times.

We stopped at Checkpoint Charlie which sat in the middle of the Russian, French, American and British quarters. It was the checkpoint you went through from East to West. The Russian and American tanks sat facing each other about 50 metres apart. It is quite a tourist attraction now and they have these “soldiers” standing there with American flags – you can have your photo taken with them for EU2 per person. It was a bit tacky really but it had to be done.

We also stopped at the Eastside Gallery which is the remaining part of the wall in the city. It has been painted with all these murals. One of the murals is of the Brotherhood Kiss. The socialist fraternal kiss or Brotherhood Kiss was a special form of greeting between the statesmen of the so-called Eastern Bloc. It consists of an embrace and a mutual kiss (or kisses) to cheeks or in rarer cases to the mouth.

With this act, a special connection between Socialist states was intended to be demonstrated. Both the embrace and the kiss were supposed to be the expression of happiness, fraternity and equality, and were otherwise a transformation of a known ritual and symbol of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The fraternal kiss became famous via Erich Honecker and Leonid Brezhnev, who were photographed exercising the ritual. The photograph became widespread and it was subsequently transformed into a graffiti painting on the Berlin Wall named My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love.

Built in 1961, the Berlin Wall became known as a symbol of communist oppression. In the 1963 “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech, U.S. President John F. Kennedy stated the support of the United States for democratic West Germany shortly after the Soviet-supported Communist state of East Germany erected the Berlin Wall as a barrier to prevent movement from East to West.

There was a misconception that “Ich bin ein Berliner” translated to “I am a jelly doughnut” but apparently in the context it was correct. He was declaring his solidarity with it’s citizens when he said “I am a Berliner”. The Germans still laugh about this today.

However, in 1987 it was a different story. “Tear down this wall!” was the challenge issued by United States President Ronald Reagan to Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev to destroy the Berlin Wall, in a speech at the Brandenburg Gate near the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987, commemorating the 750th anniversary of Berlin. Reagan challenged Gorbachev, who was then the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, to tear it down as an emblem of Gorbachev’s desire to increase freedom in the Eastern Bloc through glasnost (“transparency”) and perestroika (“restructuring”).

Arriving in Berlin on June 12, 1987, President and Mrs. Reagan were taken to the Reichstag, where they viewed the wall from a balcony. Reagan then made his speech at the Brandenburg Gate at 2:00 pm, in front of two panes of bulletproof glass protecting him from potential snipers in East Berlin. About 45,000 people were in attendance; among the spectators were West German president Richard von Weizsäcker, Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and West Berlin mayor Eberhard Diepgen. That afternoon, Reagan said:

We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

The River Spree runs through the city and is 300 miles in length and has the most boat traffic in Europe.

There are two city centres effectively because after the wall went up the West Germans needed to build a city centre. After our bus tour we had some free time to look around the east part of the city. It is a really nice city and one I would like to return to and spend more time exploring – there is so much to see.

One memorial we didn’t get to see was the Holocaust Monument – it is like a maze made up of these squares which get bigger the further in you go. It is to show how the Jews felt in the sense that the infiltration started off small and gradually got bigger to the point it was a full blown occupation with no way out.

We got back to the boat about 10.15pm – a big day but a good day.

Our cruise ship docked in Zeebrugge in Belgium at about 7am this morning. Zeebrugge is a container and industrial port about 26km from Bruges. We caught a shuttle bus to Blankenberge and then caught the train to Bruges.

Bruges is the capital of West Flanders in the flemish region of Belgium. Bruges gives new meaning to Old World beauty, a “Venice of the North” known for it’s palette of colourful homes and shops framed by cobblestone streets, tiled roofs and those lovely storybook canals.

Being a Sunday the town seemed deserted when we got in there about 9.30am. I decided I wanted to climb the 360 stairs to the top of the Belfry as did quite a few others so I queued for about half an hour. Due to the narrow stairwell the tower’s capacity is 70 people so once capacity is reached they let you in as another person comes out. You get to see the mechanics of the chimes and bells as you climb up. You then get a 360 degree view over Bruges.

The Belfry has graced the horizon of Bruges for over seven centuries. In it’s present form, the 83 metre high Belfry is made up of three building layers. The bottom two square sections in brick were built during the thirteenth century. The top, octagonal lantern tower in Brabant limestone was built between 1482 and 1486. Until 1741 the tower had a graceful 19 metre wooden spire.

Belfries are typically found in Flanders, Northern France and in parts of Wallonia, in the south of Belgium. In 1999 UNESCO included these city towers on its world heritage list, as stone witnesses of the prosperous and autonomous late medieval cities in this region. The general definition of a Belfry is a structure enclosing bells.

Meanwhile, Steve had been exploring the town down below so when I met up with him he had checked out all the chocolate shops for me. The town had come to life – there were people everywhere. The shops that open on a Sunday do so at 10am. Every second shop was a chocolate shop : ) I couldn’t resist buying these chocolate sheep – so cute.

We then checked out the canals where you can explore the city by boat. There are also many high end designer stores of which most were closed. We only had half a day here so we headed back to the train station about 12pm – Steve was in charge of the map and after finding the street we had been told to turn right into he decided to wing it. We ended up heading in the opposite direction to the train station until we stopped a friendly local who pointed us in the right direction.

Safely back on board now and heading to Germany. The sea is a rocking and a rolling out there. I went to the gym this afternoon and ran on the treadmill as we were pulling out of port. I had a natural incline and decline as the boat rolled gently from side to side.