TRAVEL NOTES FROM DEAN - SCANDINAVIA

We and our younger daughter Lulu were in a group of 20, mostly friends, that enjoyed a guided tour on July 11-27 of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia and St. Petersburg in Russia. It included 2 cruises across the North and the Baltic Seas.

Fjords constitute the premier attraction of the Scandinavian countries. They are small, thickly-forested islands surrounded by sea. We visited the world-famous Little Mermaid statue, the Town Hall where the Nobel prizes are annually awarded, the small restored Viking sailboat (original), the church ingeniously carved out of a rock hillside.

We motored to St. Petersburg, the beautiful former capital of Russia, and in an old fortress there, we saw the marble tombs of Peter the Great, Nicholai II, Alexander II and about 10 other Russian greats. All tombs were of uniform size: 5x3x3 feet and could be touched at arm’s length, if it were not forbidden. We saw palaces, museums and cathedrals containing statues, furniture, royal carriage, king’s bedroom and original paintings of Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Velasquez, etc.

I think we received an overdose of briefly stated lectures about the history of so many buildings and their contents. At this point, I wished Disneyland was nearby. Near the end of the tour, it’s good if I could remember 5% of what was said, even if I don’t have Alzheimer’s disease.

As days rolled on some of us got tired of Scandinavian food. Fortunately, our hotels were located at the center of cities and worldwide McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Burger King were omnipresent to the delight of our stomach. Generally, the printed menu did not have English translation; therefore, sometimes we did not know what we were eating. Anyway, the food sank into our stomach – what could we do? We were told that we should not drink Russian tap water, not even use it to brush our teeth. That negative aspect is counterbalanced by Russian Cossack dances and the royal ballet which were spectacular performances.

Ah, shopping! A tour is not complete without that fever. Here the women (and a few men) went like crazy with the enthusiasm of firefighters responding to a fire alarm. Poor self, I could not race with them to department stores and sidewalk stalls. I’m sure I was the only one who guarded my wallet well like a fortress against shopping temptation that was as strong as the devil.

Even with all the joys and pleasures of this trip, I finally realized that there’s no place like home sweet home.