Searching for the WTF moments. (Tallinn and Stockholm)

August 22 and 23, 2012
Tallinn and Stockholm

Now that I've been to these places several times, I've done the big things, I know what I like, and I know the area, so now I run out into these places thinking, "What's something, new, exciting, weird, or wacky?  What am I going to look at for years to come and say, 'WTF?'"

I think I found a few things.

For example, I know that whenever I'm looking for a good Kiek in de Kok, I can come here:

Or if I wanted to play with Shrek and Donkey, Estonia is good for that as well.

But what I'd really like to see, is a good street performers battle.

 Time to do my most favorite thing ever.

Unbeknownst to me, as I was prepping for my first shot, an Estonian Jujitsu troupe was assembling behind me to watch.  I let the first one fly, and FWAP!  It was the center bulls eye, and the entire team gathered behind me cheered.  I freaked out and jumped because I thought I was alone.  They proceeded to watch the next nine arrows.

You know, no pressure or anything.

That's right, top score!  10 shots, center bulls eye is worth 10 points, each ring out is worth one less point consecutively.

I got 82 out of a possible 100 points.

This was my second time.  I credit the teachers, and Jennifer Lawrence's performance in hunger games.  When you exhale before letting go of the arrow like she does, it steadies the muscles in your arms so they aren't shaking when you let go of the string.  It's just a real blessing to find something that you're good at, and that you enjoy doing.

The very next day, Stockholm did not fail to deliver it's fair share of WTF to me.

That video is a result of my massive wrong turn.  I set out from the ship in search of the Vasa Museum.  But silly me, I used the map in my head instead of the one on paper, and I kind of forgot there was an extra island in my path, and I turned onto that instead of going where I needed to go.

Here, I'll show you better:

I ran from A to B instead of A to C.

 The day was not a loss however.  I got plenty of pictures of the journey despite the destination.

King me.

Here is where I was trying to go.  The Vasa was a massive (at the time) Swedish warship that sank in it's own harbor moments after setting sail for the first time.  Oops.  It was salvaged and placed in a museum.  These purple masts are erected to show how tall the ship was when it was afloat in the water.

Being on the island next to the Vasa at least got me a good photo op.

Dirty Dancing at the China Theatern anyone?

Flag on top of the Royal Palace

Do you see Jesus in me, or me in Jesus rather?

180° Panorama.  Click and have a look around.

I'll just have to get to the Vasa museum another day.  (Which is exactly what I do).

The Fountains of Peterhof

August 18-21, 2012
Helsinki and St. Petersburg

Saturday, August 18
Helsinki, Finland

There was a "shore" excursion in Helsinki called Tall Ship Sailing.  I can't really tell you that I was able to understand why these people would get off of a boat to ride on a boat.

But I'll show you why I did it.

I spent this whole excursion asleep below deck.  I woke up as the ship was tying up to the quay, and all the guests were almost on board the bus.


Tuesday, August 21
St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

Today was a big day.  I had heard great things about Peterhof from my friends on the ship, so this was an excursion I was looking forward to.  Peterhof is the summer palace of Peter the Great.  It's pretty grand.

Not bad for a summer home.

 The big draw for Peterhof are it's fountains.  This is a statue in front that prepares you for what is waiting on the other side where all the fountains are.  The subjects for the statues and fountains of Peterhof are all taken from Greek mythology.

I should mention that it is strictly forbidden to take pictures inside of Peterhof.  Here is one of those strictly prohibited photos.

I actually took quite a bit of photos.  But quite frankly, it's another extravagant palace with gilded rooms and treasures, and I have already posted pictures from many other palaces.  Furthermore, my pictures from Peterhof are all slanted from trying to stay covert.  And besides, Peterhof is known for it's fountains, so let's get right to that!

The Fountains of Peterhof

I just want to point out that there are no pumps being used in this process.  It is all engineered to employ nothing but gravity.  The height of the water is determined by the water pressure and the size of the pipes.  Pretty incredible that this "technology" is hundreds of years old.

The centerpiece of the fountain is the man triumphing over the lion.  Throughout history, the countries of the Baltic have continuously been at war.  The man is Russia, and the lion represents Sweden.

Russia vs Sweden

And then there was this fountain:

If you listen closely, you can hear the doggie barking after the ducks.

And if that wasn't awesome enough, you don't go back to the center of St. Petersburg by getting back on the bus that brought you.  Oh, no!  The guests of Peterhof leave in style.

You take a Hydrofoil!

I bet you didn't know that the first Hydrofoil was invented by Alexander Graham Bell.

Dead churches make me talk to myself (Lübeck, Germany)

Thursday, August 16, 2012
Travemunde, and Lübeck, Germany

I was so blessed to have several days in Germany.  This would be another one.  Well, you see, as an opera student, you're required to take so many years of foreign languages.  At Chapman University, all of us fell in love with our German teachers.  They were just such wonderful women that really loved the music students, and they integrated their German program well with our music program.  They would give us extra points for singing lieder in the classroom.  We would even have a weekly Stamtisch on Wednesdays, which is where you all sit down and eat lunch together.  And we would try our best to only speak German when we did that.  So you see, going to Chapman in a way inundated me with the German language and culture, so to finally be there in the country for real is kind of an it's-about-time moment.

Travemunde is one of those sea ports that unfortunately gets overshadowed by the more popular city of Lübeck, which is nearby.  Today, I escorted a tour group of people through the city of Lübeck.

Let's start with this big castle looking thingy.

I think all the tours in Lübeck start here.

Oh yeah, it was raining this day.  Here we are with our umbrellas looking at scaffolding.

Yes, it's as exciting as it looks.

 This is why we use levels when we lay brick.

Oops.

I bet whoever lay all that brick was drunk from visiting this place.
I mean, ever place that hangs a dragon outside their door has to be a tavern, right?

Let's say it is because I don't remember.

When you travel Europe, you can't help but see churches everywhere.  To a Christian, this starts off as a really neat thing, until you realize how many of the churches are dead.  They've been turned into museums, or potato storehouses (Soviet Russia), or worse, they're just in general disarray.  As I traveled, and saw this occurring on a frequent basis, I thought of this verse:

Matthew 23:27
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

Now, I'm going to show you two pictures of a church I visited in Lübeck.

Now before you suggest that I'm just being poetic or over thinking this, our tour guide in her broken English actually used phrase "They just whitewashed the walls."

Moving on.

Let's just look at the whole city and once and call it a day.

 Actually, let's go shopping.

K?

Somewhere in Germany there is a J-Mart to make up for this, I'm sure.

My favorite part!

MARZIPAN!  MARZIPAN! MARZIPAN!

Guess who has two thumbs and loves Marzipan!  This guy!

What is marzipan?  It's honey almond paste goodness.

The locals swear that this is the best place to get Marzipan in the world.  The brand is called Niederegger.  I bought a lot.  I'm still eating it.  I took pictures from different parts of the store to give a little feel of how big a place this is.  Even if this was just a chocolate store, it would be huge, but since it's Marzipan that qualifies this store for ginormous status.

You don't like Marzipan?  More for me!

 The Rathaus.  Not a house for rats, but rather the townhall.  It's pretty important, and it's pointy.

See?  Pointy.

You know what would be awesome right about now?

Another church?

@#$% you caption writer.  At least this church doesn't look dead.

On the contrary, it seems to have become quite the market place.

 Seriously, caption writer, wtf?

Look up, a big organ!

 Okay, well that's pretty cool.

And how about a nice Zodiac clock to wash it down?

/facepalm

I think I've found your problem.  Look who's sitting outside.

 Yeah, that'll do it.  Caption writer, I really need something to cheer me up right about now.

You're welcome.

 :-D

And because I love you so much, another whitewashed church museum.

 You know what, I'm done.  I'm just done.  Next city please.