CRUISING ON THE BALTIC SEA

Flat Hawster has spent the last week cruising on the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe.  His trip started in Copenhagen and then continued to Stockholm (Sweden), Helsinki (Finland), St. Petersburg (Russia) and finally Tallinn (Estonia).  It was his first cruise and Flat Hawkster spent a little too much time at the buffet.  He'll have to burn off some extra pounds now that he's back.  It was a fun cruise with some great entertainment and activities.  The ship stopped in each city for a day and allowed time for everyone on board to check out the sites.  They were busy visits with a lot to see.

Flat Hawkster strikes a pose in front of Stockholm's harbour and underneath
the Swedish flag.

Stockholm is the largest city in the Nordic Countries (Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland and Denmark).  It is a port city just like Vancouver but is much older.  The Vikings were the first to make Stockholm an important city as they toured and conquered many places around the world.  Flat Hawkster enjoyed the sites of Stockholm as well as the tasty Swedish meatballs that he clawed at while sitting at the harbour.  His only disappointment was that he didn't spot the Sedin twins anywhere.

The Swedish Parliament.

The Royal Palace.

Flat Hawkster's enjoyed hanging out by the pool and soaking his
tired feet.

Flat Hawkster was a little excited and worried about travelling to St. Petersburg, Russia.  It is the 4th largest city in Europe with 5 million people.  Can you name the other cities that are larger?  See below for the answer. This was a city that most people could not visit until fairly recently due to "Communist" rule that prevented people from travelling in and out of the country freely.  It is no longer a Communist country but they do watch tourists very closely and Flat Hawkster was under strict orders to stay with his tour group or the police may come and get him.  It was enough to keep him well behaved as he visited a number of sites.

This is St. Catherine's Palace that has been almost completely restored after
being destroyed by the German Nazis during WWII.  It is a huge building

with gold leaf paint everywhere.  Flat Hawkster found out that some rich and

famous people often rent out the entire palace for private parties.  Perhaps
we could hold the next grade 7 year end dance here:)

The Czar (King) and his family used this as a "summer" home.  They usually
stayed at their palace in town which is only 20km away.  St. Petersburg is
a cold place and is as far north oe as Alaska (60 degrees latitude).

This was one of the large dining rooms in St. Catherine's palace. It was
covered in gold!

Flat Hawkster is standing outside the Church of Spilled
Blood.  This church was named after a Czar was killed on
this very site.  His family built the Church in his memory
and it has only been used twice a year since construction
finished.  There is a service on the day of his birth and the
day of his death.

Flat Hawkster did not know much about Tallinn, Estonia before arriving on the cruise ship but he was pleasantly surprised by what he saw.  Old Town Tallinn is a very well preserved Medieval town with forts, castles and old Churches.  Tallinn is the capital of Estonia and its largest city with approximately 500,000 people.  It was a very important port town for many centuries and as a result faced invasions from many countries during its history. The fort that surrounded the city came in handy on many occasions.

Flat Hawkster points out the fort that surrounds the city of Tallin.

The largest cities in Europe are :

Istanbul 13 million

Moscow 12 million

London 7 million

St. Petersburg 5 million

 Berlin 3.5 million