Welcome on board!

Sometimes the check-inn can become very hectic but today everyone was relaxed and we left the harbor in Hamburg-Altona in time. Before the departure was the safety-drill and we received our blue jackets. That’s the obvious starting of the trip.

During the first nautical miles we listened to the explanations about Hamburg, the nice district Blankenese with its beautiful houses and the huge area of Airbus. Unfortunately it was a little rain, so most of us stayed inside.

After the dinner there was the warm and friendly welcome by Captain Arild Hårvik and his crew and also by the Expeditionleader Anja Erdmann and her staff. Around 11 pm most of us were tired. Tomorrow we’ll have a tough sea day.

Farewell!

 Our last day of the voyage “Pearls of the Baltic Sea” and even the sky sent some tears to us. We have to say “Good Bye”, but again the day on sea was quite busy. In the morning and in the afternoon two lectures were given; one about the history of the old FRAM built by Colin Archer for the Nansen-Expedition to the North-Pole 1893-1896 and the second about the voyages of FRAM from Arctic to Antarctic.

A highlight was Benno’s reading of the short story of Siegfried Lenz “Die jütländische Kaffeetafel” and Antonio’s musical accompaniment.

At 3 pm Captain Arild Hårvik invited us to his Farewell Cocktail. Most of us will agree we spent a wonderful time in the Baltic Sea visiting eight harbors in six countries or – if we count Åland as an independent country – seven.

After the nice dinner it was time to pack and start planning the next voyage. Good Bye and see you soon on FRAM.

Kalmar – history, art and nature

Our day started with a relaxing morning at sea which was packed with a lecture, an historic walk through Fram’s own little museum (there are several items of the original Fram exhibited in the vitrines on board) and a radio feature focused on St Petersburg. As scheduled, we reached the last destination of our cruise at 2 pm in the afternoon. Kalmar in Sweden was waiting for us. From the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries, the town was one of Sweden's most important cities. Today, the cathedral and above all the castle remind of previous times. Many of us enjoyed a guided tour during which we appreciated incredibly elaborate intarsia and learned about the dining rituals at the court.

The other excursion crossed the 6 km long bridge to the island of Öland. We saw charming windmills and numerous flowers including delicate orchids. The ruins of castle Bornholm was a highlight for the history lovers while for those who like art, the culmination of the tour was a visit of the Vida-Museum. This composition of glass, concrete and wood is embedded in wonderful landscape and contains paintings, ceramics and impressive glass sculptures.

The plain, simple and sober forms and lines encountered during these last excursions and also in the wooden houses of Kalmar pose a strong contrast to the opulent buildings of St Petersburg. But they help us to come back to our own time and reality and make a perfect finale for this great and intense voyage.

Skål Stallhagen!

Does it matter that the Åland islands and their capital Mariehamn had disappeared in the fog? No! We spent a marvelous time in the small town. Ålands are very special, because they are an autonomy territory in Finland with their own laws and a different tax-system.

Although they belong to the EU they are a tax-free area. A good reason for all the travelers, nearly one million passengers arrive every day by ferry from Turku, Helsinki, Stockholm and Tallinn. That’s important for the economy besides agriculture. But we are talking about islands and therefor the sea and the navigation are the center of the life on Ålands. Close to the berth of Fram lies the famous museum ship “Pommern”. The most important ships owner of sailing merchant barques, Gustaf Erikson, bought the windjammer in 1923.

Ships are very important in Mariahamn also as a shipwreck. The brewer Christian Ekström found a 200 years old bottle of champagne in a shipwreck, today the highlight of his brewery, of course besides his tasteful beer. He brews four different kinds of the special Stallhagen beer and we could taste them all.

Although we started our other excursions by bus and by bike in the foggy morning, we could enjoy the beautiful landscape three hours later. Spring on the Ålands means a concert of the birds, colorful flowers in the meadows, the light green leaves and nesting birds on the lakes.

The summerhouses are close to the sea hidden by trees. The islands are flat and the highest point is just 104 m above sea level. Good for the bikers!

Looking back in the history we stopped on our historical trip at the open air museum Karlsgården with the Castle Kastelholm from the 14th century. After visiting the St. John’s church in Sund we finally drove to the ruins of Bomarsund, a former fortress built by the Russians in 1854.

We left the lovely town in the afternoon to Kalmar and Öland.

Link between East and West

After our Russian adventures we are now back to EU land!

Nonetheless, Helsinki had been for many years ruled by the Russian tsars and the influence of those times has been conserved since then. One example is the impressive Uspenski Cathedral which we could already observe from the ship. Like in St Petersburg, MV Fram moored directly in the centre, within a few minutes from the fish market. From there we could stroll along the Esplanade and absorb the atmosphere of a sunny Sunday morning while enjoying a view to the huge white Helsinki Cathedral, the symbol of the city.

A little further, the main railway station invited to discover the typical Art Nouveau architecture which is another characteristic of Helsinki.

On the excursions we had the opportunity to see other points of interest not so close by. Some of us also visited the ancient village Porvoo with its scenic wooden houses, the cozy coffee houses and little souvenir shops.

Good Bye, Lenin – grad

An exciting day in an overwhelming city and again sunshine which was surprising because there are only 60 sunny days in the year. Do you know that the famous Hermitage housed more than 3 Million paintings? Unbelievable! It would take years to look at all of them. Also the palaces and residences seem to be countless, nearly in every street in the old part of the town, the area between Newa and Fontanka, stand these beautiful buildings. St. Petersburg is the city of images and impressions, the city of wealth, opulence and decadence, the city of baroque style, classicism, art nouveau and soviet realism.

Today we went on excursions to the Hermitage, but you hardly can describe the former palace and the collection.

Another visit was in the famous Catherine Palace built by Empress Elizabeth in 1752-1756, well known for the legendary Amber room.

In the afternoon we finished our stay in St. Petersburg with a panoramic tour.

Back on board all of us were tired and happy – and maybe a little bit sorrowful for leaving St. Petersburg the former Leningrad.

с прие́здом!

Welcome! Welcome to Russia, to Saint Petersburg, to an ambience packed with history!

Early this morning FRAM sailed into the Neva River to go alongside the English Embankment situated directly in the heart of the old city centre. Golden cupolas and pompous palaces gave us an idea of the splendor and luxury of previous times when St Petersburg was the home of tsars and centre of the Russian Empire.  

During the morning excursion we had the opportunity to explore the daily (modern) life of this busy metropolis. We started with a stop at one of the market halls, where we found sausages, meat, fish, vegetables or fruit from the area as well as from abroad. Really delicious are the Russian honey and the pickled vegetables, we could taste them all. After this visit we started the ride with the underground, founded in 1955. The underground, called metro is really deep, and therefore the escalators are unbelievably long and quite fast. Back on earth we walked from the Admiralty over the Palace Square to one of the former residences to have a cup of tea and eat some traditional Russian cake.

In the afternoon another excursion took us to the Peterhof Palace where we saw the splendid apartments of the 18th and 19th century. Afterwards we explored the huge beautiful garden with the famous fountains - unfortunately under the typical St Petersburg rain.

Wet was also the boat tour through the channels. It was a pity that the sun which had been with us since the beginning of our trip abandoned us today, but all the passengers took it with good humor. After cruising for one hour along monumental buildings, vividly described and explained by our tour guides, we took again the bus to proceed to the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral. Here we saw the graves of the tsars and were offered a demonstration of a Russian a capella choir.

The day concluded with an unforgettable concert in our own Observation Lounge by the State Symphony Orchestra. This was not only a wonderful end to our first day in this amazing place, but also a perfect celebration of the Norwegian National Day!

Reval or Tallinn?

Sailing in the Baltic Sea is a real summer holiday: a calm sea, bright sunshine and a blue sky. Arriving in time in the capital of Estonia, Tallinn, in the morning all of us looked forward to leave MV FRAM and went into the town; either on our own or on an excursion. Tallinn is a beautiful old town founded in the middle age. The most prosperous period was during the time, when the town was a member of the Hanseatic League. Tallinn, with a population of 8,000 during that time, was very well fortified with city walls and 40 defence towers. Still today there are 26 towers and 50% of the wall to see.

One group went on a walking tour from the Domberg, the former upper part of Tallinn, seat of the central authority and the Cathedral.

We visited the cathedral and the Russian orthodox church of Alexander Nevskij. On our way to the lower town we followed the longest mediaeval street which led us to the House of the Brotherhood of Blackheads. We had a short break and enjoyed the performance of a dance-group.

The market-place was shown to us with the town hall in gothic style and some of us used the time to visit the oldest pharmacy in Europe from 1422. But one of the best things was just to stroll around and have a closer look into the tiny, little shops and galleries.

One group went for a bike ride in the old town and also in the younger parts of the city. On the panoramic tour we visited also the Kadriorg Palace, originally planned by Tsar Peter the Great, today a lovely baroque castle with a beautiful park. On our way back we stopped at the ruins of the former Pirita Convent dedicated to St. Brigitta and founded around 1400.

Unfortunately we had to leave the wonderful old town of Tallinn in the afternoon. But there is still the question, Reval or Tallinn? Both names are known for the capital of Estonia, but Reval is the old name given by the German knights and Tallinn is the right and today only used name.

Later on board we listened to some more lectures or enjoyed the sunshine on the deck.

Relaxed busy day!

Today, we spend the entire day at sea. But if you think this might be boring, then you are totally mistaken! There is always something to do or to see. For example, early birds could enjoy an incredible sunrise as documented by our Chief Officer from the bridge (see photo).

For those who rather prefer a lie-in (we are on holidays!), there was chance to delay the first activities to around 10 am when we started with guided bridge visits. Captain Arild Hårvik gave detailed explanations on the equipment like the 3 compasses (two geographic, one magnetic), the radars, electronic sea charts and we also learned that steering with the Azimuth-thrusters allows a very fine and rapid-reaction navigation required for sailing in the ice. However, according to his own words, the most important instrument on the bridge is still the coffee machine!

The morning was also used by our Assistant Expedition Lead

er Friederike to give us an overview on the different excursions which we can book for our next destinations. Luckily the voyage has just started and there are still many ports ahead of us!

In the afternoon, a wonderful scent filled the ship and attracted us to the Panorama Lounge. Our bartenders Dennis, Caloy and Eric were preparing delicious fresh waffles! Afterwards we heard a lecture by Carolina. She is our specialist for history of art and fascinated us with explanations about some secret treasures to discover in Tallinn. This was later complemented by Sabine who gave a more general overview on the city, so that now we are fully prepared for tomorrow.

But before going to bed, the day’s highlight took place in the Panorama Lounge: the legendary, well-known, always popular and entertaining MS FRAM Fashion Show! With the internationally renowned high class models (who during daylight also work as expeditions staff, officer or even Captain) featuring the newest trendy bestsellers from our ship shop!