The Art of FRAM

After all we have seen, after all we have done, after so many impressions, places, kinds of food, of churches and people it feels rather like a break from the break, a welcome opportunity to take a deep breath and - do nothing.
It is just fine to wake up for breakfast, then sit around on deck or in the lounge, contemplating the time that lies behind us. And as it happens very often: As soon as you divert the eye from the colorful outside, from the many things that are somewhere else, you start discovering what is around you. Have you ever noticed how much love for the detail is in FRAM? Well, then let me show you a bit of the artful decoration that is everywhere on our ship. Walk up the stairs and you will find beautiful copper etchings done by Anne-Birthe Hove, a Greenlandic artist, who dedicated her œvre to the tradition of the people in the north. Even the transparent ends on the handrails are made of frosted glass in the shape of icebergs, each deck in a different color.
Nothing is left to chance, when you go dancing on deck 7, take a look to the black pattern that is laid out in the dancefloor. Not many know that this symbolizes driftwood on the coast of Greenland, coming from Canada, a natural building material that played and still plays a major part in Greenlandic life. Lift your eyes to the ceiling, what do you see? Well-designed lights? OK, what else? If you look at the whole construction you will see that it is imitating the shape of a whale-hunters harpoon, and is of course another dedication to the brave Arctic people that go out in simple kayaks to hunt for their survival. Those who are more into paintings admire the water-colors of Lars Lerin that are on display in the Bistro area and have been created especially for FRAM. Speaking of painting, no one can overlook the huge depiction of an Arctic sunset by Miki Jacobsen, on the way to the restaurant.
As you can see, FRAM is not only a ship, it is a declaration of passionate devotion to the Polar regions.

After a flaming red nightfall - a display of nature's art - there is a gathering in the Lounge to witness the fashion show, an array of little performances to introduce our shop's products. Some present themselves in true top form. Art? Well, that's up to you...

Amber and Ambience

Tallinn has got something, that St. Petersburg seems to lack - a time machine.
Whereas all the palaces and cathedrals on the Russian end of the Gulf of Finland are impressing witnesses of periods and emperors long gone, showing you how it must have been in those days a walk inside the city walls of Tallinn literally takes you back into the medieaval age. It is stunning how well this place is preserved, cobblestones round as balloons, the city walls stubby and sturdy, just waiting for a Tartar attack, the towers and spires pointing at a sky that is limited by the narrowness of the alleyways. Of course, the medieaval card is played by the tourism, but somehow here it really feels like chainmail and honeybeer, like hanseatic amber trade and banners and lute playing, and you cannot pinpoint why this is. Maybe the fabulous condition of the buildings, sporting old, very old beams and pediments and bronze nails in huge oak doors. Maybe the people who are actually performing here, serving you in the tavern, playing the music or just chat with you, curtseying or bowing the old-fashioned way so naturally. Or a little bit of all. Certainly here you can forget about the speed and pressure of our cities, and when we walk back to the pier, a little bit outside, a modern port with our modern ship sitting there, the stroll that we just had, seems to be far away, like a story told or a song that's been sung a while ago. You might even want to hum it...

The many St. Petersburgs

Many places are reputed to be unique. However, St. Petersburg is unique in a unique way. It is not a city, it is a history book that seems to come straight from the shelf. Empires have printed its appearance, wars and revolutions scarred its face, regimes that could not be more different from one another have left their unmistakable marks. It is incredibly rich and golden as it is grim and grey and miserable. It is a place where people enjoy life to the full while others struggle from day to day or live a deeply religious and modest life. It is fraught with art and culture, vivid with a young and ambitious theatre scene, but still keeping the noble and heavier values of traditional ballet, opera and poetry alive while next door they sell horrific Kitsch with a broad Russian smile or drive around in ridiculous cars to show off.

To see and feel the actual St. Petersburg, to get the idea of it, you probably have to spend months here. So it's not precisely what we can do here in one and a half days. Instead we get a thorough introduction to the history over the centuries by going to p(a)laces…

How to describe the dimensions? How to convey the feeling of being surrounded by dozens of granite columns weighing 114 tons each, that are simply guarding the entrance of Isaac Cathedral? How to take pictures of a place that is actually covered with several hundreds of kilograms of gold, now reflecting the light of about a square kilometre of windows? The pomp is limitless, merciless, overwhelming. And it shows oh so clearly what an Emperor/Emperess really was in his days: A supreme being, equipped with every divine right, whereas his people's only task was to honour, worship and serve him/her. Ah yes, and to just stay alive to continue to do so. Awe mixes with a certain uneasiness when you look at all these unfathomable riches, and somehow the thought steals into the back of your mind that these guys actually had it coming when the revolution of 1917 broke loose, triggered by that famous gunshot of the battleship Aurora

A lot has happened since then, wars and sieges, ending with Hitler's 900 days wait at the gates of "Leningrad". (Rumor has it that he had the invitations for the victory party in the famous Hotel Astoria already printed.)

And today? There's not one St. Petersburg, as it seems. There's many of them. A lot of new money around , hard to miss, big cars, big watches, and of course only top fashion. Not really subtle, though. Then there is a lot of friendliness, too, that feels genuine, even in a small encounter in the streets, even in a restaurant that is apparently for tourists There is all the hustle and bustle of a modern city, sometimes the scenes just don't seem to fit. Married couples and their families dancing traditional dances in old-time places, the extendes Humvee Limo waiting in the background. It is all very transitional, re-orientating, insecure on one hand, but challenging and self-assured on the other. It is charming, fascinating, unknown to us. Wish we had more time!

The Splendour of Power

Stepping on Russian soil for the first time is a significant moment. If we had crossed the harbour entrance with our ship only thirty years ago we would have been arrested - if lucky. Now we are welcomed by english-spoken guides and modern busses...

We need your patience now, folks: Two days of long excursions, so no time for an extended blog. Let me just give you some pictures as an appetizer. The rest - especially the comments - will follow in good time. Thanks for understanding!

Gateway to Russia

After a smooth crossing of the Saaristomeri, the Archipelago Sea between Sweden and Finland with its ten thousands of islands, a chilly breeze greets us in Helsinki.
Although this translates into "sunset" there is not much to see in terms of springtime. In fact, people are dressed up in thick coats, wearing hats and shawls and tell us about the harshest imaginable winter that has just passed since many years. So we do the same and dress warmly before we start to explore the city at the very far end of Europe, next door to Russia and fraught with history. And it shows at first sight: The well-kept classicistic houses that build the general background are overtopped by the fabulous white dome and the red-bricked Uspenski Cathedral, witnesses of the czarist era. When you move in town, you also recognize the typical wide-spaced, pompous but somehow grim buildings of the Russian "superpower-architecture". Then again, Jugendstil left its marks, too, like in the straight-lined railway station, the National Theatre or the filigrane glass fronts of the cafés on the Esplanade. And over the whole city lies the atmosphere of a slightly unorganized effort to combine Cosmopolitan and Bohemian lifestyle, very young, friendly and a little odd. . A truly remarkable mixture, appealing and unique.

Those who join the guided tour get to hear a Sibelius concerto in the German Church in the evening's twilight, leaving a very intense memory.
And now it is time to head for the farthest, most unknown and most exotic stop on this voyage - St. Petersburg.

More Islands than people…

...at least this is the first impression as you enter the Skerries of Stockholm. More than 50.000 islands and islets form a complicated labyrinth that makes the presence of an experienced pilot indispensable. And what a beautiful labyrinth it is! Smooth rocks build natural platforms to many, many cute little red cabins, shaded by trees, patrolled by large numbers of swans, ducks, and sea gulls. We are definitely the biggest ship on the pier, since we are allowed to park right alongside "Gamla Stan", the island that carries Stockholms old town centre. It's just a few steps from the gangway into the narrow cobblestone streets, where the houses seem to lean inwards like to talk to each other. In fact, the whole city of Stockholm is like a painting (on a beautiful day, that is, like we have today), everything pretty and neat and well-kept.

Those who are interested in naval history will surely adore the Vasa Museum, easy to be seen from afar with its old ship masts on top. The building is practically tailored around a famous shipwreck that sank in Stockholms harbour only fifteen minutes after starting its maiden voyage in 1628. Considering that it lay in the mud for over three hundred years, the good shape of the vessel is hard to believe. 85% of the whole hulk are original material, all the wood carvings are still full of detail, the planking, the cannon hatches - eerily intact!

In the last light of the day, we leave this charming place, everybody sighing: We could have stayed much, much longer!

Behind the scenes (I)

Of course, of course - after a long time being on the road in order to get to Oslo and FRAM, one has every right to be tired. So this sea day was a calm one, relaxing and no current need for action. Let's benefit from this opportunity to sneak into those places you normally would not be aware of on this elegant, shiny ship. The places that are vital for the life on board. Find a little collage below of the following rooms: Top left - the "car" deck. It is only named like this because in the very, very beginning FRAM was conceived to take on cars for short ferry rides. Now we store everything here, from Polar Cirkel boats to fresh deliveries to oil spill rafts to rubber boots. It is a big space, sometimes even not big enough. Top right - the electrician's workshop. Any idea how many devices work on electrical power in this ship? It is a frightening number. And one single man is supposed to keep all these running and in shape. A hell of a job, because it does not only involve running around the ship to fix things, but also to take apart and analyze in the small but well-equipped repair shop on deck 2. Bottom left - the incinerator room. That's right, we have a whole compartment where garbage gets processed. Paper, wood and cardboard gets burned in a closed system, every thing else is being sorted and - by the means of heavy hydraulic pistons - compressed to a storable size, until we leave it in the next port. Bottom right - the laundry. In fact, there are several of them on board, this is only the crew's laundry, where we do our shirts and uniforms and stuff ourselves. Sometimes it takes a bit of timing, since 70 crew members and 6-8 staff are all using the same machines.
There is way more to see, strange storages, like for instance the chocolate room, the prison (no inmates at the moment…) or the broadcasting center, providing the whole vessel with data, music and time. It is not the Queen Mary, but still a big ship. Next sea day we will take you down to the lowest of all decks - to the engine room. Stay tuned!

Icelandic Roulette

Well, here we are in Oslo, in a little akward situation: We do not know how many passengers will make it. Many Norwegians try to reach Oslo by car and train - will they be in time? For most of the others the situation is hopeless, coming in from London or Paris simply doesn't work. So we scan the pier and are happy for every single traveller who arrives. And, believe it or not, when we have to cast the lines no less than 92 guests are enjoying a very quiet departure. And there's still the chance to pick up some more in Stockholm the day after tomorrow.

Those who are leaving us are taken care of - big, comfy busses are organized to take them either to Copenhagen or even Calais. Certainly a bus is better now than a train, you have a seat and your luggage is with you all the time. It is a farewell under strange circumstances, but it has a great bottomline: Everybody wants to come back, sooner or later. That's the spirit!
So we try to make the best out of it, fill the coming days with a lot of lectures and spoil our guests. And for those of you who couldn't make it: We are truly sorry, nature has indeed rained (ashes) on our parade, once again we learn that not everything is predictable and that we are left to accept what our planet does of its own accord. We do hope you will make it another time!
So, this is only a short entry, not much seen in Oslo. More will follow.

In the grip of the volcano

This is no sea day like any other, we are all absorbed by one singular subject at the moment: The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland; not only that it is a fascinating phenomenon in itself, it largely affects the forthcoming of our whole operation. All the flights south of Bodø (which is very far north) are cancelled, none of the current group of guest will get a flight home. The options are scarce, hotel rooms in Oslo are more or less booked, trains are a way of moving on but it is certainly a good idea to have a seat reserved. And nobody is able to tell when the situation will get any more relaxed. Quite many are simply stuck. Some passengers resort to a very original solution - they book another passage on FRAM… Considering the hotel room prices in Oslo, this will probably even come out cheaper.
Those who were supposed to arrive tomorrow are also being rerouted. Since many of them are Norwegians we tend to hope that at least a large portion of them might arrive. English and French guests will hopefully join in Stockholm since this is the next possible destination in train's and ferry's reach.
Any relatives at home - we will keep you informed here, of course. But so far be assured: we had such a splendid journey that the spirit is still at a superb level and the smiles all around are genuine and relaxed. It is always a wise thing to accept nature's turns as fate and start from there…
Last update!: We will provide a bus transfer to all who want it, either to Calais (British guests), or Copenhagen (French guests, with option to Paris). It is still a logistical challenge, but Karin and Fiona don't rest until everybody is taken care of. So it will take a little longer to go home, but it'll be home at last. Thanks for remaining patient and brave!

The Times of the Hanseatic League

Well, MV FRAM is not precisely an old schooner, but as we approach the pier in Bergen, old trade center of the Hanseatic times. In spite of all the fire hazard, the wooden old town Bryggen is still there, although you can spot fire extinguishing devices on the roofs now. The creaking of the planks creates a feeling of old times, of heavy ledgers on tiny pedestals in candlelight, blocks and tackles lifting barrels and heavy bundles of wool, fur or spices, while the clumsy hulks of galleons are heaving in the port. OK, this impression fades quickly when you step outside of Bryggen, where Norwegian daily life is taking place with all the hustle and bustle of a modern city. It is a place of theatre and music, too, Grieg and Ibsen are famous names. The day passes quickly, city tour, Grieg concerto, shopping, going to cafés or simply wandering around, tasting delicacies at the fish market. Or all of that. Certainly a very suitable place to finish our fabulous trip, because over night and the following day it will be the transfer to Oslo, city of disembarkation. To prevent everybody from getting too dreary the MV Crew Show is held tonight, and all participants are really doing their very, very best.