Aberdeen

Looks like Scotland wants to show us its best side and today again, it greeted us with beautiful weather.
Shortly before 10 am we could go out and embark the excursion busses. Almost everyone took part in one of the three excursions, which were offered by the local tour agency. Our options were: “Highlights Aberdeen”, “Pitmedden Garden” and “Royal Deeside”.
With such a brilliant weather any excursion must be very exciting, so it is not an easy tusk to choose one.

Indeed, even few hours after we left Aberdeen, many guests were still commenting their awesome experience from “The Silver City”.

A gorgeous day in Edinburgh

The two blue of the sky and the sea gave us a warm welcome. Before we reached the floodgate of Leith we had a perfect view to the famous Bridge of Forth, a landmark of Edinburgh.

Approaching the berth at the Ocean Terminal we could listen to a Lady piper. Close to Fram the Royal Britannia is placed, former yacht of the Royal family.

The first excursion started in the morning. We visited the castle of Stirling right in the middle of the country and important since the middle age and the residence of the Stewarts for 300 years. The castle is beautiful located and all of us enjoyed the view over the hilly landscape.

After having lunch in a nice local restaurant we headed to Scone Palace, where all Scottish kings were crowned. Although the six rooms which are open for the public are impressive, for example Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert spent a night in the castle, the loveliest and amazing part of the castle is the park with its old trees and some peacocks. On our way back we stopped in Queenferry for taking photos of the two famous Forth Bridges.

Most of use drove to Edinburgh either on their own or on the other excursion. This was a panoramic sightseeing through Edinburgh, passing Arthur’s seat, the beautiful shaped mountain in the town, from where you have an excellent view over the city. Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland since 1437, today live around 525 000 people in the town. The so-called New Town, designed and built in the 18th century is perfect example of town-planning. We stopped at the Palace of Holyrood, which is the Queen's official residence in Scotland. The Royal Mile is the famous road from Holyrood to the Castle with a lot of small shops.

Edinburgh Castle was the home of Scottish kings and queens for centuries. Today, the Old Royal Palace from the 15th century houses the crown jewels of Scotland. From the castle there is a great view and you can walk right into the Old Town with its lovely narrow streets. Here are shops and most important: the pubs.
Our first day in Scotland was really an excellent start.

Time to relax, explore and learn.

As our first destination, Leith, is almost 500 nautical miles away from Hamburg, the MV Fram needs two nights and one day to reach it.
It was time to relax and the slight rolling movement of the ship made some of us a little tired.

It was time to explore the ship’s interior, as well as the outside decks, to find the best places for wildlife watching.

It was time to learn by attending the lectures, which covered places we are going to visit. So, we learn about first Shetland and Orkney residents, Viking exploration and life in the Polar Seas.

Late afternoon, the MV Fram had also few wildlife companions. Kittiwakes, Northern Fulmars and Northern Gannets were flying around the ship. Also dolphins were checking the vessel from below the water surface. So far, the weather is good, although the sky is overcast but mostly dry.

After dinner, we enjoyed the fashion show. Officers, including the Captain and Expedition Staff, presented the newest clothing collection on sale in the ship’s boutique. It is really worth to pay a visit to the shop.

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.