All Aboard the Baltic Queen as She Sets Sail for Tallinn

We went on a great adventure last weekend.  On Friday evening, we boarded a ship in Stockholm bound for Tallinn, Estonia.  We travelled with another family who are from the United States and who have three children like us.  We followed the advice of another family who had done the same and were not disappointed.  We made our way to the harbour after school on Friday.  It was a smooth tranisition getting on the boat.  For our family of five, we had booked two rooms connected by a door.  The ship was new and sparkled!  The kids were impressed with the pull-down beds that were suspended from the wall at a height taller than them.  We didn't spend too much time checking out the tiny rooms--there was a whole boat to be explored.  There were restaurants, bars and shops on board.  The small playzone for kids was a hotspot!  We sat down at a table in the Grill House for our dinner and not long after, the ship was on it's way.  We had a hard time keeping the six kids in their seats for dinner.  We soon gave up and let them sit by the windows to watch the Archipelago float by.  After dinner, we made our way to an outdoor patio at the stern of the ship. 

The sunset was amazing and the view spectacular.    

The city of Tallinn appeared the next morning after breakfast.  The church spires from the old town compete with some modern office buildings for dominance along the skyline. It was a beautiful sight from the boat. 

We made our way off the boat and towards the old town.  We enjoyed seeing the contrast between old and new.  It was evident in the architecture and choice of shops.  

It was a warm, sunny day and the old town was very charming. We checked out a pharmacy that dates back to 1422, some old churches and lots of souvenir shops. We tired ourselves out with all the walking, but really enjoyed ourselves.

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Unexpected Fun at Ulriksdal Slott

We still pinch ourselves when we stumble upon treasures like this, just a short drive from our home and just minutes away from the city of Stockholm. The Ulriksdal Slott was built in 1640 in an area now known as Ekoparken -- the world's first National City Park, established in 1995. Ekoparken extends from the heart of Stockholm north to Ulriksdal and it encompasses 27 square kilometers of green parkland and beautiful buildings like this palace. The grounds were laid out in the mid-17th century and showcase some interesting sculptures.

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On this past Sunday, we toured the grounds of the palace and enjoyed fika (Swedish for coffee break).  We saw other people enjoying the day on their bikes, on horses and walking their stick-carrying dogs.  We were surprised to come upon an enclosure of sheep grazing on the grass.  They were surrounded by a flimsy fence that we discovered was supposed to be electric according to the signs, but actually wasn't as Graeme could attest to after having grabbed onto it without getting a jolt.  The sheep never looked up at us, despite the kids calling.  They just kept at their task, busily munching the grass.  Were we ever surprised when one little sheep slipped his head under the fence to get a taste of the clover on the other side then followed through with her whole body!  There was an escapee!  None of the other sheep even looked up to notice this risk-taker.  The five of us looked at each other and laughed, then wondered what would happen to her.  Would anyone else notice?  Here she is, the bold escapee, carrying on as if she wasn't aware of her freedom!

   

We looked at each other with a bit of guilt and wondered if we should assume some responsibility for this situation, but live and let live! So we carried on our way. We explored the vegetable gardens and other statues then found a quiet place to sit near the water at the front of the palace. The kids played with rocks and Kris and I sunbathed in the strong late summer sunshine.

 
This day proved to be another great find that we added to our evergrowing collection!

Simple Pleasures

The novelty of having apple trees in our yard and blueberries in the forest near our house has sent me into a baking frenzy.  You may be able to tell that we are not the kind of people who regularly grown their own fruits and vegetables, so the sight of firm, red and tasty apples hanging from their branches makes us giddy! 

So on any given day, the oven is preheating, the scent of cinnamon is in the air, and our fingers and teeth are blue.  Now, if only I could invite you over for a taste! 

Reading Between the Lines

We really enjoyed our hike in Riddersholm last spring, and we hoped to recreate that idyllic day this past weekend.  I dug out my guidebook and searched for an area close by that would meet our needs.  I settled on Angarnssjoangen, described as one of Stockholm's finest bird lakes with much to offer everyone, including "enticing walks along shoreline meadows, treeclad heights and grazing land".  Whoa, back up a minute, did I just write "grazing land"?  What the heck does that mean?  According to my Oxford dictionary, graze means cattle feeding on growing grass.  I should have read that description a bit more carefully on Saturday morning!

We packed a hearty lunch and slipped on our sturdy shoes in anticipation of our walk.  We found the promised nature centre (closed) with no problem.  There were a few cars in the parking area, but other than that, it was pretty quiet.  We left our lunch in the car and started out on the trail, hoping to complete the 6.7km walk around the lake before enjoying our picnic.  The beginning of the trail was well marked and there was evidence of lots of use.  We soon came upon an observation tower and climbed up for a look.  The lake stretched out before us and when we were quiet enough (not very often) we could hear the birdlife.

  

The kids occasionally complained of their hunger, but for the most part they enjoyed trudging through the woods.  Our suspicions that this was not a typical "walk in the park" began to be aroused when we started having to step around large, fresh cowpatties and when the trail route had us climbing up and over electric fences via these handy ladders as in the photo.  After we crossed over a dam at the outlet of the lake we entered a pasture occupied by large, munching cattle.  We skirted around the small herd and had a laugh at the two calves that had their curiosity piqued by these five strange creatures in their midst.  I did note that the docile creatures did have horns, but they completely ignored us and we were quickly out of their field and on our way. 

I must admit, though, that that close encounter with such large animals did get my blood pumping and my adrenaline flowing.  I had devised an emergency plan involving tossing children over the electric fence and rolling myself under the lowest wire.  When I saw how little our presence affected the cattle, I had a laugh at my overreaction and put it out of my mind. Elise demonstrated to us that she was pretty uncomfortable with the situation as well, but she bravely carried on.

Well, it turns out that my evacuation plans were not too far off the mark.  As we continued on our walk with rumbling stomachs and grumbling children, we began to doubt that we were going the right way.  Surely it couldn't take us more than an hour and a half to walk the 6 kilometers?  We backtracked and found another way that turned out to be the right way and we resumed our walk full of confidence that we would soon be enjoying our lunch!  A narrow boardwalk led us over another electric fence and into another herd of grazing cattle.  This time, though, our path took us extremely close to the animals!  We could hear the grass ripping from the ground and the grinding of their teeth as they consumed their feed.  I repeated my mantra of "Keep walking, don't look at them, just keep walking" to the kids and to myself, hoping to keep us all calm.  When the path turned a corner near what we hoped was nearing the end of the walk, we were confronted with a cow directly on the boardwalk, mooing menacingly at us and standing her (his?) ground.  This was too much to bear...Elise was overcome with the stress of it all and began to cry loudly.  Renee began moaning about being lost and never finding our way home again.  Graeme said, "What's the matter with the girls?  It's just hamburger!"  Kris was sure that we could all climb over the electric fence and carry on our way on the side of safety.  He started to lift Graeme up into the air in preparation for the toss, when I stopped him.  I envisioned the kids safe on one side and us on the other, unable to scale the heights of the fence.  I suggested a more realistic solution to backtrack and cross over some fields in the hopes of reaching the nearby road that I could hear.  Kris wisely agreed with this plan and we turned around.  I barely restrained myself from running away from those large animals, and wouldn't look back for fear that we were being chased!  

We made our way to the road and began trekking along in the most logical direction.  We stopped and asked for directions at a farm and were reassured that we were heading back to our car, but were still about 1.5km away!  When we neared the crossroad about 500m away from the car, Kris left the kids and I at a charming church and he ran ahead for the car.          

Finally, at 2pm, we sat down to have our picnic.  Interestingly, when the kids were scared by the cattle, they actually lost their appetites!  By now, their hunger had returned with a vengeance.  The lunch that I had made hours before had never tasted so good!  We all had a good laugh over our cowardliness and made the decision never to hike in cow fields again!!  You can bet that the next time Kris gets the urge for a walk in the woods with his family, I'll be reading all the fine print that my guide has to offer and Elise will be making arrangements to spend the day with a friend!