When I was a junior high-school student at Karachi American School in Pakistan (in the early 70s), my art teacher was a woman from Finland. I liked her (even though I was terrible at art), and ever since then I have wanted to visit Finland. So I was thrilled that Helsinki, Finland was one of […]
Three Layers of St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg is a city of layers with each layer corresponding to a different historical era and and each visible in the architecture and various sights around town. The first is the classical layer which can be seen in the ornate architecture of the city built by Peter the Great. Many visitors assume that it […]
The Prodigal Son
One of my all-time favorite books is The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming, by Henri J. Nouwen. As such, one of the highlights of our visit to St. Petersburg was seeing the Rembrandt painting that inspired the book. It is housed in The State Hermitage Museum. It was another one of […]
St. Petersburg
Because I have long been a Russian history buff, our 2-day port of call in St. Petersburg, Russia was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me. My fascination with Russian history began in high school when I read the book Nicholas and Alexandra (Tragic, Compelling Story of the Last Tsar and His […]
Estonia Did Not Disappoint
Even though our Baltic Cruise came to an end (sniff, sniff) less than 2 weeks ago, I still have some things to say about the places we visited. After leaving Germany, we sailed north to the city of Tallinn, capital of Estonia. Like every other destination on this cruise, it was a city that I’ve […]
The Last Victim
Even though Berlin is nowhere near the north coast of Germany, it was the first city in our cruise itinerary. Our day “in port” involved a 3-hour bus ride from Warnemunde, where our ship actually docked, to Berlin, taking a 5-hour walking tour, followed by a 3 hour bus ride back to the ship. For […]
