Travel Articles

Our next stop, Stockholm, is a handsome city spread out on fourteen islands, and is called the Venice of the North. Didn’t we hear St Petersburg called that? On our own we left the ship, walked down the pier and clambered on a ferry that stopped at some of Stockholm’s leading tourist attractions, among them the local Tivoli, and the museum where a seventeenth century warship the Vasa is housed. The ship sank in 1628 on her maiden voyage, was salvaged, and now a building is built around the well-preserved ship. We got off the ferry near the royal palace and old town and sauntered along the waterfront.

On a bus tour in the afternoon we visited Milles Garden, the sculpture park with the work of Carl Milles (1875-1965). His studio and home are on top of a hill, and one descends into the gardens and pool area adorned with his work. It’s a beautiful hillside site overlooking the river. Many of the graceful pieces are set on columns. They seem to be flying, soaring in the air around the grounds.

One of Napoleon’s marshals, Bernadotte, was elected crown prince of Sweden and ruled as king of Sweden from 1818-1844. That family dynasty rules until this day although now in a ceremonial way. Sweden has been at peace for 200 years, following a neutrality policy since its last peace treaty in 1814.

We saw the palace, and behind it the charming old part of town, Gamla Stan, with its venerable houses, cobblestone streets and an attractive square full of sidewalk restaurants.

A famous Swedish resident was the manufacturer and inventor, Alfred Nobel who founded the prizes bearing his name. The scientific prizes are awarded and originated in Sweden while the Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway. The country is also famous for Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergmann, director Ingmar Bergmann, and playwright August Strindberg. We were shown the site downtown where Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated in 1986, an event that shocked the nation.

If you’re looking for a great treat, a cruise stop in Stockholm offers the afternoon journey outward through the narrow straits leading to the Baltic Sea. On both sides of the ship are intriguing heavily forested islands and peninsulas, dotted with cottages, homes, fortifications, lighthouses, and even the house where Abba created some of their music. During our four-hour piloted passage, the ship’s lecturer pointed out the sights including swans, eagles, and other wildlife. It’s a rare experience that adds a dividend to a Stockholm port stop.

After five days of bus tours, we had a pleasant day at sea, a day of R and R. The following day we docked in Warnemunde, Germany. The main purpose for the stop was so that cruisers could go to Berlin. Over 700 of the passengers elected to take a chartered train into the capital, a two and one half hour ride each way. A number of tours had been advertised for the trip. Since John and I had both been in Berlin previously, we did not see a need to revisit it for such a short stay with five hours of boring train time tacked on.

We chose a tour of the nearby town of Rostock by bus, rail and boat, and it proved to be a worthwhile experience. After a short bus trip we boarded a tram which circled the city and then left us in the old downtown quarter. This part of Germany had once been East Germany under Russian domination until the Wall came down.

The guide was very frank in her comments, and we heard many negatives about the reunified Germany as it affected this territory. Rostock had been an important ship building area, but the worldwide economic slide had been devastating on shipbuilding. Because of the aircraft and shipbuilding industries Rostock had then, the city was severely bombed in 1942.

It’s a city of 240,000 people, but has 49,000 unemployed, so they are living through hard times. It was a Saturday so it was a quiet day, with no workers scurrying to the scarce jobs.

The guide showed us the five story apartment buildings left from the Soviet era. There were no elevators, so subsidies were provided for younger people to live on higher floors. There are many of these old Communist-period apartment blocks left.

Near the apartment blocks were little sheds and plots of land with gardens where people got away from their apartments for the day, a night or a weekend. They grew fruits and vegetables to supplement their limited diets. It was their paradise, a taste of freedom, and many older people have held onto the plots using them as before.

She said there were problems with football hooligans, and the unemployed, and she showed us a pro-Nazi store for skinheads where there had been disturbances. Near the railroad station we noticed young men hanging around, some carrying beer bottles, even though it was early in the morning. The buildings had lots of graffiti.

Our guide said that in this area, people do not fly the German flag. The only time it might be flown is during a major soccer match or the World Cup; otherwise she thought people just didn’t have a sense of national identity or unity. We got the feeling from the guide that the bad old days (Under the Communist East German regime) weren’t completely bad after all because there was more predictability, a ruthless certainty that’s lacking today. Many people had left the city for West Germany to improve their fortunes.

Rostock was once part of the influential Hanseatic league made up of trading cities around the Baltic. Once the town had 250 breweries. In Medieval times the water was undrinkable so people drank beer instead. Apparently the water is better today because there’s only one brewery left, the one making Rostoker Beer.

As we made our way around the city’s perimeter, we saw the old walled city with its many gates. Some of the wall has been reconstructed. We toured the old city square where charming gabled buildings reminded us of the city’s past. Around a column of the city hall was curled a bronze snake. People cite it to prove they lived in or have visited Rostock.

On a tour of St. Mary’s Church we saw an astrological clock from 1472. Hourly small Apostles march out a door to get the blessing of Jesus and go in another entry representing heaven or Paradise. Judas is refused entry. The church has a very high ceiling and a pipe organ with almost 6000 pipes.

Time was allotted for roaming so we walked down the busy pedestrian shopping street.

Then we headed for a crowded boat that would take us along the Warnow River back to our ship and Warnemunde. As we crossed the street to the jetty, we passed a circus tent. Elephants and a giraffe were outside the tent.
Aboard the boat we were given a snack and beer or wine. It was an interesting trip up the river past idle shipyards and a big nuclear power plant.

When we exited the river boat near our cruise ship and the entrance to the Baltic, we encountered one of the great finds and delights of the trip, the resort village of Warnemunde which belongs to Rostock. Along a canal parallel to the river is the delightful town with promenades full of sidewalk cafes, restaurants, bars, and clothing stores.

Two walkways lead out to lighthouses at the edge of the sea. Along the shore is an enticing sandy beach. On the side streets are hotels, inns and private residences. Undoubtedly in the next twenty years this port of Berlin will become a thriving resort destination. It’s fun to visit, and a very pleasant spot to spend a day or two.

John (Jack) Rooney’s latest novel is “Last Passage to Santiago,” a suspenseful travel-thriller that has romance, infidelity, and a kidnapping. His first book was the thriller “Nine Lives Too Many” featuring his series detective Denny Delaney pitted against the arch-terrorist Felix the Cat. That was followed by a chill-packed sequel “Clawed Back from the Dead.” Rooney’s book about India, “The Daemon in Our Dreams” was a blend of the naturalistic and the paranormal. In “The Rice Queen Spy” he presented the life story of a British secret operative who was “outed” and later went on to live an openly gay life while thumbing his nose at the bureaucracy that had betrayed him. The author’s work schedule includes a new Delaney effort.

He was born and educated in Springfield, Massachusetts (Classical High and American International College), went on to receive a master’s degree in English from Columbia University, and finished course work for his Ph.D. at N.Y.U. He has written book reviews, and feature and travel articles for newspapers and magazines. He served in the U.S. Army as a military policeman in Times Square and Vienna, Austria, and in civies in U.S. Army AWOL apprehension.

His website is http://www.senneffhouse.com.