By Larry and Joan Dolinski
The Vasa turned out to be too top heavy and too narrow (by only a few centimeters) for the amount of ballast it carried. So on Aug. 10, 1628, only 20 minutes into its maiden voyage, the Vasa capsized and sank, with the loss of many lives.
The ship was salvaged over 330 years later in an amazingly good state of preservation. The reason for its fine condition is that there are no shipworms in the Baltic because the Baltic is not nearly as saline as the oceans.
As with all of the great cities we have visited, in Stockholm we saw lots of sights more or less interesting to us. It has a nice comfortable feel and is one of the more livable cities we have visited.
We next enjoyed the 11-hour ferry voyage from Stockholm to Helsinki, Finland (described at the beginning of Update # 32). Arriving in Helsinki, we were given several days off during which time some of the bikers remained in Helsinki the entire time, many went off to St. Petersburg, Russia for one to three days, and one of our group traveled North to Lapland. The two of us elected to visit the Baltic State of Estonia for a couple of days. In Helsinki the sidewalks are in such need of repair that one is safer walking out on the street. Buildings show much decay and are in desperate need of restoration. The locals blame all this on the legacy of the Russian period. Because Estonia is considered to be relatively progressive, one might expect conditions to be even worse in Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and possibly the former East Germany.
This having been said, we found Tallinn to be a marvelous place to visit. Estonia is the size of Holland and has a population of only one-and-a-half million (about 400,000 in Tallinn). About 65% of its citizens are Estonian and 28% are Russian. The language group, known as Finno-Ugric, is quite isolated. The only languages that make up this group are Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian. Estonia became independent less than 10 years ago, when the Soviet Union ceased to exist.
Before departing Helsinki for Rostock, Germany we were able to spend a couple of days visiting sights in Hesinki. Of the many things we saw, the most interesting was the Rock Church.
This church was literally blasted out of rock, whereby the remaining rock constituted its basic structure. Dynamite was the major tool used to fashion its interior. A roof (containing windows) was placed over the rock structure to form a cover. There are no pictures or hangings on the walls, only drill marks. The surprise is that it turned out to be so inviting. Its acoustics are wonderful and it is Finland's most popular church for weddings, concerts, and choirs.
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