Helsinki and Stockholm

Tuesday 31^st Finland – Helsinki

We do our own thing here, buying a Helsinki travel card and taking buses and trams around the city. The Finns are a neat people, their city, building and artifacts seem to represent a sparse, efficient and functional style. The city itself is relatively young, bein
g built in the 19^th C and has a heavy Russian influenced. We see an impressive Orthodox Uspensky Cathedral (the largest in
Northern Europe) and the Helsinki Cathedral. It is worth noting that neither of
these charged an admission fee (the only exception in all the countries we saw). We also visit the avant garde Rock church excavated out of the hillside and designed by Timo and Tuomo – quite spectacular. I find and enjoy the monument to Sibelius the famous Finnish composer. Of course I sample the local brew Lapin Kulta

Like the Danes the Finns seem a very contained and contented people, quietly confident. In 2010 the PISA scores (Program for International Student Assessment) found them placed second placed in Math, Science and Reading (in contrast the USA were 24^th, 18^th and 14^th respectively). The culture is to have everyone at the same level, but to have a high level for all. They certainly have been able to educate their children !

Wednesday 1^st Sweden – Stockholm

This is the last day our cruise and we take a conducted tour of a beautiful city cover 14 islands, built in the 16^th C, full of bridges and waterways. We visit the VASA museum where a 1628 built royal ship sank after being in the water for 20 minutes and was excavated in 1961 and restored to its original grandeur and it is a grand ship
. Like the other cities there are majestic buildings – the Royal palace, Parliament and the Royal theatre. I of course visit a couple of churches - a Finnish church the site of all Royal burials and the Stockholm Cathedral with an amazing sculpture of St George slaying the dragon, some fine paintings and very opulent royal pews and pulpit.

Like the Danes and Finns, the Swedes reflect a quiet contentment – none of them have adopted the Euro and all have their individual currencies (Kronas) reflective of the confidence they have in themselves and their country. They also seem to have a more defined sense of being citizens of their country and their need to protect and preserve their culture. But like the other countries they re socialistic countries with cradle to grave care, heavy taxation and a seemingly exorbitant cost of living (we paid $ 30 for a soup and a pint of local beer). It will be very interesting to see if their model will prevail against the more capitalistic American version or the centrally controlled Chinese version. I cannot see them succeeding, but then I cannot see the USA model succeeding either! To me it seems the very aggressive, hard working and modest living Chinese will be the foremost economy in the 21^st C. If this is so then the Europeans and Americans will have a reduced standard of living (much as Great Britain did after the end of their empire), and the Chinese and other Asians will dominate the world and impose their culture on it .

Who knows? Be that as it may these North European countries have majestic cities representative of the level of prosperity they achieved and their support of the arts.

It was a wonderful trip - both from the luxury of the cruise and the pleasure of seeing beautiful, historic cities.