We arrived at Narita airport and went straight to the bright red bannered JR East Travel Service Center to purchase tickets on the Narita Express (N’EX) train to Tokyo Station. The staff at JR (which I believe stands for Japan Rail) was fluent in English and provided excellent service, answering our questions and ensuring we had the right tickets to reserve seats, be on a train we could next make and knew…
Tallinn was not on my bucket list, but it should have been. The old city is a designated UNESCO site and well preserved, with towers, walls and medieval traditions intact. Delivery trucks scurried to be off the streets by 10 am when most of the shops opened and the tourists flock in from the cruise ships. As you enter the old city through the Viru Gate a long row of flower stalls…
It was interesting to learn that the Nobel prizes for all categories except the Peace prize are awarded in Stockholm while the Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo. The only explanation given by our guide for this separation was the fact that the prizes were first awarded in 1901 and Norway independence did not occur until 1905. To my curious mind that was not a good explanation. But then the guide said…
One may think of Oslo as the city where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded. It is, and for that reason holds the world’s attention once a year. But the most memorable aspects of my visit were the Vigeland Sculpture Park and the Viking Ship Museum. We stopped by a ski jump area, but the fog was so heavy on the day we were there that we could not see beyond the…
Helsinki is the capital city of Finland, but until 1812 the tiny hamlet of Porvoo claimed that honor. Today Porvoo is a tourist attraction representing what architecture and structures looked like in the 1700s, although the square in front of the old city hall dates back to the 1350s. What this means is that Porvoo was the center of civilization in Finland 150 years before Columbus set sail to find the passage…