Bruce Calvert and John Prokop's Trips

Photographs and Text by Bruce Calvert, ©2005

The Baltic States and St. Petersburg, Russia
Our trip to the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and St. Petersburg, Russia in 2005 was a bit of a change for us. We had never taken a tour before (we took two) and had never been in that part of the world before. We lucked out on the tours as we had a total of 7 people for the Baltic and 9 for St. Petersburg – all pleasant traveling companions. We found that part of the world very interesting and the Baltics very open and welcoming to Americans as well as the Aussies and one Belgian on our tour. We flew into Helsinki, and spent a day there before taking the ferry across the Baltic Sea (also called the Bay of Finland in that area) to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, where we met up with our tour group. We returned to Helsinki between the tours and again for our departure home.
Helsinki has few really beautiful buildings, an exception being the Lutheran Cathedral in Senate Square.

The port area of Helsinki is fairly large when you combine commercial boats and private ones. This residential area was a few blocks from our hotel.
This caricature is of the Finnish president, a woman. We found the "ski-jump" nose “right on” for probably 60% of the people we saw on the street (yes, we did check noses), Finland being the most homogenous place we have traveled to so far. And blondes were everywhere.
No, it’s not laundry, it’s Helsinki street art. Someone carefully collected all these jackets, arranged them from dark to light, and hung them about 15 feet up in the air. We thought it was amusing.
The price of food in Helsinki was not amusing. Two Big Macs and two Cokes cost $14.40 -- half again what we would pay at home.
While we met our tour group in Tallinn, capital of Estonia, the northernmost of the three Baltic States, we began touring in southern Estonia. From there we went to Latvia, followed by Lithuania, and then headed north again to Latvia and toured Tallinn, Estonia on our return.

Most of the photos here are architectural in nature. The landscape in the Baltics was much like that in Virginia and Maryland outside of the cities – gently rolling fields with trees, cows, and horses -- but no Appalachians in the distance. Being on a tour somewhat hampered my photographic efforts, as did the scaffolding that seemed to be everywhere (but those sunny days with huge puffy clouds sure helped). It is amazing what the Balts have accomplished in terms of reconstruction and restoration since the Soviets left in the 1990s.

The Baltic Tour:
The kissing statue is in front of the city hall in Tartu, Estonia.
Toy museum in Tartu, Estonia. Note the combination of tile roof and wooden building.
A wonderful Russian-looking and dilapidated old home in Cesis, Latvia.
The statue at the right appears, along with several others, in windows on the left side of this partially occupied building near the castle in Sigulda, Lativa. It appealed to my sense of humor.
Rundales Palace in Latvia is a nice example of the classical architecture we found so prevalent in the Baltics for important buildings. The white trim was standard, and the color yellow used frequently. Lions seem to decorate palaces in many parts of the world.
This Delft stove used for heating a room in Rundales Palace was just one of many we saw on our trip. Most were blue and white as this one is, but we also saw an occasional all white stove.
Gateway in Vilnius, capital city of Lithuania. Much of Vilnius, which has some very nice classical architecture, was covered with scaffolding, and we were only there for one day, and that was a Sunday. There were beautiful churches there, but crowds and services meant no photos.
The night we arrived, we were taking a walk in Vilnius, when we heard singing. This wonderful contraption came into view. It's a rolling bar! Each side seat has a set of pedals like a bicycle, so you provide the locomotion while you drink -- and sing.
The skies were wonderful this day in Klaipeda, Lithuania, with the huge puffy clouds stacked high that we on the east coast have to get on a plane to see. Svyturys is supposed to be the best beer in Lithuania, and the beer drinkers on the tour agreed.

A beach on the Baltic in Lithuania.
This Russian church in Leipaya, Latvia, has a wonderful sign outside which says, in Russian, Latvian, English, and German, "Please do not enter the cathedral's territory with evil thoughts and words, with lit cigarette, intoxicated, in beach or other indecorous clothing. Please keep out dogs and other pets."
This floral butterfly greets visitors on one of the main streets in Liepaya, Latvia.
Two old wooden houses in Liepaya, Latvia.
In Riga, the capital of Latvia, this was the view from our hotel window. The cathedral was under major construction.

 
The buildings in these two pictures in Riga, Latvia, actually do sit side-by-side.
A handsome church entrance in Riga.
These adorable children, whom we found in the market square of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, were just some of many we saw in the Baltics.
The creative downspout is one of several which appear on the town hall, on the left in the picture of the market square in Tallinn.
The gray building faces on Tallinn's market square. The old yellow house with the winch pole is nearby. Winch poles were common when people lived on the lower floors of their houses and stored goods on the upper floors.
 
Two interesting entrances in Tallinn. I particularly like the Gothic one on the right.
This entrance outside the old town of Tallinn made us laugh!
And finally, the direction to a Tallinn museum is made clear. You can see the many syllables and vowels which are characteristic of the Estonian language, which is similar in that respect to Finnish.
The exterior and interior of the small old Russian Byzantine Catholic Church we found just inside the city wall of Tallinn. Originally built in 1370, it was used by the KGB and others for various purposes, and is now being renovated by a 3rd degree monk from Ukraine, with help. The railings to the left of the pews frame stairs to the area below, which houses collections of paintings of flora and fauna – a kind of endangered species list – and a wonderful collection of Easter eggs (“pisanki”) painted in Ukraine.
Rooftops of Tallinn after the morning rain. The round towers with red conical roofs are part of the old city wall.
Part of the old city wall of Tallinn on a glorious afternoon.

We returned to Helsinki from Tallinn via high-speed catamaran to then depart for Russia two days later. The landscape between Helsinki and St. Petersburg (we took a bus) was fairly flat, and full of evergreen trees with an occasional clearing and traditional Finnish building of frame painted dark red with white trim. St. Petersburg (founded by Peter the Great in 1703) is also flat, and is built on a number of islands where the Neva River (for which Nevsky Prospekt, the main boulevard, is named) meets the Bay of Finland (part of the Baltic Sea). There were tremendous crowds, making photography difficult, which accounts for some obvious "holes" in what is included below. We were there for only two days and three nights.

The St. Petersburg Tour:
Smolny Cathedral was one of the first large buildings we saw as we approached the city of St. Petersburg in the late afternoon..
The world famous Hermitage museum (green buildings), seen from a bridge over the Neva.
One of many striking equine statues in the city, this is one of a group of four on a bridge by the Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace.
The Church on the Spilled Blood (1883-1907) on a rainy day. It was built on the place where Czar Alexander II was shot and killed.
The Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul (early 18th c.) sits within the Peter and Paul Fortress (founded in 1703) on an island in the Neva River. As in the rest of St. Petersburg, all the gold leaf is real gold.
Arches and ceiling of part of the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, the burial place of all the Russian Czars.
One of many beautiful architectural features of the Hermitage.
This is but one of four sets of doors (I think) in the Hermitage that are done in brass and ebony. The other side is the exact reverse of this, i.e. the brass on the reverse is where the ebony is on this side, and the ebony on the reverse is where the brass is on this side. The workmanship is stunning.
This picture does not begin to show the workmanship in this hall of the Hermitage. Every place on the walls and ceiling is painted or covered with gold leaf. The floor here and those throughout the Hermitage are done in lovely parquet designs.
The home of the Kirov Ballet.
Figures such as those on top of the Pushkin House are very common architectural features in St. Petersburg.
Across from the Pushkin House is one of two rostral columns by the water (a rostrum is the “beak” or prow of a ship).
St. Isaac's (19th c.) (left) and St. Nick’s (18th c.) (right) represent two very different styles of architecture in St. Petersburg cathedrals.
The canal at Peterhof ("Peter's court" in Dutch), which Peter the Great built after visiting Versailles. If you have been to the latter, the resemblance will strike you immediately.
Part of Peterhof before the storm clouds gathered – and after. The change came in literally a minute or two.
More handsome spires – and gold leaf – at Peterhof.
The building at left is a small one in the gardens of Peterhof. The nearby Palace of Monplaisir ("my pleasure") on the right faces the sea and includes Peter the Great's Maritime Study.
We passed this old castle at Vyborg coming and going from St. Petersburg.