Blazing Through The Baltic

 Ramblings About the Baltics

First, let me say that the Baltics were the most interesting part of the trip for me. In part, I guess it was because I knew so little about them. Even more than Scandinavia, the Baltics have been traipsed over, subjugated and forcibly colonized and still have emerged resilient and very democratic.

Let's just skip the early history and move to when the Baltics were taken over by the Soviet Union during World War II.  There were brutal -- mass killings, torture, imprisonment.  In pursuance of Russification, hundreds of thousands of Russians were forcibly moved into the three countries and put to work mainly in construction and as part of the military. For over forty years the Baltic nations relied on grit and a very cohesive sense of community to endure.

The Virtu Hotel was the first modern hotel built in Tallinn in 1972 in the Soviet era by Finns, except for the top floor.
The top floor was built by the Soviets and reserved for the KGB with their spying devices, unknown to the guests and most of the staff of the hotel.

While at the hotel Deirdre found herself being questioned by the KGB.

The top floor is now a KGB museum containing newspapers of the era...

and televisions (German of course) used to spy on Western guests of the hotel.

A view of Tallinn from the top of the hotel.

Soviet era uniforms in the background and spying equipment in the foreground.

More spying equipment and an old reel to reel tape recorder.

When the Soviet Union began to loosen the reins in the mid to late '80s the Baltic nations engineered what was probably the most impressive, effective and inspiring non-violent revolution ever seen. Known as The Singing Revolution the three countries held massive patriotic sing-a-longs, reading of patriotic writings and large scale sit/stand ins.  Some of the song fests involved hundreds of thousands of people and its messages were not lost on the Soviets.  Perhaps the single most stunning act was the Baltic Way.  In this action 2 million people spanned the three countries holding hands and reaching from one end of the Baltics to the other.  The Singing Revolution occurred between 1987 and 1991 and resulted ultimately in freedom for all three countries.

We also got to see the site of the massive sing-a-longs in Tallinn which continue to this day and still attract tens, if not hundreds, of thousands.  This communal singing has been a feature of Estonian folk culture since long before the Russians appeared on the scene.

A photo of the crowd of people gathered during The Singing Revolution...

and another photo of just one section of the Baltic Way, which took place on August 23,1989 & was 600 kilometers long.

The Estonian Tallinn Festival grounds where some of the Singing Revolution took place. The back of the statue of Gustave Ernesaks (1908-1993), a famous composer and choir master in Estonia, is visible in the foreground.

Since then all three countries have thrived.  Estonia and Lithuania have become technological leaders in Europe and Estonia has the best educational system in Europe and among the top in the world.  Estonia is working with Open AI to tame AI to be a plus and not a minus in education.  Part of that is training AI to foster critical thinking among students by pushing them to answer questions rather than simply asking for answers.  If Estonia, a country of 1.3 million can leverage/convince Open AI to work constructively with them why can't U.S. educators (Oh, that's right... we have no Education Dept.). 

All three countries are looking over their shoulders at what is happening to Ukraine.  The logic (if you could call it that) by Putin is that the Ukrainians are really Russians and long to be reunited with the motherland.  While it is true that SOME Ukranians are of Russian descent it is hardly universal.

That same "logic" could be used in the Baltics.  Estonia has  296K people of Russian descent, Latvia has  437K and Lithuania has 144K.  Many of these people live in largely Russian enclaves and speak Russian at home and at school.  One could see how Putin could apply a similar "logic" in invading the Baltics.  Definitely time to make sure schools teach the local language and not Russian as they have in some areas until now.

And Now, On to the Tour

We had a couple of days in Tallinn which was my favorite city of the three countries.  It had the most attractive and interesting Old Town we had seen (Stockholm may be an equal) and we were free to ramble and explore for a good chunk of time. As we rambled, we happened upon a very long line outside the Russian consulate.  Directly across the street were signs showing their opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

Kadriorg Palace was built over 300 years ago as a summer home for Peter the Great of Russia.

An Eastern Orthodox church in Tallinn...

with the detail of the mosaic on the front of the church.

Buildings in the old town...

and another larger stand alone building on the square in the old town.

The sign for the Town Hall Pharmacy (apothecary shop) opened in 1422 and is one of the oldest, continuously operating apothecary shops in the world. 

A portion of the pharmacy in now a museum. This black walnut cabinet was custom made for the pharmacy.

The museum also includes old equipment used to make medicines.

The old town has cobbled streets in addition to the old buildings.

A former communal well in the old town...

and one of the more interesting buildings.

These war protest signs...

as well as these and ...

a tribute to Navalny were all located at the Russian embassy.

The sign for the Russian Embassy.

This chalkboard message expressed the Estonian's attitude toward Putin.

The old town wall...

and the old town gate.

The waiters in this restaurant were very attentive, as well as using the check to show their flair for going above & beyond in presenting the check. 

Next Up: Riga

While the countries look small, I assure you that they seem very large when you are traveling by bus -- particularly with a bunch of old people who need the bathrooms every half hour.  Eventually we pulled into Riga. By this point I was well and truly sick and so my descriptions will be brief and perhaps a bit garbled.

What stood out to me about Riga was the amazing architecture.  By this point we were jaded about Old Towns but what made Riga unique is that somehow their neighborhoods that had been built in the 19th and 20th centuries had remained intact.  We had a very good guide (read succinct and didn't jog) who really brought the architecture and life in Riga into sharp focus.

Riga had the most interesting buildings, but this paled in comparison to the buildings that follow. This building now houses the Riga Art Nouveau museum.

Alberta iela (Albert Street) is in the 'Quiet Centre' of Riga, 10 minutes from the Old Town. It is known for its Art Nouveau buildings.

These were built in 1901 and the street was named after Bishop Albert, who founded Riga in 1201.

Many of the apartment buildings were designed by Mikhail Eisenstein.

Many embassies are located in this area. In this photo you can see the Irish flag displayed, among others. The Belgian embassy is also located on this street.

In addition to the Art Nouveau facades, there are interesting additions such as these figures where one cat is proposing to the other.

The creativity of the designers of these buildings can be seen everywhere on this street.

In addition to Mikhail Eisenstein, Konstantĩns Pēkšẽns and Eižens Laube, a teacher and his pupil, were prominent in building design on the street. They designed the building that now houses the Riga Art Nouveau Museum, which was shown above.

The architectural style makes use of structural and decorative elements of romantic nationalism.

There was so much detail on each building which made it difficult to take all in at once.

The blue tiles seen on the next three photos was a signature of the architect Mikhail Eisenstein.

Some of the buildings used more subtle design elements...

while others were more bold.

This house was designed by Mikhail in 1904.

This was one of a pair of sphinxes gracing the entrance to one of the buildings.

The next four photos show the intricate detail of this facade along with a detailed view of the two statues adorning the building.

Another house designed by Mikhail in 1906, where Irving Berlin spent the first years of his life.

Details of another Mikhael house designed in 1903.

The moss on this bear acroterion makes it appear as if the bear has fur (even if it is green).

This Mikhail Eisenstein building is located at 10b Elizabetes iela and was built in 1903.

The colorful facade stands out when compared to the plainer buildings on Alberta iela.

The composition of masks...

an owl over the entrance,...

a screaming stainless steel sculpture of a man (obviously added later)...

and other sculptural elements make this a unique building.

This building has human corbels.

This building was intriguing...

and upon closer inspection, it turned out to be the Russian embassy.

Detail of the second floor of the embassy.

The National Library of Latvia is very modern in contrast to the buildings on Alberta iela.

The tower of the Riga City Hall and the bells of City Hall.

The House of the Blackheads was used by the Brotherhood of the Blackheads (a guild for unmarried merchants, shipowners and foreigners) from the mid 15th century. If you are interested in learning more, click on this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_the_Blackheads_(Riga)

The astronomical clock on the House of the Blackheads...

and the facade of the House of the Blackheads.

A dog standing on the RIGA letters is a paean to the Latvian, French and Belgian co-production of the animated movie Flow.

These street musicians in Riga were not playing the usual street musician instruments. The building behind the musicians is the first of the "Three Brothers", which dates from the late 15th century

This photo shows the other two houses called "Three Brothers". The yellow one has an exterior dating from 1646. However the legend is that all three were built by three brothers.

This church dates from 1225. The translation of the words above the door is: "I will sing the mercies of the Lord forever".

Throughout Riga there were little surprises like this cat acroterion.

In 1990 Riga's twin city of Bremen gifted Riga with the sculpture "The Bremen Town Musicians", based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm.

The juxtaposition of the human corbels in the background and the Molten Fiba basketball character was irresistible.

The Freedom Monument with the young woman with three gilded stars representing the unity of the three cultural and historical regions of Latvia was opened on November 18, 1935.

This building was topped by not one, but three Atlases supporting the world.

We did the usual sprinkling of monuments and palaces and castles and then it was back on the bus and off to Vilnius.  En route we stopped at the Rundāle Palace and the Hill of Crosses which features thousands of crosses placed by the faithful for reasons I didn't get, but maybe Michael will enlighten us in a photo caption. On the way to Vilnius we were at one of our several hundred bathroom breaks when people returned to the bus clutching their phones and conversing with each other earnestly.  Once boarded, our tour manager manned the mike and told us all to relax.  Yes, it was true that Russia had sent drones over Warsaw and that the airport (which we were to fly out of in two days) was closed but this was not something to concern us.  "Come on, you're on vacation!  Not a time to worry!  Enjoy!"

A view of Rundale Palace with our guide of the Palace. Rundale Palace was built between 1736 and 1768 for the Duke of Courland. It is called the Versailles of Latvia and was designed by the same architect (Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli) who designed the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.

The entrance to the Palace featured two crowned lions opposite one another...

with this closeup view of one on the lions.

The interior staircase with the very high ceiling and windows on the side balancing the windows to the exterior.

The gold decoration was evident throughout the Palace...

on the walls and the cornice below the painted ceiling...

and framing the panels on the wall.

The cornice also featured this tableau of three dimensional sculpted figures along with the bust of a person.

Detail of the painted ceiling, which took six years to restore, features the goddess of spring, Flora, and her entourage.

These beautiful vases, each with their own pedestal, were arranged on the wall.

The light from the windows illuminated this hallway and the painted ceiling.

Two of the magnificent Far East Asian vases on the table in the hallway.

The Great Hall Ballroom of the Palace.

More vases on display which were collected from Far East Asia. They date from the 17th to the 19th century.

Sculpted plaster figures adorned the area beneath the cornice, showing musicians in this tableau...

and two figures riding on a goat pulled by another figure.

The heating stoves were all exactly the same in each room and three of the stoves are original.

The ornate clock on the bow front dresser was magnificent.

The Palace had this bath chair and to the right a toilet with a chamber pot.

Paintings even graced the area above the doorways

The bed chamber with two matching heating stoves to ensure comfort even in the coldest Latvian winter.

The French formal gardens were also magnificent...

displaying the symmetry and order of French formal gardens.

The aptly named Rose Room of Rundale Palace.

An explanation of The Hill of Crosses.

The Hill of Crosses...

with steps leading up the hill.

Not all 200,000 crosses were on the hill.

The variety of crosses was also astounding...

with no two crosses exactly alike.

This cross with the rosaries hanging from it was particularly notable because it stood out from all of the wooden crosses.

There were also carved wooden angels festooned with crosses.

This carved wooden cross displayed Mary beneath the crucified Jesus.

This memorial celebrated the 1700th anniversary of Christianity as a state religion in Armenia.

This banner celebrates 5 million signatures in 1990 in favor of Latvian independence and 30 years of pilgrimage to the Holy Land from 1993 to 2023.

Vibrant Vilnius

Driving into town one is struck by the number of skyscrapers and the modernity of the town in general.  Like many of the cities we visited a river flowed through the center of town affording many scenic vistas and parks built in what must be the floodplain. It is a university town and the streets were loaded with students milling in bars and sprawling in the parks.  We wandered the Old Town, ate some decent food and generally took it easy -- or as easy as the tour would allow.  We were girded for one more stop, Warsaw, and actually looking forward to going home.

In Vilnius we stopped at the Baroque Church of St. Peter & St. Paul which dates from 1676, and was commissioned by Hetman & Voivode of Vilnius Michal Kasimierz Pac. 

The church includes 2,000 stucco mouldings by two Italian masters Pac brought to do the work...

which are visible everywhere you look.

Even the ceiling is adorned with these stucco figures surrounding this ceiling painting above the organ pipes.

This painting above the main altar by Pranciskus Smuglevicius is titled: "The Farewell of Sts. Peter and Paul".

The Merciful Mother of God brotherhood altar has the painting of Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy and two large Turkish war drums seized from the Ottomans in the Battle of Khotyn and given to the church by Pac.

This life sized sculpture known as Jesus of Antakalnis is made of hardwood & dressed in white silk and red velvet with a wig of natural hair.

This shows a few of 2,000 amazing stucco figures, with Peter and Paul on either side, and at the top left the crucified Christ.

The original main altar is missing. The four statues are of the prophets Daniel, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Elijah.

The Rococo boat shaped pulpit, which was carved from wood, was installed in 1801-1804.

This shows two reliqueries...

The reliquery of St. Caisimir is on the left...

and the reliquery of the Holy Cross is on the right.

This boat shaped chandelier of brass and glass beads was installed in 1905 and had 8 seven branch candleholders. The boat shaped chandelier, like the boat shaped pulpit, is a reference to St. Peter's life as a fisherman initially.

These two figures were opposite one another with this one holding the moon...

and this one holding the sun.

The sail of the "pulpit boat" with its reference to Simon Peter and the statue of Peter to the left.

This life sized statue of Mary was a later addition.

The stucco figures included demons, as seen here, as well as dragons and centaurs.

This stucco figure of the "Grim Reaper" is meant to remind all that no one can evade death.

While St. Anne's Church's interior could not compete with the Church of St. Peter & St. Paul, the exterior was less plain...

and crowned with St. Anne holding a golden cross.

This enigmatic grouping of letters at St. Anne's Church could be interpreted as meaning Last Book, Miracle, In the Book, Only One or less likely E-book.

The Presidential Palace of Lithuania.

This shows the plan of the Vilnius ghetto created by the Nazis.

An interesting mural...

and even more interesting chickens posed on a stoop.

Vilnius Castle overlooking the city.

This teapot embedded in the wall with a map of Vilnius was quite interesting.

Even in Vilnius the name Shakespeare is notable, as it was used as the name of this hotel.

The icon at Mater Misericordia.

Trakai Castle outside of Vilnius.

A torture device at Trakai Castle.

A three dimensional model...

and a painting of Trakai Castle showing how it is surrounded by water.

A monument to Sutartine, a Lithuanian polyphonic song.

Another view of the monument.

Warsaw

In every city the first event is a walking tour to familiarize you with the layout and major sites.  On this walk the most evocative site was the location of the Warsaw Ghetto.  Before WWII Warsaw had about 375,000 Jews or about 30% of the population.  In 1940 the Nazi's established the Warsaw ghetto and forced the inhabitants to build walls to fence themselves in.  Then they sent in another 80,000 people and crammed them into the 1.3 square kilometers that formed the ghetto.  This equated to each available room housing somewhere between 6-9 persons.  The food available was equal to 1/10 of the daily average requirements. In 1942 the shipping of Jews to the Treblinka extermination camp began.  Those who didn't die there died from hunger, disease or being shot.  The Ghetto was destroyed by the Germans and remaining Jews killed during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.  Little remained to memorialize the Ghetto and its history except a small plaque.  That just didn't seem right but maybe there was something else that our tour guide just failed to point out.

My prior bodily misery paled as we walked through Warsaw in the drizzle and wind.  I had survived the walk and assorted site visits and the final stop was yet another palace.  It was nice.  It was a palace.  I just wanted to lie down and never see another Hall of Mirrors or display of royal portraits.

A poster on Polish cuisine.

Marszak Jozef Pilduski monument, who is considered the founder of modern Poland. He expelled the Soviets in the Battle of Warsaw in 1920.

A monument to "The Jewish nation and to its fighters and martyrs...

with a full view of the monument.

Part of the old city wall of Warsaw.

Some buildings in Warsaw, with the one on the left in this photo more interesting...

but not nearly as interesting as the buildings in Riga.

Although this building with its colorful stucco painting of two females carrying water jugs stood out among all of the other buildings of Old Warsaw.

The entrance to Wilanów Palace, which was the summer palace of King Jan Sobieski III, which was built between 1677 and 1696. The palace survived Poland's partition and both World Wars and the Soviet occupation. It is one of the best examples of Baroque architecture in Poland. The photo below shows the main section constructed between 1677 & 1688, in the style of a typical Polish manor house and between 1681 and 1688 the two side galleries were added (one of which is visible here).

The very top of the central structure is adorned with statues glorifying the King and Queen, gods & goddesses and emperors & empresses.

The house was adorned with period furnishings...

furniture and paintings. Note the unique heating stove here.

This is a statue of Jan Sobieski III commemorating his defeat of the Ottomans.

Ancient statues, busts and portions of ancient buildings were on display.

Prominent Polish and foreign artists were employed to decorate the ceiling.

This ornate, painted wood chest was on display in one of the rooms.

One of the ornate bedchambers,...

an image of the Polish eagle in gold leaf...

and another royal bedchamber.

This clock was just one example of some of the intricately designed clocks in the palace.

Detail of the right side of the main place building.

This fanciful goose fountain and the angel statue were located in the gardens behind the palace.

A portion of the formal garden...

with the sundial with Chronos.

There were many decorations showing Jan Sobieski III on his horse in battle mode.

This sculpture of a woman was in the garden as well. 

Another relief on the building commemorating the defeat of the Ottomans in battle.

The Latin words refer to "The sun shone in the shields", yet another reference to the battle with the Ottomans.

Home Again, Home Again Jiggedy Jig

So all we had to do was get home and get to a medical professional.  On to the plane and back to Helsinki.  Back on a plane and on to JFK.  Off the plane, on to a train onto a shuttle and into a tacky, yet expensive Comfort Inn.  Next day, shuttle to train to JFK.  On to the plane to Dallas.  Off the plane to connect to our last leg to Guadalajara.  Loaded on plane.  Sit at the gate on the plane for 3 hours until midnight.  Announcement:  We are not going.  Get off the plane. Spend the night sitting up at DFW.  Reboard at 4:30 and finally arrive in Guadalajara convinced we will never fly again.  But we will...  This is absolutely the most many series of blogs we have ever done and for that we apologize.  However our commitment is to provide you with the unvarnished experiences of people silly enough to travel in today's world.  It has taken us over 3 months to get out these extensive miniseries of blogs due to an extraordinary run of bad medical luck featuring a wide assortment of maladies.  We are on the mend now and plan to celebrate by indulging in a couple of weeks at the beach where we plan to see nothing of cultural or intellectual interest.  So, you can look forward to at least one very pretty, but pretty vacuous blog from the beach.  Here's hoping 2026 treats all of you well.