June- 2009- I am blessed to have a husband that works at BYU and gets to go to a conference or two each year. This means that I get to go too since I refuse to let him go without me. I love to go and explore. On this trip we met up with David's parents who were living in Coventry, England at the time and went on a 12 day Baltic Cruise. Then we toured Denmark churches for a couple of days looking for ancestors burial places. After that the parents left and David and I stayed in Copenhagen for another 5 days for his conference. It was absolutely amazing!
Stockholm, Sweden view from City Hall.
The famous Vasa ship retrieved from the ocean floor in Sweden.
Helsinki, Finland
We toured an open air folk village with 200 year old wooden structures.
Senate Square with the Lutheran Cathedral presiding.
St. Petersburg, Russia. Peterhof- built by Peter the Great. It was destroyed in WWII and rebuilt as a complete replica. It was magnicficent!
Just the backyard at Peterhof. We were not allowed to take pictures inside.
Peterhof
St. Isaac's Cathedral
Inside of St. Isaac's Cathedral. It was the most beautiful Catheral I have been in and I have been in a few.
Lunch was interesting. We were all taken to a big warehouse were hundreds of tables were set up for many tourist besides ourselves. There were more tables behind me than in front. There was entertainment and the food consisted of a couple of pancakes with caviar and sour cream on top for appetizer and the main dish was Chicken Kieve I believe. Dessert was a little jello cake. We were all hungry after wards. A true Russian experience!
The Church of Our Savior of the Spilled Blood. Built on the spot where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated in 1881. Haylee said that this was her stomping grounds when she served her mission here. It was my favorite Cathedral outside.
Inside were beautiful mosaics everywhere.
Then we took a boat ride on the Neva river.
The Hermitage museum which use to be the Winter Palace from the Neva River.
There were some beautiful doors in St. Petersburg.
One of the many fantastic rooms and ceilings of the Hermitage Museum.
Peter and Paul Cathedral inside the fort.
Inside of Peter and Paul Cathedral.
The Monks of the Cathedral performed for us on our tour.
Tallin, Estonia- my personal favorite of the entire cruise. Tallin has the old medieval part of town on the top hill (it has never been destroyed in a war) and then the new town down around the hill. It was a beautiful city and had thrown off the shakles of communism. They were happy to have us.
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. Part of the Soviet history.
Old meets new
The city streets of the old town were bright and happy.
colorful walls were everywhere.
We climbed to the top of Oleviste Church which claims to once have been the tallest building in the world. We saw fantastic views of the city.
To the North.
There were lots of these steps.
Enjoying a little drink.
View of Tallin from the cruise boat.
Gdansk, Poland- it was Danzig until it was 95% destroyed in WWII.
One of the bombed out buildings. Originally they were going to leave this city as a WWII monument but changed their minds and are now rebuilding it. There are still bombed out buildings everywhere.
Eating Peirogis and Polish suasages in Poland
We climbed to the top of St. Mary's Church. Another breathtaking view!
St. Mary's street.
This is what it looks like in the other direction of the bombed out building.
Port of Oslo Norway- I took this picture from the ship of Akershus Fortress
Cruising in was just gorgeous.
We visited the Viking Ship Museum
View of the Oslo Fjord
Oslo
Cruising out was also gorgeous!
Back in Denmark at the Church of Our Lady and the Christus by Thorvaldsen. After this we spent two days going to different churches in Southern Denmark where ancestors of the Bryces lived and died.
Our bed and breakfast which use to be an Elementary school in Guldborg, Denmark
View out our back door.
The courtyard of our Bed and Breakfast
I loved driving down the back road of Denmark. It was beautiful, quaint, farmland and villages all with a church that nobody attended and nobody out.
Lille Musse Church- We didn't find any ancestor burial headstones, they had long been removed and others placed over them but it was all recorded in a book in the church they said.
Musse Church and Cemetary
I like traveling in skirts and comfy sandals
This lady Pastor explained to us that she works for the state and she is Pastor over three different churches and preaches 3 time each Sunday. Interesting.
Church in Toreby
The weeds were in bloom- Poppies
And more Poppies
I loved the weeds!
Bonnie and Gale
Church in Vallekilde
David and I spent five more days in Copenhagen for his conference. My favorite was Nyhavn
Nyhavn
We ate real Danishes more than once!
We ate real Danishes more than once!
We visited good, old Hans Christian Anderson
Rosenborg Castle- Summer home of Christian IV
Rosenborg is the home of Denmarks Crown Jewels
Friedricksburg Castle and Park were next to our hotel
Freidricksburg Castle
We also climbed to the top of the Tower
The Danes ride bikes everywhere
We climbed to the top of Our Savior's Church which has outside steps at the top
This was just one of our views
This was another
David was a little freaked out- not me, I am only nervous when its my kids doing it
A sunset view from our hotel window
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