Lunch in a Swedish Manor

I couldn’t write at my computer and watch what was going on around me at the same time, so there I was on Day Six of twelve days of a Baltic Cruise, having not written a word about boarding a ship, being at sea, visiting Copenhagen, Stolkholm, Helskinki or about reading up on what I am going to see in St. Petersburg.

Porvoo

When strangers on board would ask how I liked my first time on board I could only say, “I feel as though I have stepped into a movie.”

I visited Porvoo on Day Six.

The guide put a map of the village in our hands while we were still in the bus.

She showed us the path we would take – a stroll over a bridge, a left turn along the river, a visit to the city hall and lastly, the candy shop we were to visit.

Brumberry Candy Shop

“Did you buy some of the candy for your sister,” someone asked at dinner.

“I knew not to do that. The sample I tasted melted in my hand before I got it to my lips,” I replied.

I couldn't help but take a picture of the candy shop sign.

Any shop that has been around since 1871 deserve lots of patronage.  But there were to many people flowing in and out of the door for free samples for me.

So I walked the cobble stone streets and looked for the typical architecture that brings tourists to this town.

I went up and down narrow alleys and read the historic commemorative plaques on many of the buildings.  Well, I tried to read them for I forget that I am in a foreign land and can't read much more than street signs and menus.

Lunch at the Manor House

Wyona and I split up for the day.

She took a half day tour in Helsinki.

I signed up for a full day rural trip so that I could see a good example of Finnish 17th century architecture.

As you can see, my tour included lunch.

I took my camera along for the first time on the trip.

Basement of Swedish Brewery

I pulled out my camera when I saw what was an example of life as it might have been in those days -- a small fireplace and a child’s rocking horse and lots of kitchen utensils.

The second floor dining room in which we ate was a converted brewery.

The manor house, a large yellow building nearby and the lands around the manor house supported the labour of 50 onsite families. There was even a school for the children in this complex.

Because there was a national ban on alcohol in those days, home brew was the drink of the day.

Angel with trumpet above barn door

The starkly decorated bar of the two floor brewery was not in service and was just a plant that ran between two of the inside supporting pillars of the building.

After lunch I went outside to looking at old door handles.

Then my eye caught angelic metal figures on the tops of barns doors.

Soon I couldn't keep my eyes off of the wooden beams that criss-crossed brick structures.

Barn at the back of the Finish Manor House

That is when I met another woman with a camera -- she too loved the lines and curves of the brick and wooden buildings.

As we drove along the highway, I saw all of the flora that I see at the lake in British Columbia.

Some tall pieces of mullen, yellow and in flower caught my eye on a hillside.

I snapped a shot of some daisies growing in the flowerbed at the feet of Czar Alexander the Great.

I was reminded again of how we are so different and yet so much the same.

Arta