80 Things We Love About Arta: 29: Arta is still in the Baltic

 If I cannot be with Arta in person the next best thing is to remember the times I had with her.  Arta and I spent a lot of time on Deck 5 watching the Baltic sea and the Archipelago sail by.

After about six days we went to Helsinki, Finland. We took excursion buses from the ship often because public transportation was unknown to us. Paavo Nurmi was a Finnish runner who ran in the 1924 olympics winning 9 golds and 3 silver medals.

One of my favorite composers when I was studying music was Sibelius, who is Finnish. He composed Finlandia. No doubt Arta studied Sibelius and Finlandia when she took her music degree. Unveiled in 1967, the sculpture below consists of 500 steels pipes welded together looking like a wave and looking like an organ. Sibelius had little to do with an organ so after criticism the sculptor erected the head of Sebelius in his honor.

                         

You can just see the back of the head of Sebelius in this photo.

Then we had our 3 days in St. Petersburg where we saw palatial palaces and exotic museums. Arta went around taking photos and I went around taking photos of Arta taking photos.

There was usually a group and a leader with whom you had to follow. One was never allowed to go it alone. Arta and I were usually at the tail end of the group. Earphones were worn so you could hear the instructor of your group. There were so many groups that earphones were a necessity.

I love the next 3 photos. Arta is standing and taking a photo of the elaborate mosaic floor.

Now she gets a little closer to the pattern.

Why not bend right down and get the best close-up ever. I get to take a photo of Arta and the mosaic.

Just breathtaking artifacts!  The Baltic cruise we were on was offering for the first time a bundle of excursions packaged together to maximize the time spent in St. Petersburg; 3 days and 2 nights at about 10% off. So we went for it. After 3 days of being up at 6:00 a.m. and not going to bed until after midnight we were happily exhausted.