Scandanavia Russia and the Baltics

London
Flight from JFK with British Air was quite impressive. Quite a different concept from what I was used to. They actually fed you a hot buffet at the terminal , and then geared the flight for sleeping. Flight was smooth as silk. No whining babes in arms, although there was one 2.5 year old sitting the next row back. He looked out of place, his little 2.5 year old body in this wide roomie business class seat (I assume he was a young entrepreneur) , sucking on his pacifier the whole flight, just being a good liittle boy.
Arrived in London and my friend Richard was there to meet us. Luggage was there amazingly quick (which surprised me since this was the first month of operation of the new terminal 5 at LHR), and then onward to West Kensington.. We had the opportunity to stay in a flat in West Kensington rather than a hotel, and really glad we did. Really friendly clean upscale neighborhood. Apartment was fantastic for the price, full kitchen, microwave and oven for cooking, washing machine for your clothes, two bedrooms, large flat screen TV, and all for about a third the cost of a comparable hotel room.
First day in London was catch up day, not sure the mechanics of why it is, but always get jet lagged when traveling East, can handle a 15 hr trip to Australia going west without a problem, but when traveling to Europe always seems to suck the energy out of me as the flight progresses East.
Second day was nice. After a 10 minute ‘tube’ ride we were in central LondonTook a cruise up the Thames to Greenwich, past all those beautiful landmarks. The Tower of London, The Eye, Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben. Although yesterday we had showers on and off, today was just fine, not a cloud in the sky. You might think a cruise to be too hokey or touristy, and it probably is, but don’t pass up the opportunity if you get it.
After the cruise we stopped at the OXO tower on the other bank of the Thames for dinner. Sweeping full city views. OXO is the British equivalent of a Knors like company (You know gravy from a package, just like your Momma used to make). They must be a pretty ingenious company, the laws at the time forbid them from advertising their company name from the building, so instead they had the architects design the tower with the HUGE letters OXO into its design.
Once dinner was completed , very good by the way although the menu was kind of the trendy city fare you find in most major metropolis’ these days, you knpow the drill, ten or so fashionable ingredients du jour covering a pork chop or something, the old phrase, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig always comes to my mind when I receive a dish like this, but nonetheless it was still pretty darn good.. After dinner took a voyage on the Millenium Eye (picture a big overpriced ferris wheel). It’s owned and operated by British Air so they try and bill the experience as a flight, I guess to try and justify the price (~$25).

Next day hopped a bus from Victoria station to Harwich for the cruise. It’s about 2.5 hours fro.m London by bus, although I’m sure Harwich and the native ‘Harwichians’ are nice, I’m glad we stayed in London, as it really seemed a bit too sparse in the things to do department in the local area. Hopped aboard ship pretty quickly and a few hours later we were on our way to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam
Amsterdam is what I remembered it to be, one of the most friendly open places I have ever visited. Yes they do have the “coffee houses” and the sex toy shops, but if that’s what you come to Amsterdam for, you should probably come back after you graduate high school and see what it really offers. I do think its pretty comical to peek into the coffee houses and see the aging hippies smoking pot, not strangely though it is tourists not the natives inhaling. I reality, I don’t think I’ve met a native of the Netherlands that I didn’t like, I’m sure they exist, just been lucky so far I think.
One interesting observations about Amsterdam I noticed was books. You see people in Amsterdam carrying books all over, on the train/mass transit, on the bicycles that frequently dot the city, and in people’s hands, it just seems more so I than in just about any city I’ve seen.
Sachsenhausen and Berlin
The next stop on our journey was Germany, and opted for a tour of Berlin , it’s about 3 hours by train from the port where we arrived.A nice observation also about Amsterdam men. Handsome long toned legs and cute butts are everywhere, think it must have something to do with all the bicycles and the legs that are used to power them.
On the way we stopped at at Sachenhausen, which is the only concentration camp that still stands in Germany. Sachenhausen was created around the 1936 Olympic games, then over the years grew to ten times its original capcity. It was designed as a work camp rather than an extermination camp, although prisoners were exterminated almost on a daily basis from torture, beatings, malnutrition,medical experimentation , and systematic neglect.
Some of the interesting things the prisoners endured were weekly hangings, while the remaining prisoners were ordered to sing German songs. Prisoners were classified by a number tattooed on their person and a colored triangle showing their deficiency. For example a prisoner in protective custody, political prisoners, jews, homosexuals, Russians, gypsies, alcoholics, homeless you name it, if someone didn’t like you you were brought here.