Stockholm, Sweden
I finally found where Becky came from. Judging by the citizens of Stockholm she fits in well with her blond hair and blues eyes. Imagine a city where everyone looks like Becky, that would mean its a city where everything could lead to greatness with moments of silliness (or being air-headed).
It was fun to tour the Vasa warship. It was built and sailed in 1627. A grand and wonderful warship with over 50 cannons and the tallest grandest warship of its time. So just as stated above it was built for greatness, it's blond moment came 20 minutes into it's maiden voyage when it rolled over and sank. A design default from making it too tall for its size.
Our next stop was the Palace and some shopping. We toured the city via boat and by foot. We even immersed our self into their culture by visiting a local grocery store and buying some candy bars and Coca Cola.
Upon returning to the ship Becky and I made our impact felt in the casino. I drew a crowd to the quarter flipping machine that tries to knock more quarters out for everyone you feed it. You know the suckers bet in the casino. Unfortunately for the casino this sucker did not lose! I walked away 10 minutes later with my same dollar I started with. So ha, casino who thinks it will take my money, take that! Becky took on a blackjack tournament. In the first round she finished 3rd to qualify for the championship. After 6 long rounds of back and forth action it came down to 3 players hands. The first player hit to a 20. The second scored a blackjack. It all came down to the dealer who was initially dealt a 13. With the next card drawn the dealer ended up with 18. Had the first hand been beat by the dealer with a dealt 21 then Becky would have won with her blackjack. Instead she finished second in chips to the first player making her 2nd place in the tournament (or as I informed Becky she was the first loser).
Helsinki, Finland
Walking on cobblestone sidewalks is horrible on your feet no matter what kind of shoes you are wearing. We trudged on walking to Temppeliaukio Church (we called it the “Rock Church”). In Helsinki 70% of the population is Lutheran, 29% is Orthodox (Russian Orthodox but they prefer to not call it Russian), and 1% is other. The Rock Church is the other. When a group wanted to build a new church the city at first said no they had enough churches. Finally the city thought the best way of getting rid of these people who kept bothering them was by giving them the only land in town with a big rock on it. So what do you do when the only land your given is filled with a rock? You blow a hole in it and build a church in it. So now you know why we called it the “Rock Church”. While there we were able to hear a symphony orchestra that was performing for a Finnish radio station.
We continued to tour the other large Lutheran and Orthodox churches, but none of the these beat the Rock Church. Along the way we shopped and enjoyed the wonderful atmosphere of this bustling but relaxing city. At the end of the day I only wished I could have sat in the park with the locals and read a book with them. (Something to save for another day.)
We are now back on the boat and heading to St. Petersburg, Russian. I should have another post up on Sunday. By the way we have added another time zone and will get a second one in St. Petersburg (this puts us 9 hours ahead of our home time). This is making my sleeping pattern get really screwed up (that plus only 5 hours of darkness).
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3 comments:
Sure do miss you guys - come back soon.
MEL
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC); or The Moscow Patriarchate (Russian: Русская Православная Церковь (Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov), or Московский Патриархат (Moskovskiy Patriarkhat) (the latter designation being another official name[4]) since 1943, Поместная Российская Православная Церковь (Pomestnaya Rossiyskaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov) before the reinstitution in 1943), also known as the Orthodox Christian Church of Russia, is a body of Christians who constitute an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Moscow, in communion with the other Eastern Orthodox Churches.
The ROC is often said[5] to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world and second only to the Roman Catholic Church among Christian churches, numbering over 135 million members world wide and growing numerically since late 1980s. Up to 65% of ethnic Russians[6][7] and a significant number of Belarusians and Ukrainians identify themselves as "Orthodox".[6][7][8] According to the data made public December 12, 2008, the Church had 157 dioceses including 29,263 parishes served by 203 bishops (another 14 are on retirement), 27,216 priests and 3,454 deacons; there were 804 monasteries, including 478 in the Russian Federation (another 25 are within the ROCOR jurisdiction), 87 theological schools, including 5 theological academies and 38 seminaries.[9][10]
The ROC should not be confused with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (also known as the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, or ROCOR), headquartered in New York. The ROCOR was instituted in the 1920s by Russian communities outside then-Communist Russia who refused to recognize the authority of the Moscow Patriarchy headed by Metropolitan Sergiy Stragorodsky. The two Churches reconciled on May 17, 2007; the ROCOR is now a self-governing part of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Rock Church you reference here has another name: Temppeliaukio Kirkko in Helsinki and was completed in 1969. Its denomination is Lutheran. This was an interesting site and the acoustics were outstanding.
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