The Dead Sea

Gem of the Middle East 

This June, I had the chance to experience the Dead Sea for the first time in my life when I travelled to Israel and Jordan.  As a non-swimmer, it was pretty cool floating on the water without fear of sinking!  But you’re so buoyant on the water that it’s kind of difficult to stand back up, hence the handles around the beach area leading into the water!  My favorite time to take a dip in the water is definitely right in the morning before things start getting hazy in the scorching heat and right before sunrise.  With Israel and Jordan bordering its sides, you can enter the Dead Sea from either countries.  At a density of 1.24kg/L, or about 34% salinity, nothing survives for long in this body of water, which explains the name, but at the same time, it is also a magnificent resource especially for the cosmetics, agricultural and tourism industries.  I can tell you from my first hand experience that my skin felt super smooth after soaking in the water just for less than a minute.  The whole idea of thalassotherapy is all about using Dead Sea water to bathe to heal health problems such as allergies and osteoporosis.  There are even entire cosmetics companies, such as the well-known Ahava built around Dead Sea products.  Not surprisingly, the Dead Sea has been a shrinking resource, going from a depression of 395m in 1970 to 418 in 2006, at a drop rate of 1m per year.  From the production of potash for fertilizers, to extracting mud for the cosmetics industry, this is definitely a very valuable resource that is disappearing fast!

Helsinki: Design capital

Eco, functional and cool! 

What do Angry Birds, Marimekko, and The Moomins all have in common?  They’re all from Finland!

 It’s not hard to see why Helsinki took the title of World Design Capital in 2012.  From traditional Finnish designs to contemporary and modern trends, design is woven into the city’s urban and cultural fabric.

 How I came to know a lot about Finland’s treasures is also through Finnair’s specially painted aircraft with well known Finnish brands and characters.  What a great international ambassador!  Too bad I didn’t catch a flight with special designs – but maybe next time!

 Don’t think that the designs, whether it’s furniture, homeware, fashion and more, only look pretty. They’re super functional and many are eco too.  One of my favorite brands that I came across while strolling around Helsinki is Globe Hope, a Finnish fashion brand that designs and manufactures beautiful products from recycled and discarded materials.  It’s so amazing how old materials can be turned into the most fashionable bags, accessories and clothes.

A celebration of life

The Vigeland Park, Oslo

There’s no lack of artistic sculptures in Oslo, adding a lot more warmth to the city and complementing the abundant pockets of green space in the cityscape.  Being the world’s largest sculpture park made by a single artist, Oslo’s Vigeland Park was considered quite avant-garde at the time it was created in the 19th century.  Home to 227 granite and bronze sculptures, the sculptures were created by Norway’s famous sculptor Gusrav Vigeland,  I really like how there is a display of so many different emotions in the sculptures, not just facial expressions, but also very expressive body language, ranging from the affection between humans to the experiences of a child from birth to death. The focal point in the park is the cycle of life monolith which is a huge monolith of bodies with circles of statutes depicting the cycles of life.  With 121 figures carved from a single granite block of 17.3m, it shows Vigeland’s interpretation for the human’s longing and yearning for the spiritual and divine.  One of my favorite sculptures is the Wheel of Life, which displays connecting humans through happiness, sadness, anger, and fear.  It is also a symbol of eternity in the use of a garland of women, men and children holding hands.

Vilnius

City of churches 

The snow only got heavier as we got into Vilnius from Riga.  It almost felt like Christmas in the middle of April!  With 65 churches nestled in the historic Old Town of Vilnius, which is listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage sites, it isn’t hard to miss the various types of cathedrals and churches dotted at almost every corner.  Amongst them, Vilnius Cathedral and St. Anne’s Church are the most well-known. Vilnius Cathedral is the main Roman Catholic Cathedral of Lithuania and has over forty frescoes and paintings dating back to the 16th century.  Even the coronations of the Great Dukes of Lithuania took place in the cathedral.  St. Anne’s Church is a signature red-bricked Roman Catholic church built in a gothic style.  Vilnius University also lies amongst these beautiful historic buildings.

 After a walking tour of the Old Town in the morning, we headed towards the famous island castle Trakai in the afternoon. Located in Lake Galve, this 14th century castle is a real life version of Lego castles that I used to love building as a kid.  Complete with a connecting bridge, defensive towers, movable gates, stables and more, the castle did serve a military purpose at the beginning and later evolved into a summer residence, a prison and now a tourist location!  It was pretty cool seeing locals fishing in the middle of the frozen lake-must need a lot of patience for that, especially in the freezing cold weather!

As my trip in the Baltic countries wraps up, I head to Oslo-a beautiful city filled with artistic sculptures!

Riga

A touch of Latvia 

As the capital and largest city of Latvia, Riga has a historic area-Old Town Riga, which gathers some beautiful architecture.  One that stood out for me was the House of Blackheads in Town Hall Square, which was rebuilt in 2001 to commemorate the city’s 800th anniversary.  Originally owned by a merchant guild, it currently serves as a museum and concert hall.  It was destroyed in 1941 and buried by the Soviets in 1948.  Ironically, it sits next to the Museum of Occupations, which houses information boards and exhibits on what the Latvian people endured during the Nazi occupation followed by the “Russification” of the country when the Soviet Union took over the country.  Hundreds of thousands of Russians moved across the Soviet Union to Latvia to work during the Russian occupation.  Today, about a third of the population in Latvia are made up of Russians, and half of the population speaks Russian.  We weren’t surprised to see Russian on the streets and in cafes.  But beneath the calm surface, there are many ethnic divides between Russians and Latvians and language is just the beginning.

 By the time we made it to Rundale Palace, a beautiful baroque palace built in the 18th century just outside of Riga, it was snowing like mad and summer time is definitely a better time to visit the palace when the flowers in the gardens are in full bloom.  But the snow didn’t ruin our spirits as the palace is splendid inside, especially the detailed ceiling paintings in the ballrooms and halls.  There is even a dedicated space that house porcelain pieces.    

 My trip in the Baltic countries continues on with Vilnius!

Trip back in time

Medieval Tallinn 

The overnight cruise from Stockholm to Tallinn was around 16 hours, from 6pm to 10am the next morning.  For someone who gets easily seasick, I found the cruise to be pretty calm, and I had plenty of time to take in the gorgeous views of the sunset before heading to bed early.  The next morning, I woke up to the sound of the boat cruising through broken ice sheets.  Everything was very calm and I had an enjoyable breakfast right by the window offering a nice view of offshore wind turbines from a distance.

 Not before long, we reached Tallinn, where we first visited Toompea Hill followed by the historic city centre.  Before climbing up the steps to Toompea Hill, we came across the Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.  This magnificent onion-domed structure was built in 1900 during the tsarist Russian empire.  The inside is filled with colourful and intricate mosaics and it also has 11 church bells which sound off before service.  The largest one weighs over 15 tonnes!  We gradually came to the viewing platform which is the perfect spot for a panoramic view of Tallinn with a skyline of old new buildings.  The neat thing is that there are always photogenic pigeons hanging out here.  It might have to do with all the vendors selling roasted almonds in the area.  You can spot St. Olaf’s church in the distance from the platform.  This was the tallest building in the world from 1549 to 1625.  Its 159-metre spire was a very effective lightning rod and throughout the church’s history, its steeple has been hit three times, completely burning the entire structure three times!  Now, the steeple is 124-metres, a much less likely target than before.

 We walked downhill into Old Town which is filled with charming twisted cobblestone paths reminiscent of Medieval times.  We settled into the Olde Hansa Medieval restaurant for lunch, where all the servers were dressed up in Medieval costumes.  It can’t get more authentic than this!  The bathroom was quite amusing as it was pitch black and we had to move in a bunch of candles to make sure we could see well enough and rather than having a tap, a pot of water had to be tipped over in the sink area to wash our hands, very interesting indeed.  The 2km city wall surrounding the historic district is still intact and dates back to the 13th century.  Gothic architecture can be found throughout the district, including the Town Hall, which is the only Gothic town hall still intact in Northern Europe.  Another well-known landmark is the Pharmacy, a small little shop in Town Hall Square which dates back to 1422.  It is the oldest continuously running pharmacy in Europe and has been operated by ten generations of the same family.  It was famous for specialty items such as snakeskin potion, powdered unicorn horn, as well as every day items like tea and marzipan. Today, it’s still a pharmacy, but sells modern products.

 My fascination with famous old towns in Northern Europe continues at the next stop: Riga!

Stockholm City Hall

Site of the Nobel Prize banquet

Stockholm City Hall is one of the iconic landmarks in the city, also known as the Stadshuset.  It sits on Kungsholmen, one of the many islands that Stockholm spans across.  City Hall’s Blue Hall is well known for being the venue of the annual Nobel Prize banquet.  Nobel Laureates for all the Nobel Prizes, except for the Nobel Peace Prize, gather in this hall after the awards ceremonies at the Stockholm Concert Hall each year for a celebration banquet.  For those who want to experience the nobility of the banquet but who are not on the guest list of 1,300 on December 10 each year, the luxurious cellar restaurant Stadshuskallaren in the building offers the previous year’s menu.

 Blue Hall isn’t actually blue as it was named after Ragnar Ostberg’s original designs which did have blue glazed tiles for the hall but he later changed his mind seeing how beautiful the red bricks used in the construction of City Hall are on their own.  There’s a magnificent organ in Blue Hall which is made from 10, 270 pipes, the largest in Scandinavia.  A well known part of City Hall is Golden Hall with its more than 18 million glass and mosaic pieces showcasing pictures of Swedish history.  After dining in Blue Hall, guests are invited to dance in the Golden Hall.  Another interesting space in City Hall is the Council Chamber which has an open roof inspired by a Viking longhouse.  Nearly eight million red bricks were used in the construction of the hall itself.  From the courtyard, the site overlooks Riddarfijarden and offers picturesque views of central Stockholm.  I also love the sculptures by famous Swedish sculptor Carl Eldh by the water-a female Dansen and male Sangen, Swedish for Dance and Song.

 Watch for my next blog for pictures of the cruise from Stockholm to the beautiful city of Tallinn!