September 16th - 18th; 18th, 19th & 20th

Mariehamn, Finland, Sunday Afternoon, September 16th

We docked successfully and had a free afternoon in port. Mariehamn is a small city - clean, quiet and hospitable. We are berthed next to what could be described as a country lane, with early fall colours beginning to show. (Remember, we are 60 degrees North latitude here.) I'll describe the port program as it unfolds over the next couple of days. We're here until Wednesday, and then it is an overnight sail to Stockholm for a few days.

Monday, September 17th.

I haven't said much about the professional crew on board. There are two Polish engineers who pretty well keep to themselves and speak - well - Polish. They're pleasant enough, like to fish off the stern, and cook, but really live in a parallel universe with their engines, fuel gages, etc. The captain is Polish too, but has a fair bit to say (in English). He has his two daughters aboard (22 and 18, I think). The older one, Kate, is in my two classes and I am getting to know her well. She is off to study law after Christmas. The first mate, Lauren (who I have mentioned before) has oversight responsibilities for many things and along with Cheryl, second mate from Cape Breton, the boson, Amanda, from Brier Island, and the boson's mate, Josh, from Bermuda, co-ordinate the sail training of the students along with their other specific duties.They are a patient lot, and good at what they do. The cook, Jan ('Yawn') is an interesting fellow. He's German, and nuance or subtlety is not his strong suite. His meals, constrained as he is by the aboard ship realities, are generally substantial but unimaginative.

We have a running gag going. He is a Boston Red Sox fan of all things and since the day early on when I wore my Yankees tee
shirt to the mess he always has something to say about the relative merits of the two teams. The Yankees beat the Red Sox in Fenway last night (this morning in Finland) in dramatic fashion and it was my duty to inform him of this outcome at the first available opportunity. He just grunted and walked off; I bought him a 'Yankee' chocolate bar in town this afternoon and presented this offering at dinner. Of course he was confronted with a real dilemma - a chocolate lover who hates the Yankees. His compromise was to strip the wrapper off, hand it back, and eat the bar. It looked a lot like he smiled at me too.
Always stay on the good side of the cook!

Our organized outing today was great. After an earlier than usual breakfast we walked the 20- minute distance across the island to the other shore where we were treated to a tour of a wooden boat museum, then off on a bus tour of greater Mariehamn, with lunch at a sort of Ross Farm without the animals. The people who hosted were great - we all are developing a strong liking for these Fins who speak Swedish (and English), claim Aland (pronounced Oh-land) as their real home,
and have a genuine warmth about them. After lunch we went for a further bus trip to a Point Pleasant Park type location where we had an hour and a half to hike about. The weather was pleasant and the memories of two tough days in the Bay of Finland receded. The bus took us back to the ship by mid- afternoon to help with unloading the provisions Jan had purchased earlier. I then rushed back downtown - 15 minutes on foot from the ship - to mail a memory stick with
pictures to Steve's address. (I've had little success to date in sending pictures home via e-mail.)
It is a beautiful evening - the teachers are going out for a beer tonight and to reflect on our voyage thus far!

Tuesday, September 18th.

Our host/guide from yesterday will be along after breakfast to take us on another outing.
(To be continued).

Continued! (...apologies for the delay, folks - JT)

Tuesday, September 18th.

Our host/guide from yesterday - Henryk - will be along after breakfast to take us on another outing. He is an accomplished man - a tall ship captain of some acclaim, past curator of the maritime museum here in Mariehamn, and an instructor in matters relating to sail training and navigation at the local community college. We will have a tour of another tall ship - the Pommern - which is in a permanent exhibit berth down the quay. It is one of the last best examples of the last generation of metal sailing ships. Then we have a tour of (another) Marine Museum and lunch in the community college cafeteria.

All the above has now happened, and a few of us then hired cycles (as opposed to renting bikes - there is a 125-strong Harley hog riders group in the area) and toured around for several hours. It was most enjoyable - dedicated cycle lanes, all paved, with "South Shore"-like vistas without the traffic. I must say once more, the people of Aland (and Mariehamn in particular) are a friendly, gracious lot, a welcome
antidote to the "hustle and bustle", dirt and dastardly criminal element in evidence in St Petersburg.

The instructors take turns on gangway watch at curfew time. I'm on tonight - it's 10:50 and all the students are aboard. 11:00 PM is the 'witching' hour. There is no passport control here (beyond the check when we first arrived) which makes our comings and goings much easier than in Russia, say, where we had to clear customs every time. Throughout the days in port, individuals are checked in and out through a regular gangway watch which the students are obliged to man. We have gone jogging the last two mornings at fitness time (7:00 AM) down a country lane along the water - a beautiful start to the day.

Wednesday, September 19th.

We are in the process of leaving our berth to head off to Stockholm with a tentative arrival mid-evening. Classes will be held today starting a bit later (the second half of day 3 which was suspended upon our arrival in Mariehamn.) Tomorrow through to Monday (the days of the week mean little on a ship), we will be in Stockholm.

Here is a bit of cross-cultural language ambiguity - or junior high humour - depending on your perspective. A common, and oft photographed, sign in Mariehamn is "Fart Hinder". It is Swedish for speed bump, or "sleeping policeman". There is a large billboard for Pepsi in the town; the prose reads 'Find pleasure orally', a bit OTT for a soft drink! And one of the many ferries which ply the waters in Aland is named the "Birka Paradise". (It certainly is chilly enough just now for a head covering, religious traditions not withstanding.)

8:30 PM. We are now docking in Stockholm. The approach in for the past hour was fascinating. We came through narrow channels with beautiful homes and high rises on both sides (all furnished by IKEA presumably.)

Thursday, September 20th

It is 6:00 AM in the Stockholm harbour. I'm playing ABBA on my i-pod - we're in Sweden after all. One of the big digital update monitors on an office high rise reports a temperature of 10C. The weather is clear, the city is coming awake - busses, trains, delivery trucks and early commuters (including many cyclists) are making their presence felt. We are berthed in Old Town, an island right in the city
centre. The fitness group will be jogging around the Old Town perimeter at 7:00 AM or so.
We have an interesting in-port program that will unfold over the next several days, including an overnight home visit for each of the students and a visit to the Concordia by some prominent individuals. I'll report on all this later.