Meeting Kimmo Linkama in Tallinn
If you can’t view the video above, click here: Mark Schaefer from Russia.
I’m rested and refreshed from an extended digital de-tox as my wife and I spent our “annual honeymoon” visiting Scandinavia, Russia, and Northern Europe.
The video above provides a statement of the personal impact of this trip but a few of the highlights included:
- An opportunity to meet two of my best Twitter buddies, Kimmo Linkama, who showed us around the lovely city of Tallinn, Estonia, and Dr. Jon Buscall, who I have long-admired as a blogger and original voice in Sweden. I have some more content coming to you from both of these great minds.
- A visit to Saint Petersburg, Russia, illustrated both the sheer “wow” of this city’s glory, and the uphill climb to overcome decades of communist oppression. A micro example: A priceless Leonardo DaVinci painting displayed at the Hermitage Museum next to an open window with cracked and peeling paint falling on the floor.
- I was completely impressed with the deep beauty and historical splendor of Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Stockholm.
- It was funky to experience White Nights. At this time of year, it never gets dark. It was common to see people picnicking by the sea at 11 p.m.
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- Jon Buscall in front of Nobel Museum
Nearly every place we visited had somehow been touched by communism, war and occupation. The epicenter of this turmoil was Berlin where I touched the famous Berlin Wall, walked in the footsteps of Nazis, and was profoundly impacted by a Holocaust memorial.
I posted 25 photo highlights of the trip here: Baltic photos.
Of course I can’t begin to capture the adventure of this experience in a short blog post but I would be remiss if I didn’t provide my appreciation to the loyal {grow} community members who took care of our little space on the blogosphere while I was away. I’m sure you’ll agree they did a marvelous job and it allowed me precious time to disconnect and re-charge for a few weeks.
I hope you’ll continue to support and appreciate the work of:
- Caroline Di Diego
- Kneale Mann
- Marjorie Clayman
- Jon Buscall
- Erica Allison
- Steven H. Parker
- Natasha Gabriel
- Leo Widrich
I missed the blog community and am eager to dive back in! Thanks for continuing to support the {grow} movement in my absence!