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On 19th May 2004, a group of Christians from different denominations organized a tour to the Baltic Sea. The purpose of this trip was mainly for pleasure. However, some Christians wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to spread the gospel to the formerly communist countries. This trip was mainly a boat cruise called Baltic Sea Heritage. We flew to Copenhagen, Denmark, then boarded on a Princess cruise ship, which is operating by P&O, to begin a voyage to Sweden, Estonia, Russia, Finland, Poland, Germany, and then come back to Denmark. Afterwards, we flew to England.
Once we entered the airport terminal, we saw beautiful teak wood tiles in the hallway. It reminded me of the famous Demark teak wood furniture. As we walked out of the airport, there were many buses waiting to take people to the cruise ship. There was apparently a great number of people coming to Demark were for the cruise.
Our bus driver took us to the wrong pier. We found that the pier has four gigantic cruise boats of competition companies docked. I can visualize right away that cruising on Baltic is a very active business. On checking in at 3pm, each person is assigned a card. This card can be used as boarding pass, stateroom key, and credit card on purchasing in the boat. On boarding, we had to insert the card into a machine; a photo was then taken by the computer. On our next boarding, the photo was recalled to match with the cardholder. We have to use the same card to leave the boat. This security system can identify who is boarded or disembarked. Bellboys moved our luggage to our stateroom. Individual tipping was eliminated by a fair tipping system. A compulsory daily tip was billed to our credit card. This amount was then distributed evenly to all staff members. A big cruise boat is actually a movable hotel. Our ship was called the Grand Princess. This ship was Italian built. It is propelled by electricity. It has fourteen decks. Passengers can use deck five and up. It has three full service restaurants, two twenty-four hour buffet restaurants, three swimming pools, spas, a theatre, a casino, a library, an art gallery, an internet café, a fitness room, a jogging track and etc. Our trip had 2604 passengers. They were served by 1100 crewmembers. Passenger to staff ratio was 2.4:1. Most crew members on our boat were from the Philippines. Through conversation initiated by them, I can understand that most staffs desired home even though they were working in a luxury environment.
Our stateroom was on the twelve deck of the starboard. The term starboard means the right side of the ship. On entering our stateroom, a steward came right away to introduce himself. He knew every one of us by name. He greeted us by name on every time we met with him in the corridor. He made our stateroom twice a day. At daytime, he covered our beds. At evening, while we went to supper, he removed the cover for us and left us some chocolates on the pillows. Before commencing our trip, at 6pm, all passengers were required to have emergency training on deck seven. Deck seven was where the lifeboats were hung. All passengers were required to use their own lifesavers stored in their own stateroom. This was to prevent people fighting for lifesavers in case there is an emergency. There are all kinds of lifeboats, tents, and commuter boats mounted on the deck. The mistake of Titanic, which did not equip enough life saving equipment, because they thought the vessel was unsinkable, would not happen again. “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” 1 Thessalonians 5:3. Titanic was the largest cruise boat in the 19th century. Only the rich could afford to ride it. Nowadays, many cruise ships are out built the Titanic. Although a cruise is much more affordable, it is still a luxury in this time. It could cost a lifetime’s saving for some people. That is why over 95% of the passengers were of retirement age. Out of the 2604 passengers, 1700 were from the United States, 400 were from Canada, 150 were from England, and the rest from Spain, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Philippines, and other countries. There were only six children, because summer holidays had not commenced yet. The Chinese Canadians are the youngest group, average in the fifties. It occupied 50% of the 400 Canadians. If we paid for every night for the hotel, meal, entertainment, travel, and etc, the amount of the bill would exceed the price of this cruise. It was quite a bargain. Consider living in a hotel, which is in not in any country’s boundary. In other words, it is tax-free.
Next morning, we had breakfast in another restaurant called Leonardo da Vinci. We enjoyed another grand meal. After breakfast, all passengers had to find some way to occupy themselves because the ship was still on voyage. Some people did exercise, some gamble, some shopping, some check email, some made observations. Within the visible circle, I counted over ten ships moving about and there was even a competitor’s cruise ship followed us tightly. This Baltic Sea is busy. I can not see any oceanic green water. The yellowish water is caused by acids excreted by trees on shoreline. I observed nobody got seasick because this inner sea is shallow. My son and daughter got bored on the first day of voyage even though we are on a luxury boat. It is understandable that we are confined within a hotel. To make myself busy, I went for a spa. Then, I took a sunbath. The deck was well surrounded by windshield. To my surprised, the Pilipino sailor felt shivering for me. May be they were used to the tropical beach weather. My wife was busy preparing a dress for the evening. It was a long time to wait till night. It was a formal night. All passengers are gathered in the lobby, there is hardly any room to move. Some people had to stand on the stairs. There were free cocktails. It was really boring. I complained that my wife carried extra weight of formal attire from Canada, which had no practical use. We went to see Broadway show instead. The next morning after the dreary Captain’s night, we were woken up at 6am by the telephone, which can be also be used as an alarm clock. I found our ship is already anchored on a port called Nynashamn. Viewing from our deck, this Nynashamn has only a few huge Gasoline drums. We have to use a commuter boat launched by our own ship to go ashore. It could be our ship is too big to dock in Stockholm.
Our train ride was smooth. We passed through a evergreen forest, some farms, some neat factories, a Coca Cola factory, and small cities. We observed people of Northern Europe like to use bright yellowish orange colour on their houses. On arriving Stockholm, we discovered 5 people were left behind our train, because they could not purchase tickets in time. They did not know that they could purchase ticket on the train. We waited them for the next train. Going to the washroom at the train station costs 5 kronor. I left some Gospel bookmarks with an information booth in the train terminal.
Press picture to watch movie> The Royal palace is not far from the train station. When we got there, it was near noon hour. Just in time to watch the changing of guards. Many people were already surrounding the square. Initially, a cluster of soldiers with no helmet or weapon was marching in. I wondered what they are for. Latter I found that they are holding horses for the guards. Soon, I heard a huddle of horseshoe noise, then, I saw a band of soldiers with drums and trumpets, the guards were following behind. The ceremony took a long time. It was a show for tourist rather than a real security system. We purchased ticket to visit the palace. I found out all antiqueclocks in the palace are still functioning and are on time. Then, we went to visit the parliament, and shopping. We rushed back to the boat just a few minutes before it leave at 5pm.
Merchant house in Tallin, note the hoist near the roof > Six in the morning, our boat docked a new built pier in Tallinn, capital of Estonia. A brass band welcomed us. Our tour bus with two guides was already waiting for us. We passed through an early morning city to an old mediaeval city. This city is only five hundred years old. It was supposed to be a coast guard city. The shoreline had moved much further, because of lowering of sea level. We can no longer see the coast. This city is the best-kept mediaeval city in Europe. There were lots of merchant houses. Merchants in those days live on the ground floor; Goods are stored on the second and third floors. There are hoists on the roof for lifting goods. The beams of the house are made of very thick pile. The city has a church, which was believed to be the highest building during mediaeval times. It has been struck by lightning several times.
During our trip, our tour guide had told the history of Estonia. They were emphasizing the occupation by Soviet and the independent of Estonia. Estonia is the least developed among the Northern European countries. I expressed that Estonia should keep its own culture and shouldn’t over-develop, because the price of developing is pollution and inflation. Estonia is a quiet country. People from a busy country ought to have a quiet life. Our tour to Estonia was very valuable. Our tour guide was very earnest. Our ship headed to St. Petersburg at night. After supper, as usual, the nightlife began. We watched a variety show. At half past eleven, near mid night, I could still see the sunset. No wonder there is mid night sun in these Northern countries. Early in the morning, we disembarked on the dock of St. Petersburg. It is a busy seaport. A brass band welcomed us. You can find brass bands everywhere in the tourist area in St. Petersburg. They will play your national hymn whenever they see a group of tourists, and merit you to leave them some money.
This city is only 300 years old. Peter the Great hired architects from Central Europe to build this city as capital of Russia. It is a window to Europe, Venice of the North. Our first stop was shopping in a tourist store. Bus drivers always like to drop us on these stores because they could get some commission. Tourists like to be there because of free toilet usage. Souvenirs from Russia are Russian dolls, Russian nesting dolls, and red army hats. You could find these things in everywhere. While other people do shopping, I did my evangelism on the street.
Our tour guide took us to have Chinese food in the afternoon. We wanted to switch to Russian food. She said she does not have the authority to change because of pre-arrangement by his company. Some people requested her to book ballet tickets. It was already fully booked. In the afternoon, we went to the Summer Palace of Peter the Great. We have to wear shoe covers to get in. This palace was totally destroyed by the German army during the Second World War. What we saw is a rebuilt by communist party. Our tour guide said that the former communist government spent more money to rebuild this palace than the current government. At the end of our tour, I observed some of the rooms were using high technology to do renovation. It is obviously not too old. After the indoor tour, we went out to the Garden. It has fountains with Gold sculpture. It is bigger than a summer palace I have seen in West Germany. However, this palace does not have water coming out under the palace as the one in Germany. It was raining after we have seen the Garden. On quit time, there was just a bit more traffic, but the condition was scary, because people did not give way. On returned to ship, we had a king’s feast as usual. After dinner, the theatre invited some Russian dancer aboard. The girl dancers were nice looking and have beautiful legs. The show was great.
We continued our journey back to the city. As usual, took Chinese food again. While people lined up for the washroom, I went out to the street to do evangelism again. It was a busy street in a slum area. I had done a lot in very short while. Many people enquired me in Russian. I did not have any clue of what they were asking. I was very glad that I got close encounter with the Russian public. They are friendly people. After dinner, the tour guide took us for a bus tour in the city and river banks. On the bus, our tour guide said that the Russian people in St. Petersburg can not forget the siege of German during Second World War. Two million people starved to death. After the disintegration of communist government in Russia, most Lenin statues had been removed. Only a few which had art value were kept in St. Petersburg. Even the name of this city had been renamed. It was previously called Leningrad. There is no Lenin statue left in Moscow. Life is more difficult nowadays than the Soviet time. Inflation made living difficult. Then she said retirees get only $50 US dollars a month. Taking public transit cost about the same price as going to the public toilet. I saw many people with rows of gold teeth. In Canada, crown is not included in our extended dental benefit. It could cost over $1000 to crown a tooth. It is very obvious that Russians have very good health benefits. Russians admire the amount of money foreign people make. But they did not realize they have the benefits many people can not afford. The quality of life is not depending on how much you make. It also depends on the cost of living.
Very early morning, we docked Gdynia, a seaport of Poland. A tour bus was already waiting for us to take us to Gdansk. Gdansk is a shipbuilding city. 90% of the city was destroyed during Second World War. There is a monument in front of the shipyard to commemorate the Solidarity movement in 1970, which brought democracy. The monument has three crosses with three anchors hanging on it. It represents the loss of three lives during the riot. The ship building business is slow. It has dropped from twenty thousand employees to two thousand employees.
Press clock to watch movie > Our bus stopped on an old city, renovated as a tourist shopping center. Thousands of shops and booths are selling amber ornaments. Amber is the fossil of resin. It has a yellow colour. It is valuable if insect remains are found inside the crystal. I passed Gospel bookmarks to store employees. They appreciated and returned me discount cards. We continued our journey to an old brick church. This church has the famous final judgment painting and a big clock. We were there right at noontime. Twelve disciples came out of the clock. A Satan looking disciple came out later. It was locked out of the door when the disciples returned into the clock. I met schools of children led by teachers for an end of term field trip. If my son does not come with us, he would have gone for a trip led by his teacher too. European kids are just as lucky as our kids. I gave every kid a gospel bookmark. They were very happy. I did the same thing in Russia, but the kids over there were so scared and ran away from me.
To continue our trip, our tour guide took us in and out of East and West Berlin many times. There is the remain of a half bombed church on a busy street as reminder of war. Twenty years ago, I could not drive to Berlin when I visited Germany because Berlin is enclosed within East Germany. Germans still deeply remember the world wars, and the siege of West Berlin by Russians. Food and supplies were airlifted to West Berlin for eleven months. We later went to visit the guardhouse on the border of East and West Berlin. There were people dressed like US and Russian army uniforms. They were selling souvenir army hats. We later went to Brandenburg gate. It is the land mark of Berlin. The French embassy is right besides it.
My sister lives in Maidenhead, near Windsor Castle. On our way to London, we took a train to Paddington main station. Once you go into the tube (subway), you can go anywhere in London. My son was in London when he was still a baby. So we have to take him for another tour. On the street, you can purchase tour bus day pass, which will take you go around the city unlimited times. There are two bus companies operating this service. You must re-board to the same company’s bus. The bus ticket includes a free boat tour on the River Theme. Tour guide will do commentary on bus and boat. The bus took us around London. We passed by Hyde Park, Marble Arch, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly circus, Trafalgar square, West Minister Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, etc. At speaker’s corner of Hyde Park, we saw groups of people making speech, and evangelism.
River Theme is not really a big river. The London section is very close to the sea. The water level is affected by tides. We were at the low tides when we were there. By observing the algae grown on the pier, I can tell there is a difference of water level between low and high tide of almost 20 feet. Our boat cruise on River Theme continued to Greenwich. Greenwich is located on zero degrees longitude. It set the time standard of the world known as Greenwich Mean Time. It was set in Greenwich because the Royal Observatory in Greenwich set it. I asked my son where the time standard should be set. He answered intelligently, Jerusalem. Correct. The dome of the new temple in Jerusalem in New Heaven and New Earth will be on zero degrees longitude. My first time to London was 40 years ago. Tourist business was already very active in those days. There wasn’t much change in London, except a countable number of new buildings, and a Ferris wheel called London Eye. This wheel is a giant wheel looks like a bicycle wheel beside the River Theme. I heard the owner British Air is going to build more in major cities of the world. Tourist business is active nowadays, despite the world economy crises. Many places refused entry because of security and vandalism. It isn’t a few days that one can understand a country and its culture. However, in the many countries I travelled in this trip, I can clearly see that there is still an image of war pressed inside Europeans. Europe had been rinsed with many wars. Europeans hate war. France and Germany did not support United States on Iraq War is clearly understandable. The Euro is supposed to be the currency in Europe. Among the eight countries I traveled, it is only Finland and Germany use Euro. The toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image in the Book of Daniel has prophesized Europe cannot be united. Through contacting with different cultures, I firmly have the feeling Europe can never be united.
Jesus is preparing this trip for us now. He will come to pick us to this place at the appropriate time. We will meet Him in mid air to join this tour, as we were using the commuter boat when we were in Nynashamn. This cruise will take seven days to heaven. We do not have to take money, credit cards, camera or luggage. God will provide all our needs. This Earth will be abandoned. It will be sanitized by fire because it has been well polluted by men, which by God’s standard, is beyond repair. It will take one thousand years to clean up. During this period, we will be living as a king. We shall have a crown with sparkling stars, which are the merit points of our work on Earth today. Our work in heaven will judge the world and angels. So you can see we shall not play king. We will be true kings. After one thousand years, when renovation of the earth is done, our mobile hotel New Jerusalem will cruise to Earth and land on Mount Oliver. Then, we disembark and build new houses in the suburb as our summer palace.
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When
our airplane began to land on Copenhagen, the first thing we observed from the
airplane was a row of
Our
group went on a mini tour of the city before boarding the boat. It was raining
during most of the ride. We stopped at the sculpture of the Little Mermaid to
take photos. The sculpture has had its head cut off by vandals several times,
but they still have its original mould to repair it with. The sculpture was life
size. It is small to view at a distance. It sits on a rock just above sea level.
To view it from the bank, we have to look downward.
After
settled down with a long flight from Toronto, and waited many hours in London
airport, we went to a buffet dinner on the ship. The service was extremely
good. A waiter was always around to serve drinks, remove soiled dishes and
clean up. The service was so good that if you left your seat for a minute, your
table could already be cleaned.
The
cruise commenced at 9pm. Full steam ahead to Nynashamn, Sweden. Our first
journey to Sweden took two days. In fact, we had arrived Sweden on the first
hour, because Sweden and Denmark are very close. Our ship traveled north along
the cost of Sweden. Norway, Sweden, and Finland are very long countries. They
extend almost to the Artic circle. On the first evening, we ate supper in a full
service restaurant called Michelangelo. Dinner consisted of four courses. The
service was excellent. It is comparable to a king’s feast. For every three
tables, there were two waiters. You could order as much as you want. Clean
silver cutlery was arranged for every dish. Tables were cleaned and made
spotless. All the food was placed artistically. It was like eating a piece of
art. The deserts were drawn by chocolate as ink. Every menu had a special column
for vegetarian food. Their vegetarian food use milk products. I believe the
world aware of the danger of eating meat. Food served world wide nowadays are
healthier than before. I do believe that it won’t be long before the governments
of the world would advise us to eat vegetarian.
Our
tour leader complained there was some communication trouble with the cruise
company. The cruise company told our leader that Nynashamn is only 20 minutes
walk to Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Our leader did not arrange any tour
bus for us because of such a short walk. On disembarked, we found we are in fact
20 minutes walk to a train terminal, which is a one-hour ride to the city. While
waiting to purchase train tickets from a convenience store, there was a
newspaper truck coming along. I gave the truck driver some Gospel bookmark and
money. I requested him to distribute them with his morning newspaper. Because of
language barriers, he refused. I believe he thought I wanted to purchase
newspaper from him. 
On
going to the city square, there are many small booths selling souvenir items.
The specialty in this country is woolen sweaters. The patterns are usually very
busy moose elk. I left my Gospel bookmarks to a souvenir store and suggested
them to sell them. We had one hour of free shopping in the square. This square
was just filled with tourists. Later, our tour guide took us to a small hill for
a city view. One of our tour mates hurt his vertebral column. A soft bone
extruded from his column was pressing against his nerves. He was in extreme
pain. He was later confined in his stateroom for the rest of our journey, and
flew first class to get home. The doctor said it would take one month to heal. I
later learned he loves red meat. I advised him to avoid animal protein,
including milk and eggs, because excessive animal protein can cause high amino
acids in the blood. Our body has to use calcium stored in our bones to
neutralize the excessive acid. That’s why people that love meat have a lot of
We
took rest at a McDonald restaurant, near a shopping mall. We continued our
journey to a pioneer village park where lots of booths are selling cultural
handicrafts. Then he took us to visit a state house. This state house was clean
and big. He emphasized that this is the best he could show us in Estonia,
although some tourist had previously complained his own residence is bigger than
this state house. We should take the attitude of adapting ourselves locally.
Later, our guide took us to see an ancient tomb and a small waterfall. This fall
is only 50 ft high. It falls suddenly from a flat river in the shape of a
horseshoe. It is a miniature Niagara Falls. At the end of our journey, our guide
showed gratitude by preparing a small tea party for us beside the fall. This
party also served with some very strong Estonian Vodka. People tasted it said
that it would not make them drunk even it has high alcohol content. The apple
pie and tea were excellent. We spend some extra time on the shoreline on our way
back to the ship. 
St.
Petersburg, known as Leningrad during the Soviet time, is the most beautiful
city in the world. The city has many canals. Bridges joined many islands
together. Across the two banks, beautiful European style houses were uniformly
built. The American news described St. Petersburg as one side is nice looking
and the other side is a poor slum. In fact, the slum of St. Petersburg is better
looking than many cities in United States.
Our
next stop was the
There
are many churches in St. Petersburg. They are in very good shape. I was
surprised that the communist party which does not believes in God, had set aside
the churches untouched.
Early next morning, at 7am we disembarked to
Finland. We had only a few hours, because our ship would leave at noon. Since
the dock was very close to city, so our leader did not booked any tour bus. The
bus terminal was just beside the pier. We bought a day pass to the city. It was
still too early for stores to open. Interesting decorations in downtown
We later took a tour of the city by electric tram,
and rushed back to the ship. 
Our ship docked on Warnemude early morning. A
beautiful double deck tour bus picked us to
Germany make good sandals, steel knifes and
cutlery. These things are cheaper in Germany. Our tour guide took us to the
remains of the
When our ship went back to Copenhagen early in the
morning, we still had the privilege of staying one extra day in the ship.
Denmark is famous of product design. My daughter wanted to visit the
Next morning, we flew to London. Since many people
have been to London before, or have relatives there, so we split. I later
learned those who stayed in hotel complained the quality were poor and
expensive. They spent an hour trying to switch but all other hotels were fully
booked. Hotels in Europe are expensive, old and have poor quality.
Through the commentary of the tour, we could still
hear some words about the Second World War. There is Egyptian monument on the
side of River Theme. We saw holes on the sculpture. We learned it was caused by
bomb during the Second World War.
People
deserve to live like a king. There is a high demand of luxury. So business has
mass-produced luxury entertainment. As a Christian, should we entertain
ourselves to such an extent? Ten days of living like a king after a lifetime of
hard work is very reasonable. Do not feel upset if you do not have an
opportunity for a trip on this earth. In fact, the Bible has promised to provide
everybody an extremely luxury cruise, living like a king for 1000 years. We will
be toured in a super gigantic cruiser called New Jerusalem. This mobile hotel is
made of Gold. It has all the treasure you could never imagine. The degree of
luxury has never been think of.
What
happen if we die before the trip commenced? Not a problem at all. Jesus will
wake up everybody entitled to go. Our body will be changed to imperishable,
because we shall have eternal life. This trip is totally free. However, only
those who pass security check can embark. Those who bring hate, jealousy, will
be blocked on the gate. It is very simple to make reservation. You just have to
go to your nearest church to make reservations. However, I highly recommend you
to go to your closest Seventh-day Adventist church to make reservations because
they are very experienced on booking. You might get an invalid booking if you
went into a poor performance box office. In the summer palace of St. Petersburg,
we have had that