Cruise day: 154/163
Ports days: 83
Sea days: 71
Countries: 28
Continents: 5
Ports: 61Day #3 in Stockholm - what to do, what to do? We decided on a boat tour and a museum for our final day. We started off on the shuttle bus heading to the Opera House.
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| Look at all those passengers - none! We had our own private shuttle this morning - way to make us World Cruisers feel special! |
We made the short walk to the Stomma ticket office to convert our Go City pass into tickets. Then we made the next short walk to the pier and boarded our tour boat.
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| This statue was across from the ticket office |
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| Our tour boat |
The tour we took was the boat tour to Vaxholm and back. It was a 2:45 tour through the Stockholm archipelago, stopping briefly at Vaxholm and then returning to Stockholm. You could stay in Vaxholm for 90 minutes and return on another boat, but that was cutting it a little too close for us. We would return around 3PM, assuming no issues, and our last shuttle was scheduled for 4:30PM.
Our guide did a terrific job narrating as we sailed, switching back and forth between Swedish and English - a skill that has always amazed me. Here are a few of the sights.
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| This area is called Nacka Strand and the fountain is known as God our Father on the Rainbow |
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| This was originally an optical telegraph office that used Morse code to send light flashes to another relay station and so on until electrical telegraphs were installed |
The housing on the multitude of islands in the archipelago was very interesting. There are so many picturesque homes with incredible views that it boggles the mind. But, for some of these houses, where perhaps there are only two or three on an island, it means everything comes by boat, and winters can be isolating.
After about 85 minutes, we arrived at Vaxholm. The Vaxholm Castle stands on an islet adjacent to the city center.
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| The castle was built in 1549 to defend Stockholm |
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| After a brief stop to unload and load a few passengers, we made the 80-minute trip back to Stockholm |
After arriving back in Stockholm, we made the walk to the Museum of Spirits. This has nothing to do with ghosts and everything to do with adult beverages.
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| Walking over the bridge to get to the museum area |
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| These are the other two gods guarding the bridge - see yesterday's post for more |
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| This direction sign shows a fraction of the places to visit on this island |
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| We followed the signs into the garden |
We arrived at the Museum of Spirits after a nice walk. They have three exhibitions going on - they are art from Absolut - Sweden's vodka distiller, a gin exhibit, and an exhibit on the drinking culture in Sweden.
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| This was the only art piece I captured - the rest was a little too avant-garde for us |
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| The next exhibit was all about gin |
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| They had hundreds of varieties on display as well as tons of botanicals and other flavoring agents |
The rest of the museum was modestly interesting but not too photogenic.
We left the museum and felt a couple of light raindrops. We walked to the nearest stop for the hop-on / hop-off bus and caught a ride back to the opera house. We arrived just as the shuttle bus was departing. Lucky for us, the driver saw us waving as we hustled from bus to bus and he picked us up.
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| We passed this fountain (actually, there are two of them) on the wall of the palace the last two days and finally got a photo of it today |
We got back on the ship and headed to our room. We saw this outside our window.
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| The cool kids get to dock - the others have to tie off on buoys and tender in |
After relaxing a bit, we hit the seafood extravaganza in the World Cafe. We enjoyed calamari, salmon, crab cakes, shrimp, and more. We also started our sail away through the Stockholm archipelago.
We had been blessed with three beautiful days in Stockholm, but the weather gods got their revenge as we sailed out through a pretty good downpour.
But then, the skies broke and the sun returned for a beautiful tour through the archipelago.
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| Fredriksborg Fortress |
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| These three freeloaders were hitching a ride and being lazy |
Our third cruise has commenced - Scenic Scandinavia - and we're on the way back to Mariehamn, Åland Islands tomorrow. I am completely amazed that we received a notice that we are changing time tonight to UTC+3 - an hour ahead - for the
one day in the Åland Islands. Seriously. On the Viking Homelands, OK, I get it - change the time before a sea day, then you're on Åland Islands time, then change back before Stockholm. But going this direction, there is no sea day to adjust, so we're just flipping forward tonight, and will flip back an hour either tomorrow night or on the sea day. Either way, it would be much better for everyone involved to just keep ship's time at UTC+2 and tell people to use a watch and ignore clocks in port. But what do I know?
On a totally unrelated note, we have six cases of COVID on the ship already. Seriously, since the world cruise, each embarkation has brought COVID on the ship. The COVID carriers in Bergen got to Arlona and we lost ten days together. Therefore, I will be wearing a KN95 mask for the next several days until all the infected masses get their butts locked up and the rest of us are safe to continue the cruise. I don't want to risk not being able to finish this cruise with Arlona and not being able to fly home at the end. We're dining away from everyone else because we don't know who is next to get locked up on deck three. It's nuts, but that's the current situation.
Since we're sailing essentially north through the archipelago, we were treated to a beautiful view off the deck tonight. It was a nice send-off and beginning for this cruise.
Tomorrow, Mariehamn, Åland Islands for the second time in five days.
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