Monday 25th May Stockholm – Tuesday 26th May At Sea

Monday 25^th May Stockholm

On our first cruise the Captain was interviewed and when asked what his favourite port was he answered Stockholm: we now know why!

We knew the sail into Stockholm was billed as impressive through the archipelago of Stockholm. Fortunately Sweden is on CET so we gained an hour from Estonia on WET. So we got up just after 5am and watched the ship sail towards Stockholm in crystal clear conditions.

Very difficult to choose a picture to show the amazing view of the many islands we passed on the way from the Baltic to Stockholm: this shows one of the many 'floating bridges'.

We eventually berthed at 8am and we were off to the city centre on the first shuttle bus, which went along the city waterfront.

to drop us us next to the Royal Palace.

Stockholm is built on a series of island connected either by bridge of ferry. The island of Gamla Stan is where most of the historic buildings are located and we enjoyed wandering along the cobbled streets

and looking at some beautiful old buildings. This one, the House of the Nobility is meant to be the most attractive building.

Of course we had to visit the central station which is impressively large.

We also crossed to the main shopping area and looked around their 'John Lewis' called Ahlens and got the distinct impression that shopping is expensive in Sweden!

After six days exploring ashore we were flagging so headed back to the ship for lunch and an afternoon by the pool.

Glad we saw the sail in in the morning so we can enjoy dinner at our usual time and then the show called 'Blame it on the Boogie' performed by the Headliners. We enjoyed this show last time we saw it and just the same this time. The cast obviously enjoyed performing it and that reflected in the performance. Weather not so good for the sail away as it is dull but improved and we had a wonderful sunset at 10pm as we re entered the Baltic.

May 26^th At Sea

A well deserved day at sea. This cruise is unusually port heavy with only 4 sea days in a two week cruise, and these are all single days fairly well spread out.

IG was REALLY looking forward to visiting the Russian Bazaar of expensive tack! She has already bought too much in Saint Petersburg but IB is sure that will not stop her spending more, but she resisted! The lack of Roubles has not been a problem: they all took US Dollars or Euros. We were unable to buy Roubles on the island as ' the exchange rate is too unstable'!

A bit of swimming, bit of walking, bit of eating but a lot of lazing is the order of the day.