Stockholm to Helsinki
We started our Tuesday in Stockholm. Sarah and I donned the Sweden shirts I'd purchased the day before.
The three stars indicate the kingships of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. The same three stars appear on top of the tower of City Hall. And on lots of T-shirts.
But those shirts put a definite kink in our day. I'd bought them the previous afternoon, and late in the day I attempted to get some groceries for our dinner at the co-op on the corner when it denied my HSBC debit card. This morning I had to spend about 13 pounds of roaming fees calling HSBC, proving I am who I am, and informing them that, yes, I did buy those T-shirts and would you please unlock my card? It may have been a transaction problem. Grrrr. Margo had a similar problem with her card last week in Balestand and another similarly expensive call was needed to sort it out. We appreciate our bank's security precaustions, but my, wouldn't it be nice to spend our money overseas without worry?
After breakfast, we agreed to visit the Djurgarden, visiting the Skansen attraction - sort of a zoo and aquarium and historical museum rolled into one large hilltop site. Most of it was outdoors, which was unfortunate as we'd continued to wear our summer clothes. Margo and Sarah wore sweaters, but I'd foolishly worn merely my T-shirt under my waterproof shell. In August. As we endured harsh winds, occasional rain, and chilly temperatures that had me zipping my shell to the neck to ward off hypothermia.
Margo was quite taken with this phone booth and wanted to pose in it. How could I deny her?
Inside the Skansen, we saw so many animals. Bison, moose, reindeer, a bear. Here Sarah is in the children's zoo with some goats.
Later on we saw a real Viking rune. The message was pretty banal, basically a memoriam, but ... how cool! A Viking rune!
We had lunch in the middle of a reproduction of a traditional Swedish village. This was our food: Swedish meatballs with potatoes and berries and lingenberries; and on my plate, the special: Swedish sausage with sliced potatoes.
Next we visited the Aquarium, which had a surprising number of non-aquatic animals also. Such as these lemurs, which we were encouraged not to touch, but could have easily.
We also saw sharks, skates, crocodiles, rattlesnakes, turtles, and tarantulas. And Margo and I were quite impressed: the exhibits were very well-lit and it was quite easy to see the specimens.
By this time it was almost mid-afternoon and we had to make our way back to prepare for our 5 pm sailing to Helsinki.
Our boat, on the Silja line, is our most massive yet: twelve decks, with about four restaurants, three bars, two play areas, plus the ususal cinemas and casinos and duty-free shopping and whatnot. This is the view of the atrium over the promenade.
We heard over the PA that the Swedish Symphony Orchestra were onboard and would be giving a concert later that evening. Some of the members played for us during boarding.
Once underway, I went on deck to say goodbye to Stockholm. I watched the church towers and the Kaknäs radio tower disappear from view behind corners.
We had thousands of small islands to navigate before reaching on water. It would take us hours.
We followed another ferry/cruise ship from the Viking line for a while. Once we saw another Silja Line ship approaching us around an island; its metal-fairinged smokestack would occasionally be visible over the fir trees like a giant shark fin. We were massive. When the sun was out, our shadow would engulf nearby islands. When we turn, it is listless. Like the panning of a movie camera.
We passed lots of small red cottages. Some were clearly accessible by boat only. It made me wonder how long they must have taken to build.
Above the twelfth deck is a "star deck" that's only part of the deck. It gives a panoramic view forward that's only bettered by the bridge. We spent some time there.
Sarah become the impromptu chair of an international playgroup. Despite their lack of commonality of language, their first task was decreed to stack stools upon a disco platform. All three participants agreed ... at least until parents intervened. Like me, when the stacking got too high.
We watched the little cottages go by and wondered if they must be ship-spotting.
And now for something completely different. (Because we forgot to write about it earlier.) We met our first trainspotters in Peterborough. On the route from Ipswich to Newcastle. With cameras. Even video cams.
Grrr. As I write this it's now 9 pm and apparently we've reached open sea as we're listing to and fro. It's bad enough that Margo and I killed a bottle of Valpolicella from the duty free shop. Our buffet dinner gives us another drink choice and we've chosen a Chilean Cabernet. I hope to be sleeping soon because if not things could go quite badly ...
The three stars indicate the kingships of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. The same three stars appear on top of the tower of City Hall. And on lots of T-shirts.
But those shirts put a definite kink in our day. I'd bought them the previous afternoon, and late in the day I attempted to get some groceries for our dinner at the co-op on the corner when it denied my HSBC debit card. This morning I had to spend about 13 pounds of roaming fees calling HSBC, proving I am who I am, and informing them that, yes, I did buy those T-shirts and would you please unlock my card? It may have been a transaction problem. Grrrr. Margo had a similar problem with her card last week in Balestand and another similarly expensive call was needed to sort it out. We appreciate our bank's security precaustions, but my, wouldn't it be nice to spend our money overseas without worry?
After breakfast, we agreed to visit the Djurgarden, visiting the Skansen attraction - sort of a zoo and aquarium and historical museum rolled into one large hilltop site. Most of it was outdoors, which was unfortunate as we'd continued to wear our summer clothes. Margo and Sarah wore sweaters, but I'd foolishly worn merely my T-shirt under my waterproof shell. In August. As we endured harsh winds, occasional rain, and chilly temperatures that had me zipping my shell to the neck to ward off hypothermia.
Margo was quite taken with this phone booth and wanted to pose in it. How could I deny her?
Inside the Skansen, we saw so many animals. Bison, moose, reindeer, a bear. Here Sarah is in the children's zoo with some goats.
Later on we saw a real Viking rune. The message was pretty banal, basically a memoriam, but ... how cool! A Viking rune!
We had lunch in the middle of a reproduction of a traditional Swedish village. This was our food: Swedish meatballs with potatoes and berries and lingenberries; and on my plate, the special: Swedish sausage with sliced potatoes.
Next we visited the Aquarium, which had a surprising number of non-aquatic animals also. Such as these lemurs, which we were encouraged not to touch, but could have easily.
We also saw sharks, skates, crocodiles, rattlesnakes, turtles, and tarantulas. And Margo and I were quite impressed: the exhibits were very well-lit and it was quite easy to see the specimens.
By this time it was almost mid-afternoon and we had to make our way back to prepare for our 5 pm sailing to Helsinki.
Our boat, on the Silja line, is our most massive yet: twelve decks, with about four restaurants, three bars, two play areas, plus the ususal cinemas and casinos and duty-free shopping and whatnot. This is the view of the atrium over the promenade.
We heard over the PA that the Swedish Symphony Orchestra were onboard and would be giving a concert later that evening. Some of the members played for us during boarding.
Once underway, I went on deck to say goodbye to Stockholm. I watched the church towers and the Kaknäs radio tower disappear from view behind corners.
We had thousands of small islands to navigate before reaching on water. It would take us hours.
We followed another ferry/cruise ship from the Viking line for a while. Once we saw another Silja Line ship approaching us around an island; its metal-fairinged smokestack would occasionally be visible over the fir trees like a giant shark fin. We were massive. When the sun was out, our shadow would engulf nearby islands. When we turn, it is listless. Like the panning of a movie camera.
We passed lots of small red cottages. Some were clearly accessible by boat only. It made me wonder how long they must have taken to build.
Above the twelfth deck is a "star deck" that's only part of the deck. It gives a panoramic view forward that's only bettered by the bridge. We spent some time there.
Sarah become the impromptu chair of an international playgroup. Despite their lack of commonality of language, their first task was decreed to stack stools upon a disco platform. All three participants agreed ... at least until parents intervened. Like me, when the stacking got too high.
We watched the little cottages go by and wondered if they must be ship-spotting.
And now for something completely different. (Because we forgot to write about it earlier.) We met our first trainspotters in Peterborough. On the route from Ipswich to Newcastle. With cameras. Even video cams.
Grrr. As I write this it's now 9 pm and apparently we've reached open sea as we're listing to and fro. It's bad enough that Margo and I killed a bottle of Valpolicella from the duty free shop. Our buffet dinner gives us another drink choice and we've chosen a Chilean Cabernet. I hope to be sleeping soon because if not things could go quite badly ...
posted by Michael Nelson at 1:02 pm
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