20120626 to Stockholm
We had breakfast, told the hotel we were leaving (no receipt, no signing, I guess it all went on the initial credit card). We stopped to put diesel in the little VW Golf. The pump gave us fits until a lady came out and told us to pump, then come into the place, and they would figure it out there. I did, and they did (appears I had the chip-type credit card upside down).
Then we headed back to Arlanda airport via 249, E-18, 267, E-4, and 273. We turned in the car, no problems, and caught the bus to the Arlanda Express train into town. We didn’t find the elevators so we fumbled the bags down two sets of escalators to the platform. The train left 8 minutes later. The speedometer for the most part showed around 200km/h until it had to slow for the tracks into Central Station Stockholm.
The taxi took just as long to take us to our hotel about a mile away. Mucho traffic. But that’s life in the big city. We checked into the First Hotel Reisen where the desk clerk was Thomas Carlson. Our little room is quite compact, in the European manner, but the double-window opens (it’s open now) so we can see (and hear) the water and street traffic outside. Workmen are putting in the piers for small boats off the opposite island.
The weather today has been changeable again. Rain, cloud, a little sun. Supposed to clear tomorrow (but tomorrow never comes, as the song goes).
We took a walk around the royal palace and into the narrow streets of old towne, where one finds a zillion shlock shops with all the usual sorts of gifts. There is also a Swedish book store in multiple languages - Swedish books in English/German/French, etc. We bought a few. It rained for a while but stopped ten minutes later, then we walked back to the hotel, having made a 1km circle. We opened the mini-bottle of red wine on the desk, called “Bob’s Your Uncle, ‘The Red Brew’” from South Africa. GOK (God Only Knows) what’s in it, but it was drinkable. We found that the bottle of white in the mini-bar had been opened and re-capped; we’ll have to point that out to management.
We’ve had our feet up for an hour. Time to go do something more. Later....
Up and out again to do things. We strolled the little narrow alleys called streets behind the hotel, window-shopping and just looking. We looked at trolls but these trolls were works of art, not toys, so we went on. We found a place called HildaHilda that had a nice set of place-mats that could double as a four-piece wall hanging. The color is right for our house. We went on to several other places looking around, and came back to buy the set.
Then we took the recommendation for fine Swedish dining from our hotel receptionist and entered Fem Små Hus, or Five Small Houses in Swedish. The “houses” are all cellars under the building next to the hotel. The oldest cellar dates to 1600, but we weren’t in that one. Ours was old, however, with arched ceilings and mortar falling out from between the bricks. The wall between the two cellars we could see was about four feet thick.
Dolores had the elk appetizer while I had an assortment of herring and cheese. She had the lamb and I had veal Anna Lindstrom. D had truffles while I had fruit with melted white chocolate for dessert, each with a tawny port.
As we reached dessert, a pair of obvious Americans were being seated at the next table. We started talked with them (from the Buckhead area of Atlanta) and found they are on the same cruise we are, boarding tomorrow. So we’ll see them again.
We swapped travel tales and world views for a bit, then left so they could finish their dinner. We strolled along the waterfront some 100 meters to the entrance to our hotel. Up to the room, shoes off, time to relax.
Picture Link OPicture Link D20120627 Wednesday Stockholm
Up in a leisurely fashion, then down to the largest “continental” buffet breakfast I’ve seen. Plenty of food, good coffee. We checked about getting a cab to the ship (no problem) and checkout time (1200). Then we sat at the outside tables for a while watching the bicyclists and cars zip by on their way to work. Mostly sunny today, some high clouds. Temp is 14*C now, going to 17*C.
Then back up to the room to take advantage of the decent internet service here (not sure how good it will be onboard Azamara Journey). The ship *is* in port, according to a ship’s location service on the web.
More later.... Later:
It’s 1600 and we’re aboard Azamara Journey. We took the the taxi (260kr) from the hotel to the pier and the ship. All the passengers seemed to arrive at the same time; the check-in line was long due to a shortage of Swedish security people. But it’s not raining, so it was no big deal. Security was the normal airport-type metal detector and baggage scanner. Then one had to authorize the credit-card for use by all family members. We then received the barrage of offers for the extra packages - Special Dining, Special Drink, Spa Treatments, Therapy things, and so forth. We’ll try one dining package at least.
We met Val & Pat, Doug & Joyce, Gerry & Naomi, and chatted a bit. Then Val led a tour of the ship for us. She showed us through the common areas and showed us some of the tricks of the place (like where the best hamburger can be found). It’s not as big a ship as the Holland Amercan ones, but much bigger than the river cruisers. It should be fine for what we want.
A few pictures were taken. At 1330, the word was passed that staterooms were available for occupancy. The others haven’t slept since they left IAD twelve hours or so ago (overnight), so they went to take a nap. Dolores and I went around on our own tour, and sampled the special hamburger - which was very good. We looked at the buffet and found it will still be available when we return from our evening tour today.
Soon we are expecting to go to our evacuation station for the mandatory drill. Then we’ll go with the others on our evening tour from 1700 to 2000.
More later.... Later:
The drill came & went. We went to the pier and waited for our tour bus, which came late due to miscommunication somewhere. Then we had a nice tour of the city. The place is made up of forty islands, so there is water everywhere and bridges going every direction. But the driver did manage to weave through the town so we could see the high points - the palace, the riksdag (parliament), museums (many), and scenic overlooks for pictures. The last stop was a 30-story tower up which we went to an observation platform. We were given a glass of wine, then we took a flock of pictures, many of which will be poor due to a rain shower that happened by. Then we returned to the ship.
The cafe was still open, with a huge buffet spread out. I made up a salad and a spaghetti dish. We (all 8) of us ate, then went to the coffee place for coffee & talk. Then we gratefully went to bed... longish day.
Picture Link OPicture Link D20120628 Thursday Stockholm
Up at 7, tested the shower (works quite well, if somewhat cozy). I hopped across the hall to the guest (free) laundry, found a washer open and threw my stuff in it. We ordered a pot of coffee from room service and skinned the fruits left for us. D went a few minutes later and found another washer for her things.
Hoooey!!! Fruit, coffee, getting things done, bright sunny day without a cloud in sight!! Living in tall cotton, we are.
The plan for us today is no plan at all. We’re going to do various things on the ship and relax. We’re underway (u/w) at 1400 today, so we’ll all watch our passage to the Baltic.
More later... Later:
We finished the laundry and put it away then walked all over the ship. Just past noon we did the lunch buffet. It turned out to be just the right time, since all the shore excursion people were still off the ship. As we were finishing the hordes descended on the place. We found a corner on the pool deck to sit in, with a glass of wine. The others joined us as they finished lunch.
Promptly at 1400, the ship got underway and headed for the Baltic, some four hours away through the archipelago of Stockholm. We now (1700) are still scooting through narrow channels between islands. There are hundreds of boats scurrying around out here - interisland ferries, sailing craft, high-speed RIB boats, skiffs. There are also hundreds of cottages on the islands, some quite elaborate, some quite simple. This is fantastic.
We all went on deck, shifting from place to place trying to stay warm while taking pictures. As the ship turned the breeze would come from a different direction and the 10-20 knot wind combined with the upper 50’s temperature makes one feel quite cold. Eventually D & I settled in chairs at the bar on the stern, just looking aft. But even that got cold, so I came back to the cabin while others went off to play trivia.
More later.... Later:
We got into the Baltic not long after the above paragraph was written. Sea state 1 or 2, so no rolling or pitching. We decided to dress a little bit (sport coat and slacks) and go to the dining room for dinner. We had a table for the eight of us. All the selections were quite good. Very enjoyable.
Then we went to the welcome talk by the skipper and his presentations of his officers. He’s quite loose and informal. Gives the staff credit for everything. After that the band struck up numbers and the good pianist came out. We lasted through three numbers before D fell asleep, so we returned to the cabin. She went to be; I read Empire of the Southern Moon for another chapter, then lights out.
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