Sailing Into Sweden
With an excursion planned for shortly after docking, we once again ate breakfast in the Oceanview Cafe and then watched our ship sail through the archipelago into Stockholm.
We had decided on a tour with TJ Travel, the same company we had used in St. Petersburg because public transportation to Djurgarden and back to the Old Town was complicated. We met the tour guide on the dock and ended up leaving about a half-hour late as she and the bus driver handed out headphones and receivers.
Fjallsgatan
The first stop was Fjallsgatan, an scenic overlook which gave us a good view of the city, although we had already seen a lot of it from our verandah. Becca wanted to change plans and head to the Grona Lund theme park we could see across the lake, but we had solid plans for the day.
Stockholm City
Our bus took us next on a driving tour of Stockholm as we made our way towards Djurgarden island. We drove through Medborgaplatsen and through Gamla Stan where our guide described some of the sites such as the Royal Palace we would visit later. We crossed the Strombron bridge and traveled through Ostermalm. On the Djurgårdsbron bridge, Becca needed to get photos of Heimdall, Frigg, Freyja and, of course, Thor and Mjolnir. We passed the National Nordic Museum on our way to our first stop, the Vasa Museum.
Vasa Museum
The bus pulled up to the Vasa Museum and our guide took us on a guide tour of the museum, which was longer than really necessary. The Vasa was a Swedish warship built in 1926 that sank on its maiden voyage in 1628. The ship had been built on the orders of King Gustavas during his war with Poland-Lithuania. Changes made to the construction at the King's request, including adding another row of cannons, made the ship dangerously top-heavy. The ship was raised in 1961, largely intact, and restored.
Stockholm City Hall
After Vasa, we climbed back on the bus for a ride to Stockholm City Hall on Kungsholmen Island. City Hall is the site of the annual Nobel Prize banquet.
King's Guard
As we left City Hall and headed to Gamla Stan, rain began to fall rather heavily. Most of the bus began pulling out our rain jackets and umbrellas as the forecast had called for rain most of the day. But apparently a couple at the front of the bus had not prepared and told the tour guide they didn't want to get off the bus in the rain and she decided, without asking any of us, that we would do a driving tour of Gamla Stan instead of the promised walking tour. So we sat on the bus and watched the king's guard ride by on horseback and then circled Gamla Stan on a bus.
Gamla Stan
The rain died out as we got back to the Royal Palace so we were able to get off the bus. The guide took us to a shopping street and then to the main courtyard, skipping all of the sights promised on the walking tour. We had only a half-hour for ourselves, so we went and saw the St. George and the Dragon statue and found a sandwich and some pie at a local restaurant.
Sailing From Sweden
We expressed our displeasure to our tour guide as we returned to the ship. Then we went down to the helipad where we had been invited to view the sailaway by the concierge.
Martini
After sailaway, it was time for more martinis. Our favorite bartender, Budi, came by to get us drinks and we asked him if he could make a virgin martini for Becca. He returned a few minutes later with a strawberry and lemonade martini for her, which she loved.
Fly Boys
The evening show was the Fly Boys, which is a group of four guys from England who took modern music and redid it in a swing style. They were funny and some of the songs were inventive, but swing is not really J. R.'s style of music. Janie and Rebecca enjoyed it, though. We returned to the main dining room for dinner and then Becca helped us out with Millenium music trivia before we turned in for the night after five long days of touring.