Stockholm

Wow what a dinner we had last night. There were 8 of us, two Americans joined us and fortunately they understood our sense of humour. We had a great night. Each meal had a specially selected drink to accompany it and enhance the experience. The waiter would give an explanation of the dish and the wine to go with it. To start with we had a champagne cocktail that included apple vodka and other ingredients which went with our tuna tartare and golden caviar etc. Hope this gives you an idea of the standard because I can’t recall the details as we finished off with a few limencelos. Afterwards we had the balloon drop and listened to the music, ended up being a late night.

Today we head into Stockholm. Because the winds are light they are able to use the floating dock, which concertinas out to meet the ship. It is a 45 minute drive into Stockholm where we pick up our guide Cristina. It is a bit disorganised because there was a mix up with the starting time, normally the tour commences at 10, but all on the tour have 9 start. Hence the guide is late. We start off with city hall where the Nobel banquet takes place. Then we drive to another area and walk around. It seems a bit haphazard. We do get to see the start of the changing of the guard at the palace. After lunch we move on to the Vasa Museum and this is a highlight. In 1628 the Vasa sank on its launching and was salad aged in 1961. It is an awesome sight.
Stockholm is built on islands in the lake and around its river. As such it has many bridges, narrow laneways and a lot of work being done in the roads. Everywhere in Europe and Scandinavia we visit there seems to be road works going on.

We get back to the ship just before 4 pm. Tomorrow we have a sea day.