A Serenade to Stockholm

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Onward and westward! Our trip to Sweden was accomplished aboard a cruise ship called the Silja Serenade. It was quite a plush liner ten years back when it was built. It is still quite nice but it does show its age in some spots. Not as huge as other cruise ships around but still plenty big. The boat had several restaurants and bars, a promenade lined with shops and observation decks. Being that we are in Scandinavia, there was also the obligatory sauna. We shoved off from Helsinki at 5pm. The weather was perfectly delightful when we left. Got some good photos of the harbor and nearby islands. But by midnight, a large storm had rolled in and the waves got rather tall. The ship was just small enough to rock with the swells. I was imagining that those who had overindulged on the cheap, tax-free adult beverages might not like the extra swaying of their nighttime surroundings. We had no problem with it though and slept like babies. An hour and a half before we were to arrive in Stockholm the next morning, we parked ourselves on deck, watching the pretty Swedish islands go by, at least some of the 80 that there are.

The city of Stockholm is made up of 14 islands. We stayed at Slussen, just across from the small island of Gamla Stan which houses the Old Town. Here we walked the entire island's narrow cobblestoned streets. We admired the architecture of the churches, saw the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace, wandered through various shops and toured the Nobel Museum. The Nobel Museum is devoted to the Nobel Peace Prize, the man who started it and the brilliant folks who have won it. We also went inside the Royal Palace and viewed numerous rooms richly painted, hung with ornate tapestries, decked out in fancy funrniture and draped in velvet. Not much different from other palaces we have seen.

Our second day in Stockholm took us to the island of Djurgarden which has an amusement park and a few museums. We only had time to see one museum so we ventured into the huge open-air living history museum called Skansen. Skansen envelopes about 150 buildings, a zoo and recreates community scenes from various places in Sweden. We spent half a day here and did not see everything. Definitely recommended as a site to visit.

Next, we hop on the train to quickly visit Copenhagen, Denmark!

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Photos

Our boat.
The Silja Serenade cruise ship. Our cabin was on the 11th deck.

Street scene
A street in Gamla Stan, Old Town.

Palace guard
This fellow kept all us unwitting tourists in line.

History alive
Historic interpreter at Skansen park.

Sami hut at Skansen
The indigenous people of northern Sweden are called Sami. They were nomadic, following the reindeer herds.