Stockholm

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Got up. Looked out the porthole. Sun again. Yawn.

We had an early call as we were going to leave the ship at 9:15 to go on our rooftop walk. We debated whether we should take pullovers but decided against it-which proved to be a good one as Stockholm was hot-25 degrees.

The coach taking us was waiting at the cruise terminal, engine running, air-con on. Our guide-who had an unpronounceable name, explained what we would be doing. It was clearly going to be serious stuff as she was already wearing the safety rig, the same sort that is worn on oil rigs.

We drove to the old town with the guide explaining about Stockholm being built on 14 islands. It is a fascinating sight to see the ways in which the roads and railways have been taken across so many bridges. They also have a Metro system, which came as a surprise.

We drew up at the Court building where we were due to start our tour. The small lift took us up to the 7th floor and we headed for the attic. There, we donned our harnesses and hard hats then ascended to the rooftop. To start off with we were clipped by a running tether to a wire safety system that ran around the roof. After some briefing, we set off. Now, remember I said that the lift took us up 7 floors? We walked out with handrails on the initial part, the wire safety running along by the side of the footway which measured just 2 feet wide. We next climbed up a steep metal stairway which had no handrails…then we walked across the apex of the roof-with no handrail!! Carole made me look a real wimp as she pranced across, giggling. I honestly felt that I could not make it and I admit that it took some firm willpower for me.

The views from up there were, of course, breath-taking. We looked back and saw that one of our group had not made it and was escorted back down. I felt a little better at this point. We continued on around, taking photos by the score and the pictures are wonderful.

Once we finished and got back down, we walked around the old city taking yet more photos. Our guide told us that rain was expected for the afternoon and that it would probably drop 15 degrees by the next day. As we got back on board ship it did indeed cloud over and now, at 8:30 pm, it is colder and indeed raining. It is the first rain we have seen on this cruise-and it doesn’t matter as we are now ship-bound until we reach Dover at 5 am Friday. We intend to get our money’s worth on Friday and have breakfast on board, disembarking at 9:30. We should be home around 10:30-11:00.

This will be the final blog as the next two days will consist of nothing but continous partying and I shall be in no state to write anything!

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