Stockholm & Helsinki
Vivian and Adrian have been in Sweden for a wedding prior to the tour so we use their local knowledge to find an authentic Swedish eating house. It's a short five block walk from our hotel and we settle into the 'Pelican' restaurant along with the myriad of locals for Swedish meatballs and mash. Anne has the boiled pork knuckle and it nearly fills her plate!
Next, it's off to explore the old city in the late evening twilight. Viv and Adrian know the lie of the land and wandering through the historic city centre is fantastic. This is a great city to explore and we vow to come back in the future.
After a twilight nightcap, we settle into the Hilton Slussen for the night and next morning its a city tour on our coach with local expert Addi (like Adidas without the 'das') who is the consumate showman and a fantastic advertisement for the city. We finish the early afternoon with a tour of the Vasa Galleon - a monument and display of a ship that was to be the pride of the Swedish back in the 1600's - until it sank on its maiden voyage in 1628 just 1300 metres from is launch site. Fascinating display. Lunch is back in the old city and for Anne and I, it's a visit to the Nobel Museum (as in the Peace prize etc) which is brilliant.
Then we're off to our own ship for the overnight cruise to Helsinki. The cruise was fine - cabins in steerage (actually we were in the 'premier class' on deck 10) were a tad cramped but adequate, food was good, wine terrible but the company and scenery are great. Next morning it's a chaotic disembarkation and we're finally on our coach and off on a tour of Helsinki.
Is it Tuesday? - it must be Finland! Four countries in seven days on this tapas tasting tour of Scandinavia and tomorrow it's country number five - Russia!
Helsinki was great but our time was limited so it was a tour of the city with a local guide looking at the 1952 Olympic Site, the Sibelius monument and the so-called 'Rock Church' before lunch down at the seaside docks. This naturally including me getting shat on by a seagull while eating local sausage and onions (nice mulberry red stain on the back of my shirt - from a seagull that's probably never seen a mulberry tree in its life) and then a hike to the original Marimekko Shop with Anne for a spot of shopping.
Later, we head to our hotel and then dinner at another authentic restaurant - this time a place with ancient farm machinery and tractors parked between the dinner tables and wallpaper with pictures of women....full frontal nude women in the men's dunny! Ah...a truly Finnish cultural experience.
Next morning, we board our coach early for the trip into...Russia and our next city - St Petersburg!
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| Anne's pork knuckle at the Pelican Restaurant in Stockholm |
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| Old city - Stockholm |
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| Main Obelisk - Stockholm |
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| Narrow winding streets in the old town |
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| The square outside the Nobel Museum |
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| Outside the Vasa Galleon Museum |
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| The actual ship - refloated and restored |
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| A model of what the Vasa looked like |
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| Some of the original boat |
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| Gail (a fellow traveller from the tour) inspecting the prow of the Vasa |
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| The stern of the galleon |
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| Departing Stockholm harbour - fantastic scenery |
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| One of our first views coming into Helsinki |
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| The city of Helsinki from the deck of our cruise ship |
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| The 1952 Olympic Stadium (The Olympics that were postponed from 1940!) |
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| Statue of Paavo Nurmi - a great Finnish athlete |
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| The Sibelius (the Finnish composer) monument |
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| Anne looking dashing at the monument |
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| Inside the famous 'Rock Church' - note the exposed cliff face |
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| The Rock Church's pipe organ |
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| Phil listening to a pianist playing Sibelius in the church |
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| The alter inside the Rock Church |
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| Viv and Adrian near the markets at the Helsinki dock area |
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| Anne with a statue of some famous dude |
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| Another famous person in Helsinki's past and the great cathedral behind |
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