Helsinki and Stockholm

Helsinki and Stockholm, July 13-15

We had booked a shore excursion for Helsinki titled, “Helsinki by Land and Sea.” We began our tour by taking a brief bus ride to the pier, where we boarded a sightseeing boat and cruised around the Helsinki archipelago. We saw some lovely islands, an interesting fortification, and the only remaining Finnish submarine. 

After returning from our cruise, we had about a half hour of free time in the lively Market Square, which was brimming with fresh produce--colorful berries and enormous, glossy, dark cherries the size of ping pong balls. 

We were focused on first obtaining some decent caffeine, which we accomplished at a market stand also offering delicious local raspberry filled donuts. With our remaining free time, we sought out to find a “friend” for Ewan, as it has become our little tradition to purchase him a small stuffed animal from each new country he visits. After a fair amount of deliberation amidst the plentiful selection, he decided on a fluffy husky dog, whom he dubbed “Finn.” We met our tour guide at a large Ferris wheel on the edge of the dock, where we boarded our coach and headed for the rest of the tour, which took us past city highlights, and made two brief stops: one at Senate Square, where we viewed the large, elegant Lutheran cathedral from the steps. Our next stop was at the famous Sibelius monument, honoring this famous, Finnish composer. 

Lutheran cathedral at Senate Square

Sibelius Monument

After these stops, the tourbus was set to return to the ship, but they allowed passengers who wished to stay in town to get off the bus. Gavin, Ewan and I chose to get off and spend a couple more hours exploring, while Joyce and David returned to the ship. The three of us found a cute cafe along the esplanade where we had a very mayonnaisey sandwich (they really love the stuff in Scandinavia, much to Ewan’s disgust), then we walked around for a couple of hours, including a return to the market, before catching the shuttle back to the ship for dinner and the evening’s entertainment.

The next morning we arrived around 10:00 AM in Stockholm, Sweden. We sailed in through a narrow channel in the archipelago which was obscenely picturesque. We were thrilled to see blue skies, puffy white clouds and sunshine, as most of the weather we had encountered so far had been overcast, grey, and in Russia, downright chilly. The blue skies set the background for the gorgeous, lush green islands, dotted with charming, brick red cottages with bright white trim, most of which had their own private dock with a boat secured in the glassy water.

We had booked a shore excursion that day, but unfortunately decided that we wanted to skip it, but only after the cancellation deadline. No matter, on a vacation time is more important, and we had precious few hours in Stockholm, so we wanted to make the most of it. We had been in contact with my friend and colleague, Donna Smithwick, who also happened to be in Stockholm visiting her daughter. 

Donna and Me

She had offered to meet up with us and show us around. Had we done the shore excursion that morning, we would have had very little time with her, so we skipped it in favor of meeting her, which was a good decision!

Her daughter helped us to figure out a good central meeting point at Hötorget Square, where we found each other around 11:00 AM. From there, we walked along a pedestrian shopping district through Gamla Stan (the old town) and headed towards the water where we caught a ferry to Djurgarden Island. There we headed to Skansen, which is the original open air natural history museum in Sweden. It’s an expansive, 75 acre preserve where there are 150 pre Industrial Revolution houses, brought from all over Sweden to show what life was like in the good ol’ days. They even have people dressed in period clothing performing everyday tasks, for example, we watched someone milking a goat. 

It is also a zoo housing many Scandinavian animals including wolves, bears, seals, reindeer as well as farm animals. 

It’s also very hilly, and offers wonderful views of the city. We hiked the hilly paths for hours, until it was time to head back to our ship, grab some dinner, and deliver Ewan to Grandma and Grandpa so we could head off on our evening shore excursion. We grabbed a handy Uber car (much less expensive than the pricey Stockholm taxis).

Once again, thanks to my generous in-laws, we were able to take advantage of their presence and willingness to babysit so we could experience something not so kid-friendly. We joined about a dozen other adventurous cruise passengers and boarded the bus heading back toward the old town, and our guide AnnaSara let us into the Old Parliament building, where we met the two other guides, Frederick and Linda, who led us to climb seven or eight flights of stairs before ducking into an attic space that had been transformed into the “launch point” of the tour. The dim, rustic attic space housed all of the gear; dozens of helmets and harnesses hung from metal hooks attached to the  exposed rafters. 

The three guides helped everyone gear up and then we climbed up a metal ladder and onto the roof. We emerged onto a small, metal platform with railings for our safety orientation. There we were all taught how to secure our carabiners (which were fastened to our harnesses) to the metal glider attached to the cable that ran alongside the metal walkways atop the roof. We had been worried, as there had been a sudden raincloud that had opened up a couple of hours prior, and we thought our view would be obscured by dark clouds, but as luck would have it, the storm blew over leaving the sun to caress the edges of the remaining grey clouds with lovely golden hued contour, tinting them a delicious, shade of peach. The damp air felt clean and fresh, as we took in the amazing 360° view. 

We stood for five or ten minutes on that first platform, listening to our knowledgeable and entertaining guide Linda share fascinating stories about the history of the two large cathedrals below, as well as the Swedish royal family. We then moved along the narrow, perforated, non-slip, metal walkway, holding our harnesses like dogs on leashes as we guided them along the cables, giving them little nudges at each junction. After the first leg of the rectangular path, we ascended a ladder-like stairway up the slope of the roof, then we hung a right to walk along the next ridge. 

We moved slowly, stopping to snap photos, clutching our iPhones with a death grip, knowing they would never survive the 120 foot drop if the unthinkable happened (no SLRs to throw off our balance on this excursion!) Our guides continued to stop us at specific junctions, so they could share the significance of certain buildings, and tell entertaining stories. We spent an hour up there, but couldn’t believe how quickly the time went and were so sad to have to come down. The good news is, the tour continued from the ground as we walked all around the Old Town, our knowledgeable guide sharing more fascinating tidbits about this beautiful city. If you are ever in Stockholm, we HIGHLY recommend you check out this unforgettable tour, as you don’t have to be a cruise passenger to partake.

The next day we awoke early as all five of us were heading for a tour of the Vasa Museum. This museum is dedicated to it’s most notorious shipwreck. There we learned all about this fascinating story. In 1628, this magnificent vessel set sail from the Stockholm harbor. The king had spared no expense to show off his power, and the ship boasted dozens of splendid wooden carved and painted statues, and not one, but two massive gun decks with an unheard of 64 cannons on board. Twenty minutes and 1400 yards into her maiden voyage, a gust of wind caught her broad sails, and with her top-heavy profile and overloaded gun decks, she capsized as water poured into her open gun ports, and she sank, killing 40-50 people. There she stayed, 100 feet below for over 300 years, until she was located and salvaged in the late 1950s (a process which took many, many years). Most remarkable was how incredibly well preserved she was, due to the low salinity of the brackish Baltic water, which couldn’t support “shipworm” a certain breed of clam which consumed wooden material in warmer, saltier waters. She still had to undergo 17 years of being sprayed with preservatives to release her water and get her into pristine, showy condition.

Intricately carved statues on the Vasa

Vasa's stern, king's coat of arms

An image showing what the Vasa's stern would have looked like in 1628

Soldier, concentrating on firing his weapon

After our visit to the museum, our tour continued on past more notable city sights, and was due to head back to the ship several hours before we were to set sail. 

As in Helsinki, Gavin and I elected to part ways with the tour, and so the bus driver dropped us off, along with a few other passengers, near the Royal Palace. We sent a toured-out Ewan back with Grandma and Grandpa. Gavin and I headed back to the old town, happy to explore and snap photos at our own pace, unrestricted by the rigid time limits of the strict tour guide. We stopped at a lovely cafe (with free wifi!) where we enjoyed a drink and a snack, then continued to walk around and eventually decided that we would just make our way back to the ship on foot, seeing that it was only a couple miles from where we were. Upon returning to the ship, we rested for a bit that afternoon, and then headed to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa.

Enjoying a snack and free wifi

Beautiful Baltic sunset from our balcony