Baltic Boating Part 2: Stockholm
Blog: Bec and John in the UK - 26 July 2009
By: Bec and John
By Day 3 of our 12-day cruise, we were well into the swing of cruising. Breakfasts and lunches would be taken at the Windjammer Buffet on deck 11, with the eating interspersed with table tennis, billiards or Scrabble contests, or one of the many shipboard activities constantly on offer. With the ice broken, our dinner-table companions were now friendly faces amongst the 2200 other passengers, and we'd enjoyed the first "Formal Night" - a chance to swan around in full dinner-jackets and generally indulge in Titanic/Casino Royale fantasies:
Unfortunately, as can be seen in the casino photo, not everyone had the same definition of the Formal Night dress code (despite it being quite clearly outlined in the cruise itinerary). In particular, the quite large Latino contingent virtually disregarded any and all dinner dress code recommendations for the entire cruise, which greatly pained Johnny's sensibilities ...
The following day we slipped into Sweden's capital city Stockholm - and what a city. Arranged elegantly around the harbour are some of the finest classical buildings we could hope to see, while the old town Gamla Stan is a charming warren of cobbled streets and quiet corners.
A pleasant stroll along the waterfront gets you to the Djurgården - Stockholm's island playground. Our six-hour stay in Stockholm didn't allow us the time to check out all of the attractions, but we did find the time to put ourselves on the outside of more tasty Scandi-fare - this time some Swedish meatballs and another round of herring (not red this time), garnished with local berries of choice, lingonberries - delicious! We fell in love with Stockholm and could happily have spent days exploring its delights.
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Unfortunately, as can be seen in the casino photo, not everyone had the same definition of the Formal Night dress code (despite it being quite clearly outlined in the cruise itinerary). In particular, the quite large Latino contingent virtually disregarded any and all dinner dress code recommendations for the entire cruise, which greatly pained Johnny's sensibilities ...
The following day we slipped into Sweden's capital city Stockholm - and what a city. Arranged elegantly around the harbour are some of the finest classical buildings we could hope to see, while the old town Gamla Stan is a charming warren of cobbled streets and quiet corners.
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A pleasant stroll along the waterfront gets you to the Djurgården - Stockholm's island playground. Our six-hour stay in Stockholm didn't allow us the time to check out all of the attractions, but we did find the time to put ourselves on the outside of more tasty Scandi-fare - this time some Swedish meatballs and another round of herring (not red this time), garnished with local berries of choice, lingonberries - delicious! We fell in love with Stockholm and could happily have spent days exploring its delights.
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