May 21, 2012 Stockholm

Today we awoke in Stockholm, to a beautiful day.  We were lazy and did not rush to get anywhere.  Breakfast in Sabatini’s again.  I will miss this perk of sailing.  After breakfast we walked off the ship and tried something new.  A hop on hop off boat.  As I said it was a beautiful day, the boat was not crowded and the temperature was pleasant.

The boat tour took a little over two hours and we saw some beautiful sailing ships, some of their museums, government buildings and apartments.  Stockholm is a very beautiful city.  The buildings are interesting and the city is located on several islands, so there is a lot of boat traffic carrying people from place to place instead of buses.

After finishing the boat tour, we headed back to the ship and stopped by the Explorers Lounge for some Pub food and a beer.  The weather was so nice that I went out on the deck and laid down on one of the lounges.  I fell asleep and woke up with a sun burned lips.  Not good. 

Tonight was another formal night and Judi and I decided we had had all the dressing up for dinner we wanted, so we passed.  We went back to the Explorers Lounge to listen to a couple sing that we really liked before.  From there we went to the Princess Theatre to watch the final show.  It was good and colorful.  Leaving the theater we stopped by the Horizon Café, better known as the cafeteria.  We picked up a little bit of food and headed back to the cabin.  I had hoped to sit on the deck, but it had turned cooler, so we stayed inside and watched Mission Impossible.

Still smooth sailing.  We now know a little more about the Baltic Sea.  It is basically an inland sea.  There are no tides.  St. Petersburg used to flood all the time, but they could not figure out why, when there are no tides to raise the water level in the city.  It was discovered that when a very low pressure moves across the Baltic, East to West and when it comes ashore at St. Petersburg, it causes the sea to rise and flood the city.  As I said the Baltic is smooth, but when Low Pressure areas pass over it, it can get pretty violent.  

We have a sea day tomorrow; our last day at Sabatini’s and time to pack our bags.  We have to have them out by the time we go eat and out of our cabins by 08:00 tomorrow morning.

It has been a wonderful cruise, even with the rough weather we encountered early in the trip.  Our favorite port of course was St. Petersburg.  Least favorite port was Helsinki.

As I said earlier, I cannot depend on the internet here to get my pictures uploaded, some are out of order, and others just don’t load.  Check back after the 24^th and maybe I will have some posted.  They will be with their port.

Pictures