Category: Sweden

When we booked this cruise the itinerary initially had 2 days in Stockholm, but later the itinerary changed to 1 day in Stockholm and 1 day in a place called Visby, Sweden. It is located on an island called Gotland, which was an important trading post in the Baltic Sea. There are 92 historic stone churches around the island, with 7 of them within the medieval walls of Visby itself. This has led to UNESCO declaring the town a world heritage site.

For 1 week each year Visby hosts a festival which transforms it into an old fashioned medieval village. Luckily our visit corresponded with this intriguing event.

There is a marketplace where it is possible to purchase a multitude of medieval items including:

There are also many different events including ‘learning to braid like a viking’, jousting, and stage performances.

All in all, Visby was a great spot to spend a day.

I’ll finish with a note about our whole cruise experience. Other than the obvious challenges with sharing a space with 4,000 other guests, we were happy with the cruise overall. Surprisingly there were lots of young families, so we felt like we were about the median age range on the ship. We played ping pong every day, used the games room and library, went to a variety of shows, dances, and musical performances, and RobO dropped from the free fall water slide. We fought through crowds to eat more calories than ever before, then fought for space on the cardio machines at the gym. I don’t think that we’re cruise converts, but I would recommend this itinerary to get a taste of Scandinavia and Russia.

That’s it for this 6 month leave from work. We’ll both be back to work on Monday. Other than a weekend getaway at the end of August we don’t have the next vacation planned but stay tuned, there are lots more items on the bucket list!

Today marked the last country we visited on our Baltic Sea cruise, but more impressively, it also marks the 50th country that DawnO has visited.  I have only been to a measly 39.  Technically we have both been to more, but we don’t count it if it’s only an airport stop.  So number 50 for DawnO was Sweden.  We docked at Stockholm and, as we do, we left the other tourists to board their packed buses while we used the local city transit system.  We decided to begin our day in a neighbourhood called Södermalm, just south of the city centre.

This trendy spot offers cool coffee shops, a hipster vibe and breathtaking views of Gamla Stan (city centre), which can be seen after you climb to the top of the Södermalm heights.

We made our way across the bay on foot into the city centre and were greeted by this sign at the halfway point:

Once we reached Gamla Stan we did our usual walkabout of local churches and statues via winding cobblestone streets.

We didn’t have much of an itinerary but there was one place we made sure we visited, the Nobel Prize Museum.

The prizes themselves are actually awarded in Oslo, Norway, the museum is located in the heart of Stockholm.  It details the history and accomplishments of all prize winners and features a collection of prize winning memorabilia.  Currently they are featuring a Martin Luther King exhibit.

When we entered the building, DawnO immediately went over to the café area and started flipping the chairs over. I had no idea what the hell she thought she was doing, but apparently prize winners are asked to sign the bottoms of the chairs they sit on in the museum cafe. Once she explained that I became her mother flipping accomplice.  And look who we found…

Probably one of my favourite Nobel Prize winning POTUSes, even though his Peace prize was controversial at the time. My grandma from rural Saskatchewan went to the grave believing his name was Baracko Bama.  Suffice it to say, Grandma never received a Nobel Prize.