STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN DAY 1

Hello my dear readers, hope you had a good week.  Sydney weather has gone very nasty, it has been raining non-stop for the last three weeks and apparently there is more rain to come.

It is what it is and we just have to deal with it, right?  And what I've been doing for the last month - is trying to finish my Scandinavian adventure story.

So here we go.  Yesterday we ended our tour of Tallinn and boarded a ferry that would take us across the Gulf of Finland to Stockholm, the Swedish capital.  We had a lovely window cabin that was big enough to accommodate a double bed, a small table and a separate shower/toilet.  Once we stowed away our luggage, we went to the deck to watch Tallinn's skyline receding into the distance and then went down to one of the comfortable lounges to have a drink.  

Champagne sounded like a appropriate option but as my husband reached into this pocket to pay for our drinks, he realised that he had left his wallet in the cabin and asked if he could use mine.  I happily obliged, we finish our drinks, listened to the band for a while and then went back to our cabin to change for dinner.  It was at that moment that my husband discovered that he had lost his wallet 🗮.

If you read my previous post about our time in Tallinn, you might recall that when we just boarded a ferry to sail to Tallinn from Helsinki, he discovered that he had left his phone behind.  If you would like to read more about it, please follow this link.

It was rather too much for me to deal with because now not only we were waiting to hear from the courier company that I booked for the job of picking up his phone in Helsinki and delivering it to Stockholm, now I have to get on my phone to cancel all his credit cards.  I was so annoyed, I just handed him my phone to let him deal with it.

Few hours later, we went down to the restaurant for a smorgasbord style dinner.  It is a traditional Scandinavian buffet-style meal featuring a wide variety of hot and cold dishes. We have already experienced this style during our stay in Helsinki  and were looking forward to have it again.  And as before, it didn't disappoint.  Everything was fresh and taste delicious.  The flavours and the produce were different to what we are used to in Australia, naturally, but that is what travelling is all about, discovering the new things that you have never eaten or seen before.

After a while, we retired to our cabin and we woke up and went for breakfast, we were on approach.  Stockholm is surrounded by an archipelago of over 30,000 island and islets and we were watching from the deck how our ship was weaving though them on its way to the main port.

After disembarking, we made our own way to our Elite Hotel Adlon.  Once we dropped off our bags, we went outside to explore Sweden's chic capital.

We went for a stroll down Drottninggatan Street, of of Stockholm's most famous and one of the longest pedestrian thoroughfares offering charming shops, bustling cafes and mix of global retail chains.  It spans 1.5 kilometers and you need days to walk it up and down and see everything that it has to offer.  

A few times we abandoned our stroll along Drottinggatan Street by turning occasionally right or left thus exploring the surrounding streets.

Stockholm spans 14 islands all connected via waterways or canals which you can cross one of the many bridges that connect the islands.

In between our explorations, we stopped at one of the cafes to indulge in the Swedish tradition of "fika".  This term refers to the daily practice of taking a break to enjoy a hot drink and a sweet or savoury treat with friends and family.

Afterwards we took our time to walk back to our hotel to refresh ourselves and get ready to meet our tour guide and group for a welcome drink.  The tour guide's name was Zdenka, she was lovely, warm and professional.  Although the standard number of participants was meant to be sixteen, there were only 9 of us.  All from the US, except us Aussies and to our delight, all with the similar backgrounds and views on life.  We shared a couple of drinks that helped to melt the ice and break the awkwardness that is normal among strangers.

Before we went to bed, I checked the status of our package (my husband's phone that he left behind in Helsinki's hotel).  To my great concern, it was still in transit.  

Who knew what tomorrow would bring.  The anticipation was killing us but all we could do was just try to get some rest and hope for the best.

TALLINN IN 2 DAYS

Greetings, my dear readers.  Trust you are well.

Today we are in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, one of the Baltic republics of the former USSR.  We arrived in the early afternoon by catching a ferry from Helsinki.  

If you just joined us or just missed my previous posts about this Scandinavian Adventure, here is the link.

The ferry ride was very pleasant.  The boat that belongs to Tallink Silja Line flotilla was extremely comfortable, clean and very spacious.  It was divided into multiple sitting and entertaining areas with big comfortable chairs, tables, docks for your phones and laptops.  There was plenty room for everyone so you don't feel claustrophobic or squashed.  As we settled in into big comfortable chairs, my husband reached into his pocket to get his mobile phone to charge when he realised that he left behind it the hotel😰 and so it was left for me to bring it back.

For the next few hours, while other passengers were having a good time, enjoying their food, drinks and  a view of the coast sailing by, I was on the phone with hotel's reception.  I explained to them what had happened and asked them if they could go to our room and find it and I would call them back in 30 minutes.  When I called them back, they said that couldn't find it.  Turned out, he left it in the bathroom.  After another 30 agonising minutes I called again and this time they had it.  I then asked them to arrange a courier and send it to our next destination, ie Tallinn where we were going to stay for two days.  Unfortunately, the hotel does not deal with the couriers and it was up to me to arrange the pick up and the delivery with the courier company.  

By that time, we crossed the Gulf of Finland and were docking in Tallinn's harbour.  Once we disembarked, we got a cab that took us to our hotel.  The Nordic Visitor has booked us into Radisson Collection, a comfortable and very stylish hotel near Tallinn's charming Old Town.

HIGHLIGHTS OF SCANDINAVIA TOUR - HELSINKI, DAY 2

Hello my dear readers.  Hope you are well.

Apologies for breaking the flow of my Scandinavian adventure narrative but sometimes unexpected things take the priority and you have to put everything else on hold and deal with them.  That's life, I guess.

Anyway, back to my story 🙂. If for any reason you would like to go back to Day 1, you can catch it up here.

On the morning of our Day 2 we woke up feeling refreshed and eager to see more of this lovely city.  

The room that was booked for us by our tour provider, Nordic Visitor ,was very pleasant, we had a lovely view over the Bay of Finland, the bed was big and comfortable and the amenities were all top notch.  But first things first - the breakfast.  It was served in a buffet style or smorgasbord as they call it in this neck of the woods.

I am fairly familiar with some of Finnish dishes and the principals of smorgasbord due to the fact that Russia, or USSR as we used to call it back when I was living there, shares a border with Finland and over the years has been engaged in various war conflicts thus having a long history of war and peace between them.   

In my view, the most notable similarity between Russian and Finnish cousins would be the use of methods of food preservation of summer seasonal fresh produce that you can eat during the cold winter months.