Monday, May 25th
Nick and I awoke at 7am. It was as light as noonday. We started our day off with a run in the gym, a nice buffet breakfast, and then we prepared for our 9am disembarkment into Stockholm. I had just about every detail planned out for the day. We wanted to see the Vasa Museum first, followed by Skansen open-air museum, and then a walk through Old Town.
Our view from the breakfast buffet.
Nick and I were some of the first people off the boat. We were definitely the first to the ferry that would take us to the Vasa Museum. We waited 30 minutes for others to arrive so the boat was full.
A crazy, old Russian couple tried their hardest to crowd everyone on the boat, and in line at the museum. I don't know how, but it worked. I think Nick was taking notes....:)
The Vasa museum was pretty spectacular. We watched a 20 minute video on the history of the Vasa boat. It sailed for only 40 minutes into its voyage in 1628 because it was too top heavy. After it caught a gust of wind, it quickly took on too much water and sank. It sat at the bottom of the sea for 333 years.
We walked over to Skansen, and Nick quickly informed me that he didn't want anything to do with Skansen. Haha! So, instead we waited for the hop-on, hop-off boat for an hour. (It was supposed to run every 20 minutes.)
We finally arrived at our destination - Old Town. The changing of the guard was taking place. There weren't clear markings as to where tourists should stand...so they stood in them middle of the street. A military member would have to clear the road every 2 minutes to make room for the parade of horses prancing by.
After we were nearly run over a few times, we marched away from the parade to the small backstreets of Old Town.
We came across one of the smallest statues in Copenhagen. Every year, little old ladies make knit hats and scarves for the statue.
For lunch, we stopped at a restaurant that looked like mostly locals were eating. We waited for 20 minutes to be served. The waiter finally came out, after I had asked for a menu several times. I picked my belongings up and left. We headed down the street to one of the top rated restaurants in Copenhagen: The Hairy Pig. The NICEST gentlemen waited on us. He was so friendly! Such a difference between the first and second restaurant. We both ordered the hot dog, and some tapas.
This was THE most amazing hot dog I've ever had in my life. Hands down.
Our tapas were pretty good, but I wished I had ordered a second hot dog.
We walked a little farther into Old Town. Nick stopped at a grocery store to get some treats, and I was stopped in the square by a group of people that recognized me from the Crescendo performance. Ha!
We walked a bit farther through town...
The port used to start here before they added land to this island.
We stopped at a little cafe for a quick coffee. I love how they say bluberry, "Blabar"
"Dricks"
We walked over to the bus stop, in hopes that the bus would be faster than the boat. 45 minutes later, the bus arrived. Oy! We could have walked there at the same pace!
We made it back on the boat before they left! We got a sweet view of Stockholm from the top deck as we were leaving.
Riding through the archipelago was magical! There are over 25, 000 islands.
The capitain of the boat blew his horn at this sail boat as we rode by them.
It was a pretty impressive site. I can't imagine what they must have thought about the 6 cruise lines blowing past them at dusk.
One of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen!
We liked Stockholm, but I think we were both more excited to see Estonia, since Nick had just been there in April. I was super excited to have him lead a tour for once! I could just focus on taking pictures!
That evening, there was a 70s party held in the centrum. Topi, our cruise director, was leading the dancing. We, unfortunately, were WAY to tired, and retired to our room before the sun actually set.
Stockholm was nice, but I was excited for Estonia!
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