Mgugs46

Overall I thought Helsinki was great. Very nice town to walk around - despite the crowds today.

On a side note, the sail away yesterday through the archipelago was absolutely amazing. I probably took 1,000 photos, and that's not an exaggeration. Haven't offloaded from my camera yet, but here's some cell phone pics:

Just got back on the boat from Helsinki. Crazy day with Trump and Putin in town.

Wound up seeing the 3 churches (Rock, Lutheran and Uspenski) as well as wandering around town and hanging out in Senate Square for a bit watching the protests.

A little too long as we couldn't figure out how to get back to where we needed to be, but thanks to a friendly local, we took an impromptu subway ride and made it back to the area where the shuttles were in plenty of time.

Had some lunch and a beer and re-boarded.

You brought all those water on board? How?

It's the ships water package. We bought two water packages. So 48 bottles.

Holy crowded in Helsinki today!

Fun even with the protests

Ship has a shuttle dropping people off at Kasarmitori ... We will walk to rock church from there. Is Kamppi also in this area?

I understand Uspenski church is closed? Probably will still walk to it and take photos outside ...

Sounds like if we want to visit the Church in the Rock it needs to be by foot?

:')

Should mention these are or JS 1076

And yes, I will drink all that water

Some better pictures of the room with my actual camera ...

Room looks great!

On board the ship!

Our first beef on wick

Check in took less than 5 minutes. Extremely fast. Ship looks good, what we've seen of it so far.

Staying in a JS, so now just waiting until 1pm local time when the rooms are ready to go.

Any drink menus will do. Just trying to see what we can get with the beverage package. Thanks in advance. I appreciate it very much!

 

Have a wonderful trip!!! :D

Thanks! We board tomorrow, so I’ll snap away.

On a side note, for those keeping score at home, today’s walking total was 10.2 miles bringing the grand total to 20.7 miles in 2 days.

On another side note, sleeping is a bit tough here, as it never really gets that dark. Even once it is dark, it’s more like dusk at home. Crazy.

Thank you.

No problem. Feel free to ask away (anyone) and I’ll answer if possible.

Couple of Stockholm questions:

 

1) How much Swedish currency did you find you needed to carry? I know Sweden is supposed to be largely cashless (in favor of credit cards) and also largely tipless, but I presume some cash is needed for toilets, donations at the cathedrals you entered, baggage handlers, etc.

 

2) When you went to City Hall, were you able to get a tour quickly? Or did they give you a timed ticket to come back later in the day?

We needed zero Swedish Krona at all. Paid for everything by Visa, including church entrance fees, etc. For public pay bathrooms, you will need 10 Krona, but there's plenty of free toilets at the various museums and sites. IMO, don't waste your time getting cash. Even the street vendors take cards, and also Euros, though change is always in SEK.

We showed up at City Hall at 11:20, and took the 11:30 tour in English. They run every hour, but today's schedule was less because of various weddings.

If you are going to Stockholm, the Vasa Museum is 100% worth a visit. We went early this morning, arriving roughly 845. Zero crowds. Around 930 the tour buses started to arrive. Museum is laid out great, and there is really tons of cool info and things to look at that you could spend loads of time. We spent about 90 minutes there.

City Hall - Slightly annoying that you're forced into a guided tour ... The tour takes roughly an hour, but for us personally we could have walked through the rooms in half that time. The gold room is really cool though.

The ride to Drottingholm Palace is a bit pricey by ferry (440 sek each) but totally worth it. Very nice 45 minute scenic ride and relaxing ... Helps to break up all the walking. We did not pay to go into the palace, but instead chose to grab a sandwich (delicious salami and brie on a baguette) and then tour the gardens, which is free.

Both churches we visited are totally worth the small entrance fee. Both different, but pretty inside with interesting things to look at.

I don't know how to post videos here, but we did watch the changing of the guard yesterday. Pretty cool, minus the blazing sun and it feeling like 100°. It starts 12:15 weekdays and 1:15 weekends. Fun to watch.

We also loved the hike up Monteliusvagen. The views across the lake were great.

All in all Stockholm is pretty great. Fairly easy to get around via foot, though we have walked roughly 20 miles now in 2 days. Lots of cool scenery, architecture, and museums to check out, and food is delicious.

Some pics today from Vasa Museum, Drottingholm Palace, the boat ride there and back, City Hall, and Riddarholmen Church.

Day 1 walking distance: 10.43 miles

Time for Day 2 ... Off to the Vasa Museum we go!