Bob and Ann in Scandinavia 2007

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Master Mikaels Gata


Local Island Ferries

We had a free morning and early afternoon in Stockholm. We lazed around first thing in the morning before doing a stroll around our neighborhood to take some pictures. We ended up at the pier for our Viking Line cruise just to check out the boarding procedure and to get familiar with the dock area. My GPS routed us back to the hotel on a very direct, short route so we considered using it in reverse to walk our bags to the pier. That didn't last long after Ann reminded me that her Big Bertha suitcase weighs over 50 pounds.

When we got back to the hotel, we checked out and left our bags in the luggage room while we went to the neighborhood's main square to get some lunch. We ended up in an English pub called the "Pig and Whistle" for fish and chips. Why fish and chips in Sweden? They catch lots of fish here and potatoes are a major part of their diet.

Back at the hotel, we sat around in the lobby and read until 2:30 when the taxi arrived to take us to the pier. We got to the M/s Gabriella in less than 10 minutes so we had to wait to check in. Our reservations were perfect - no hassles at the check-in counter. We had to wait until 3:40 to board, but when we did we found our room to be better than we expected. It was much bigger than our Copenhagen to Oslo room. It had a large window where we could look out at the hundreds of little islands as they floated by.

Our dinner reservations were at 5:30. We found ourselves seated at a table with a young Swedish couple who were going to Helsinki, touring for the day and then returning to Stockholm that evening. We had a very interesting conversation with them talking about our different cultures and travel destinations. The dinner was a Swedish smorgasbord. It started out with about a dozen variations of herring for the first course. Then there was about ½ dozen types of salmon dishes along with meatballs, chicken, beef and many other things. Dessert was several chocolate dishes, ice cream, tiramisu, etc. There was also red and white wine on tap, draught beer, soft drinks and coffee. For a buffet meal, the food was excellent.

After dinner, Ann and I wandered the decks and took pictures of the scenery as we went passed it. We ended the evening by drinking mimosas prepared from the bubbly wine in our refrigerator and the orange juice that we bought in the duty-free store.

The map of our route is below. To see it in Google Earth, follow this link.