Stockholm Sweden

You know that the cruise is coming to an end when there is a traffic jam in the laundry room. I spent the last 2 hours washing and drying clothes; no one wants to pack dirty clothes for the trip home. Tonight is our last formal night and tomorrow we pack up. It’s hard to believe that the cruise is almost over. We have an additional 3 days in Copenhagen.

Yesterday, we had a sea day, which was what we needed to recharge our batteries (bodies). Had bridge lessons in the morning and a duplicate game in the afternoon. I had to play, and I must say it is humbling when I am paired up with a really good player. Gladly, they are happy to even play with me, who plays virtually no conventions. While we were traveling to Stockholm, our course took us through hundreds of islands, both small and big, and some had houses. It looked just like the San Juan and Gulf Islands! We could have been in the Pacific Northwest.

Yesterday, we docked in Stockholm at around 5 pm. We each had a canal excursion scheduled for the evening, but at the last minute we were scrubbed because they were overbooked and there wasn’t room for us. We can’t complain, though as we have had more excursions than we thought we would get.

Today, we each had a morning excursion to Stockholm. It was a brief tour by bus and only stopped for picture opportunities. The weather was cool, windy and overcast. The old town is a medieval city and there are hundreds of islands, rivers, bridges and canals. It is a very beautiful and clean city, mixing barocco architecture with more modern architecture. Since the ship was scheduled to depart at 3 pm, we were not able to stop and see most of the important sights. Didn’t get too much history of the town from the guide as her commentary was pretty lame. She was far and away the weakest guide we have had on this trip.

Miscellaneous thoughts: we never sat on the verandah as it was just too cold and windy. We look forward to taking another cruise on Regent as we have really enjoyed the room, the ship and the people. This has been a most enjoyable cruise; it you had asked me before this cruise if I would want to go to the Baltic countries, I would have said what for. It has been a special trip and I appreciate the people and culture of the countries we have visited. The highlight of the trip for us has been Berlin and St. Petersburg. Both Michael and I feel these are places we would like to someday visit again, and spend more time exploring.

Our next stop is Copenhagen.