The end of the trip, chapter 2

So the next stop was Stockholm. This stop was all that is worst about cruising: a really large, interesting city, which we had exactly 6 hours to tour. The limitation was due to a passage into harbor that takes 4 hours, through many small islands and narrow channels. It can only be done with a pilot on board and during daylight. So we had the number of hours of daylight minus 8 hours to be in port.



I chose to go to the Nordic Heritage museum:




and the Vasa exhibit:


This is a restoration of a 3oo year old wooden ship which sank in the harbor on its maiden voyage (too little ballast).

I also went to Skansen, an outdoor historical museum, filled with old Swedish buildings. Mostly, I was impressed with the cafe interior:

And the stoller parking (I think Scandinavian stollers are even huger than American ones):

The sign on the left actually says stroller parking in about 3 languages.


So since we really couldn't see much of Stockholm, lots of the passengers chose to stand on the deck and watch the passage back out of the fjord into the Baltic. The weather was lovely, and it was a relaxing way to spend a few hours.



The next day we were at sea and I took a class with Nancy Bush to make this Estonian colorwork inspired fingerless mitt:





Though I had a great time in the class, I tore the whole thing out. I will reknit it on different size needles to get a better look. The 2 color cast on was the biggest challenge, and I did make a couple of errors (another reason to start over.)

Now I'm in Copenhagen until tomorrow. I am SO GLAD to be off that ship, and to have regained my autonomy. I'm staying at an expensive, yet crappy hotel at the center of the city. Yesterday I wandered around taking pictures of buildings and other sights.


I'm in love with the orange and ochre colors on the old buildings. Not so in love with cobblestones, but at least they're not as bad as the ones in Helsinki, which were just spherical rocks stuck in the ground, and guaranteed to twist your ankles repeatedly (I took pictures of them with the lost camera....you'll have to trust me.)

I did a bit of yarn shopping (more on this below), and went to the National Museum. Last night I had dinner with a couple of gals from the cruise group at Tivoli gardens. I'm pretty much ready to come home.

About the shopping: somehow I had missed that this was designed as a 3 week international yarn crawl. Women in my group are coming home with several extra bags containing nothing but yarn. I bought a little (some locally dyed linen in Estonia, and a Hanne Falkenberg kit at half the US price yesterday), but not sweaters and shawls and socks worth. I did buy some handknits, and regrettably, some shoes and boots (harder to pack than yarn, admittedly). Maybe I'll post some pictures of purchases when I get home in a couple of days.

So now it's just a matter of making it home tomorrow. And then getting over jetlag (again). Wish me luck!