At Sea

 At Sea

I’m not exactly sure why, but during our trip I’ve kinda had a grudge against the Swedish.  It doesn’t make a lot of sense, because I like a lot of Swedish things individually.  I’m a big fan of their meatballs.  I always look forward to their massages.  Their chef is pretty funny.  Swedish actress Malin Ackerman is a personal favorite.  We all love Ikea.  There’s a lot to like about Sweden.  But I don’t really.

I don’t know what it is exactly.  I think part of it is my attachment to Finland.  The Swedes had sovereignty over Finland for so long.  And today in Finland most signs are written in both Finnish and Swedish.  Finns have to learn Swedish in school.  It just seems a lousy thing to require people to continue using the language of their former oppressors.  Any many of the country’s richest businesspeople are actually Swedish.  The Swedish embassy occupies the central most prominent location in Helsinki harbor, even more central than Helsinki city hall.  Maybe it feels like the Swedes were a bit too big for their britches, pretending to be a Great Power during the Thirty Years War.  Maybe it was just that grump on the tram in Tampere…and the knowledge that he had left Finland and thus was necessarily back in Sweden.

We had been told that we should take the ferry to Stockholm.  And I had been dragging my feet about it.  Part of it was my Swedishphobia.  Part of it was money – we had hit that part of the trip where everything feels like it costs a fortune, and you are worried about what life will be like after the trip.  But the family wore me down.  Honestly if you ask me something enough times I will eventually probably say yes.  Plus I love boats.  It’s one of my only weaknesses.

After our fun filled day in Helsinki we boarded the Viking Gabriella for an overnight cruise to Stockholm.  

We had a nice room, 

and the boat was super fun.  Especially for kids.  They had a refillable cup for free lemonade, and a kids’ room where they showed movies and had a ballpit for the kids to play in.  In a different section they even had an arcade.  

And the ship has its own mascot – Valle Viking!  He’s a huge cat that would wander around the ship and give hugs.  

The kids loved him.  Later an employee (who we think was Valle Viking since we never saw them together) talked with the kids about how nice they were, and how Valle Viking loves sweet kids who give him soft hugs.  It was really cute – like seeing Peter Parker talk to the world’s biggest Spiderman fan. 

We had a mediocre dinner and bought some impressively cheap booze from the duty free.  We wandered around on deck for a bit.  It was just barely warm enough to still comfortably be out there.  Then we headed to bed.

When we awoke around 6:00 I stepped outside for a second on my way down to get coffee.  I emerged into the sunlight as we cruised through the stunning Stockholm archipelago.  Thousands of small islands, heavily forested punctuating the sea – a wide expanse of emerald and blue.  Many of the islands had small red summer houses.  Occasionally you’d see someone on an island, foraging, or lounging or sunbathing.  

The channel we passed through was barely wide enough for the ship, so we got close to many of the islands.  It was breathtaking.  If I had to do it again (and if I wasn’t worried about freezing to death) I would have stayed on deck all night to watch it all. 

No coffee till 9:00 though.  NINE!!!  Monsters.  Another thing to dislike about Sweden.  So we had to settle for popsicles instead 

After our cruise through the islands we pulled into picturesque Stockholm harbor, and disembarked.  We were heading back to Helsinki that night, leaving us a solid six hours to explore Stockholm. 

Hej Hej (which is pronounced the same as hei hei and is also how you say goodbye in Swedish)