Ferry From Stockholm To Helsinki

More Photos

Catching the ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki was AWESOME.  Once on board the ship we quickly put our bags in our cabin and headed up to the main decks.  It was a little pricy buying drinks (24 euro) but nice to sit out on the deck as we cruised through the archipelago.  It was amazing how the huge ships have to navigate through all of the little islands, most of which had houses, at some points we felt very close to the islands.  The sunset photos with Corban and Leo were taken at about 10pm at night.  The other sunset was just before midnight!  We have noticed that the nights are becoming slightly longer.  There was lots of entertainment on the ship with several bands playing, gaming rooms, karaoke and decks where you could just admire the view.  Taylor was a little scared of traveling by ship and figured out were the life jackets were and made an escape plan, after a couple of hours she relaxed and enjoyed the trip.  Our cabin had 4 beds, Corban and Leo were very happy to share.               

Home Exchange: Stockholm, Sweden

Our Home Exchange in Stockholm was another success.  We were situated about 20 minutes by train from Stockholm City.  The house was three levels with a huge nature reserve out the back and a play park in the front.  The back garden had raspberries, wild strawberries and red currents that Corban and Leo were happy to pick and gobble up.  The owner collected music and books, Allan decided that he had more music to listen to than hours to live, the photo is only one of the walls in the house.   

         

Skansen and Uto Island

More Photos 

The sun had been blazing and we were nearing the end of our time in Sweden.  With only two days before departing for Finland we decided to visit Skansen Open-Air Museum and the Uto Island, located in the archipelago. 

To get to Skansen we caught the ferry across the harbour, a lovely trip with fantastic views of Stockholm city.  Skansen was similar to a museum we visited in Denmark, but bigger and with Scandinavian animals.  There were people dressed in traditional dress or old farming clothes and working the farm.  We liked seeing the moose and reindeer, Corban liked calling out to the reindeer with the names of Santa’s reindeer.  There were traditional violin folk songs played and also a folk dancing performance.  The folk dancing was great to watch.  When we were leaving there was also a band playing music, it was funny listening to Abba songs in Sweden.

Our final day in Sweden was a visit to Uto Island.  We read great reviews on the internet and were recommended to go there by our home exchange family.  The boat ride took about one hour through a maze of islands and was very pretty, although the yucky water surprised us.  The island was small enough to walk around and we stopped at different swimming spots.  It made us very thankful that we come from NZ, the water was quite polluted there were even little dead fish floating around.  Later Allan did some research and we found out that the Baltic Sea is actually dying.  With 85 million people living around it and the water taking 20 years to change, it is in a bit of a bad state.  Such a shame, as it is such a beautiful place.         

Swedish Folk Dancing

We enjoyed watching Swedish folk dancing at the Skansen Museum. 

Five More Days Of Our Swedish Holiday

More Photos

It has been a mixed week of sight seeing and relaxing.  We have taken a walk through a large reserve at the back of the house we are staying in and found a local swimming spot. 

We took a drive to Sigtuna, which is the oldest city in Sweden founded in 980.  Now it is a picturesque little medieval town with cute shops, small cathedral, some ruins and a small harbour area. 

From here we drove about another 20 minutes to the Skokloster Palace.  This palace was privately built, the church was donated lots of land in the area and became very wealthy, more so than the King.  No problem the King just took the land from the church, I guess back then a King could do what he liked!

Another day sightseeing in Stockholm took us to the Fjallgatan Street lookout and then a ferry ride across to Djurgarden Island where we went to the Vasa Museum.  This museum is home to the most amazing warship.  The Vasa sank in the Stockholm harbour in 1628 and was not salvaged until 333 years later in 1961.  The ship is 98% original and looks like it is something from a movie set.  The museum was built around the ship and is 6 levels high.

Allan loves IKEA and since Sweden is creator and home to the largest IKEA in the world he couldn’t keep himself away.  Corban volunteered to go with him and gladly enjoyed an icecream after the visit.  Other than this we have found more swimming spot and are enjoying the sun and water.    

Stockholm

Click image to see more photos

On our third leg of our Scandinavian City journey we reached Stockholm.  It is a pretty city that is clean, spacious and relatively new, other than Old Town.  We began our day with a walking tour.  The guide shared lots of history about how Stockholm came about, the various Kings and Queen of Sweden.  She also shared about how IKEA started and the H&M stores.  We learnt about the current royal family and how they actually have no Swedish decent in their blood.  After the tour we watched the changing of the guards at the Palace, this time the guards had a band that marched in front of them so that was a nice change. The flag was flying at the Palace which apparently means the King was there, but we didn't see him :)  Next we headed for Old Town and the Cathedral.  It is becoming obvious that we have visited our fair share of palaces, cathedrals and castles, we were all just happy to look from the outside.  We enjoyed wondering through the streets and choosing some souvenirs.