Day 0 - Helsinki, Finland to Stockholm, Sweden on the ferry

There are two ferries between Helsinki and Stockholm, the Silja and Viking lines. We had already been on Silja and had liked it so we decided to use that one again. The ferry leaves at 5pm and arrives at 9:30am and with the one hour difference it means we sail for 17 and half hours.

As our house is very close to the city centre and to where the ferry leaves we left home at 3:30pm to arrive at 4pm and start the loading process. As we moved through Helsinki we were again struck by how beautiful the city centre is during the summer months. There were a lot of people on the streets, the parks were full and there was an atmosphere of holiday and vacation in the air.

 

We got a cabin with view of the sea and we were lucky in that our cabin was North facing whereas boat sails due West. This means that as we approached Sweden we had a good view of the Swedish archipelago which is a fantastic sight. We also had the chance of watching the "midnight" sun going down over the ocean.

 

 

One of the highlights of any cruise is the departure as we watch the ship leave harbor and start sailing the open seas. Although it was quite windy and cold we decided to sit on the upper deck and experience this. We had a small "accident" as I knocked the beer glass on top of the table (check the picture which is amazing timing, totally by luck).

There are many options for dinner on the boat and we decided to go to Bistro Maximes. Bistro Maxime is a relaxed restaurant with Scandinavian-Provencal ambience. We had been there before and had enjoyed the service and the food. Paula had the Salmon and I chose the prawn skewer. They have a very nice starter table and desert table where you do your own self service. The food and company was excellent.

Before going to dinner we decided it would be quite romantic (and may come in handy later in the trip) to go and choose perfume together. We knew we would be pushing our senses of sight and taste to the limit during our trip so we gave priority to smell as we tested all the different options. In the end we opted for the "lui" (his) and "lei" (her) from Emporium by Armani.

We also noticed a number of buddhist monks that were walking around and as we sat after dinner in the cafe reading our iPads we had the chance of meeting one of them. He was from Thailand and his name was Piya which we learned in the Pali language meant Love. He is now living in Pittsburg and he explained to us they were all from different countries and were visiting other monasteries around the world. We were struck by how calm he appeared and spoke and he told us a good place to start understand a bit more about his way of life would be to read the Dhammapada. Reading in Wikipedia, according to tradition, the Dhammapada's verses were spoken by the Buddha on various occasions. By distilling the complex models, theories, rhetorical style and sheer volume of the Buddha's teachings into concise, crystalline verses, the Dhammapada makes the Buddhist way of life available to anyone. Will check out in more detail in our vacations in Algarve beach.

Another highlight of the cruise ship is the promenade where you can walk and see other passengers and now and then there is a small show. It all adds up to letting you know you are in a special place and for us the signal for the beginning of our two week adventure.

 

We woke up at 7:30am and went for breakfast which is a self-service feast. It seemed everyone on the boat thought that 8am was the best time to eat so restaurant was packed.

We then went up to the cabin, changed in our "working" clothes for the next 2 weeks and got down to the bike with plenty of time to load her up, get her pointed in right direction on the ship and waited until we arrived in Stockholm, Sweden which we did right on time. We had to put on our rain gear as it had rained overnight and skies were still overcast. When we came out of the boat it was drizzling but not a lot and eventually it stopped before we left Stockholm.

As we love Stockholm, we decided to do a tour of the city and saw some very nice sights. We are always amazed how historical these Nordic capitals look but at the same time very clean and the river/sea proximity makes them great eye pleasers and that will be on Day 1 blog.

Click HERE to see all the pictures for Day 0

 

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