Sweden to Finland

Our first night on the ship we sailed from Sweden to Finland. It is pretty convenient to be traveling between countries while sleeping comfortably in a bed rather than on a train or a bus. In the morning we woke up to an amazing room service breakfast and fresh coffee delivered to the bedside (it was wonderful!). I had ordered breakfast fruit-couscous and Dan ordered eggs and waffles with strawberries and cream. Somehow they missed the waffle part and just brought the dessert. We debated if we should call them because we were still uncomfortable with the whole pager-butler set up. 

After breakfast we did yoga led by an Australian woman who told Dan he had the flexibility of an old man. He took it well and I figured it was good leverage to get him to keep coming to yoga with me!


Mid morning we gathered for the group sail excursion around Helsinki. First we toured by bus the main square and visited the Helsinki Cathedral which was built by the Tsar of Russia. After Finland became independent they changed the name and now it is still a significant structure that attracts more than 350,000 visitors a year. Lastly, we drove by the Olympic stadium which hosted the games in 1952.

Next we enjoyed the gorgeous afternoon sailing Helsinki. The tour guide was also the captain so we didn't really get an explanation of where we were sailing or what we were looking at. All I can confidently report is that we saw the Suomelinna, an UNESCO World Heritage Site and previously a fort to protect Finland from Russia. We also saw lots of people enjoying the rock beach and sunny day.  

This picture was taken by the photographer hired by John Hancock ( I took the others).
It was sorta odd having him follow the group around but
also nice because its usually just me taking pictures of Dan.

After the sail trip we ditched the tour group and walked back to the cruise ship. Along the way we stopped at the market where we saw some interesting street food, animal furs and coincidentally, there was a parade going through the town. We had no idea what they were singing or why the were celebrating but the colors, costumes and floats were brilliant.

We rested at the pool and enjoyed some sun and mojitos before dinner. I was absolutely blown away with the dinner presentation but only snuck a few pictures since everyone else acted as if a giant dessert buffet and 6 course meal was normal. 

Following dinner we went to watch the evening show where I discovered that not only were there 6 Broadway stars on the ship performing nightly for us but joining us was Wes from the Warbles on Glee!! I love Glee and it was a perfect show to complete a wonderful day.

Next up....Estonia!