Sorry, I nearly forgot to finish posting my Baltic cruise journal sketches but I'm back now and starting with this sketch done as we sailed away from Helsinki. We had taken a tour to a traditional village and had a look around the city but the weather was damp and I wasn't too inspired till I saw the pretty islands as we left and the seagulls escorted us along the coast.
Our next port of call was Stockholm and we woke to a beautiful sunny morning, sailing through the archipelago. We seemed very close to the shore and had a lovely view of the pretty red cottages and pine forests that line the coast. That swirl on the bottom right is a scrap of silk and mohair yarn I bought later in Stockholm in a fascinating shop in the old town.
Our mooring was a few kilometres out of the city and we had a magnificent view from our balcony of the amusement park with it's incredible rides. I could hear the screams of the people as they swooped down on that tall tower structure.
We were transported to the city by bus and decided to visit the city hall as we had already been here before and seen most of the other sights. We had a very interesting tour and then went in search of lunch in the old town, Gamla Stan, where we had meatballs, the typical Swedish dish. After a bit of shopping for herrings and crispbread we took the bus back to the ship for our tour of the ship's bridge which was a great experience.
From Stockholm we had a day at sea while we sailed to Warnemunde in northern Germany where we docked right next to a pretty holiday resort. We were able to walk ashore and explore and found that we could take a train to Rostock for only a few euros.
We found an attractive town with some interesting architecture and a good choice of bistros for lunch. Later we took the train back to the ship and bought a few souvenirs along the way in a fantastic shop by the port.
Our last stop was at Copenhagen which we had visited before so we decided on a casual walk from the port with our new friends, Jerry and Sorrel. We stopped for coffee in a pretty hotel courtyard and a herring and beer lunch at Nyhavn before another drink stop on the way back to the ship.
Here we are on the last shore day of our cruise after lunch at Nyhavn.
We had a wonderful cruise with so many new places seen and friends made and it certainly was a new experience for us. We're normally country folk, preferring rivers and landscapes to cities and crowds but this was the only way to be able to see so many places in a short time.
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