Baltic , Norway , Iceland and the U.K. on the Zuiderdam 2019 with photos

scubacruiserx2 · July 8, 2019

After exiting the boat we crossed the street

and climbed these stairs ( thank heaven for handrails )

for a nice view of the city and the park .

Hopping back on we headed to the Old Town ( not our boat )

Our boat only had room for 5

scubacruiserx2 · July 8, 2019

Stockholm waterfront

Saint George slaying the Dragon

Horse Parade

*Miss G* · July 8, 2019

23 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

I'm not sure why the above article and my comments have been lined out .

I don’t know if this is happening to anyone else but every time I click on the star to go to the last unread post it takes me all the way back to the post with the lines in it.

scubacruiserx2 · July 8, 2019

7 minutes ago, *Miss G* said:

I don’t know if this is happening to anyone else but every time I click on the star to go to the last unread post it takes me all the way back to the post with the lines in it.

I don't even see the star , can you tell us where it is ?

scubacruiserx2 · July 8, 2019

On guard

The Parliament

We sat in front of it and saw a little leaf twister

*Miss G* · July 8, 2019

56 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

I don't even see the star , can you tell us where it is ?

It is on the left-hand side of the screen. If you have posted in a thread you see a star. If you have not posted in a thread you see a circle. If you are all caught up with new posts the star and circle are greyed out. I have attached an example of all three.

scubacruiserx2 · July 8, 2019

38 minutes ago, *Miss G* said:

It is on the left-hand side of the screen. If you have posted in a thread you see a star. If you have not posted in a thread you see a circle. If you are all caught up with new posts the star and circle are greyed out. I have attached an example of all three.

Thanks , but I don't know how to help you .

cat shepard · July 8, 2019

1 hour ago, *Miss G* said:

It is on the left-hand side of the screen. If you have posted in a thread you see a star. If you have not posted in a thread you see a circle. If you are all caught up with new posts the star and circle are greyed out. I have attached an example of all three.

@Miss G

the same thing happens to me. I suspect espionage censorship at work.🙃

scubacruiserx2 · July 8, 2019

The Royal Swedish Opera House .

It's a beautiful area , just across from Gustav Adolf's Square

Walking toward the City Hall

The English tours of the city hall were scheduled for every half hour and they accepted Euros . Our tour began in the cavernous Blue Hall .

The Blue Hall (Swedish: Blå hallen) is the main hall of the Stockholm City Hall best known as the banquet hall for the annual Nobel Banquet, and also used for state visits, student balls, jubilees and other large events .

from wikipedia

Before we went upstairs I noticed this small plaque on a wall of Alfred Nobel who invented dynamite .

8 million bricks were used in the construction of the city hall .Our first stop on the second floor was the Council Chamber

The ceiling and back wall

Ceiling detail

scubacruiserx2 · July 8, 2019

The Prince's Gallery

While on the other side , a number of windows facing the lake and the city .

The skyline distortion through this window reminds me of a Dali painting

And the end of the fresco means the beginning of the Golden Hall

Pay no attention to the room behind the curtain !

The golden Hall

18 Million mosaic tiles and pieces of glass

The focal point of the room is the Queen of Lake Malaren , which occupies the end wall .

This hall is our number one reason for coning to the Stockholm City Hall .

scubacruiserx2 · July 8, 2019

Of our 3 trips to Stockholm this was the most frustrating . On our previous visits, 2 NCL ships were within walking distance at Stadsgarden at the green G inter circle on the map .

On this trip a large AIDA ship was there . Meanwhile , HAL Princess and Celebrity were in the cheap seats , both this trip and our last trip at Frihamenen Red 16 upper right . This is a 2.8 mile walk from the city . Princess and Celebrity both offered direct shuttles but not HAL ( although we were told by the concierge that they " were working on it " , a few nights before - but it never happened ) .

On the return trip we saw few if any taxis and they were full . When we asked the City Sightseeing representative near the opera house he told us that we were at the the beginning of the loop and if we walked further it would only be 8 stops - if there was room on the bus .

As we walked passed the Princess shuttle we asked if we could buy a ticket and they said no .

When we got back we took some photos of the ships

We stopped at the Neptune Lounge for some snacks and another couple shared how their HAL booked HOHO tour was more expensive and their frustration with their wasted hours on the tour .

On our previous cruise to Stockholm, Celebrity apologized to the shuttle users and credited the charge back to their account . We had hoped that HAL would be better at this port .

scubacruiserx2 · July 8, 2019

Preparing for the sail out

Edited July 8, 2019 by scubacruiserx2

renee00 · July 8, 2019

3 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

The skyline distortion through this window reminds me of a Dali painting

That's a beautiful photo! How cool!

cat shepard · July 9, 2019

Once again, your pics are spectacular.

scubacruiserx2 · July 9, 2019

51 minutes ago, renee00 said:

That's a beautiful photo! How cool!

Here's another one that you might like , the Shard in London .

scubacruiserx2 · July 9, 2019

1 minute ago, cat shepard said:

Once again, your pics are spectacular.

Thank you Cat much appreciated !

renee00 · July 9, 2019

8 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

Here's another one that you might like , the Shard in London .

Oh, that's really neat too! I love how glass distorts things. You take lovely photos.

erewhon · July 9, 2019

Those staircase looks to be very steep, thanks for all the photos.

scubacruiserx2 · July 9, 2019

9 hours ago, renee00 said:

Oh, that's really neat too! I love how glass distorts things. You take lovely photos.

I like it also and thank you .

scubacruiserx2 · July 9, 2019

9 hours ago, erewhon said:

Those staircase looks to be very steep, thanks for all the photos.

They were and there are over a hundred steps . It proved to be good training for the next cruise where we did a lot more climbing . It was also quite warm that day 82 F .

Edited July 9, 2019 by scubacruiserx2