👀Another Blast from the Past - Serenade Baltics August 19, 2018🚢

[Sunshine3601]

10 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Limited bar at our temporary abode. 

 

Back to the trip

Oh I thought you were having one in the schooner

[John&LaLa]

3 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Oh I thought you were having one in the schooner

 

That's funny. I did do a map of our condo during the early days of Covid that renamed all the rooms. 

I seem to recall the living room was Schooner Bar

[John&LaLa]

August 20, 2022 - Day 2 - At Sea

 

Good morning from the Western Baltic Sea. Gotta love this view

 

Breakfast in Chops is a nice Pinnacle Perk

No food porn, but here's a shot of the morning setup. Fairly empty if it's early

 

No real pics of our day, but I did find one of a SilverSea ship from the day before we were cousins

 

I don't recall, but I guess the weather turned gloomy

 

Based on Laura's jewelry it must be formal night, and I guess we are in MDR

 

Decent crowd at dinner. We eat early

 

Sea view from MDR

 

After dinner we went to a Beatles tribute band. They are always fun.

We ran into our friends Dave and Carla @golfpccc  We kept missing them in Copenhagen

 

 

And a back in the cabin selfie completed the day

Surprised I still have a tie on

 

Already working on the Stockholm pics for tomorrow. I have 291. Most are repetitive, so don't worry to much. Good night

Edited August 29, 2020 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

August 21, 2018 - Day 3 - Stockholm

 

Woke up to a gorgeous day, morning is probably my favorite time on the balcony. Sets the mood for the day.

The air here is so clean, nowhere like it in the world. Hard to believe it's late August

 

Still overexposing selfies, but I like this picture

 

Still not sure if this was a training exercise for Swedish paramilitary, or an adventurous excursion

 

We are just headed out on a city tour via motor coach. Boring, but I'm excited. Departure @ 10:30  

Pro tip. When touring by bus, always try and find the seat at the back side of a window, you have less crap in your way.

Also good to head to the back if the bus has rear doors

 

Finding power outlets on a bus is a plus

 

The lovely Serenade

 

The ferry in front of us. Love the flip top bow

 

Leaving the port

Edited August 29, 2020 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

The tour is called Panoramic Stockholm, and it only has a couple of stops. 

I kind of wanted to go to Vasa, but that's not really Laura's cup of tea, and I just wanted her to get off the ship, so bus it is.

 

For the most part this will be a very visual tour of Stockholm, I've forgotten most of the places I shot. Oh well.

 

Most of this post is the drive over to the park where the Vasa is located

 

 

Everyone has boats and bicycles it seems

 

 

The annoyance in the upper left is the pull down shade screen tab

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[livingonthebeach]

Wow - good times!!  Did a TA on Serenade from FT Lauderdale to Copenhagen -- loved it.  A Baltic cruise is on my bucket list for sure.  Following. 

[John&LaLa]

Here is an overview of our tour area.

 

We left from the lower right, into the city center, over to the museum/park area, back to the palace, and then up to scenic overlook located on the lower left. Pretty sure it was less than 3 hours, we were back for lunch. Cost was around $40

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2020 by John&LaLa

[njkruzer]

On our Baltic cruise on the Brilliance in 2014 we couldn't get into Stockholm due to weather.   I had heard that sailing into Stockholm at night is beautiful.   Still need to get there.  We went to Gothenburg and Oslo instead,  which were really great.

[John&LaLa]

Norse Museum

 

Now, Laura would have liked this museum

 

Hopefully we see an ABBA cover band this week

 

Obligatory ship picture

 

Open air museum of some sorts. This whole area is a national park

 

Street camping seems popular

 

 

Crowd favorite, Thor

 

 

 

[John&LaLa]

Hey, there's a familiar flag

 

This is where you want to go if you lose your passport

 

This is a concert hall, not a Beer Hall. I love Google

 

Lots of interesting architecture

 

I recall this being a hotel

 

 

 

 

Should have stopped for a Slurpee

 

 

Getting close to noon

 

Let's head to the Palace for Changing of the Guard

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2020 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

Before we get to the Palace let's step back a few days.

 

I seem to have located another folder of pictures that were from earlier.

I'd like to share one to plug some holes from the flight to Copenhagen

 

Flight out dinner menu

 

The rest are for later in the week

 

 

 

 

[John&LaLa]

Scenes along the way

 

Sorry about all the reflections

 

 

 

 

 

Obligatory pay toilet pic

 

 

 

Free WiFi is a universal term

[voyager70]

Really enjoying your review and pics John.  Brings back fond memories from our Baltics cruise.

 

[John&LaLa]

Changing of the guard parade

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[John&LaLa]

I had the bright idea to video tape, but I don't do that very often, and didn't hit the start button until it was passed.

 

So all I have here is the end of the column. Sorry, it was very nice

[John&LaLa]

Our final stop was an overlook of the city

 

 

 

 

 

Let's get on the bus and go find some lunch

Edited August 30, 2020 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

Lunch in the Jammer since not much else open

 

I had a salad

 

Then I sent Laura to the cabin to see if I could see her from the outside area of the jammer

 

Obviously you can. 😉

I've posted this before to show you can see the occupants of deck 10 from the WJ

The Aft fans always say I over dramatize the view 🤣

 

Laura's frowny face

 

Next we'll head up to the top deck to take some camera pictures

[John&LaLa]

More Stockholm

 

Grona Lund amusement park is like Tivoli

 

 

 

 

Water taxi HOHO

 

I think this is the hockey arena. You can scale the outside to the top

 

Cutest crane ever

 

 

Swedish Flag

 

Distances from the terminal to transportation methods

 

Cool name

 

Edited August 30, 2020 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

Around the ship

 

Super wide angle

 

Waiting for Trivia in Schooner

 

Diamond Concierge Miss Julia

 

Savory Bites on request

 

Waiting for Beatles

 

Much more fun when you can get up and dance in front of them

At one point George fell over the drum kit

 

Set list

 

 

 

[John&LaLa]

Goodnight, tomorrow is Tallin

[bobmacliberty]

It's been 24+ years since we've been to Stockholm and 3 memories stand out the most.  The first is the Vasa Museum.  Loved that place since it combined the history of the ship and life at that time with the modern techniques used to raise the ship. 

 

Second was from the zoo section in Skansen.  There was some sort of cat in a cage and the cage was filled with many baby pacifiers.  We were told that parents use that cage to get their kids to stop using the pacifier.  They'd convince the kids to give it to the cat instead.  My daughter was not quite 1 at the time so that was of interest to me.  I wonder if that still happens.

 

Third was a group of guys traveling around making a fool of their friend in public.  I think it was celebrating a university graduation.  Looked like a fun tradition.  Alcohol may have been involved. 😉

[John&LaLa]

@bobmacliberty I'm glad we did the bus tour, but when we go back, I'll take a cab into town and enjoy the day 

[travelingbums]

Thank you so much for sharing your photos, they are great.

[Sea Dog]

Loving the photos. The architecture of those buildings are amazing. Such great history. I love how European cities don't tear down old buildings like we do here in America.

[John&LaLa]

49 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Loving the photos. The architecture of those buildings are amazing. Such great history. I love how European cities don't tear down old buildings like we do here in America.

 

Wait till you see Tallin😉