Day 08 - Fri - 08/14/26 - Stockholm, Sweden

 While our time for our stop to visit Stockholm was set for an onboard time of 7:30pm, it was actually a pretty short day due to the one hour travel time from the port of Nynäshamn to the city of Stockholm plus the severe traffic congestion in Stockholm slowed the HOHO bus pretty significantly.  But I'm getting ahead of my day's account.

After a hearty breakfast, we gathered up our possessions for the day and scanned off the ship and walked the pier to the area where the hop on hop off (hoho)busses were parked.  Because we have a multi country Stromma ticket, we didn't have to pay any additional.  The driver just scanned us on.  The company's shore personnel didn't know what to do with our multi-country ticket.  

There were a couple additional things that soured our hoho experience today.  First was that we were given last year's maps which made it challenging to follow along on our excursion.  But the biggest issue was that this location does not use the customary plug in head phones for the commentary.  Other one gas to use one's smart phone and earphones that we didn't bring!   Only at the end of our day winded we learn that earphones were available at the driver's door entrance.

Another thing to be aware of at this port is that the hoho busses don't generally leave until they're full.  Fortunately ours left around 8:45amwhen we were probably 80% full. It was then a pleasant one hour drive to the city of Stockholm.  As we approached the city, traffic got increasingly dense and slow moving.  We eventually reached stop #1 and the once shuttle became a tour bus.  We stayed in until stop #12, when we departed in front of the ABBA museum.  I purchased the tickets online for an 11am entry and we joined a short line.  Promptly at 11am, we entered the museum 

The museum is filled with all sorts of ABBA costumes. awards, historic exhibits, films, and their music is constantly playing.  I was really struck by the sheer number of young people there enjoying it.  We ended up spending about an hour in the museum.

Since the Vasa museum was a short walk away, we walked there and once again purchased online tickets as that kind was moving much faster.  Once inside, I was stunned by the sheer size of the vessel and the conservation efforts to preserve it.

For those not familiar with the Vasa, it is a Swedish warship that sank 300 years ago on its maiden voyage yards from its launch point.  The cause seemed to be that it was ill designed top heavy and took on water and sank in minutes with about 30 casualties.  It remain in its location about 100 feet deep until the early 1960's when it was raised intact and conservation efforts began.  I remember reading about it before I graduated high school.

Leaving the museum, we went to the next HOHO bus stop and boarded a bus to continue the loop which we did until the Stockholm cathedral stop where we got off to visit the cathedral and the nearby xx square.  After we were finished there we waited a few minutes for the next bus which took us around to stop #1 where we arrived a little after 3pm.  With our shuttle back to the port leaving at 4pm, there wasn't much time to do any serious touring.  We did find a hot dog and a Zero for a late lunch and there was a cultural festival happening nearby. 

At 3:45om we boarded a bus with the same driver we had in the morning and slowly threaded our way out of the very crowded Stockholm onto the wide open highway 73 back to the port.

At the port we walked up the hill and shopped at the Lidl grocery store before reboarding the ship.  

After dinner our evening entertainment was a Swedish singer Tove Holm whom we have seen before.  She's quite good and really can sing ABBA songs.  After her performance we watched a piano music trivia game hosted by Mauro, one of the entertainment staff.  Following that Mike Sealey, an Englishman did a short comedy set.  I ended my evening watching the house band perform an ABBA music set while Angela did her customary karaoke.

It was a full Swedish day to say the least.  Tomorrow we are scheduled for a 7am arrival for a short stop in Visby, Sweden.

Ll











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