Monday, October 2, 2023
We had no plans to leave the ship today. We slept until almost 8:00, got coffee from the Grand Dutch Cafe, and then some breakfast in the Lido.
After getting back to the room, Chuck decided to go to the gym. I went off the ship to the shoreside souvenir shops and found a Sweden Christmas ornament. When I came back, the room stewards were cleaning the room, so I went to the Crow’s Nest with my laptop to work on my photographs.
We received an invitation to a Mariner reception for this cruise as we did for the Norway cruise. However, this invitation indicated there would be a luncheon following the reception which we did not have on the Norway cruise portion.
We went to the Dive-In grill for grilled chicken sandwiches for a late lunch. Our sail-away back through the Stockholm archipelago was at 3:00. We watched it from the balcony listening to the Cruise Director Karlijn providing commentary. The water was very calm, and I enjoyed looking at the unique homes on the small islands.
We spent some time in the Casino before we went to dinner in the Tamarind restaurant again. As always, the dinner was delicious. Tonight, Chuck had the Five Spice Baby-Back Ribs and the Spicy Thai Shrimp, and I had the Jewels of Sea soup and the Mongolian Bar-b-Que Lamb Chops. For dessert, we shared the Exotic Fruits. We were able to identify dragon fruit, plum, pomegranate, mango, pineapple, and the mango sorbet. We also got our favorite Tamarind beverages – Wasabi Cocktail and Cucumber Mojito.
The show tonight was Harry the Piano. He was described as probably the most gifted improvising pianist in the world. High praise. We gave it some thought but then just waddled off to the room. Food coma.
Travel Trivia
Stockholm, Sweden
Ericsson Globe, located just south of Stockholm’s Södermalm district, is the world’s largest hemispherical building. It has a diameter of 361 feet, the volume is 792 thousand cubic yards, and the inner height is 279 feet. You can see it from pretty much anywhere in Stockholm.
The term Stockholm Syndrome originated from one of Sweden’s most famous crimes. During this six-day bank siege at Norrmalmstorg in 1973, hostages began to identify with their captors. The enormous charm of career criminal Clark Olofsson is considered a key reason for this happening.
The computer game Minecraft and internet radio Spotify were invented in Stockholm.
ABBA The Museum is an interactive museum where you can virtually try on ABBA’s costumes, sing, play, mix original music and become the fifth member of ABBA by performing on our large stage together with Björn, Benny, Frida and Agnetha.
Stockholm’s oldest surviving building is The Riddarholmen Church, a Franciscan monastery built in 1270.
The city became the venue for the award of the first Nobel Prizes, in the year 1901.
The city’s subway is also known as the world’s longest art gallery, with the majority of its stations being adorned with paintings, sculptures and mosaics. The name Stockholm comes from the words stock meaning “log” and holm meaning “islet.” No one seems to know exactly how the town got its tag; one account claims that Vikings trying to determine the location of their new settlement used a log bound with gold, while others point to the masses of logs driven into the waters near Old Town.
