h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Stockholm was the first point of call on the cruise and I have to say the place about which I have the foggiest memory. As I was travelling alone I decided that the safest and best way to see places in the short time available was by organised tour. For Stockholm I chose a panoramic bus tour in the morning and a boat tour in the afternoon. In retrospect this was a mistake because it didn't leave much opportunity to actually walk around and experience the atmosphere of the city. On the other hand Stockholm is built on a large number of islands so finding my way around in a single day would have been difficult.

So what do I remember. Certainly Stockholm is a beautiful City with lots of interesting architecture and I do want to go back for a longer visit to explore more closely. There is an interesting mixture of old and modern. For example amongst the buildings of the Old Town there is a floating modern sculture called Venus which currently consists of a face and hand ( seperated by about 10 feet) looking up to the sky and pointing at Venus as it passed by Stockholm. Apparently a body is to be added and the citizens of Stockholm are very excited about finding out what gender the sculpture is ( my money is on female but I don't know why). As with everywhere I was lucky enough to visit the city is very clean.

The pride the people have in their City is exemplified by the fact that a number of cranes on building sites are disguised to look like giraffes.

I will post a few photos in the Lockin to give a flavour of the place.

I should also mention that the ship was small enough to pass through the Keil Canal which was a very serene experience and a great joy to a number of bridge and train spotters on board. It also provided the first sight of the wind farms at are all over the Baltic Shores. I didn't find them an eyesore at all and perhaps the shoreline is a much better place to site them here rather than on say the top of the N Yorks Moors - just a thought.

Well I would if I wasn't locked out of the Lockin. Will try again tomorrow.

I have good memories of Stockholm Polly, although it's a long time since I was there.

I've been twice - once for a meeting, which must have been near Christmas time because I remember going to the Christmas market in the old town, which was absolutely delightful.

The other time was in the summer (1985 I think) and I got the overnight ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki, which was absolutely wonderful - you see the sunset over the islands around Stockholm and rise again on the way into Helsinki. There was a big market near the harbour in Helsinki, full of fresh strawberries. Happy days!

More please, Polly.Can't wait to find out what you made of Tallinn.

Gosh! it sounds like we could havea ML trip to Stockholm! Can we go in the summer and spend a few days out exploring the archipeligo please?