Stockholm in Sweden: Thursday, July 26, 2012:

I was awoken by an alarm call I didn’t request at 7.45am. We were still sailing into port so I took a few shots of the view – including a seagull which was happily perched on the hand rail.

We caught the shuttle bus into the city but I had to go straight back to the ship to get my bank card.

We wandered around before stopping for burgers at McDonalds. Karen was quite shocked at the prices but it was not as bad as she thought because we had the conversion rate wrong.

We later went shopping in the Old Town and bought a dragon teelight holder and a little troll.

Later we enjoyed high tea on the ship – basically mini sarnies and cakes. Then it was a Thai dinner where I chose the red curry.

During the sailaway we passed lots of little islands – most of which had holiday homes – and there were loads of little boats zipping around us.

We watched Sweden drift past us and there was a surreal mix of music featuring Johnny Cash and Hank Williams because it was country and western night on the ship. It was all very Oh Brother Where Art Thou. Not to mention camera battery was dying on me.

As an observation the regular cruisers – aka the pro-cruisers – will complain about the slightest thing whereas we are just pleased to be here.