We had a long day traveling Monday and arrived with no significant problems. Because of the 8 hour time difference it was Tuesday afternoon when we arrived. The ship (
Viking Sea) is quite lovely, and in spite of the fact that it’s a much larger ship than we have experienced in the past we haven’t found that it feels crowded or busy. Our previous two cruises were river cruises with 150 passengers each, whereas this is an ocean cruise with 900 passengers. We spent some time Tuesday evening exploring the ship; there are nine decks, with lots enough different areas and facilities that we should have no difficulty keeping ourselves occupied. On previous cruises, dining areas have had tables for 6-8 people, but here there are also smaller tables. That means that we will have to make a concerted effort to meet people. The food has been excellent so far, although of course Michael has fewer options than I do because of his celiac disease.
There are tours on land every day except one, which is a day that we are at sea the whole time. This follows our two days in St. Petersburg, Russia, which is Friday and Saturday. Wednesday morning we had a bus tour in Stockholm, and tomorrow there will be one in Helsinki. Stockholm was pleasant and very clean. It is one of 14 islands which are connected to the mainland by 57 bridges.We stopped briefly at City Hall where the Nobel Prize ceremonies are held. Nobel had no children to pass his wealth on to, so instead he decided to set up prizes in several categories, in which each recipient would get about one million dollars.
We set sail for Helsinki in the afternoon. Later in the day we had to speak with guest services to switch some of our tours which we had prebooked before I developed plantar fasciitis last Fall, and nerve pain in my feet this past April. The former is uncomfortable, but the latter has been much more difficult to manage. I’m now on nerve pain medication and as of last week a cream that has helped greatly, but I cannot walk for more than ten minutes straight before my feet give out. We brought a transport chair with us, which is a smaller and lighter version of a wheel chair. It folds up quite compactly, and can be taken on the tour buses, but despite that, some streets are cobblestone and therefore not suitable for chairs. We tried to find the accessibility information out at home before we left, but because the tours are conducted by the locals rather than the ship staff, it seemed to be not possible until our arrival. Fortunately we were able to switch the walking tours to bus tours, and are currently trying to arrange a Danish home visit for me while Michael does his Viking tour. Luckily that is the only time he signed up for something different from what I did, as legally the staff are not allowed to push me in the chair, and he has to do that in order for me to go on the tours.
