We actually arrived near the port city of Nynashamn, Sweden ( not Stockholm) and dropped anchor. This is a tendered port city but our tour ticket takes care of the tender issue for us. :))

We were in the first group to board and it turned out to be on one of the life boats that are with our ship. The ride from the ship to the port was only around 15 minutes, so not too bad at all. And wonders of all wonders, the sun was shining today!!

We boarded our bus and took off for Stockholm. The ride lasted about an hour or so and was narrated by a Swedish woman named Eva. We could understand most of what she had to say but not all.

We drove in circles around the city--it's comprised of a lot of islands so it takes a while to see everything. Not to mention there were a gazillion other tour groups. :(( We finally arrived at the Vasa Museum which houses a Viking ship that was built and sunk on its inaugural voyage in 1628. It remained at the bottom of the sea for almost 300 years until it was raised in 1961. The building that houses it was built around it after the ship was restored. All the elaborate wooden carvings are suspected to be the reason it sunk--too top heavy, as well as the cannons that were housed above the sea line.

Our guide wasn't using the headphone system to communicate with us so it was difficult to hear everything she said. Rich and I finally just went off on our own and looked at the artifacts that were recovered from the ship. I think we were told that only 25 people were killed in the sinking which was amazing considering how many were on board at the time.

Once we were done at the museum, we continued our city tour but I fell asleep until we stopped for a photo opportunity atop a hill overlooking the city. I don't know if it was the city or the weather, but it was a beautiful view!!

We boarded our bus again and were driven back to the port, herded onto the tender and then onto the ship. No time for souvenir shopping since by this time it was 2:00 pm and we hadn't had lunch. And God knows we can't miss a meal! :))

We all headed up to the buffet and got a big helping of fresh salad, topped off with a visit to the Swirls place for a cone. Pam and I went off to find our pictures that were taken the other night but the place wasn't open yet. She did buy one last night from one of our outings that is of the 4 of us (from Helsinki)--we are going to share, just need a pair of scissors (it came with 2 pictures) :))

She and I decided to take advantage of the afternoon tea that is served in the Concerto Dining Room, so off we went even though I was still full from lunch. The place wasn't very busy, almost as many servers as patrons! We enjoyed sampling some sandwiches, scones with cream and jam and cakes, along with tea. It was a pleasant way to spend an hour or so.

We headed back to look at the pictures, and even though they were open, the pictures weren't ready yet. So we met back up with the fellas and hung out on our balconies having some wine. The weather was absolutely perfect and the view was so pretty. By this time, we needed to get downstairs for our dinner seating. We are doing the traditional seating this cruise and are enjoying having the same waiter each night. However, we must've scared off all the other diners because we were practically alone in our little corner tonight!

Dinner was Italian night and since I was so full from high tea, I just had a salad and some fish, and a few bites of Rich's veal scallopini. We also shared a spicy pasta dish that was the special of the night.

We opted to return to our room and watched The Woman in Gold (movie) on our TV. Need to start packing...what a bummer!!