I'm lying on my back in my room on the Silja Symphony, which is taking us to Helsinki. The engine of this enormous ferry quietly throbs as I watch the sun fade over the forests of Sweden. The green forests spill to the shore and the high pitched red holiday homes appear from the forest as the ferry changes it's heading on the way to Helsinki.

The funny thing with holiday travel is that yesterday can seem like last week, so much is happening and time looses its fulcrum.

It was only yesterday we spent the day traveling from Copenhagen to Stockholm. It was a long day in the coach but the weather was wet, cold and windy, so no better day to spend in a coach, especially if you're not doing the driving.

We arrived in Stockholm around 4:00 p.m. The room found and the luggage deposited Greg, I and the Vines' met for a drink and to reconnoiter tonight's dinner. We took the opportunity to walk through the old city which was just across the river from the hotel. The old city has steep, narrow cobblestone roads. Some parts of the town date from the middle ages. We walked down the narrow streets trying to find an authentic Swedish restaurant but in the end opted for the staple of every modern city, Italian.

The further north we have travelled the earlier the sun rises. At 3:00 a.m I could see the pink sunrise over Stockholm struggling to wake me, so I promptly got up and closed the curtains tight to secure the room from light, and went back to sleep.

When we finally did wake we needed to prepare for our departure, only one night in Stockholm I'm afraid. Today was to consist of a tour of the city, then the Town Hall and finishing at the Vassa exhibition. Our tour guide was another local and had been a tour guide for over 20 years. The day didn't start well when, in the middle of a description of a local church the bus came to a screeching halt as a bicyclist rode straight into the path of the bus. If I could understand Swedish I think I would have learned significant expletives from our guide. We quickly learnt that this guide was no fan of bicyclists and of course the natural enemy of Sweden, the Danes. I always had my suspensions about both of them.

Our next stop was the Stockholm's Hall which was built in the 1920's. The building is enormous, with an entire room covered in gold tiled mosaics telling stories of Sweden, in a charmingly naive style. The architect sometimes changed his design after suggestion from the artisans who worked on the building, to great effect. There is a hallway which features of busts some of the workers who made this building. It was great to see these workers celebrated in the same way as the architect, who also had his bust in the building. There was so much wasted marble tile left over from other parts of the building, the architect let the Italian tilers have their head and let them design the huge floor in the entry room with the remanded tile, this floor is now an admired feature of the building. The town hall hosts the annual Nobel Prize dinner in the grand ball room and can seat 1,300 guests. The kitchen which is connected by large dumb waiter is as large as the grand ball room.

The afternoon was spent at the Vassa Museum. The Vassa was built in the mid 17th century and was the largest war ship built by the Swedes in this period. The ship had magnificent carvings and gilded statues. No expense was spared in decorating the ship, that can't be said for the design as it was entirely unsuitable for the purpose. On its maiden voyage the ship sank after sailing around 1,000 meters. The ship is a marvel however the visit was marred by overcrowded conditions which made it difficult to see the ship and supporting exhibits. It seems we had a perfect storm with several large cruise ships arriving in Stockholm and just about every passenger seemed to be visiting at the same time. Greg recalled that he saw the Vassa when it was first raised from the sea in 1961, when the Alexander's travelled through northern Europe in a Combi van.

At the end of the day we made our way to the ferry, the Silja Symphony, which will take us overnight to Helsinki. I've never spent the night at sea so this is a very new experience for me. Greg recalled that the last time he spent the night on a boat was 1964 on the way back to Australia with his family after John Alexander's stay Europe.