Bon Voyage

Shortly after I wrote my last post, my husband and I hopped on a plane and headed to Europe.  We'd signed up for a cruise called "Baltic Treasures" through UCDavis "Aggie Adventures."  We didn't know what to expect, and frankly, I wasn't overly excited about the trip.  I really hate to fly, and didn't think the cruise would be worth the flights there and back.  I was so wrong!  What a wonderful experience!  Each day brought us to a new country, with the exception of three days spent in St. Petersburg, Russia.  wow.  Just, wow.

Day1 - Stockholm, Sweden, and introduction to our ship.

We landed in Stockholm before 8am, and by the time we were through Customs, I was dead on my feet.  I do not sleep on planes, even if it's for HOURS on end.  Five hours from LAX to New Jersey, another 8 or 9 hours to Stockholm.  I stumbled out of the airport and into our bus for a three hour pre-cruise tour of Stockholm.

This is the only picture worth sharing from the bus tour.  It was pouring rain, and I was too tired to get out of the bus more than once.  Our guide was a cute little girl, who took us through the hipster part of town, singing its praises.  She envies the Latte Mamas and Sourdough Papas who are able to pop out babies at the expense of the government.  Catchy nicknames, but not within the realms of my reality. 

 This shipyard could be seen from our veranda, once we were assigned to our cabin.

 This was our cabin, #6079.  It was our home for 13 days.  I really miss Weilynn, who made my bed every morning, and turned down the covers and left chocolate every evening.  She was absolutely delightful!

 Here we are, dressed and ready for the muster drill.  I'd forgotten about this, but you have to do it on every cruise.  Note the tired eyes.  We'd gotten up at 3am Thursday morning, and this picture was taken around 4pm Friday afternoon.  There was a big time change in there somewhere, but no sleep for me.  so tired.

 Hubby was pretty excited about the trip.  He'd been planning it for almost a year.  It took place during his birthday week.  He can hardly contain himself.

 Here he is on our private veranda, as we begin to leave Stockholm.

 There were dozens of islands with tiny houses all along the inlets as we left port.

 I spotted a flock of water fowl, but had no idea what they might be.  They were quite a distance from our ship.

 The super-zoom lens on my camera was able to show me that they were swans.  This was my first time to see wild swans.  Beautiful!

The last couple of pictures that I took in Sweden were of cute little boathouses along the water's edge.

 Some matched the houses they belonged to, others were independent gems.

By the time we got to this point, it was time for dinner and then a collapse into bed.  The next day we woke up in Estonia, ready to begin our marvelous adventure.