Location: Stockholm, Sweden

“Hurry up and wait” has been the theme today. Wait for the bus to take us to the ship…wait to get our passports checked by security…wait for an hour to check in and get our room key…wait another two hours for the rooms to actually be ready…wait for our luggage to get delivered…ugh. I know that’s just how it goes on embarkation day, but blech.

The good news is, since we’re up with the dawn, we had time to go for a nice walk before boarding the ship. Stockholm is such a walkable city that we haven’t even had to bother with public transit — every major attraction is within about a 30-minute stroll. The streets are clean, the people are friendly and absolutely everyone speaks English, so it’s easy to feel comfortable. Chris commented that he could imagine living here, and I know what he means. We like Sweden.

So this morning we wandered down to see Stockholm’s cathedral. I’m not normally big on seeing churches, but this one is where royal weddings, coronations and baptisms take place, so that piqued my interest. The Crown Princess of Sweden just baptized her little princess here a month ago. Cool.

I must admit, the ship is beautiful. The decor is much classier than any other ship we’ve ever been on. And while the stateroom bathrooms are tiny, the beds are amazingly comfortable. Once all the embarkation stuff was done, the passengers seemed to spread out and it hasn’t been hard to find a good seat in the observation lounge.

We’re about to set sail. On to Helsinki…