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| Bye bye, Stockholm! |
Well, before this impending darkness and coldness sets in, I was told that cruising the Baltics is a great opportunity to inexpensively visit different cities that sit on the Baltic sea. Two weeks after my jaunt to Amsterdam, I hopped on a ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki with two friends from Heller (holla!!!!). The ferry is a refurbished cruise ship from what I understand, complete with a duty free mini mall (that people went bananas for), restaurants, casinos, bars and a spa. You book a cabin that looks like the compartment for an overnight train, with pull down bunk beds. The ferry out of Stockholm was the same as my little archipelago tour that I took a few weeks back, except at sunset, so obviously I loved it. Had a good meal on board and went to sleep and woke up in Helsinki! We stayed at an airbnb with an impossibly high lofted bed and spent the day wandering around the city. We visited the fortress of Suomenlinna, yet another beautiful and impossibly old UNESCO World Heritage site. Helsinki was cool to walk around but seemed extremely quite, and almost borderline deserted. I’m not sure if it’s because we were there on a gloomy Sunday, or if that is the usual vibe. I absolutely loved the depiction of women throughout the city though- most of the statues/advertisements/posters/etc. we saw showed women as a source of strength, intelligence and power. Bodies were realistic and strong instead of emaciated and objectified as is the case in many cultures. It was refreshing to see women celebrated in these ways.
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| The sea fortress from the top of some hill |
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| Helsinki sunset |
The next morning we got up and hopped on a ferry to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. We spent the afternoon here- wandering around the old town area, which has structures dating back to the early 1200s and is yet another place preserved as a UNESCO world heritage site. Tallinn was so COOL to walk around- the buildings all medieval architecture and painted in vibrant colors. As I just read on google.com, human settlements in Tallinn date back even farther than its architecture, to over 5,000 years ago, making it one of the oldest capital cities in Northern Europe. I also just learned it’s been called “The Silicon Valley of Europe” and is the birthplace of Skype. WHO KNEW! I should’ve gone to headquarters and asked them to step up their game jaja.
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| This was delicious |
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| Tallinn is so colorful! |
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| From a viewpoint at the top of some treacherous cobblestoned paths , but cool! |
Anywho- after eating some delicious food (this bomb.com goat cheese and spinach pastry thing is something I will dream of) and buying some delicious warm nuts tossed in cinnamon, we boarded our ferry back to Stockholm and settled in for a spectacular sunset (I love sunsets), cheeseburgers and facials/massages at the spa. Thank you Silja ferry!
Welp, that’s all for now. After all this recapping of fabulous adventures, I must go do my homework to I can head out in exploration again soon!
Xoxo
Swedish Jamie
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