Sun. July 17: Our Trip Begins: Arrival Day in Stockholm, Sweden

God dag (Hello in Swedish)- The Wrights, Keeleys and Forsters all arrived safely jet-lagged in Stockholm. Looking out the window of the plane we could glimpse the verdant lush green of pastoral Sweden.

After a 45-minute drive into Stockholm, we boarded the Viking Sea and explored the ship before it filled up with 930 passengers arriving from all around the world. The ship is brand new and decorated in Nordic design. Beautiful woods, fabrics, and natural light bathing the interior through floor to ceiling windows.  Our staterooms are quite nice with sliding glass doors that open on to a private veranda.

The view from our Verandah is quite pretty. Tomorrow when we explore the city of Stockholm, we may find out what these buildings are. Today there are many boats going by- pleasure boats, ferries, tour boats and of course our huge ship moored in port where we could step off and explore the city.

 The indoor sun decks are quite nice. Comfy lounge chairs facing floor to ceiling windows for a perfect Baltic view. We just might be caught taking a nap here!

 

Lots of nice sitting lounges and library areas. The pool looks quite inviting and a large center atrium is covered with a beautiful wooden pergola of Scandinavian design.

One area of the ship, the Wintergarden, has a bird motif. They even play the sounds of birds singing in the restroom! We love the fabric on the pillows and the carved bird wall art.

There is a Nordic Spa and Workout Facility that we might have to try out! There is a thermal bath with a metal underwater lounge chair to soak in front of a fireplace with soothing low lights and when you get too warm, you can go into the ice room to cool off and then go back into the warm water. Whew- it was icy! I could barely touch the door handle covered with ice crystals!

At 6:30 we met for dinner. Tonight was a seafood theme. There was a cold seafood bar with crab, shrimp, sushi, etc., a grill station outside where they grilled fresh Chilean sea bass to order or steamed fresh mussels, and numerous salads and other interesting side dishes. And the gelato bar was a nice ending to our first dinner on board. More of the ship to explore but for now, time to get some sleep- the 5 hour jet lag is catching up with us! Godnatt!