July 3: Stockholm

As much as Kurt dreaded the thought of a cruise, he is now an avid cruiser. He truly enjoyed the ease of eating a varied, plentiful diet, going to sleep each night and awaking in a new exciting port every morning. With the right ship, the right itinerary and the right companion, there is no better way to travel. We are up, eat our final meal at the buffet and then wait in the casino lounge for disembarking. However, as easy as getting on was, getting off is a nightmare. We wait and wait, then everyone on board tries to get off at the same time. Finally we are off, we skip the line and head into the street to get a cab to the Stockholm Courtyard Hotel (points, naturally). We aren't staying in Stockholm but leave our bags at the hotel and take the metro into town. There is a triathlon going on so streets are closed and people funneled through specific corridors. We see the main sights, including the world's smallest public statute, and eat lunch at a ramen restaurant. We get tickets for the hop-on, hop-off canal boat and see Stockholm from the water. We are impressed by the beautiful old buildings along the harbor and note how much bigger and more important the harbor is here than in Helsinki. Clearly the two cities evolved differently. We walk through the park where there is a market and fair, find the subway and head back to the Marriott. We pick up our light travel bags, back on the subway, figure out the airport express train and head to the airport. We board our flight to Oslo and, after a bit of a delay, an hour later are in Norway. We take the express train to Oslo's main station and walk through the pedestrian shopping street and find our hotel, the Thon Rosencrantz.