cs stockholm cruise 2009

we met @ olympiaterminaali @ 16:00 (i was actually the first one there), got our ticket from janna & boarded the ship. passengers were greeted w/ a photographer, who would take a picture of them boarding that they could then purchase later (if they wanted). i walked around. then, got directions to my room in finnish, then in english; went up to my room, met ria (one of my 3 roommates - janna & her boyfriend, marc, were the other two), put my stuff away, got my camera out, & went out on the deck to take pictures. it was quite cold & very windy on the deck after we started moving. much worse than what i've experienced on the vancouver island ferries. this wind was pushing me back w/ sub-zero temps....then, i look to my right & there are three guys outside the spa in just their skivvies casually smoking. ?!?!?! i'm bundled up & suffering from the elements & they're practically naked & not phased at all. i wanted to take a picture of them, but it would have been obvious. so i waited until they headed back to the sauna.

after we left the helsinki skyline behind us, i went back inside to warm up & eat. i brought my own food 'cause i was not going to pay for the buffet. peanut butter & honey sandwiches; these have been a staple food of mine & no, i'm not sick of them....although, one meal i'm looking forward to having when i get back is my big ol' sandwich (sliced bread is smaller here, too) w/ my vegetarian deli "meats", lettuce, tomato, avacado, & cheese mmmmm.......then, i went out & "socialized." i didn't know very many people on the cruise (52 people went) & all of them were at the buffet. so i ended up hanging out in another cabin w/ heydi, petteri, & ... well, people kept coming & going including heydi & petteri. i just floated around from cabin to cabin, watching, listening, & sometimes getting into conversations w/ another cs-er. one, yvonne, actually started talking to me in finnish (she's actually from germany) because i looked finnish to her. after awhile, everyone decided to go up to karaoke. heydi had gone up quite a bit earlier 'cause she wanted to "perform". janna's plan was for us to go up fri. night, look @ the song book & write down our song selections to then submit immediately the next night & have a "cs invasion" of karaoke. however, by the time she got up there, the books had been taken away (there were enough submissions to fill up the time alloted); she asked if she could look at them for the next night, but it wasn't allowed ("forbidden" - in her words).

i sat back & observed the finns & their karaoke.....until the 2nd time "summer of '69" was performed....the stage was setup in a corner (according to heydi, there aren't stages in the karaoke bars, the singers just stand on the dance floor) & the attention is instead focused on the two large screens displaying the lyrics. some of the people sitting @ the tables would watch the performances, but half the bar couldn't even see the singers. the audience sings along to the songs & they cheer loudly even if the singer did poorly.

ria was already in bed when i got back to the cabin, which is why the photo of it is so dark. so, i went to bed wondering how i was going to wake up in the morning in a pitch black cabin....getting up ended up not being an issue.

stockholm is a lot warmer than helsinki even though it isn't that much further south. there were only a few small patches of snow on the ground & i didn't need to wear my hat or gloves. no one i knew was going to the vasa museum, so even though i set out w/ a large group of people, i shortly fell behind (remember, finns walk fast, plus i was taking pictures). after a bit, i looked @ my watch & realized i only had 15 min. to get to the vasa museum to meet up w/ the cs group & according to my gps, i still had quite a ways to go. so, i stopped taking pictures & hurried along. i got there 10min. after the scheduled meet time; i looked around to see if i recognized anyone & when i didn't, i just went inside. after about 45. min., i saw some cs-er's. 2 hrs. was not long enough of a visit & after a while, i stopped reading all the plaques & i didn't view of any of the multimedia presentations (i needed to leave in time to get to the cs cafe lunch). i plan on going to the museum again on my next visit to stockholm, so i can do the things i missed this time around.

cafe string was a lot further away from the vasa than i was thinking it would be. so, i ended up hauling ass again, stopping only once to take pictures of the swans. i got turned around a bit on the way as well. the roads were a little weird in one spot & my gps didn't illustrate it very well. i was a little sweaty & a little late by the time i made it to the cafe. people were just lining up to get their food, so i joined suit. the menu was only in swedish & the only thing on it that i could tell was "safe" was the veggie lasagna, but i wasn't interested in that. so, i asked the cashier what was vegetarian & he mentioned only one sandwich (hummus), so i got that. it was good, but not very filling, so i went up again (we were situated downstairs) to get a mozzarella sandwich (which i saw another cs-er eating), but they were out of mozzarella (as well as feta, swiss....). so, i just got a cream puff pastry - very good, these scandenavians sure know how to make pastries! the food was also much cheaper than in helsinki (for details on that, see "observations, part 3" - i've updated it) & my lunch was only 59.50 sek (5.95€).

since it was taking quite a bit of time for me to traverse stockholm, i decided it would be best for me to spend the remainder of time w/ someone else, so i didn't miss the boat. so i joined heydi, who wanted to do some shopping, & stefano. on our way to the first shopping area, heydi & i discussed what song we would sing for karaoke & she decided on "piano man". she asked what we should sing if they didn't have "piano man", but since i had no idea what options i would have, i didn't have any suggestions. heydi & i ended up "losing" stefano in one shopping center, but then we met up w/ him again in "old town". it's a cool area except for the over-abundant tourist shops. although, it does give it kind of an old time market feel (except that the wares & shop facades are all modern). i plan on coming back to this area on my next visit as well. we had an hour before we needed to get to the ship, so we started heading back.

both stefano & heydi planned on taking naps when they got back; i just wanted to eat. however, my cabin was full of people when i arrived (all my roommates). it was decided that we should all go out on the deck & enjoy the sunshine. i got a few more pictures & then stood around until the group decided to go back inside & hang out by the staircase nearest our cabins (so anyone could find us). after a while, i decided it was time for me to be antisocial & go eat (not that i was being all the "social" anyways). ria was trying to take a nap & we ended up talking for a bit until she decided to go eat (w/ a couple other cs-ers who had brought their own food). she lived & worked in new york for five years; she moved there because of her boyfriend & she worked as a horse trainer. marc & janna came back & after a bit, they wanted to go eat as well, so i decided to join them....there was still an hour before karaoke time. at first, we went down to the buffet, but marc wanted hot food, so we went back up to the main floor to eat @ the italian restaurant. it took at least 3o min. for us to be seated; the food wasn't that great either & rather expensive. i only got a fruit salad (& water - which wasn't free) since i had already eaten. janna left early so she could get up to karaoke when it opened. after we finally paid, marc, this other guy (he joined us while we were waiting to be seated & i don't know his name), & i headed up to karaoke.

i wasn't expecting "dinner" to take as long as it did, so i had left my camera in the room thinking i would go back & get it before karaoke. that's why there are no pictures of karaoke on "cs cruise night 2". they did have "piano man", so heydi filled out a card for it & i kept looking through the english song section to see if i could find anything i wanted to sing. they only had 2 songs that i know & like: "another brick in the wall" & "hotel california". i didn't feel like butchering them either, but just before i was going to fill out a card anyways, the book was snatched from my hands by a karaoke attendant (apparently, they already had all the submissions they could take); oh well. after finishing "piano man", i went back to my cabin to get my camera, but was stopped by a very drunk yvonne by the staircase while i was headed back to karaoke. i didn't go back up to karaoke.

later on, heydi came back down & we decided to go "dance" - she went to dance, i went to see the live "band". the first few singers were pretty good, but when the main singer came on stage, it all went down hill. i was singing along to pink's "u & ur hand", which she completely butchered, & heydi told me that i could really sing & that we need to go karaoke-ing sometime (we're going to this sun. night). after a few more butchered songs, i decided i had enough & went back upstairs. i passed by mason on my way up (i didn't get to visit w/ him at all; he was always w/ his girlfriend & she didn't seem interested in getting to know me...) & he asked me if i was going to bed already (it was 1:30am) & i said "um, yeah"....ria was already asleep. it didn't take long for me to fall asleep either & this time, i didn't wake when either janna or marc came in (which, apparently, was at different times).

getting up wasn't an issue sun. morning either. i opted not to go up on deck since i had already seen & taken lots of pictures of the helsinki port skyline. sure it was a different time of day, but really, it's just the same scene, only different lighting. we all disembarked & headed in our respective directions....i headed to temppeliaukion kirkko.