Even self imposed rules were meant to the broken, right? Using a train on this leg is not possible. So cruise boat it is! Complete with a shopping promenade, casino, night club & stacks of restaurants. The ticket was cheap, but it meant our tiny cabin was in the right down in the belly of the ship, on the lowest floor, no window and under the car deck. We estimated that we were on the waterline or below.
Check-in & boarding was a smooth process. Just before departure at 4.45pm, we headed up to the sun deck, found some ciders and set up camp for the next few hours. The scenery as we cruised through the archipelago to the open ocean was serene. Little islands, rocky out crops and cute houses. What a treat this was!
As the sun went down, we also descended a few floors down, in search of dinner. We found an Italian restaurant that had good gluten free options. Bevan had the pork belly with gnocchi while Steph had the mushroom risotto. And some wine. Why not, we're on holidays after all!
We were both worried about the potential for sea-sickness, particularly when we descended into the 'grotto' where our cabin was. But we had some medication that seemed to be effective so far. We climbed into our single bunk beds with the thought of a good nights sleep ahead. However, we both woke around midnight, Steph nauseous, time for more meds and Bevan ready to depart to the higher decks. There was a continual noise which I imagined to be the waves slamming against the side of the ship and a continual whistling noise. It was a little unsettling. But we had to put the anxiety aside and get back to sleep.
Upon waking the next morning, we got ourselves ready and headed up to find some breakfast. It was only now that we realised that Helsinki is an hour ahead of Stockholm and we were half an hour away from arrival. It was a speedy trip around the buffet!
We packed ourselves up and headed into the overcast mid-morning of Helsinki. The cathedrals staring down at us, we can't wait to get out and explore.
