As mentioned, yesterday I woke up to the scratchy voice of Rod Stewart. The ship broadcasts "Sailing" by Rod Stewart into all the cabins 1 1/2 hours before going into port. (which in this case was 5:30 am), along with the announcement to vacate the cabins in 1/2 an hour for cleaning. (in both Polish and English).
Nobody. I repeat nobody, should have to hear Rod Stewart that early in the morning, much less be woken up by him. (or hear him any other time, apart from "If you think I'm Sexy", or "Infatuation")
After questioning if this was for real, I showered quickly, got dressed, zippered my bags, and went to one of the public decks to watch the ship enter port. As there is no clearing the ship, etc, debarkation was quick and easy, and I walked off the ship into the port of Karlskrona, Sweden. This was an industrial port, so I (and hundreds others), boarded the buses which took us into the center of Karlskrona, which was roughly 1/2 hour bus ride.
It was roughly 8:30 am when I reached downtown Karlskrona, I walked around for a little bit-and it appeared everything was closed (since food isn't included on the ferry, I was looking for somewhere for breakfast). I (and several others from the ship)-spotted the beacon of the golden arches downtown, and headed there-but even McD's was closed (it was in a mall that didn't open until 10:00). About 15 minutes later I found a small bakery with wifi, so I went there.
After eating 2 feta cheese rolls and a cup of coffee, I took a walk along the water. Karlskrona is actually an archipelago of many different islands, connected by bridges and causeways. I walked along the road, and up and down paths, checking out the water from different angles, cute villages with clapboard houses, and small piers (all with my luggage in tow). After walking over a few islands, and back, I found a small place for lunch right on the water, and had some flounder (I think-the menu was in Swedish) with too much tarter sauce on it. I then walked around town a little bit-found a Jewelry repair ship (I thought I needed a new watch-but just a new battery, which is good), and it was soon 3:00 pm. I wanted to get back to the ship early at 5:00 pm-so I figured leave one hour for waiting for the bus and ride back, and be one of the first on. I enjoyed the day before so much, sitting in bed watching part of Glee, and then going to the expensive buffet for copious amounts of salmon, whitefish, potatoes, and wine, that I was determined to repeat it, except this time i would try getting to the room right at 5:00 so I could catch ALL of Glee.
So I waited for the bus for about 5 minutes, and took the 1/2 hour ride back to the pier. It was about 3:30 pm, and I tried to check in. That is when the check-in lady informed me that the boat going back to Poland wouldn't leave until 9:00 pm. (I should have got the message when (a) I was the only person on the bus going to the ferry terminal, and (b) The ship wasn't actually at the pier)). Anyway, the bus driver was still outside with his bus, so he let me take the trip back to town without paying an additional fare.
I walked around town again, towards an old Navy base, and back to the water. i then went to a restaurant for dinner, eating a veggie burger and potato wedges (prices are MUCH higher in Sweden than in Poland). At 6:30, or so i went back to the ship, and got back about 7:15.
Boarding wasn't until 8:30, so I waited around and got on the ship. This time, I watched the Big Bang Theory in the room, a show I watched once before at Tires Plus waiting for new tires. The real nerdy genius is the one who made one of the most successful sitcoms out of the one joke premise of nerds trying to get laid. Again, not a show I'm into, but it was nice relaxing watching TV.
After enough of Bang, I decided to check out the entertainment on the ship. First I went to the lounge, where a guitar/keyboard player was playing songs like "Take me Home Country Road, West Virginia", and "Take my Breath Away". When he was done playing each song, out of 16 people watching (I counted), I was the only one who clapped. As a matter of fact, one woman who was sitting with her family shot me dirty looks when I clapped. Truth is he wasn't very good-but still.
I then went to the dance club, and it was worse-a bunch of little kids we're dancing around, and the DJ was stopping the dance music (Gloria Estefen, etc) every so often shouting commands in Polish.
I then went back to the room and to bed. All in all a nice day in Karlskrona, and on the ship.
