From Helsinki to Stockholm via Åland

 

As I mentioned at the end of the last post, this evening we are sailing from Helsinki to Stockholm on the Viking Line.

Travelling to the Ferry

We left the Holiday Inn, City Centre, Helsinki at 3.15pm and arrived at the tram stop at 3.23pm. The tram arrived at 3.45pm and we arrive at the ship at 4pm as check-in starts. 

On Board

We were on the ship by 4.10pm and in our cabin number 7120 by 4.15pm - a very smooth process. 

The check in card printed at the self-service machine at the port acts as our entry card and the key card to the cabin (which to Drew and Captain Jack's annoyance I keep calling our room) which is very easy. 

An hour from departure I thought we had time for some blogging, sadly the wifi on the ship doesn't allow access to Blogger or Flickr, the connection is fine, but like the Great Western train at the beginning of the holiday some, heavy user sites, are inaccessible. So, I don't get as much blogging done as I had hoped. Meanwhile Drew took some photos as we left port, he captures the city and the islands around very well.

Åland

The home port of the Gabriella, the ferry on which we are travelling is Mariehamn, the capital of the Åland Islands. We stop at Åland over the night. 

The Åland Islands are an autonomous region of Finland, they are Swedish-speaking and have a long and complicated history which led to their autonomy. But for me Åland is associated, not with its history, but with murder! I watched the two series called in English 'Thicker Than Water' a Swedish programme which was shown on Walter Presents during lockdown, Spoiler Alert - they were a very murderous family, with a murderous history! So, I first became aware of Åland in that programme. Worse still in another Walter Presents series:  'Agatha Christie's Hjerson' the first episode, Blackout, is set on a ship heading to Stockholm which stops at Åland. It looks a lot like this one - what fun, spending the night on a murder boat heading to murder island 😂

Dinner

We went down to dinner, the floor, oops, deck, below ours at 7pm. As we walk down to dinner, I get a real sense of Deja Vue, I wonder if they recorded the murder in Hjerson on this actual boat, it all fits so well.

Drew began with a pickled cherry tomatoes and avocado cream.

I had Herring three ways - salted herring, herring marinated in dill and vinegar and a herring sorbet! Each was distinctive and each was very, very tasty. 

Drew went for grilled fillet of beef with truffle sauce and vegetables for his main.

While I had a delicious, braised pike with pan-fried scallop and roe sauce. 

For dessert Drew had a Lemon posset, liquorice sorbet and verbena which he absolutely loved. 

I opted for cheese and thankfully there was no messing about, just three delicious pieces of cheese - Brie, Cheddar and Blue cheese.

After dinner we take a walk out on the deck and enjoy the sunset with a gentle buy bracing breeze. We go to bed at 10pm Eastern European Time which will be 9pm Central European Time.

Sleep

I woke at 4.30am EET as the ship pulled out of Åland, now having heard it going in. We had survived without any murder most foul. The restful journey continued.

Morning

I got up at 6am (5am Stockholm time) and showered and dressed. The shower, even though a little small had a good flow of hot water and was really refreshing. I've been in student accommodations with smaller shower rooms! 

We saw Kapellskär the first Swedish town from the side of the ship. There are loads of islands which the ship navigates with care. It is quite relaxing seeing the sea and the occasional island go by.

At 8am (7am Stockholm time) we go down to breakfast (a Premium Breakfast is included in the price of the Premium cabins i.e. the ones with windows (or as Captain Jack would say - Port Holes)).

This is a wonderful breakfast with soused herring, a really sharp version; lightly cured rainbow trout; smoked salmon and roe and seaweed caviar. 

Drew opted for the traditional cooked breakfast which was made up of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, semi-dried tomato and spinach which I had the Ville Viking's breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages, meatballs, semi-dried tomatoes and spinach. We seem to have forgotten to photograph them!

For our breakfast dessert I had Brie and some Farm Cheese with cloudberries.

Drew went for a cookie, a cheese cake and something that was very much like an Eton Mess.

Breakfast finished at 9am (8am) we go back to the cabin for the last two hours. We avail ourselves of the free mini-bar in the cabin, water for me, Coke for Drew and we sit and watch as more of the coast and a million little Swedish islands go by.

More Murders

I've moved on from Sven and Åland now, this morning I'm reminded of the Joona Linna books, one of which, the Nightmare, has him rushing from island to island in search of a murderer. You can see why it was so complicated with all these islands in the Stockholm Archipelago. [Co-Pilot's note: Rest assured, dear readers, that he is not only fascinated by Swedish murders, but he also takes a keen interest in the murders of Norway, Denmark, France and Finland but his initial interest in the genre came about in Sicily as seen in the stories of Inspector Montalbano].

We arrive at 10am local time and disembark from the floor our room/cabin was on. What we do in the day ahead will wait until the next blog post.