Last day on Gotland

It was a great party last night. Traditional Swedish celebrations and drinking songs & games, fantastic food, the best of company and the only challenge was the two flights of spiral stairs to go to bed.

Apparently Mary spent 2 hours washing up and cleaning the commercial kitchen!

Today is our last day on Gotland and with our ferry trip not until 7:30pm, we had to whole day for more sightseeing. Oh, did I say it was a great party last night - maybe that's why I didn't get up until nearly midday. My defence is that for people in their mid sixties, 50 days of travel, doing things, meeting people, walking, walking and carrying suitcases does take its toll, perhaps I made this holiday a little too long - but no regrets.

I said to Mary that today would be our final day to pack our large suitcases as we only had a few hours in Stockholm [arrive at the hotel at 12:30 and leave at 7:30], and our suitcases would then be checked through to Hobart [almost] - so it was our last chance to pack to the limits. That's what I did anyway.

Around midday we decided to go for a coffee and cake on our way to Sunday church. You know what its like when you are in an unfamiliar place but have you heart set on something [Mary wanted a final piece of Swedish fine cake] and you can't find it. We had an unpleasant coffee in a place where the waiter/cook was eating as he served us - yuk!

The church was built in 1190 but has been added to and improved over the years - in fact it is one of the most pristine cathedrals I have ever been inside - it was like brand new. It belongs to the Church of Sweden which is a an Evangelical Lutheran demonination.

After a few prayers, lighting candles and taking photos we set off for the harbour - a part of the old city we hadn't explored as yet. There were parks and gardens, everything is in a perfect condition - large hotels said to me that this area would be teaming with people in the peak summer season.

Now we were hungry, but late Sunday afternoon was when a lot of the cafes were closing - back to the burger bar was the answer - another treat from Brooklyn Burgers, the best we had ever had1

We used a taxi to help get our baggage to the ferry - a short distance but I promised myself I would not be a hero with the suitcase for the sake of upsetting a cab driver with a short trip - it only cost $16 - but was worth it.

On the ferry we had second row seats and a terrific view of the sunset at the start of our 3 hour trip. Grace and Mary cuddled up and watched "House of Cards" on Grace's phone [sharing earphones] while I played crib on the easy level, winning most games of course!

No fuss catching the bus to Stockholm arriving at 12:15am. The Terminus Hotel is directly opposite the Central Train Station - I have often wanted to stay here because it is so convenient - and it was. I was in bed by 1am, Mary was re-packing until about 3am she says.

Tomorrow we head to Singapore for the day.

Cheers,Read more