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dormouse1953Sunday was a bit of a washout.
I had several hours to kill before going for the ferry and I had a vague idea of going to the Swedish History Museum, which I visited in 2011. I checked out of the hotel, dumped my bag and set out. I hadn't gone far before the heavens opened. I scampered back to the hotel and spent an hour of so trying to do the crossword.
By the time it had stopped raining, there didn't seem to be enough time left to go to the museum. I had a walk around before picking up my bag and taking a taxi to the ferry terminal.
Checking in for the ferry is all automatic, just type in your reservation number and code and it delivers your boarding card plus a card for the restaurant reservation. The boarding card had my cabin number on it, and it doubled as a key-card to the cabin. Once I'd boarded the ship, someone told me which lift to take to my cabin.
As the lift doors opened. Yvonne Rowse stepped out, the first other fan I'd seen on my trip.
My cabin was on the lowest deck possible, below the car decks and near the bow. It was incredibly small - there was barely room for me and my suitcase - and no Wi-Fi signal (which is why I was unable to write anything yesterday).
I went back up to the lounge level and found Yvonne in the bar. Three Dutch fans joined us during the evening. The Dutch appeared to be sharing a cabin and Yvonne said she was sharing a cabin with three other women she'd not met, who turned out to be of various nationalities. So they wanted to know who I was sharing with. As far as I knew, nobody.
I had my meal in the ship's Italian restaurant. I made the big mistake of allowing myself to be seated with my back to the porthole, so I kept having to turn to see anything interesting. It was a very nice meal, but I ate too much. So afterwards I went back to my cabin to have a brief rest. There was still no sign of anyone else there, and as the other bunk was still folded up against the wall and there was only one set of towels in the loo, I guessed (correctly, it turned out) that I did have the cabin to myself.
The five of us chatted for a bit, but we all crashed fairly early. There was another clock change during the night, so we had to get up early for breakfast.
I did not sleep well. The cabin door seemed to rattle a lot for much of the night. There were also noises above that sounded like all the cars on the car decks had come lose and were rolling about.
I got up and had breakfast. It was amazing how early people started queueing at the ship's entrance to get off, long before we were due to dock. I waited until the ship was nearly at the dock before going down below and getting my bags.
Yvonne was going to the main railway station and my hotel was not far from there so we shared a taxi to the station.
Much to my surprise, even though it wasn't yet eleven in the morning, the hotel had a room ready for me. I decided to catch up on my sleep. This being Finland, they have good black-out curtains on the windows.
I booked this hotel over six months ago, and I'd forgotten, if I even noticed, that it is a self-catering hotel. I have a kitchen in the room, and there is no breakfast provided. After unpacking, I decided to go out to get some stuff for breakfast. It had been pleasantly sunny when I set out, but when I got to the city centre it started to rain. And just as I was about to enter a supermarket, I bumped into four of the Cambridge crowd. They had had the foresight to wear waterproof coats.
It had stopped raining when I emerged from the supermarket. (I was asked if I wanted a loyalty card there, but somehow it didn't seem worth it.) I was about half way back to my hotel, far from any shelter, when it rained again, and it rained heavily. I was soaked by the time I got back.
In the evening, I decided to go out to eat. On my earlier excursion, I noticed a restaurant called the Ravintola. Then I noticed another of the same name and assumed it must be a chain. Finally I realised "ravintola" is Finnish for restaurant.
The restaurant I found was called the Zetor, which turns out to also be the name of a make of tractor, and there was a tractor in the middle of the place. The décor was that of an old barn, complete with chicken wire fences. The menu was done in the style of a newspaper and was in something like twenty languages. The food was very good.
I had several hours to kill before going for the ferry and I had a vague idea of going to the Swedish History Museum, which I visited in 2011. I checked out of the hotel, dumped my bag and set out. I hadn't gone far before the heavens opened. I scampered back to the hotel and spent an hour of so trying to do the crossword.
By the time it had stopped raining, there didn't seem to be enough time left to go to the museum. I had a walk around before picking up my bag and taking a taxi to the ferry terminal.
Checking in for the ferry is all automatic, just type in your reservation number and code and it delivers your boarding card plus a card for the restaurant reservation. The boarding card had my cabin number on it, and it doubled as a key-card to the cabin. Once I'd boarded the ship, someone told me which lift to take to my cabin.
As the lift doors opened. Yvonne Rowse stepped out, the first other fan I'd seen on my trip.
My cabin was on the lowest deck possible, below the car decks and near the bow. It was incredibly small - there was barely room for me and my suitcase - and no Wi-Fi signal (which is why I was unable to write anything yesterday).
I went back up to the lounge level and found Yvonne in the bar. Three Dutch fans joined us during the evening. The Dutch appeared to be sharing a cabin and Yvonne said she was sharing a cabin with three other women she'd not met, who turned out to be of various nationalities. So they wanted to know who I was sharing with. As far as I knew, nobody.
I had my meal in the ship's Italian restaurant. I made the big mistake of allowing myself to be seated with my back to the porthole, so I kept having to turn to see anything interesting. It was a very nice meal, but I ate too much. So afterwards I went back to my cabin to have a brief rest. There was still no sign of anyone else there, and as the other bunk was still folded up against the wall and there was only one set of towels in the loo, I guessed (correctly, it turned out) that I did have the cabin to myself.
The five of us chatted for a bit, but we all crashed fairly early. There was another clock change during the night, so we had to get up early for breakfast.
I did not sleep well. The cabin door seemed to rattle a lot for much of the night. There were also noises above that sounded like all the cars on the car decks had come lose and were rolling about.
I got up and had breakfast. It was amazing how early people started queueing at the ship's entrance to get off, long before we were due to dock. I waited until the ship was nearly at the dock before going down below and getting my bags.
Yvonne was going to the main railway station and my hotel was not far from there so we shared a taxi to the station.
Much to my surprise, even though it wasn't yet eleven in the morning, the hotel had a room ready for me. I decided to catch up on my sleep. This being Finland, they have good black-out curtains on the windows.
I booked this hotel over six months ago, and I'd forgotten, if I even noticed, that it is a self-catering hotel. I have a kitchen in the room, and there is no breakfast provided. After unpacking, I decided to go out to get some stuff for breakfast. It had been pleasantly sunny when I set out, but when I got to the city centre it started to rain. And just as I was about to enter a supermarket, I bumped into four of the Cambridge crowd. They had had the foresight to wear waterproof coats.
It had stopped raining when I emerged from the supermarket. (I was asked if I wanted a loyalty card there, but somehow it didn't seem worth it.) I was about half way back to my hotel, far from any shelter, when it rained again, and it rained heavily. I was soaked by the time I got back.
In the evening, I decided to go out to eat. On my earlier excursion, I noticed a restaurant called the Ravintola. Then I noticed another of the same name and assumed it must be a chain. Finally I realised "ravintola" is Finnish for restaurant.
The restaurant I found was called the Zetor, which turns out to also be the name of a make of tractor, and there was a tractor in the middle of the place. The décor was that of an old barn, complete with chicken wire fences. The menu was done in the style of a newspaper and was in something like twenty languages. The food was very good.
no subject
Date: 2017-08-08 05:15 am (UTC)