Kotka, Finland

The next stop on our NCL cruise was Kotka, Finland. Never heard of it? Neither had I. For this stop, we booked an excursion through the cruise for a hike in Valkmusa National Park. The excursion was rated as a three, one of the highest difficulty ratings for excursions. We have been on cruises before, so we knew their rating of a three was probably a little dramatic and we were proven correct.

The hike was about a mile and a half round trip, if I remember correctly. It was mostly on the wooden boardwalk that you can see in the picture above. We had a guide, but because of the limited space he did not have a chance to offer much information on the park or the area. Charles and I hike (or walk in the woods) fairly often, so it was weird to hike with about 50 other people. It took a little of the peacefulness of being in nature away, but it was still nice to get out and spend some time among the trees.

This is the trail that we used for the excursion. It was an easy loop with a lookout tower at one point. 

Helsinki, Finland

The first stop on our Norwegian Cruise Lines Baltic cruise was Helsinki, Finland. We did not book any excursions through the cruise line, but opted to explore on our own. It was easy enough to grab a taxi right off the boat (although a bit more expensive than finding our own through Bolt or another ride share app). Charles pre-purchased a day pass for public transportation which included the ferry to the nearby Suomenlinna Island. This is where we headed to first.

The island has a suggested route called the Blue Route to see all the highlights of the island. Just looking out over the water was one of my favorite parts!

It was a warm and sunny day, so we spent some time by the water. We dipped our feet in to cool off. The water was a little shockingly chilly at first, but it felt so great after walking around the island.

Some things on the island and around Helsinki were closed or operating on reduced hours in observation of Midsummer. Before planning this trip, I was unaware of this holiday. It is observed throughout Scandinavia and celebrates the summer solstice. Our guide in Stockholm suggested that it is such a big celebration because it is the longest day of the year. This part of the world experiences such short days during winter that it's worth celebrating the long period of sunshine during the summertime. 

There were some museums and shops on the island that we did not experience due to the Midsummer holiday. We stopped by one museum for a light lunch and to snag some souvenirs, but did not tour the museum itself.

After riding the ferry back to Helsinki, we visited a couple of churches. This is the Uspenski Cathedral. It was a little bit of a walk up some stairs to get to it. The inside had some beautiful Orthodox-style art, but was quite small. We sat down for a bit to take in the interior, but did not walk around too much because we did not want to disturb the people worshipping. 

Then we headed over to the Helsinki Cathedral. We had seen it on the Helsinki Travel Man episode. The stairs look quite intimidating, but we hiked up to peek inside. However, the interior was a huge letdown! After seeing so many beautiful churches throughout Europe, this one felt cold and sparse. 

After descending the stairs, we stopped for some ice cream and then hailed a cab back to the ship. 

Stockholm Museums

While visiting Stockholm, we checked out two vastly different museums. Both were equally cool to visit, so I highly recommend if you're in town!

The first was the Stockholm Toy Museum. Charles and I have visited a couple other toy museums (Basel, Switzerland, Kansas City, and Nuremberg, Germany). It makes for a fun trip down memory lane. The Stockholm Toy Museum was unique because of the building--it was a cave! 

I loved the way they displayed the toy cars in a car!

One of my favorite things is doll house displays. However, what the heck is a skeleton doing in the closet of this one???

The other museum was not really on my radar until I was chatting with my Dad. I called him on Father's Day for a quick chat and he mentioned the Vasa Museum and recommended that we go. When Dad gives a recommendation, you listen! 

The Vasa Museum features the world's only preserved 17th century ship. On our Old Town walking tour, we learned that the museum is managed by a guy from South Carolina. Small world! He had learned about the Vasa when he was growing up and was so fascinated by it that he became an expert in it. 

The whole museum is built around this ship that they recovered from the ocean. It sank immediately upon its maiden voyage and lay submerged in the water for hundreds of years.

What is fika?

Have you heard of fika? I was first introduced to the concept when watching the Stockholm episode of Travel Man (highly recommend the show if you enjoy dry, British humor). After learning about it, I knew it was something I had to experience when visiting Sweden. We found a fika tour through Tours of Stockholm. 

According to the Tours of Stockholm fika tour description, fika is the word to describe meeting up for coffee and pastry. However, it has come to mean any mini break.

Our fika tour guide was a transplant from Brazil (Italian heritage) who came to Sweden and fell in love with the country. It was really interesting to have an "outsider's" perspective about living in Sweden and it gave us the opportunity to learn so much about her experience moving to the country. She had such a great vibe and was so easy to spend time with. 

Our first stop on the fika tour was to a little candy shop inside Hotorgshallen, one of Stockholm's food markets. Neither Charles or I are fans of licorice, but it's very popular in Scandinavia. We tried a few different types--traditional sweet and progressively more salty types. We ended with some candy covered licorice which was actually tasty.

Another stop was to a café for some coffee and pastries. Charles enjoyed a cinnamon bun and I had a saffron bun. 

Another café visit where I had a cinnamon bun and Charles ordered a cardamom bun. This café was located in the Old Town near the colored buildings and famous fountain that we saw during our Old Town walking tour the previous day, but I don't remember the name.

At the chocolate shop stop, I had some yummy ice cream and Charles tried the hot chocolate. 

The last experience, not part of the fika tour, was a visit to the ice bar. This was also featured on the Travel Man episode for Stockholm and Charles was very keen to experience it. It was COLD inside! They don you with a warm cape and gloves, but it was still a bit too chilly for me to really enjoy it for very long. Entrance to the ice bar includes one drink of your choice and they are served in ice cups. Very cool (excuse my pun) experience! If you visit during the summer, go ahead and wear pants and a long sleeve. The cape only keeps you so warm.

Stockholm, Sweden

Our next travel adventure brought us to Stockholm, Sweden! The main draw was our Baltic cruise that departed from Sweden, but we took the opportunity to spend a couple of extra days in the city before embarking. 

We splurged a bit on the hotel by staying at the swanky Hotel At Six. Service was excellent, the room was comfortable, the breakfast buffet was plentiful and the location was perfect to see all the Stockholm highlights. 

During our first evening in Stockholm, we took a guided walking tour of the Old Town with Tours of Stockholm. We saw the iconic row of buildings in the picture, learned some history about Sweden's royal family, learned more about the Nobel prizes and enjoyed the company of our fellow tour participants (two families of which ended up being on our cruise).

Unfortunately we ran out of time to check out the inside of this pink church. Our guide told us about some of the original artwork that is housed inside. Just one reason to return to Stockholm in the future!

Before our walking tour, we stopped at a restaurant near our hotel for a quick bite to fuel up. Boo Burgers satisfied a craving for good ol' fashioned burgers and fries. The burger has a delicious crispy edge on the patty. It kind of reminded me of Steak & Shake.

Another top priority for me was to enjoy some Swedish meatballs while in Stockholm. During our fika tour, our guide recommended enjoying the meatballs at the Ostermalms Saluhall. The M Seger vendor had a little restaurant section and the meatballs were everything I had hoped they would be!

Petit Prince and Alsace

With France being so close to Stuttgart, we made an overnight trip to the Alsace region. We started off in Ribeauville where we grabbed sandwiches before a wine tasting at Trimbach. The wine tasting was quick with a tasting of five wines. Our host did not speak a lot of English, so we did not receive a lot of the history of the winery. However, the wines were enjoyable and I purchased two bottles to bring home. 

After Ribeauville, we drove on to Colmar to check into our hotel. Greet Hotel Colmar is a little outside of the city center, but offered a great rate, free parking and breakfast. I really enjoyed their design aesthetic and air conditioned room.

We headed into Colmar and rode one of the little trains for an overview of the city. It was a little hot under the plastic roof, but it was good to see all parts of the city to orient ourselves.

We walked around the town to see things a little closer up and visited a bunch of shops in search of the perfect trinkets to remember our trip by. I purchased an ornament featuring three Alsatian girls to commemorate the time with my two friends. 

Before heading back to the hotel to rest after our day's adventures, we stopped at a restaurant for dinner. I ordered one of the rosti dishes. It was so delicious!

The next morning, after enjoying some local specialties for breakfast, we drove to the Parc du Petit Prince. One of my friends is a big fan of the book, so I made sure to add this to the itinerary. I had low expectations and expected to only spend an hour or so at the park, but it ended up being super fun! We rode a few of the rides, including the little train, and took a bunch of pictures. 

We agreed that we wouldn't travel out of our way to visit this park, but while in the area it was a fun activity. Even as three adults, this park was a win. 

A Tour of Nuremberg

The next stop on the itinerary for my friends' visit was to Nuremberg. I booked a walking tour through Airbnb that was one of my favorite tours in Europe so far. It was billed as a four-hour tour with a break for lunch, but ended up being around six hours. During the first half of the tour, we walked around the interior of Nuremberg and visited St. Lorenz. 

We huffed up the hill to see castle for some fantastic views of the city.

A little plug for something unrelated to Europe... I recently made my first purchase from ThredUp and was so impressed. The top I wore in Nuremberg (pictured here) was part of that purchase. 

After our lunch in the Altstadt (we all enjoyed Nuremberg sausages...yum!), our group hopped on the train and rode out to the rally grounds. We walked along the lake with stops to hear our guide share history and his perspective about Nazi Germany. It was very insightful and thought provoking.