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Total Eclipse : A pictorial review of the Tradewinds Transatlantic crossing 2015


scubacruiserx2
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I too have been looking at their Roll Call and a thought struck me. The President's cruise is soon after Eclipse arrives in Southampton. I wondered if these cabins are being upgraded for 'corporate personnel?'

 

 

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At this point , who knows ?

During a couple of our CC meetings we had heard from ships officers that ultimately Celebrity wanted the passengers to be happy . We also heard more than once that they read , and listen to CC . And yet they have not responded to the bumping thread or the TA roll call .

Could it be that their silence is speaking ?

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The cruise before us had an outbreak of Norovirus which meant that things would be different on our cruise . There was no bread , butter , condiments or even sugar on the tables . And you couldn't serve yourself at the buffet .

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After about 3 days , our kettle and tea appeared in out stateroom .

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We had 2 days at sea before our next port and so we ate at Qsine and the Bistro on 5 . I mentioned the Bistro on 5 because it no longer exists on the Eclipse . Here's the menu .

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My wife enjoyed the Onion Soup Gratinee

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And our grandson like his Italian crepe with Nutella

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But my hot and spicy steak crepe was a different story . It alternated between good bite and bad bite , with the bad bites tough , chewy and fatty .

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After the 3rd bad bite I sent it back and waited for a chicken crepe . It was better , but I had lost my appetite .

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Stockholm

As we were going to sleep on the night before Stockholm , an announcement on the PA informed us that due to the high wind , a ship of our size may not be able to sail through the Swedish Archipelago !

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_archipelago

 

 

I was up about 4 am and it was already light outside . And as I looked through our front window , our ship slowed almost to a stop , just outside of the entrance of the archipelago where there was another ship .

 

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Would they (and we ) go in ?

 

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A video clip :

 

 

 

I headed out on to the balcony ( It was COLD and windy )for some more photos .

 

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And we were in !!

 

 

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The first structure on shore

 

 

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Back inside , where it was warm !

 

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As we approached the Stockholm harbor , Pat woke Tyler and took him to the buffet breakfast .

 

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Our plan was simple :

 

1 .Berth at point E

 

2. Rapidly exit the ship

 

3. Use our pre - purchased HoHo boat tickets , following the blue route and after exiting the HoHo , walk to our points of interest .

 

 

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As we were approaching our berth it , it didn't look quite right :

 

 

 

Recognizing the problem , I hurried down to buy shuttle tickets , just in case . We had been told on the ship that we could walk to the city by following a blue line painted on the ground after we exited the terminal area .

We were some of the first people to leave the ship and walked quickly to see if we were near the HoHo boat , and I stopped to take a photo quickly .

 

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Tyler came running up to me and explained that Pat's card wouldn't allow her to exit the boat . We backtracked and talked to security to find out what was going on . After about 15 minutes she exited and is seen waving in the center of the photo .

 

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By the time that we arrived at the pick up point , there we several hundred people in line and no buses on the horizon . We thought that we would cross the street and see if we were in the right place for the HoHo , or walk the 20 minutes to town , which we had been told on ship . After 20 minutes we stopped and recognized our demise . A man standing nearby asked us , in English , if he could help . After we explained , he told us that it was a 20 minute ride from there !

He asked where we were from and after telling him , he explained that his sister was married to an American and now lives in the US . He then asked if we would like a ride to the city ! As we chatted along the way , we found out that he had visited Florida and liked to SCUBA dive ! What a fortunate meeting !! Before he dropped us off at the Opera House , he also told us that he is partner in a catering service and gave us each a bottle of water .

 

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And so we want to say thank you to Plurre - our Guardian Angel in Stockholm !!!

 

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What a lovely moment. Makes you believe in fate...

 

 

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It's possible , we have met many nice and helpful people while traveling and I did meet my wife while traveling ! The Eclipse is headed your way and I think that we are scheduled to board the HAL Eurodam for Alaska on the same day that you board the Eclipse for Norway .

Edited by scubacruiserx2
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Plurre dropped us off near the return meeting point for the shuttle bus to the Eclipse - The Royal Swedish Opera House .

 

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It's a beautiful area , just across from Gustav Adolfs Square

 

 

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We wanted to walk to the Stockholm City Hall for a tour with a few photo stops along the way

 

 

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The city hall is the tall building behind Pat and Tyler

 

 

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There is a pedestrian friendly walkway which passes safely beneath the motorway .

 

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And across the street from the city hall is the stunning , modern Stockholm Waterfront Conference Center .

 

 

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City hall

 

The English tours of the city hall were scheduled for every half hour and they accepted Euros . Our tour began in the cavernous Blue Hall .

 

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The Blue Hall (Swedish: Blå hallen) is the main hall of the Stockholm City Hall best known as the banquet hall for the annual Nobel Banquet, and also used for state visits, student balls, jubilees and other large events .

 

from wikipedia

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Hall

 

 

Here are some beautiful photos , and a story from last years Nobel Prize Banquet .

 

 

Princess Sofia

 

 

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Princess Madeleine

 

 

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And lastly , Queen Silvia of Sweden

 

 

 

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The full article can be found here :

 

http://royalnewssite.blogspot.com/20...t-2015-at.html

 

 

As an interesting story from rock history , ABBA debuted the song Dancing Queen , on the night before Silvia Sommerlath married King Gustav XVI of Sweden . It was performed for them , and seen here , by ABBA in the Royal Swedish Opera House in 1976 :

 

 

 

 

Strangely enough , it was the same summer in which I had met my dancing queen , Pat .

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Before we went upstairs I noticed this small plaque on a wall of Alfred Nobel who invented dynamite .

 

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8 million bricks were used in the construction of the city hall .

 

 

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Our first stop on the second floor was the Council Chamber

 

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The following is translated from the Swedish Wikipedia article :

 

Council Hall located on the east side of the Courtyard, opposite the Golden Hall . The City Council meets every three weeks in the council chamber. The hall also has a public gallery to the public with seating for about 200 people.

 

Architecture and decoration

 

Orientation Plan.

Council Hall's interior is kept in red, warm colors. The 19-meter-high ceilings can be discerned between the exposed rafters , which are designed with inspiration from the Viking era . At the top is light blue clouds and sky motif that reinforces the impression of headroom.

 

City Hall was designed by architect Ragnar Östberg . The furniture in the Council Hall and the Council Hall (the anteroom to the council chamber) are designed by Carl Malmsten and textiles are designed by Maja Sjöström , for takmåleriet was Filip Mansson . The clock in the stands is played by Ostberg and manufactured by Linderoths urfabrik . It was a gift of Stockholm urmakarmästare.

 

 

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The ceiling and back wall

 

 

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Ceiling detail

 

 

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After leaving the Council Chamber we walked through the linear Prince's Galley toward our next major stop - The Golden Hall .

 

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There was a beautiful tapestry there which I photographed - but I wasn't supposed to . I thought that the icon meant NO flash , but in looking at the photo , I think that it it meant NO photography . So I don't feel comfortable using the photo .

 

 

On the one side of the gallery is a fresco

 

 

 

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While on the other side , a number of windows facing the lake and the city .

 

 

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The skyline distortion through this window reminds me of a Dali painting

 

 

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And the end of the fresco means the beginning of the Golden Hall

 

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I just have to comment again that your photos are SO beautiful !!!

You have a real eye to capture all that beauty.

 

Thank you! :D

 

And thank you Karen , we're glad that you like them ! :) :D

 

Europe sure has a lot of beauty to see and photograph . But we have have a different kind of beauty on our minds with our flight to Alaska only a week away !!!

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Pay no attention to the room behind the curtain !

 

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The golden Hall

 

 

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18 Million mosaic tiles and pieces of glass

 

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The focal point of the room is the Queen of Lake Malaren , which occupies the end wall .

 

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This hall is my number one reason for coming to the Stockholm City Hall .

 

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Do you think that the artist liked cats ?

 

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In the Queen of Lake Malaren , the Queen occupies symbolically , the center of the world and has the city of Stockholm on her lap . To the West is the Statute of Liberty and an American flag on top of a skyscraper and , further East , the Eiffel Tower .

 

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On the opposite side is a tiger and elephant and in the far East a Mosque and a flag from Turkey .

 

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The mosaics were installed in this room in 1921 - 1923 .

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden...holm_City_Hall)

 

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We paused in the courtyard before going to the old town .

 

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After our tour of the city hall we walked back toward our meeting point at the opera house .

 

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And this is where we entered Gamla Stan , the old town

 

 

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With it's window dressing

 

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And it's narrow streets

 

 

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And this strange thing . "What's a phone booth" ?

 

 

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We ate at this cafe on our last visit here

 

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But that was a long time ago !

 

 

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We then heard a band coming

 

 

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And there was a guard there , but his bayonet was't fixed

 

 

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But it was a different story outside of the palace .

 

 

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If there's a down side to the Rick Steves book it's that everybody is doing his suggested walks and so they have become very crowded . We wish that we would have walked old town first and then went to the city hall . Here's 2 points mentioned in his book , the obelisk and a sand pit used for boules .

 

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Also mentioned is the statue of King Gustav III .

 

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There are plenty of other photo ops to be found

 

 

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Near the statute is where we boarded the HoHo boat

 

 

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And point H is where boarded .

 

 

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We had seen a museum overload look in the city hall which told us that we should bypass the museums and enjoy a walk toward point D , Grona Lund , an amusement park .

 

 

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Before we went there I had hoped to take some photos from the outside of the ABBA museum but we must have walked past it .

 

Surprisingly , Tyler showed no enthusiasm for the park . And so while they waited at the pier I took a short walk . I do wish that we would have gone for a bike ride !

 

 

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And one of my favorite bands from the late 60's and early 70's was playing there . Unfortunately , only one of the original members ( the drummer ) is still in the group .

 

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The free fall tilt !

 

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And so we hopped on for our next boat ride .

 

 

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The ride in the foreground is the Insane , and behind it is the Eclipse . Collectively they are the Insane Eclipse .

 

 

 

Another view . You can see a car on the Insane which looks like a circular saw blade .

 

 

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Wife and Wifi on the HoHo . And I see an iphone and a ipad and i don't know where Tyler gets it it from.

 

 

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NCL Star

 

 

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I like this hotel photo near the Star

 

 

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And this Giraffe crane . But I've seen much better photos of it online !

 

 

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We returned to our starting point at H

 

 

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Where I saw a souvenir that I would like to take home

 

 

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This is why I like my DSLR camera . I took this photo of the Parliament Building from a bridge .

 

 

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And I was able to enlarge it just by cropping the same photo .

 

 

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And after our bus ride back to the port , I did the same with this photo of the ship .

 

 

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And the same photo cropped .

 

 

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Next time : The sail out .

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