Experience: Crown & Pearl Seaways, Bohus & Oslofjord, and best birthday ever!

After disembarking from the Finnsun, I did not actually head home - instead, I flew straight to Norway again and spent a few peaceful days there with Sverre before he had to head back to work on his ship. Nonetheless, already before the end of August I was back in Norway again, this time for a remarkably longer and more adventurous stay, which also included a worthy celebration of my 20th birthday. It also marked the first time I chose to travel to Norway without flying; I started the journey by taking my old favourite Viking Grace to Stockholm.

Experience: A wave of Baltic Sea ferry madness

In Mid-March, I took another Baltic trip with Sverre, with the two main purposes being to catch the first voyages of the returned Silja Europa, and to celebrate his birthday. We met up in Tallinn; I took a bus from Turku and then Tallink's Superstar to Tallinn. During the two hour crossing I didn't have time for much more than to watch the departure, have a breakfast, and finally, upon arrival to Tallinn, have a nice close first look at the Silja Europa for the first time since 2014, when she left for Australia to serve as floating accommodation for a bit more than a year. In the terminal I was greeted by Sverre and we checked in the nearby hotel Euroopa. The same evening we had a nice dinner in Olde Hansa, my old workplace.

Gymnaestrada camp Day 9 - Going on an adventure or two

As it turned out, the permission to wake up and go to work an hour later than before was permanent, so we had to be out in time for the 9:40 ferry again. Our hostel was near the harbour and the walk wasn't long, however during our stay they seemed to be in the middle of some works with most likely rain water gutters, so there was something resembling a small moat surrounding the building. So on day 9, just about time, I tripped into it as we were on our way out, hit my right knee and got a lovely bruise to add to the carpet burn from the gymnastics day I already had on the same foot. Nevertheless, it didn't bother me much and we carried on to the boat and our workplaces.

Experience: Sailing to Stockholm on the Aurelia + Galaxy to Turku

It has now been two weeks since I last left my Tallinn home. My final destination being once again Tervakoski, and the way I got here being once again somewhat adventurous. It started with a 36-hour non-stop sailing to Stockholm on Aurelia, the largest Estonian sailing yacht. We departed in the evening and the sail out of Tallinn was quite enjoyable, with people telling stories and enjoying the view and the calm weather; on the other hand, it wasn't windy enough to use sails and we lagged a bit behind the schedule. Alas for me, the next time I could just sit outside and enjoy the environment was after we reached the Stockholm archipelago; as we got farther from the coast the boat started rolling quite badly and I failed to prevent myself from getting seasick. On the 2nd day I managed to climb out on the deck a couple of times; the weather was actually wonderful. Soon afterwards we were hit by even stronger winds and higher waves, so I had to resort to curling up in the cabin bed (which, fortunately, was surrounded by walls on three sides), trying not to roll along and crawling to the bathroom every now and then. As we progressed the rolling got so bad that nothing would keep me in place on the bed and I had to lie across the bed and hope to keep myself in place with my legs. Early  in the morning on the 3rd day we finally reached the archipelago, the sea got calm and after some actual sleep I went on the deck to look and steer. That's when I found out we had gained up during  the windy hours and eventually we reached Stockholm only a few hours behind schedule. The weather was lovely and the best part of the whole experience was the fact I lost quite a bit of weight. At this point I would most likely even agree to do it again.

Outbound

Superstar near Tallinn, making impressive waves. Later on we also saw her outbound.

View from the cabin window on a good day

A day and a half later

Baltic Princess in the archipelago

Viking Grace, shiny and beautiful as ever, also outbound. 

As I mentioned, the weather in Stockholm was gorgeous. We parked the boat near Gröna Lund, I went to the center and met up with a friend, later on I chose to buy a transport day ticket and take the most out of it, so I ended up walking around a little in almost every corner of central Stockholm. At one point I took the ferry from Gamla Stan back to Djurgården and picked up my suitcase. I'm not quite sure what exactly was happening, but the entire city was full of old vehicles, both cars and public transport. I also witnessed some kind of a parade thingy at the Royal Palace, which included seeing both the King and the Queen.

Mariella and Cinderella

I was just wandering around thinking of heading to the harbour when I passed the royal palace and saw a bunch of guards, so I chose to stick around and see what's happening...

... when His Majesty passed by.

Quite an impressive escort

As I walked on, some more marching squads passed.

Soon afterwards it was time to head to the harbour. As I arrived, Galaxy was just coming in and Silja Symphony was surprisingly still in. 

Fishies at the crowded terminal

Seems like Silja Symphony was in to stay; when I checked Marinetraffic the following day though, she had made it to Helsinki.

The Galaxy was surprisingly full for a Sunday evening; the Symphony next to us on the other hand seemed empty. For some reason I thought that the huge crowds in the terminal were waiting to board the latter, but unfortunately for me, all were boarding Galaxy. I had an E-class cabin, which is right above the nightclub. The only thing I chose to do that night was participate in the ship's karaoke, which had an unusually low attendance rate and quality of performances. Fortunately I didn't stand out in those terms, since I somehow managed to choose all the wrong songs. Due to it being Sunday, the free cabin party from down below didn't last for too long and I got about as much sleep as possible with the time zone change and early arrival in Turku. 

Mandatory funnel photo

Experience: Merilin on stormy seas

A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to try out the last of the Tallinn-Helsinki ship crossing options I hadn't tried yet. While I've always been curious about crossing on a Linda Line catamaran (my previous experience with fast craft was during the SuperSeaCat era when I was quite young) I have still been somewhat cautious because the risk of having my trip postponed or cancelled seemed too big. And I can't say it didn't affect me this time; after I made my booking, the smaller white catamaran Karolin got some technical issues and schedules had to be redone for the whole month. My booked return trip disappeared entirely from the new schedules, thus I had to change the booking; but besides that, everything went quite smoothly. The booking, check in and boarding process wasn't too different from the large ferries, just on a smaller scale. The catamaran carries no cars, just bikes. There was a lot less people and to board I only had to scan a barcode. While the fact I received no boarding card was a great disappointment for me, I can see how the boarding system is very convenient for frequent travellers or those in a hurry - the customers Linda Line caters for.

Merilin

Karolin; due to technical issues her crossing lasted 2 hours and 30 minutes and the same reason prevented me from trying her out too. 

Merilin in Helsinki

The inside of the catamaran mostly consists of sitting areas; there was one bar and a rather small store, plus a nice staircase midships. To make a purchase it wasn't even necessary to leave the seat.
Considering the crossing only lasted an hour and 40 minutes I didn't really feel like anything was missing. Looking out of the window and feeling the catamaran roll a bit more easily than a large ferry gave a nice feeling of actually being at sea. 

Mandatory staircase photo

And since there is no funnel to photograph for the mandatory photo, here's another staircase

The nice feeling especially hit the spot during the return trip, which is the main reason why I'm writing this. The weather was gorgeous, just a little windy. As soon as we got out from between the islands of Helsinki and slammed the gas, the catamaran started rolling very heavily. It was difficult to even stand, not to mention walk. Had the trip lasted longer I would probably be writing this down as a negative experience, but the intense part probably didn't last longer than 40 minutes. Nonetheless, that 40 minutes was enough for me to get a few bruises while walking or by missing the seat while trying to sit. Most of the passengers seemed quite badly sea sick, but fortunately I was not the only "enthusiast" who found it the perfect occasion to hang around on the sundeck. I actually dare to say that the fresh air and view there kept me from getting very seasick and trying to hold on and not fly away was quite a lot of fun. I also enjoyed the fact that at one point I saw the islands of Helsinki as well as the coastline of Estonia at the same time, not to mention the evening ships that had departed from both ports.

Silja Symphony departing

Mariella showing off her beautifully done new stripes as she departs

Not the usual Kustaanmiekka route

The best photo I got of Viking XPRS with all the rolling...

.. and Norwegian Star, outbound from Tallinn

Quite an impressive trail, creating rainbows and all

Me enjoying the rolling, the wind and the splashes. Leaning was the only way to stay safe and still for a bit. 

As the catamaran arrived in Tallinn, we had a very nice view of the cruise area.

Experience: Romantika + Rosella + Galaxy (+Star)

I haven't given any music to accompany my posts for a while, so here goes:

A bit over a week ago I chose to do a little trip before getting to my vacation destination. Briefly - if a normal person was to go from Tallinn to Tervakoski, they would take a boat from Tallinn to Helsinki and ask the driver to pick them up from there. Now, here's what I did.

In the evening of Saturday the 14th I met up with Anneli and Taavi at terminal D in port of Tallinn. We boarded the Romantika and set sail to Stockholm. We all booked a cruise, but for me it was just a one way journey. Before departure Anneli and I went to the sundeck to look at Sea Wind depart (which she did not, since it was Saturday), Viking XPRS depart and Finlandia come in. Since it was freezing, I chose not to wait for the Superstar to come in, instead I went to rest in the cabin for a bit. Some hours after the departure I went to explore and shop. The weather was nice with almost no wind at all, so it felt like in the middle of the archipelago - slow, still, almost boring. Alas, I had no luck in the raffle that took place in the Starlight Palace. I chose to go to sleep early, knowing that I was about to get no sleep for 36 hours, but since our cabin was far aft, it was easier said than done. The constant low frequency sound and the insane vibration once we reached Mariehamn kept me half awake through the night.

Approaching

Mandatory funnel picture

Sea Wind just standing there and totally not departing

Viking XPRS freeing her spot for Finlandia

Finlandia taking the spot

Nope, still not departing

Calm seas

The next morning I got off the ship and immediately headed for the center where I spent my day walking around and shopping a bit.

Beautiful morning in Stockholm

Bye~

Crowded street

Bridge to Skeppsholmen

Teaterskeppet

af Chapman

Arctic Sunrise

Cinderella arriving, Gabriella hiding behind her and Djurgården 10 passing by

Birka coming in

Gröna Lund!

Royal Opera House & St. Jacob's Church

Riddarholmen

Klara Church

Stockholm City Hall and some other houses

After a nice long day in Stockholm, when Romantika had already started her return journey, I sat on a bus in the center of Stockholm and headed for Kapellskär to board Rosella with my friend Nelly on board. The time on board was mostly spent eating in the Bistro Buffet, which offered delicious meat and wine.

Yum 

Mandatory staircase photo

Infamous hull stripes

Just as we got off the Rosella, Gabriella had come in as well. After taking a few photos, Nelly, Mikael and I headed a bit south to do some shipspotting.

Rosella

Gabriella

Silja Serenade, Gabriella, Rosella

Gabriella leaving

Romantika coming in. According to my ticket, I was supposed to be on board.

Romantika backing into Mariehamn, with my friend Anneli apparently somewhere in this picture

Romantika opening her ramp, ...

... letting in exactly two and a half cars, ...

And closing the ramp.

Bye bye! 

After the shipspotting I was dropped off in the center (if you can say so) of Mariehamn in front of the Tallink office about an hour before the taxi. The following hour consisted of trying to remain sane, trying not to freeze and overstressing about the taxi. Fortunately there was wifi and some silent music was playing at the entrance of what seemed to be a small shoping center right next to the office. Nevertheless, mostly due to the cold and the fact I was very tired and the city was dead, it was possibly the longest hour of my life. Finally, about one minute after the right time when I had already gone insane about five times, the taxi came. Turned out I was the only one taking the transport that day. It was a service taxi provided by Tallink to get me to Långnäs. The ride took about 30 minutes - just enough for me to unfreeze - and when I made it to the terminal, it turned out I was the only one boarding Galaxy from Långnäs that night. I did the check-in, waited for about 10 minutes and then the check-in guy gestured, meaning that my ship was arriving and it was time to board. He accompanied me the whole walk down the gangway and connected it to the ship with assistance from the ship's crew. I walked on board feeling like a princess and the moment I stepped on board they started to dismantle the whole thing again. I highly doubt there was any cars boarding that night, so the whole experience made me feel unusually important.

Långnäs terminal at around 2:35 at night

Galaxy's livery details

Waiting as they pave my way to the ship

Now before I carry on to what happened on board and the rest of my journey, I would like to take a minute to appreciate the taxi driver, the check-in guy and every one of those people who go to work in the middle  of nowhere in the dead of the night so lunatics like me could majestically board their night ferries.

And now, when it comes to what happened on the Galaxy - briefly, absolutely nothing. The other 372 people on board were nicely tucked in their cabins, everything on board was closed and the ship was dead except for one kind crew member at the information desk. I found my happy place in being able to take photos of the ship's interior without fearing to invade anyone's privacy. 

Deck plans

Even Starlight palace was closed

Windows on the Romantika (above) and Galaxy (below)

I looked...

...far and wide...

... for signs of life, ..

... Alas, ...

... I did not find any.

Not even Joe would keep his doors open for me.

When the doors are open, it's so easy to just walk though without noticing the name of the place you're going.

That was not the case here.

Fortunately, it was not all closed doors everywhere.

What I liked about the Galaxy was the simple three colour layout. Not quite sure if her two sisters have the same - didn't notice anything on the Baltic Queen, not that I was looking. Feel free to enlighten me.

Blue bow area staircase

Green staircase midships

And red aft staircase. Notice the works of the Estonian artist Navitrolla in the staircases; he also did the livery art. 

 After looking around on board I chose to curl up near the information desk and have a little "power nap", which was probably not such a great idea considering I was feeling much worse afterwards. After about an hour of napping I noticed some people appearing and by the time the sun rose and we started nearing Turku, the ship started to look like almost 400 passengers on board. After recovering from the shivers I got up and went out to take photos.

Sunrise

Mandatory funnel photo

Turku lights

The ship in morning sun

At last. 

The earliest morning hours I spent mostly trying to kill some time near the harbour and later in the center. Afterwards it got a bit warmer and I finally met up with Matti who came to pick me up. We met up in the train station and went for a walk, had a lunch on board the Bore where I stayed in August, and headed home to Tervakoski where I spent the following week watching the northern lights, the solar eclipse and having a full time vacation.

That wonderful flower sculpture again

The rusty object in the foreground is a crushed bulbous bow removed from a ship after it ran aground. Thanks to Micke Asklander for refreshing my memory - the bulbous bow belonged to Transgermania who was later known as Eckerö Line's Translandia.  

After a wonderful vacation it was time to return home. This time I opted for the normal way and took the Star home. I would probably not even mention this but the sea was nice and stormy, nothing like it was during my journey a week earlier. In fact, we were told over the speakers to avoid going outside and be careful while moving around the ship three times. The spray easily splashed up to 8th deck windows and I felt like on board a ship at last.