I got 8 hours of sleep!
Today was all free time until we had to meet to catch to ferry. I took advantage by finishing up at the palace. The Tre Kronor Museum was somewhat cool--it showed the history of the palace and its construction. The Treasury was just another collection of royal jewels. The Museum of Antiquities is just one hallway of busts and a side room whose contents I don't remember. I highly recommend skipping the Museum of Antiquities.
Courtyard of the Royal Palace. Apartments to the right. The changing of the guard occurs here.
For lunch I had Indian food at Kungstradgarden, an area with dozens of food and beverage stalls and a stage where Swedish singers performed "9 to 5", "We Are Family" and other all-American songs. I also had time to check the Internet, primarily so I could get the Lakers score and to try to find a bar I read about where girls get in free if their age plus weight is less than 80 or 85. I still can't find it and don't know where on the Internet I saw it. Maybe it's not even in Europe. Anyone know?
[31 Aug 2004: I finally figured out where I saw that bar. It was on a show on the Travel Channel that I'm watching again right now. The bar is in Tokyo and the rule is free drinks for any girl whose age plus weight (in kg) < 80.]
Stockholm is cold when cloudy, OK when sunny. I wrote that in my journal and realize it's meaningless and can apply to almost any city in the world.
We boarded the Silja Serenade in mid-afternoon for our overnight voyage to Helsinki. The ship is huge and has a casino.
.JPG)
The Serenade, aka the Love Boat.
After the long-awaited shower I joined the others at the bar for a few drinks before dinner. At some point we noted the absence of K1 and K2, and someone (I don't remember now if it was John or Mark--remind me please) referred to them as "Axe and Smash". Nice! I didn't realize the enduring global reach of Demolition's popularity.
Dinner is where the problems began, mainly due to the unlimited alcohol. I know I filled my glass with wine from the tap at least three times.
In talking with Matt at dinner about my previous tours I confirmed that Shervo is still driving.
A photo of Becky taking a photo of her boobs is like that t-shirt featuring Bluto wearing the COLLEGE shirt. Or like Itchy & Scratchy.
I think that's just Bushy's wig in there, and not all of Bushy.
At this time I must apologize for the lack of anecdotes from dinner until the end of the night, but I have almost no memory of anything that happened after about 10pm. I don't remember leaving dinner to go up to the club. Nothing like a good blackout. I jotted a few notes about the evening in my Treo and their absence will be explained on the next page. Details trickled in over the following days and I'll include them on those pages instead of summarizing them here.
As for the photos below, I can't even confirm that I took them. I'll do my best with the captions.
Michelle, Becky and Nancy.
Michelle, Becky and Nancy.
Michelle, Becky and Nancy.
Michelle, Becky and Nancy. Wait, why did I take so many photos of Michelle, Becky and Nancy? Oh yeah...BOOBS were involved.
K1, Sue and Mark.
I give up on this one. Maybe I forgot that I already had a dozen pics of her in the wig.
Uh...Michelle, Becky and Nancy.
Broges and Michelle.
John, Broges, Bushy and Chris King.
Shaun, Bushy (hiding), Chris King, Broges and John. Once again, I tend to take more photos when BOOBS are involved thank you.
Another one I can't explain. Maybe I wanted a photo of the dance floor, or of the hottie with the bandanna.
Now I remember that window on the left. It's slowly coming back to me.