A peek to the neighbors

I have travelled to Europe some years ago, but I have never visited Scandinavia so that’s why I was excited when I went to Sweden for my study, because I have the opportunity to explore the northern parts of the world. One of the things to do that is by taking a 1 day trip with the cruise ship, such as Tallink or Viking Line. I’ve travelled twice with the Tallink cruise ship, once to Helsinki, Finland and just this week to Riga, Latvia.

 

My first cruise to Helsinki was quite good. The ship was definitely bigger than the ship to Riga so there was much more space on the deck from shops, casinos and the dance floor. The city Helsinki itself was nice and there were some things to see. The dock was also really close to the city center which makes easy for us exploring the city without buying any bus or metro tickets. The sea was a bit wild though, so when I returned I got a bit land sick afterwards.

 

This weeks’ ship to Riga was much smaller but it doesn’t mean necessarily worse. It’s true that the dance floor is really small, casino packed up and less shops, but there is a karaoke section that was really popular, not as popular as the one on my trip to Helsinki. Lots of Latvian people were singing and cheering the singers with cheers and applause, whether they sang good or bad. There were some of them even dancing in front of the karaoke. It reminded me a few years ago when I went to Czech Republic with my university choir and went with the Czechs to a pub with karaoke. It was quite the same feeling, nice, warm and welcoming. The city itself was nice, better then Helsinki, although the old town was much smaller. Architects should definitely go here!

 

I look forward to go to another cruise to Tallink, Estonia which I heard is also a beautiful city to visit. If you happen to study here at KTH, you should definitely go with the cruise to these cities. Oh, one more thing to note, the ships are also popular for the cheap cigars and alcohol compared to the one in Sweden. You can find all kinds of alcohol here and even the ones beyond your wildest dream. Take a look at this one below!

 

Hmm… Let’s think positive here, you have at least something to sterilize you when you got a wound! It will definitely kill the bacteria’s… (and probably you too, if you take a sip too many)