Stockholm to Rønne to Visby to Stockholm

We just got home from a great little cruise in the Baltic!  This was a special Midsummer cruise on the M/S Birka and our first opportunity to travel with our little family of just three.  We had a wonderful time, despite the fact that it was a bit rainy and never above 60 degrees.    Leaving Stockholm was beautiful as we cruised through the miles of 40,000 islands that make up the Stockholm archipelago.

Our first full day was spent on the island of Bornholm in the city of Rønne, Denmark.  It was incredibly cute and picturesque, and we thoroughly enjoyed the town, as well as the church, the merchant's house museum, porcelain factory and cemetery that we visited as we wandered.

After celebrating Midsommar onboard the ship with smoked herring, dancing around the May pole, and the singing of Swedish songs, we went to bed while the sun was still out.

The best thing about our cabin was that it did not have window!  For the first time in months, we could sleep without the sun shining in our faces at all hours of the night and morning!

The next morning brought us to the island of Gotland, to the medieval walled city of Visby, Sweden.  Another incredibly cute, picturesque town but much larger in size than Rønne.  It was incredible, with the 13th century stone wall almost entirely intact around the entire inner city.  There were also some beautiful homes, churches and church ruins.  The shopping and food were also great even though some of the places were closed for the Midsummer holiday.

After roaming for hours and hours, we finally headed back to the ship when we just got too cold to be outside any longer.  We spent the remainder of our trip, just relaxing on board with books and the game room.  Max was definitely missing his siblings, and we definitely realized how much more work it is to not have kids around to entertain each other!  We did have a great time, however!