Tuesday, June 18, 2013

An overlooked ferry port


Tuesday – 18 June 2013 – Helsingborg, Sweden

I visited Helsingborg about 20 years ago just long enough to run from the slightly delayed train from Stockholm to board the ferry to Denmark. So I didn't get to see this quite lovely town until this morning's half day port call. And we were no longer in Germany.

We arrived before 8 am adjacent to the very busy Helsingborg ferry docks for our cruise's only stop in Sweden. The view from Silver Cloud of the town square was promising although the tourist information didn't really list a bunch of "must sees". It was kind of fun to see Kronborg Castle in Denmark across the Oresund Strait. Kronborg is the setting for Hamlet, of course, and a tourist destination right up there with visits to the buildings in Cleveland used to film Jean Shepherd's, "A Christmas Story", or for that matter Mork and Mindy's house in Boulder. But the view from Helsingborg was quite nice. As it happens, Helsingborg has a nice castle of its own. So there!

On the way to check out the 7-11 store at the railway station—where else—we observed a peasant on a bicycle and bunches of little kids in safely gear being led to look at Silver Cloud. We later found out that cruise ship calls are quite rare in Helsingborg, and our visit was highlighted in the local newspaper. I was amazed. There still are newspapers?

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