Stockholm is famous for 3 things, Abba, Ikea and Nobel. The Mamma Mia / Abba Museum is a hoot.

Stockholm is famous for 3 things, Abba, Ikea and Nobel. The Mamma Mia / Abba Museum is a hoot.

The Nobel Peace prize is still presented in Stockholm each year, there is a Nobel Museum. There is also an Abba Museum which is fantastic. Ikea do not have a museum, to our knowledge, not yet.

Stockholm is the capital of Sweden made up of 14 islands joined by bridges at the mouth of Lake Mälaren which makes the sail in very peaceful. The whole Baltic Cruise was a smooth ride.

The total number of islands making Sweden is in the thousands and every blog seems to offer a different number depending on what it classes as an island, but, there is a lot of water.

The first thing is to try and get your bearings, but that might not happen until a second visit because whatever you do, whether boat or bus, it is not until you have done both all and walked that you see how it all joins up.

There is no doubt that some forms of transport can be quicker for some journeys and the answer is not automatic. However, this medieval town, that has had people migrating to it since the stone age is a must because in the middle of a street you can find ancient palaces as you will see from this main film of the city tour. Click here for the film on Stockholm old town. The end of the film takes you across on the ferry to the Tivoli Park and Abba museum, then Doris walks back across the bridge.

The Abba museum is fun, and is a must whatever your music tastes for it is a piece of real history.  A band that had huge success and still do as their music is used in film and on stage. The Mamma Mia sensation has brought a whole new generation to the music who never saw them win Eurovision. Despite the popularity few realise that much of their music is about being unhappy, breaking up, and divorce.
The museum offers an inter-active commentary device and Doris Visits highly recommends you give yourself a couple of hours there. Click here for a small sample of what the museum has to offer.

There lies the problem with the stop in Stockholm, you cannot do everything and the Changing Of The Guards is quite a spectacle but it happens mid day. Add to that - if you wish to be able to see on the flat parade ground you need to be there for about 1130 to get a place at the front. Around 12 noon it starts and plays for some time, so you will be leaving around 1300 hours. Here is the film of the changing of the guard, click here.

So, planning the time and the movement between the places is key.

Tips...
1. It is a full day start early.
2. Abba Museum first by ferry from the shuttle coach drop off.
3. Back for the midday Changing Of The Guards, then the Old Town.
4. Walking Shoes.
5. Share your pictures with us and share these films with other cruisers.

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FIJI

DORIS VISITS FIJI

To make the movie Bula Quo starring Status Quo and her real life daughter Laura Aikman

To be honest, being a working actress, presenter and producer, I do get to see more than my fair share of places. I sometimes wonder why I have a house especially as my son Luke lives abroad and when home is in Bristol where his company is, and my daughter Laura is a very busy actress and often away. Last year she was bouncing between Glasgow and South Africa for the BBC. Both are married and it is easy for me to travel now with no worries.  Hence the addition of the travel show, Doris Visits.

However, Fiji was different. Our company made the Status Quo movie Bula Quo and the whole family was involved. Stuart (husband) knew Quo and their manager Simon Porter from the 1970's when he was a radio DJ. They re-met on Coronation Street in 2005 and agreed to do a movie. It was then to happen with Vinnie Jones but Rick Parfitt had a health scare and it got put off. Then it stumbled for other reasons before being mounted when we all had matching breaks in our calendar in 2012.

So as an advance party with a finance deal to shoot in Fiji we went with 4 weeks to find locations. Whilst most cruises currently go into Suva the capital, most tourists fly into Nadi. Then are separated by a poor road and a drive that can be anything from between 2 and a half hours, our best time with speeding ticket, took four hours. There are local buses, but I would find a car. We decided to base in Nadi as there was more to offer in the terms of flavour to a film, but Fiji is like the Maldives in that it is a collection of islands, most islands are a resort and the resorts are where most tourists will stay.

Day visitors to Suva can head for some of the hotels on the sea, or the Grand Pacific Hotel which is a renovated colonial building that has been modelled on Raffles in Singapore.

Visitors to Nadi have a wealth of resorts, and Denarau which hosts a number of themed restaurants and a Hard Rock Cafe. There are boat trips and the best golf course is at the Intercontinental which is a wonderful resort hotel on the coral coast between Nadi and Suva so a little out of the way.

If you are adventurous, and I mean adventurous, there is a waterfall. It is one of the few attractions on the island and the climb to it is as much a joy. If you ask how long it will take, the only answer is "you have to cross seven rivers". Depending on rainfall that can range from a doddle to an unnerving challenge.

Our story of Fiji is based around its biggest storm ever when roads were washed away, bridges destroyed and the band rang to ask if they should fly as they saw news stories of people being air lifted out. We will cut a travel film from our footage, again it has been thrown at the edit suit and they are likely to throw it back until 2016, but watch for updates. The film on the floods is very interesting. You will see what film makers have to deal with. In the mean time there are many films of Fiji on our Bula Quo channel which has had over a quarter of a million views.

Jean can be seen here with American star Jon Lovitz. The shot was taken in Denarau near Nadi.

Here we shot a fight scene in a restaurant, many of the restaurants are owned by the same family but the themes / franchises often change.

Denarau is the stop for boats to the islands and tours from the coast.





I would appreciate you finding and following me on Facebook DORIS SHADES and on Twitter as DorisVisits.

Your numbers, clicks and likes are very important to me. I hope to see you on board a cruise ship very soon, but similarly (try) to stop me and say hi !!

If you are on holiday and love reading from your Kindle, and belong to the Kindle library, you might care to down load the book Shades Of Bad - WHO DIES TODAY which is the book covering the first 40 episodes of the dark comedy series Shades Of Bad, where Doris, me, deals with her husband leaving her by becoming a serial killer who works from home. The book is also available as a paperback.

The series can be viewed from the web site www.shadesofbad.com or YouTube.

A LIST OF LOCAL CONTACTS - also check in the comments sections here and of the films on YouTube for locals bars, restaurants, tours and amenities who have connected.