Hop on Hop off on a Rainy Day

The "Hop on Hop off " bus is perfect for a rainy day in Stockholm. After a huge breakfast at the hotel, we   find our way to the subway station. Riding underground is also a good option as it is pouring. Another "tourist" couple help us figure out the best way to purchase tickets and get on our way. We appreciate being driven around this city of islands on this very wet day. What a gorgeous place - even as it pours buckets on us.

We try a Swedish cinnamon roll. The dough is layered and twisted. No wonder this is a Swedish tradition.

VASA MUSEUM

Vasa is a Swedish warship built in the mid 1620s.

On August 10, 1628 the ship sank less than a mile into her maiden voyage. Thirty of the 400 on board were lost. This ship remained at the bottom of Stockholm harbor until 1961 when it was lifted to the surface. Preservation treatment has saved the ship from destruction. 98 % of the ship is original. The preservation work is fascinating. She was moved to the Vasa Museum in 1987 – very interesting!

 This is the lion figure head on the warship "Vasa". Read more about this ship: http://www.vasamuseet.se/en/ 

Next time we hop off the bus we meet up with ABBA!  Look closely you might recognize us as we were asked to fill in today! This is a new museum - just opened this year - really interactive and fun.
Visit: http://www.abbathemuseum.com/

The rain stopped in time for us to walk back to our hotel, rest for a bit, and consult the hotel clerk for a good place to eat. She directs us down to the river to Trattorian near City Hall. This is a great city for walking.

Visit: http://trattorian.se/en/galleri  to see more pictures of this fun restaurant offering Ribolitta,  wood fired oven roasted vegetables and a friendly brother/sister at the next table.

The view from Trattorian - across the river where we hope to walk tomorrow!

Cafe Tranan, Stockholm

Our hotel recommends nearby Cafe Tranan. We want to try Swedish food. Jonas, our server, suggests a great vegetarian option for Lea and a traditional Swedish meatballs with lingon berries & cucumbers for Jim. We sit outside right on the sidewalk where other diners are sitting with their dogs! <3

Our view is the construction of the new subway stop. Even though Jonas warns us that in about 10 minutes they will be blasting, I still scream. How funny that our first night in Stockholm should offer us a display of dynamite. Didn't Nobel make his fortune from dynamite?

We love the food at Tranan - especially the raspberry souffle with licorice ice cream!

Amsterdam the Added Bonus

Amsterdam the Added Bonus

Arriving in Amsterdam Airport at 5:30 am we realize our connection to Stockholm does not leave until 2:30 pm. Nine hours of waiting in the airport seems crazy – what to do? We talk with a nice airport lady who suggests that we take the train into the old city. Why not?

Finding the train, getting the Euros, and the tickets can be challenging when you’ve been up all night, but somehow we push through all the uncertainty. In the early morning hours we find ourselves riding the rails from the “Schiptol” (airport) to the center city. We look around carefully as we take each escalator and turn any corner to be sure we can retrace out steps.

The train drops us off right in the midst centuries old brick and stone buildings fronting on cobblestone streets alongside canals. Some of the dates on the buildings and bridges read back to 1654. Everything is so old.

We wander in wonder as we see large low houseboats and smaller open crafts on the canals. The narrow streets winding in and around the various canals make this adventure dreamlike. No one is here. The streets are just about empty. We try to follow the map but the street names are extremely foreign. Huis is house. A sign for the Ann Frank House tempts us. It is right near the hotel we have reservations for on July 25^th coming home. That becomes the quest. Find the Nadia Hotel which is around the corner from the Ann Frank Museum. We find it, well, after we walk a few extra blocks beyond it and ask some one. We are that tired. It is nice to know where we will stay when we return to this interesting place.

We find a great little café at the corner of Eerste Bloemdwars Straat. We enjoy a latte and a croissant with ham and cheese. With the city waking up now, this is a perfect spot for people watching! Tight short skirts on bikes, no one wears a helmet, mothers with young ones in bike seats – all very interesting. Now the city is bustling with bikers. They have a rhythm – no  one seems to be looking at anyone as they whip around corners and whisk bumpity bump along the cobble stones beside the canals.

Taking in the architecture,  old door way ironwork and brass hinges, colorful roses and hollyhocks, and the energy of the people, we keep walking. Jim notices an apple cake on someone’s plate as we pass a sidewalk café. Sure, we can have another coffee and try one of those.

We check out the canal boat rides, not enough time today, but we take the schedule and plan a trip on the 25^th.

Hello from Stockholm

Hello from Stockholm-

“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” Lao Tzu

It's a good thing we have no fixed plans!

En route to Sweden, we change planes in Holland. We get to Amsterdam with 9 hours to wait in the airport, so take a fast train in to the old city! Even though we can barely keep our eyes open having hardly slept a wink on the plane, we walk for a few hours winding our way along the canals and cobblestoned streets lined with charming ancient architecture and fresh flowering plants; geraniums, hollyhock, roses. Taking the 7 am train, we arrive in time to watch this old town wake up on a random Tuesday. We check out many canals. Canals go here and there. The variety of boats, house boats, and crazy floating crafts fascinate us. Coffee is good in this city. 

We try two cafes! We enjoy one that was hard to find. Breakfast is not big in this town.We sit on the sidewalk and Jim sketches a "Pile of Bikes" parked across from our table. We wander around, passing a huge line of people waiting admittance to the Anne Frank House. We are not sure we want to wait in such a long line. The museum they are lining up at is new. The line is winding around corals. Do these people know some thing we don't know? They must. The wait does not look worth it to us for our first morning in Amsterdam. We keep wandering. About an hour later as we are passing another cafe with outdoor tables, Jim spots someone eating an irresistible piece of apple cake. He asks me:"Want to get one of those?" "Sure, and I can use another coffee". I agree. It's important to expose all senses to this new experience. What an interesting place with so many cafes, canals, bikes, more bikes, lots of bikes, everyone rides bikes in Amsterdam. 

Not so much in Stockholm as it seems to be more hilly!

We are happy to be way up on top of the hill in this modest very European type hotel and by that I mean small room, twin beds pushed together, windows that tilt open. We plan to stay at Freys Hotel for the next 3 nights. 

Jim is napping, getting ready for our first night in Stockholm. Ha Ha. We might walk around the nearby park and eat at a Swedish restaurant recommended by the friendly blond woman at the hotel desk.

As I sip my sparkling water from a wine glass, I am thinking of each of you hoping your Tuesday is going well. Please keep in touch? It's nice to get e-mails!

( already got one <3)

Scandinavia 2013

Waiting for our flight gives me time to start blogging about our trip to Scandinavia.
Jim says; "That's our bird out there."
I look out the large corner windows of Gate A 14 Delta at Logan Airport and see a nice sized plane getting food and fuel for our departure.

This day finally arrived. I've been waiting over 40 years to visit my friend in Finland. When we were seniors at The Winsor School she joined our class for one year. Instantly we became friends. She's been back here over a dozen times since our graduation in 1970. Now that our tickets are bought, our itinerary planned, and we are on our way, I can not say what took me so long to take her up on her invitation to visit her in Turku, Finland.

We are flying to Amsterdam, then on to Stockholm for a few days before we take a ferry to Turku.

I like seeing my airplane from the window.

Erin's birthday

HAPPY Birthday JIM!