Sunday in Stockholm

We had another busy and fun day in Stockholm. It started by taking our luggage to the Central Station to store it in lockers for the day since we had to check out of our hotel. One negative to traveling with a toddler and therefore a stroller is that you have to use elevators a lot. For some reason people think that the elevators of the subways of Stockholm are public restrooms. They were horrible. Katherine and I actually got stuck in one when it kept stopping between two floors. I thought we were never going to get out.

We started our touring for the day at the Vasa Museum. The Vasa was a ship that sank on its maiden voyage in 1628. The Vasa was built top-heavy with insufficient ballast and foundered as soon as she encountered a wind stronger than a breeze, just a few minutes after first setting sail on her maiden voyage. Despite clearly lacking stability even in port, she was allowed to set sail. When I saw this ship, it was obvious to me that it would sink. The ration of height to width was scary and very unstable. It was however a cool looking boat and I immediately thought of Jack Sparrow and Pirates of the Caribbean. It was really difficult to get any good photos because it was so huge and the lighting was poor.

The back of the ship - beautifully carved.

Our only family photo in Stockholm and you can't see the ship in the background.

Cool map of Scandinavia.

Stockholm was a pretty town so we enjoyed walking around a little. This is by the water. Actually, there is a lot of real estate by the water because Stockholm is 14 islands.
This is the Nordic Museum. We were going to go there about 30 minutes before it closed but our tourist card did not include this museum. Oh well.

After the Vasa, we went to Junibacken, the Pippi Longstocking museum. You remember Pippi, the cute girl with red braids that go out to the side. I actually dressed up as Pippi Longstocking once, I assume for Halloween. Well, the author, Astrid Lingren, is Swedish and the character is very popular throughout Scandinavia.



The museum was really more of a kids theme park or play area. It was very crowded. We did not even get to go on the story train because the line was so long and I bet that was the best part. There was a sing a long and you can see Katherine is quite involved in "head, shoulders, knees and toes" in Swedish of course.

There were houses from the movie and play areas that were a lot of fun for Katherine to run around and play in. It did a good job of wearing her out.



Our last stop in Stockholm was Skansen, the open air museum. It seems that these museums are quite popular all over Scandinavia. They are basically large parks with a bunch of old buildings from around the country so you can learn about life.

Stockholm was a great city. I wish we had more time there to see more. Maybe we will go back someday.

Saturday in Stockholm

Having only 2 days in Stockholm we wanted to pack it in and see it all. Well, it seems that there is a lot to do in Stockholm so that was not possible. Traveling with a toddler changes things. I think I need to write a whole post just on that topic.

We started off going to the Kulturehuset or Culture House. A friend said it was a hit with the kids. They have a great children's library with all kinds of fun things to do. It was good to let Katherine run around a little to burn off some energy. Her favorite was the swinging basket.
Next we walked to Gamla Stan or Old Town. This is the medieval area and also where the royal palace is located. There are 4 museums to see at the Royal Palace and we made two of them. We went into the Royal Apartments but we went in one at a time. Katherine decided to fall asleep for her nap right as we arrived so I stayed with her when Sam went in and then we switched. It was full of stairs and not stroller friendly.
We just so happened to be there for the changing of the guard. In the winter they have a full parade two days a week and we happened to see it. Pretty typical of a European royal changing of the guard.
We wandered around the Gamla Stan area and saw the smallest statue in Stockholm (of over 6000). I am not sure the attraction but it was mentioned in every guide book I looked at and there was a crowd of people looking at him (hence the feet). So, I took the photo.

You can see this area is quaint with narrow streets and cute buildings on the square.

The second museum we went to was the Royal Armory museum. It had some armory, clothes, carriages and all kinds of things related to the royal family. The best part was that there was a children's area. Katherine dressed up as a queen and sat on her throne.
Sam put on part of a suit of armor. He said it was quite heavy and could not imagine the entire suit or how you could fight while wearing it.
They had a play carriage and horses. The horses actually rocked which Katherine liked.

An last we colored a coat of arms. I did not know our family coat of arms was full of scribbles.

Stockholm

This past weekend we went to Stockholm, Sweden. We have now completed our tour of Scandinavian capital cities. We did not really set out to do that but realized that we have now been to Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Stockholm. The cities do have some similarities but are also very different. We noticed that Copenhagen and Stockholm feel more like the rest of Europe that we are used to. More pretty churches, palaces, etc. I think it may be due to how each country has fit into the politics of the region for the past 1000 years or so. (Don't quote me on any of these dates OK?)

Norway and Finland were under the rule of other nations for most of their existence. Norway has been a part of Sweden and Denmark. Finland has been a part of Sweden and Russia. Both countries have been independent for around 100 years. So, the countries that have more tourist sites were the conquerors and those that are not as rich on typical sites were the subjects. Just our observation.

Anyway, we had a great weekend. It was really cold on Saturday and that will be the focus of this post. They are all photos of us bundled up. We were able to stay warm with proper clothes and plenty of indoor breaks. I am still so tired and I have a dear friend staying with us in Oslo for a few days so not much time to blog. I will try to catch up on the rest of our Stockholm trip tomorrow.

So, Katherine, tell us what you saw outside your window when you woke up Saturday morning.

That is right folks, there was snow in Stockholm when we woke up. Katherine called it "no". Luckily most of it was gone by the time we left the house. It was pretty though.

Looking at the snow outside

Earth friendly or death on wheels?

I thought the Smart car was about as small as it gets, but I've spotted a few more here in Oslo that are even smaller!!!

Parking, of course, is a nightmare in a big city. If you can find a spot, you can expect to pay. But parking is cheap compared to the cost of gas and the taxes on purchasing a car -- try 100%!!!

Whether it's due to the high cost of car ownership, lack of parking, or a concern for the environment; motorcycles, bicycles, and small cars are everywhere. I'm encouraged to see some smaller cars on the roads, but how small is too small? Would you be comfortable driving one of these cars?

I'm not sure who makes the 'Buddy', but it is even smaller than the Smart car. It also has that manly scooter sound!!

Advantages of a parking a very small car!!

Or just park it with the bikes!!!

I'm not sure about the brand on this one, but it's equally ugly.

The Ford 'Think' is not just extremely small, it's 100% electric and has an ABS plastic shell. A dull plastic finish is a stark visual contrast to most cars. And if you get a little dent on the front end, you can just push it back out from the drivers seat -- assuming you can still use your legs!!!

This has got to be the smallest 4 door car I've seen. I've certainly never seen a car with rear doors that stretch all the way back to the tail lights!!! You could probably have a rear passenger change out the light bulb while driving down the highway!!!

And finally, I have to show some pics of the SMART sports car. It's much better looking than the SMART car at the top of this post. I remember reading an article about this car being the first to have an entirely ABS plastic body, and I've seen a few will a dull black finish around the headlights and front fenders.

If it were cheaper, I might be tempted!!

(SAM)

Traditional Norwegian Dinner

Hilde and Mark wanted to have us over to their house for a traditional Norwegian meal. It was fabulous! We had meatballs and sauce, potatoes, broccoli and a berry sauce that is some berry that no one knows the name of in English. Yummm.

Nikolas is ready to eat.
After dinner we let the kids play. Actually, before and dinner they played as well. We finally got a really good picture of Katherine and Nikolas. She will really miss him.
Hilde's granddaughter Lona was there as well. She is almost 3.
Mark, Hilde, Nikolas, Camilla and Lona.

Happy Halloween

We did not really do anything on Wednesday for Halloween. I would have loved to have been at our church's fall fun fest. Since we lost Katherine's viking helmet, therefore rendering her costume merely a drab outfit, she did not dress up on Halloween. Instead she wore the cute pumpkin outfit that Nana brought her when she came to visit. Sophia has the same outfit and it would have been so cute to get a picture of the cousins matching.

I think Katherine thought the pumpkin might actually taste like mama's pumpkin bread. So sorry sweetie!

It actually was a day that did not pan out the way I thought it would. I planned to go to our last Mom and Toddler Playgroup one last time before we head back to the US. Sam has been working late this week so we decided to have a leisurely breakfast as a family. When I was finally ready to leave, I checked the tram/bus schedules and left for playgroup. I was going to be late but I thought it would still be worth the effort of going. If I got there any later it would not have been. Well, wouldn't you know, the tram was early and so I saw it passing by as I got near the stop. Missing the tram meant missing the bus so I decided not to go. Instead Katherine and I went to Frogner park since we had not been there in awhile. It was a much colder day than I had realized plus we were dressed for an indoor playgroup not playing at the park. So we did not stay long. I ran a few errands and went home.

I got home and Sam was still there. He had a very frustrating morning at the bank. We decided to go to lunch as a family at Mucho Mas, the only Mexican restaurant in town that we know of. It is actually pretty good. We had a lazy afternoon at home. Sarah and Aiden were supposed to join us for dinner as both dad's were working late but Aiden was a little under the weather. I invited Cally, our babysitter and fellow church member to join us instead.

The day was not what I planned but we ended up having a pretty good one.