Home

Well, we're home and fairly settled in. Our flights were good with not too many clinks. It was about as long as we are able to sit, especially with Bob's long legs. Our daughter in law's dad, Ron, picked us up at the airport door for a nice ride home, laughing as we compared travel stories.

We walked around in a bit of a daze trying to soak it all in and felt a little snazzy that we successfully did it all. However, our greatest emotion is that of feeling so thankful and blessed to have had such a wonderful life experience. Thank you to all who followed along and sent us safe travel prayers. It was an adventure! Now to enjoy and appreciate our sweet family, pets and home.

An interesting note: A few days after we got home, I heard from a lady in Sweden that I had contacted online who would help with genealogy research from that side with Swedish records. If she had contacted us a few weeks earlier, I would have had so much more information. She gave us a wonderful report on both of my grandparents that told us where they were born, who their relatives were, where they were married and when they immigrated. It turns out, and this is such an amazing coincidence, that they lived right outside of the town, Kristinehamn, where Tord was born and where we attended the Mid Summer Eve celebration. We were exactly in the right place. If we had known, we could have found the actual area and church. We were so close. I guess we have to some day go back.

Meanwhile, stay tuned for our next adventure and again, thanks so much for being there.

Onward and upward,
Bob & Cherie Fish

Making the Most of Our Last Day

Morning came and surprisingly, we could walk. So after a hearty breakfast, we started out walking again to see Old Town and maybe take a boat tour. We both agreed not to walk as far today as we both felt a little tired and shaky. There was that age thing creeping in again. However, once we got in the cool air with a rhythm to our walk, we gained energy. It was rainy, but we had good rain jackets and didn't want that to stop us. We laughed that we were out with only short sleeve shirts under our jackets and comfortable with the expected high today of only about 44 F. We surely have thick skin at the moment and 80 F back home is going to cook us.

Stockholm is built on many islands with bridges and canals everywhere. We had trouble following the detailed map and finding the right street names. It was very confusing but we finally found the Palace and a Hop On Hop Off Boat Tour. We decided to take the tour and relax and get our bearings. It was wonderful to be out on the water and the sky was clearing at least for a while.

We saw a big Regatta passing right near us with fairly large crews. It was fun to watch.

 

We got off at Old Town and wandered through the narrow, shop and café lined streets and alleys.

We ended up at the Palace just in time to see the changing of the guard and then to see the Royal Stockholm Marching Band.

 

We were very lucky as we had no idea where we were going. We also went into the Palace Chapel which had incredible paintings and sculptures. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but I'm glad I got to see it.

We were getting tired so we went back down to the water and got on our tour boat. We decided to just sit there and listen to the speaker through all of the stops, which was a lovely, informative 50 minutes.

I had taken a picture of the beautiful, huge Grand Hotel. Then on our tour, I learned it was the first modern hotel in Stockholm complete with lifts/elevators and the practice of changing the sheets after each guest. I'm glad they started that!

Our guide told us that the waterfront in Stockholm was once filled with farm land, huts and dirty, poor housing for waterfront workers. He said it was a pretty unpleasant place with a lot of disease. Then in the 1860s, it was transformed with ornate tall buildings with grand apartments some of which have as many as 20 rooms.

We saw some big ships, cruise ships and ferries. Our guide pointed out a Viking Ferry that has a regular route across the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland.

We also learned that there are 60 ship wrecks in Stockholm ports and over 20,000 in the Baltic Sea. The Baltic has relatively shallow water and low saline which helps preserve the wrecks. He said there was a lot of opportunity for discovery and adventure.

We got off the boat, and stopped and bought some yummy rolls for our walk back to the hotel. Our time is surely winding down and home is sounding pretty darn good. Now to pack everything and get through that plane ride. I'll be skipping and singing when my feet hit the ground in Michigan!

We had a last Happy Hour in the hotel sitting room and listened to a family chatting in Swedish on one side and an enthusiastic , athletic (I think an adult soccer team) group animatedly chatting on the other side in Italian. It will be weird when we once again understand what people are saying.

The hotel served a very nice light meal with baked salmon , salad and new potatoes followed by sorbet for dessert. It was just what we needed. 

Here's to tomorrow, easy, safe travel and home....Home Sweet Home!

Exploring Stockholm

Heavy shades, a cracked window with a cool breeze, and a clean comfortable bed worked their magic. We slept, and I mean slept, for ten hours. We must not be as young as we once were. The stress of traveling is more than we realize.

Breakfast was elegant with many choices including delicious Swedish Pancakes. Several items were marked organic and all of it was included in the price of the hotel. This mornings mood music was French as we watched very stylish city people come and go as well as jean clad weary travelers like us. Many were sneaking out bananas for the day ahead. Bob ate enough to carry him for sure!

We stopped at the front desk and talked to a nice young man about walking routes and the Hop On Hop Off Bus. He was so helpful, so we went on to ask him about getting to the airport Monday morning. He spoke of the walk to the subway and the train or the bus and I think he heard us audibly groan. So he pulled out his reservation pad with information on a fixed rate taxi. We had heard to beware of the very expensive taxi system with prices all over the board, but the hotel had a fixed rate deal with this company with a price of $65 for the half hour ride from the hotel door to the airport. Did we sign up? You bet your...YES! Ah! One less worry and my arms and nerves are most happy.

We started our exploration walking to the water near Old Town and stopped along the way in the shops. 

The shops were full of so many beautiful things with clean lines and soft colors, but the prices were crazy. I saw a book on Swedish traditions and recipes, but it was $50. A little wooden carved and hand painted traditional Swedish Dala Horse was $50 and a toy logging truck was $75. Yikes! So much for buying souvenirs.

We walked to the bridge across to the island of Djurgarden where there is a park and several museums. We wound around the paths to see the Vasa Museum that houses a restored Viking Ship. The line was huge as tour buses were unloading so we walked on around to the Spirit Museum. It was unusual and interesting, featuring displays of Swedish sins including free love, nudity and the abundant consumption of alcohol.

We had no idea of the degree this affected the Swedish culture. I remember when I was young hearing that life in Sweden was pretty relaxed and liberal, but it was out of control and a huge problem. The funny part was that they were most ashamed of the alcohol.

The displays were very well done and informative, with many interactive exhibits, but still, it was a little unnerving.

We went back to check on the Vasa Museum and the line was much shorter and moving quickly. We stood by people who were speaking English and found out they were from New Mexico and on a cruise. It turns out they were on the same ship we were on, just finishing up the Baltic Sea Cruise. We had fun comparing experiences and talking about our favorite crew members. It made the time pass very quickly.

We walked into the museum and our mouths fell open.

 

 The ship was so huge and ornate. We had thought it would be a large row boat with curled wood on each end, but it was a proper ship with several floors. The artistic work and carvings were  beyond beautiful. It sunk on it's first sailing in very cold water into a clay bottom and is in incredible shape. It was raised in 1960. They now keep it in a warm, moist, dark atmosphere to help preserve it. I took about a million pictures and will probably have to delete most because of the lighting.

We could go up stairs to 5 different levels for views and on those floors they had other artifacts and information so you could get a feel for the rough life of those days for the men onboard. It was most interesting.

We finally maxed out on what we could absorb and left the museum heading right for the Glass (ice cream) Stand. We sat eating delicious ice cream resting our feet and watching all of the action around us.

Rested once more, we headed up the hill to the Open Air Museum to observe life on a farm in Sweden a few hundred years ago. People were dressed in period costumes and performing activities like making flat bread (that we got to taste) and weaving, etc. It was so interesting and once again I took many pictures. I kept thinking of my Great Grandparents and wondering if this was what their life was like.

They even had a small zoo of typical Swedish wildlife and we got pictures of moose, bear, and seals. But, it made my heart hurt to see them in captivity.

I did have to make a quick stop at the life sized Dala Horse.

It started to spit rain, so with Bob reading our little map, down the hill we went and across the bridge to find our way back to the hotel. It was surely a "Bob & Cherie" kind of day as we never did take a tour and we walked so far (later Bob measured with Google Earth and we walked at least 8 miles), I'm not sure I'll be able to walk tomorrow. The lovely hotel, Happy Hour, and a free dinner called.

Stockholm Bound

This morning's view out the window was not so breathtaking.

 

However we slept well and that's what counts, other than the three kids sitting right outside of our window at the picnic table talking and laughing till after 1:00 in the morning. And, I couldn't even spy on them as I couldn't understand a word of it, but the laughter was nice.

A quick word about showers here. There is no guard around the showers floor. 

The water from the shower goes down a drain in the floor, but the water can spread all over the little bathroom. Then they give you a squeegy like a window cleaner to push the water to the drain and clean the floor. It works but can get kind of wet.

Also, most of the beds in every hotel room are twin sized. Some are pushed together and some have a table between.

  All are pads on a stand wrapped in a sheet. Then the blanket is in a kind of sheet envelope or duvet. I like it as it is very clean and you are not touching some stranger's blanket. It's a good system.

We had a nice sunny breakfast buffet in the hotel dining room with a view of the park and church across the way.

 It was very pleasant and a better impression than that of the night before.  We walked over to have a look at the church and the wooded park at the back that had many walking trails.

Behind the church there was a stone circle.

We were told it was very old, but couldn't read the signs. 

We walked into the little town and poked through a very nice sporting goods store. It is much nicer to walk around town than to try to drive these crazy, narrow, curving one way roads with no parking. We went into a bank to get money as the ATM machine made us nervous. The machine wanted to read our card's chip, which we don't have and we couldn't read the signs to figure out what to do. We took a number and sat on a comfy couch and waited our turn. It was all very orderly and civilized. The clerk explained that the machine would take our card with no chip and there was a button to chose English. A pretty, young assistant offered to come out and walk us through their process. They were very nice and now we have money! No more Wasa Bread and cheese! 

We loaded up and headed to the airport early to make sure all was in order. The Kiruna Airport is surprisingly nice and modern. I was sad to leave our beloved black Volvo behind. We really enjoyed that car and the freedom it gave us. It took us a while to figure out we just needed to park the car and go on into the airport. There was no paperwork or anyone to talk to. I guess they just trust you.

We sat at a table in the nice airport lounge as I was going to work on the blog and then we heard a very nice little 21 year old lady speak with an Australian Accent. She was traveling alone and we immediately hooked up. She seemed as happy to see us and we were to see her. We had the greatest conversation and it made our wait fly. She would one day like to do travel planning for people and started sketching out a trip for us to New Zealand and Australia. Maddy had been visiting an old family friend in Kiruna and was off on a real adventure traveling the world with work stops along the way. 

We are of course, Facebook Buddies now and we both invited the other to have a visit in the future. We hugged as we parted. What a nice young lady!

We had a calm, short flight and landed in Stockholm with no problems 

and then...confusion! We asked several people for help in the crowds on our walk to the train to take us to the city center. 

We finally managed that and had to watch carefully to get off at the right place. Then it was like herds of rushing people closing in all around us rushing for the subway with us dragging suitcases and backpacks and my purse across my shoulders as the loud speakers warned of Pick Pockets. We hurried along in the sea of people tightly clutching everything not even knowing where we were going. I let Bob break the way and just stayed behind him with my head down watching his feet. It was crazy! I am not a city girl for sure. We finally made it to what we hopped was the right train and had to stand balancing suitcases and holding on to a pole for the jerky ride. But, we did it and got off at the right place. The street signs were very confusing and we must have walked another 1/2 mile before a very nice young lady pointed us in the right direction.

Our hotel room was beautiful and up on the sixth floor. Dinner and breakfast were included. We settled in, enjoyed a very nice dinner and decided to crash. Night life was not on our minds tonight! 

 

We have two days to explore and enjoy Stockholm and then...can you say Taxi? We are having a taxi, at least to the city center and the train, for the trip to the airport and that's final!

Kiruna

We had a lovely breakfast in the dining room with that incredible view as we listened to the music of Elton John and Michael Buble'. It's nice to have the UK and Canada represented.

 

There was a cute little crackling fire going in the lobby and it smelled yummy, cozy. This may be our last day for jeans and sweatshirts as we fly to Stockholm tomorrow.

We left the hotel and climbed higher through the mountains with steep rocks on one side and the lake on the other and the sun sparkling through the gray as the clouds broke. There was a sign that was also written in English at the bottom that warned it was an avalanche zone and you can see why.

We entered the Abisko National Park and we drove in and stopped to see one more waterfall. There were men working up the river from us making a wooden walkway.

There were hiking paths everywhere with young couples out backpacking as well as older people Alpine Hiking with poles.

Back on the highway we passed areas of brightly colored flexible posts so road maintenance can tell where the road and bridges are in heavy snow. In parking lots you also see metal boxes on stands that reminded me of the old speakers at Drive In Movies. They are electrical outlets to plug your engine block heater into so your car will start easier in the very cold weather.

We stopped and hiked a trail to the lake. I am pleased to report we saw moose droppings, so they must be here some place.

 

We saw a group of little metal shacks all in a row on the beach and wondered if it was a campground, but no one was there. Back in the car, on the way down the road, we spotted another row of those shacks and all of a sudden Bob realized they were ice fishing shanties stored on the beach for the summer. It must look like a little shanty town in the winter. Bob thinks it would really be fun to be on that crystal clear lake, in a cozy shanty, fishing for Sweden's famous Northern Pike. I think it would be cold.

Bob keeps talking about how amazed he is with the number of streams and huge lakes that go on forever. He says there is no way with this small of a population that they can even make a dent in the number of fish. He was really itching to try.

Finding a restroom/toilet has been pretty easy on this trip. Along highways, you see blue signs with a small  "i" for information and a WC for water closet or toilet. There are many blue "P" signs for pullover areas to park or rest. We used them to take scenic pictures or just to get out and stretch. However, you see many men just step into the grass, with their back to traffic, unbuckle and relieve themselves. No one thinks anything of it. Lucky ducks! I guess the ladies have to wait or go into the woods.

As we come into Kiruna, the land is flatter with scrub trees. It is an iron mining town and quite industrial. There are 400 miles of underground mining tunnels under the town and they are planning to move Kiruna as they are afraid it will eventually collapse. That makes me feel real safe!

The town goes up the side of the hill with industrial, rectangular, bleak looking buildings of brick and metal. There is nothing quaint here. The roads were tight with many one way streets and we turned into dead end parking places a few times. It was most hard to find our way but finally did as I'm sure we broke a few traffic laws. We were just glad to stop. Our hotel was the same fee as we paid last night and is a hotel and youth hostel. It looked a little seedy, but was clean enough when we went in. I hope I can sleep. We are spoiled.

We did not want to spend time wandering around Kiruna, but there was a nice church and park I wanted to see later. Meanwhile we had time and spur of the moment we decided to drive to the Finland border so we could say we were in Finland too and we might see some wildlife.

We started out of town and saw signs advertising the famous Ice Hotel so we turned off. It was in a nice area by a big lake with pretty cottages. It was not the season for the hotel, but they had pictures and a big block of ice to show how it's all done.

It was interesting. They were also doing lots of road work and clearing and we wondered if this was to be the new sight for Kiruna. It could be a beautiful spot on the shores of a lake. The current Kiruna city center, with it's plain, factory looking buildings, needs to be torn down!

On the road to Finland, we drove through miles of wilderness with the occasional tiny settlement. 

Then we hit a stretch of construction for seven miles of very dusty bumpy roads with lots of heavy machinery about. We felt bad for the travel trailer ahead of us as it bounced over the road.

It occurred to us that we would eventually have to come back this way. This was surely not our best travel day. Our once black Volvo was now gray!

This land is so remote with so few houses and still no wildlife. There were lots of Sami pens for herding reindeer, but not a reindeer in sight. We finally stopped for gas and some crackers and cheese to keep us going. The attendant was not at all friendly or interested in chatting with us. We felt like we had bothered him but we were glad to not have to worry about gas and to have some snacks. There were no cafe's out here.

We got to the border and passed into Finland. It was not that impressive. We went into a gift shop and then the café to get a coffee. The words were all crazy long and we were lost. No one was very friendly, so we went right back into Sweden. This was a long trip for not that much of a reward. 

And then, Ta Da! We spotted three reindeer grazing in the field. We turned around and went back and got pictures. Yay! They were fuzzy and cute.
  
          
                                                                               

Farther down the road we saw the remains of a moose that was killed on the highway. Bob let me out to get pictures and turned around to come back and pick me up as there was not a good place to stop. I wanted more proof than poop that there really are moose here.

We passed back through the dusty construction and found our way back to the hotel. The town didn't look quite so bad with the sun out and we put on our winter coats to walk and find some dinner. There was a festival going on in the square with carnival rides and a rock band that was pretty good and they spoke in English. We had fun standing in the crowd bouncing to the rhythm for a while. 

We checked out the two open, near by, restaurants, but one was full and one was too expensive. The carnival had plenty of food to offer, but listen to what smart American travelers we are. We forgot to get more Swedish money, the banks were closed and the ATM machines wanted cards with a chip which we didn't have. So, we had to wait till morning to get money. Oh well, it was late and we still had plenty of Wasa Bread and cheese. Live and learn, again! Now to sleep and we'll load up at breakfast...I hope!