Day 11: Helesinki

We got up and were very tired. We went down to the breakfast buffet, which wasn't as good as the evening one. I was kind of surprised they had american bacon, I was expecting ham. We watched the ship come into port. It was about 11 when we go off the ship. We went straight to our new hostel. They weren't quite ready for us so we dropped our bags and set off to look at the city. 

Our first stop was the Orthodox Church. It was a read building with a green dome. It was ornately decorated inside and worth gawking over. Our next stop was a very stark contrast to the orthodox church. It was the Lutheran cathedral. It was white with very little decoration. It had all of five statues, which is a minuscule number in cathedrals. To get to the cathedral, we climbed a bunch of stairs which are one of the main meeting places in Helsinki. 

We went down to the market square, which is by the harbor. It has stalls that sell fruit and veggies, souvenirs, and fresh food stands. Being next to the harbor these places serve tons of fresh fish. I wasn't hungry really, so I went and got some raspberries. The raspberries were unlike I'd ever seen before, they were golden. Everybody else had fish plates or salmon soup. 

After lunch, we went to the free Helsinki City museum. It was a cool little museum. There was this old video of a dunk tank and you could through a ball and trigger the drop. Pretty much everything was in english. There was a movie theater in the basement showing free movies about Helsinki. Every single one of us fell asleep at one point "watching" the movies. 

Once we had all woken up, we went to another church. This one was blasted out of the rock. It was incredible and they had really cool music playing.  Mom and Dad both bought rosaries. We stopped for coffee at a little shop because we had time to kill before the museum had free admission.  Then we headed toward the National Museum.  When we got there, the times had changed and they were closing. 

So we caught the tram back to the hostel. We sat in the restaurant at the hostel and had drinks and talked. We passed around some fries and onion rings. We also shared a pizza with a funny name: Rudolph the red-nose. It was a reindeer pizza with pickles, onions, bacon, and of course, reindeer. We hung out then hit the hay.

Day 10: Stockholm Part 2

We set out from the hostel to catch a bus to the modern port. We walked from the stop to the cruise ship docking point, yes I said cruise ship. We did a one night cruise from Stockholm to Helsinki. It was a 12 story ship. It was really nice. We got on and went on the sun deck and had a drink while we waited to push off. We had the first dinner setting at the most incredible buffet I have ever seen. There were over 100 items to try. There was a ton of fish and it was all great according to the others. There was also potatoes seven different ways, lots of meat, and tons of different little desserts. Wine was also included in the buffet. It was all very good and I ate waaaaay too much! 

After supper, we went back on deck to try to walk off some of the food and wine we had consumed. We were going through the archipelago and it was so gorgeous. The flora and fauna looked very similar to Colorado except greener and surrounded by water. It was beautiful. I wanted it to go to the sauna/spa because they had a jacuzzi. Aunt Deb, Mom and I decided to do it. 

We were planning on just doing the jacuzzi but ended up trying the traditional Finnish sauna. It was so hot, it was hard to breath. When it started to cool down a little, someone would through water over the stones heating the sauna. After a time in the sauna, we went and hung out in the jacuzzi. The jacuzzi had view out to the passing scenery. 

We got out to watch the sunset and take pictures. Mom, Aunt Deb Uncle Chuck, who met up with, and I spent some time taking an boatload of pictures. Then we wandered down to the promenade where all the shops and such  were. I found Dad and we all sat down an a soda or beer. We all sat long enough to finish our drinks and then went to bed.

Day 10: Stockholm Part 1

We got up and strolled down the walking mall. We had breakfast at Wayne's Coffee, they had really great cinnamon rolls. We were planning a seeing more of the royal palace but discovered that they were closed on Monday. Instead we ended up going to the City hall. It was a beautiful building. They had a room that was designed after an Italian courtyard with a roof, the camber room for the town council was like a viking longhouse, there was an entryway that was in the gothic style, one hall like a french palace, and a completely gold mosaiced giant hall. All these styles should've clashed but they didn't. We saw where the Nobel banquet is held, the Italian courtyard, and the ball afterwards, the mosaic hall. It was super cool and something that would never be built in the states. They had a gift shop and Mom, Aunt Deb and Uncle Chuck all bought Dala horses. I almost did but they weren't quite what I was looking for

After touring the city hall, we had a light lunch in the garden between the harbor and the hall. Then we split up, Aunt Deb, Mom and I went back to the old town, while Dad and Uncle Chuck went off into a new section. We girls were on a mission. I wanted to buy a Dala horse, if you don't know what that is go google it now. Seriously, you're on the internet anyway right? 

Now back to the Dala horse buying. I wanted on because there has been one sitting by the door of our horse since before I was born and I want tone standing guard someday in my house. What better thing to do than get one from the country they're from? So we went to this little shop where Aunt De had gotten a traditional sweater the day before and I found the perfect one. They're hand painted so each is unique. The woman who ran the shop was very kind and we all bought something.

After we go my Dala horse, the three of us wandered back towards the hostel. We stopped at Wayne's again, this time for a soda and an afternoon bite. We split a Raspberry Crumble that was served in vanilla sauce. It was delicious! After our little stop we met the boys back a the hostel. The rest of the day I shall write up later because I am very tired and need sleep. I will do my best to get the rest of day 10 and 11 up tomorrow. Ta-ta!

Day 9: Stockholm

We got up and went the harbor to find breakfast but there really wasn't anything open, so we went back to the hostel. After we ate we went back to the harbor for a canal tour, which was really nice and relaxing and a good way to see the city. We then wandered the Old Town. We stopped in the Cathedral where the current Crown Princess was married. We also wandered by the German church.

At 1:00, we went to the royal palace ad watched the ceremonial changing of the guard, which was very cool. There was a lot of very impressive marching and a band. The bass drummer was very good. It sounded almost like cannon-fire when he let it rip. Many of the soldiers were female, which I thought was a great thing. 

After the changing of the guard we were starving, so we set off to find lunch. We ended up down a little street at Irishlooking-pub serving traditional swedish food, swedish beer, and playing Irish music. It was a great little place. Then we stopped in the Cathedral where the current Crown Princess was married. 

We then went to Nobel Museum. It was neat little place. It had information on the prize and every prize winner for all the categories. We all spent quite a long time looking at the mission for peace exhibit which combined all the categories. Mom and I stopped for Nobel ice cream, which has a well deserved reputation for being very good. All of the Chairs have been signed on the bottom by Nobel prizewinners. 

All of us went to the Royal Armory, which had very interesting exhibits on the royal family. It's amazing how many Swedish monarchs died in battle, or had horses shot out from beneath them. We learned about Queen Christina, who was a totally different woman for her time. Mom and I were in there so long that we had a person shoo us out. 

Mom and I walked some more through the town center and got food for dinner from a co-op. We found a big park, it was beautiful. We also found a Czech beer tent in the park. We caught the tram back to the hostel, where the other three were waiting. We decided to head back to the beer tent for dinner instead of doing a picnic. At the beer tent there was a cover band. The band members were British and Polish, they were singing American songs, and they had an Australian Elvis lookalike come on stage. It was a fun evening.

Day 8: Stockholm

The morning started with breakfast at the hostel . We rode the tram out to one of the many islands connect the city. Our first museum of the morning was the Vasa Museum. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. The Vasa, a ship that sunk, is preserved in the museum. I don't mean parts of the ship, the whole ship. It's the only ship so big and well preserved. It sank in 1628, twenty five minutes into its maiden voyage. It was so  awe-inspiring and amazing. There were really great exhibits and a free tour that talked about the ship. I can't really put the experience into words you had to be there. We had lunch outside the museum at a stand. We had chorizo, here a glorified hotdog, and a soda.

After the Vasa, we went to the Scandinavia Museum that showcases swedish history. It was interesting and had some cool exhibits. There was one that showed dinnerware through the ages and what a dinner party would've looked like. A audio guide was included with the museum, which was really nice. It was really cool. It was a little silver tube that fit in your hand, instead of punching in numbers you just pointed it at a sensor and it starts. 

After a much shorter stop, we went to Skansen. Skansen is the first outdoor museum in Europe. Think Colonal Williamsburg or Walker Ranch on a massive scale. There were people dressed in period costumes. There was a traditional folk dancing stage. Buildings from all over Sweden made up the place. There was a bakery, a print shop, a glass blowing place, a cheese maker, a mill, a blacksmith.It was really cool to wander it was also huge! They had a Scandinavian animals section.Reindeer, brown bears, an eagle owl, a moose, and my personal favorite some lynx. There were three baby Lynx and I got some great pictures. We got a drink, beer for everyone else and a strawberry thing for me.

Since we were still in the park we decided to do the aquarium that is attached to Skansen. It wasn't just an aquarium, the first thing we went through was the lemur area. I do mean through the area, we could've reached out and pet them. We didn't pet them because the signs said they would bite. Then there were snakes, frogs, turtles, crocodiles, and the requisite fish. At the end there was a place to pet a tarantula and a snake. I pet the tarantula, not the snake. Mom also pet the tarantula and nobody pet the snake. After Skansen, we headed back and had a picnic in dining room at the hostel. Then Mom and Aunt Deb did laundry, while Dad, Uncle Chuck and I crashed.

Blogger's note

Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been having too much fun! Hopefully I'll get up to date tonight.

Day 7: Travel Day

Today we did the crazy day 5 in reverse and added a leg. I sit on the plane to Stockholm as I type. Our morning started with another lovely breakfast at the pension. We lingered over breakfast discussing the politics of social programs in the US, which isn't all that strange a topic to have in this group. After breakfast we packed and paid. We were a half hour early for the ferry. 

The ferry ride seemed to take not time and next thing you know we were waiting for the first train. We switched trains at Odense again, deciding to skip Hans Christian Anderson's house. When we arrive back in Copenhagen, Dad, Uncle Chuck and Aunt Deb decided to go see city hall before we went to the airport. Mom and I just people watched and read in the train station.

We got on yet another train, this time to the airport. Where we spent more time than on the actual plane. At the airport in Stockholm, we got Stockholm cards, like the Copenhagen card they get us into attractions and on public transportation. Then we jumped on the express train to the central station. It was definitely express, we went 200 km/h ( about 120 mph). We had a little trouble finding the hostel but once we did, it was very nice. The room is pretty small though.