Farväl Stockholm (farewell Stockholm)

We are leaving Stockholm now.  We are currently on the train back to the airport. I think the four of us agree that Stockholm is beautiful, the language is difficult, and the food is bad (and expensive).  We were fortunate enough to spend 6 days here and so feel that we know it pretty well.  Below are a few photos of our last morning.  Will blog more about Stockholm later, but for now, on to London! 

Panoramic in the plaza of the Royal Palace.  (Notice that Nate has a twin on this photo)

Looking at the Nobel Museum.  Scene of the Stockholm bloodbath of Nov 1520 (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_Bloodbath).

Here we found Lisa's sweet shop:

Out Hikin' Around

Took a Sunday afternoon stroll out at Gross Reservoir.

Paris

Not a lot of time to post as we pack up to leave Paris and fly back to Stockholm. Here are a few photos of the past 2 days.

Many more pictures on other cameras, but this should do for now.  Today is Nate's 17th birthday and we are going to try to see Mona Lisa for him before we go!

Tunnbrödsrullar

Tunnbrödsrullar is apparently "the King of Swedish street food."  Austin was the only one brave enough to try it:

...and he actually said it was good! Tunnbrödsrullar is mashed potatoes, one or two sausages or hot dogs, salad, tomatoes and räksallad (shrimp salad) all wrapped in a soft thin Swedish tortilla bread.  According to the description from the website linked above, it is "as comforting as Friday night on the couch with a good movie and a warm blanket."  All I can say is that it was a few days ago and he seems to be doing fine.

Skeppsholmen

Today the boys and I toured without Brian because of his meeting. That's why we are here, right?  We had every intention to head to dujgardens which is a huge city park filled with museums and an amusement park. But, we were diverted by a bridge that led to a small island. Did I mention that it was drizzling when we left our hotel. We were worried about it raining hard so we dressed accordingly. 

I tried this crown on. It almost fit :)

This is a church on the island

This is part of the museum of modern art on the island. 

We goofed off a little. 

Here we are heading to an even smaller island off of the small island we were already on. It was called kastellhollmen. 

Cool building at the top of the island. 

It was a fun island to walk around. We took a lot of pictures and videos but can't post them till we get home. Some of the art on the island was crazy and I mean crazy!  We ended the walk around 1:30 due to heavy rain and ran back to the hotel. We cuddled up there until we were dry and rested. 

Fjaderholmarna

Stockholm is comprised and surrounded by archipelago.  Today we took a boat out to a distant one called Fjaderholmarna.  It was very pretty, secluded, and reminded us a lot of Oregon.

 

This video gives you a feel of Fjaderholmarna (and us in our most touristy behavior).  

Here is a photo of my girl.  It really looks like the Oregon coast to us.

Of course Lisa does some shopping where ever we go:

 Boys playing chess while we wait for our boat back to Stockholm:

 Guess who found a souvenir...  :)

Random photos after arriving back in Stockholm:

It is now 11:30pm and the sun has finally just set.  I will be at my conference the next 3 days, but looking forward to what adventures the boys and Lisa have.

Stockholm

Day 1 - Lisa's blog entry

Once recovering from the lengthy plane ride we have been out and about on the town. What a beautiful city Stockholm is! I think I could live here.  We decided to walk and see what we could discover. 

Flying over Stockholm. The scenery is amazing. 

Riding the train into Stockholm. The buildings have such a deep history. The city's history is amazing. 

Our first walk out. We went across the river to  gamla Stan. It's the island that has the royal palace and the old cobblestone roads. We have found buildings dating back to the 1600's. 

Some of the fabulous architecture. 

We stumbled upon the beautiful church near our hotel. The architecture blew me away. The stained glass and the painted murals. I could have looked at it for hours. Here are more pictures of it. 

Look at those organ pipes!

Austin taking pictures of the stained glass

Ceiling mural

Here's the view from our hotel room. Magnificent. 

I made the boys stand in front of the palace guard. 

This lion was cute and looked worried :)

Fun street art. 

Tiny alley. 

We are having so much fun and cat wait for tomorrow!