Bali Bound

Day 7 House in Skansen Is time ever flying by all of a sudden!  It's still a little surreal that I'm actually here in Sweden.  But I am and the city is a great place to visit.  It does feel like I had a lot of time here and I have really.  Rather than having an afternoon to myself I've had almost 2 full days aside from the city tour.  I was a little concerned that I might have a lot of free time to fill.  Because while I haven't had a lot of time in many of the places, I do feel like I've seen the vast majority of things while I was there.  And an extra day and some in the cities would be a little dull unless you left the city.  My backup plan was to bring a book over to the park but today's weather isn't so much sitting in the park reading weather sadly. Street of old building in Skansen But I do have an actual plan for today.  I'm going to visit Skansen.  The best way to describe it is to call it Sweden's version of Fort E...

Day 6 It's a full day in Stockholm today.  And the whole morning tomorrow.  It feels like we have a lot of time here compared to all the other stops. As always, we start off with our city tour, with stops at the City hall, where the remaining Nobel prizes are awarded.  As well as the Abba museum that I'm not entirely sure what to expect as I'm not from the Abba generation.  But the tour is geared towards an older crowd so perhaps that is what they were thinking. The Blue room in City Hall Every year Europe had a music contest, Eurovision, and Abba won it.  I didn't realize that the contest had been going on for so long.  It's actually going on right now and if so inclined I could watch the finals while I'm in Helsinki. The gold room in City Hall The Scandinavian city halls are quite ornate here.  The one in Stockholm is only open to guided tours, but I believe you can join a tour so it's not like you have to find an outside guide to br...

Day 5 Today the group is heading to our third destination, Stockholm.  I'd say it's the third country but were in Sweden for awhile to get to Oslo.  I'm curious to see how many Ikeas I will see going through Sweden this time.  Current Ikea count: 3. One of my favorite things to do on vacation is to check out grocery stores.  The mall we stopped at in Sweden has a few grocery stores.  And a giant candy store, that was even open at 9 in the morning unlike all the other stores in the mall aside from the grocery stores.  One had what they called the USA aisle.  Which consisted of Minnesota pancake syrup and some very strange Kraft dinner knockoff.  And next to that an entire asile of Mexican stuff, all old El Paso brand and knock off tortilla chips.  And the smallest bottles of Garnier shampoo and conditioner I've ever seen. Current Ikea count: still 3, now I'm a little disappointed. I've learned that Norway isn't a part of the EU, howev...

Day 3 Wow, how is it already day 3 and a new country?  It really feels like this trip is flying by already. Hamlet castle in Denmark, viewed from ferry Today we're leaving Copenhagen behind and heading to our next destination of Oslo, Norway.  Norway isn't actually attached to Denmark so we will be driving through some of Sweden along the way to get there.  And while they have the very exciting Oresund bridge, that starts as a bridge and then goes underwater as a tunnel to cross from Denmark to Sweden, we're taking the ferry because it's far cheaper and probably just as fast. The ferry is really fast, only 20 minutes.  Barely enough time to get upstairs and get comfortable before you head back down. We've made it to Sweden, and it is actually the 4th largest country in Europe which I did not expect.  It's actually just a little smaller than Alberta, with over twice the population.  I am only seeing a very small part of the country as the Scandi...

Stockholm is a gorgeous city.  It's got a Parisian vibe but with better greenery.  It's good that the city is so nice because I have a lot of time here compared to the other locations.  Yesterday afternoon and evening, all day today and tomorrow until 3.  Wow.  I might need to do some more research for things to do. I did the city tour, we saw city hall which was amazing.  Also the Abba museum, I don't think I was old enough to appreciate that. I did another boat cruise through the lake and sea surrounding Stockholm.  I guess I enjoy the water when I can because that isn't an option at home! The weather is really great today which is a nice treat compared to the rest of the trip.  I really could have used a light jacket. Tomorrow I get to do my overnight cruise on the Baltic Sea to Helsinki!  I'm excited about that as its something very new for me!

Yes, it is holiday time again.  And yes, it has only been 6 weeks or so.  Just the way things worked out this year.  And happily, by the time I get home spring should be fully here and that will be fabulous. I am heading on another bus tour.  There is really something about the bus tour that I enjoy.  It's well organized, I see a lot and I put in little effort and have a good time. Scandinavia will be 6 countries (I hope) in a little under 2 weeks.  Yikes! I start out in Copenhagen, Denmark; travel to Oslo, Norway; head to Stockholm, Sweden; take an overnight ferry cruise to Helsinki, Finland; a day trip to Tallinn, Estonia; and a stopover courtesy of Icelandair in Reykjavik, Iceland on the way home. I have high hopes for this trip.  It'll be a lot of adventure and I think a nice mix of city with a bit of nature.  And I should get a bit more of a break from my fellow passengers with more free time in the cities. Stay tuned for the adven...