The Trip Home

We headed out of the hostel to catch our flight.

This hotel was displaying the flags of all the countries we visited on our trip: Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and the United States.

We took the fast train from central Stockholm to the airport. We zipped through the countryside at around 180 km/hr.

Matthew, Me, U and Megan on the flight from Stockholm to Helsinki

Me enjoying the views out the window.

U on the Game of Thrones throne in the Helsinki airport

Matthew

Megan, U, Me and Matthew on the Helsinki to Seattle flight

Getting close to landing in Seattle. It really is a beautiful city to fly into!

U, Megan, Matthew and Me on the flight from Seattle to Phoenix.

A couple of pictures of Mt Rainier. Such an impressive looking mountain.

When we landed in Phoenix, it was dark. Such a strange concept as we had not seen dark since we were in Copenhagen. It was definitely an amazing trip and we were blessed to be able to take it!

Stockholm Day 4: Vasa and ABBA Museums

 Thursday, we again headed to Djurgården, this time to see the Vasa and ABBA Museums.

Cute dog stick library!

We enjoyed the seeing the Vasa museum. It was pretty amazing how they found and recovered it. Seeing all the artifacts, including one of the original sails that was never used, was cool. However, we just looked at the Vasa and thought that of course it was going to tip over: it's so tall and narrow. They said that maybe if the cannons had been pulled in that it would not have capsized. However, it seems like that would have just put it off and then it may have sunk at a time when people could not have escaped as easily or gotten to shore.

U, Matthew, Me Megan

Front of the ship

A model of what the Vasa looked like when it was new.

U in a primitive diving bell. You stood on the platform and then were lowered into the water. You only had as much air as the bell held.  

The stern of ship showing the intricate carvings.

Recreations of some of the many carvings on the boat. They used paint stuck in cracks to figure out how the originals were painted.

Me with one of the ship's anchors.

One of the ship's boats that was also recovered.

This view shows the boat with the Vasa.

Me with the Vasa

View from the stern of the boat.

The whole family enjoyed the museum.

Lots of figurines!

U, Me, Megan, Matthew

After the Vasa, we went to the ABBA museum. And we have had their music in our heads ever since!

ABBA was known for some of their flashy outfits.

It generated a poster for U's band "Pikkusiili".

U being a rockstar

Megan, Matthew, Me and U with ABBA.

Me with Mamma Mia characters.

We went back to Grillska Huset for dinner. U had the meatball meal again because he liked it so much.

Me had a vegetable quiche.

Matthew had pancakes.

Megan had a sandwich.

Some of the colorful buildings of Stortorget.

It might have been raining but it was still a good time for ice cream!

Me and Megan with the Royal Palace.

U's Step Count: 11.8k

Stockholm Day 3: Skansen

 

The cat in the apartment across from our room at the hostel. It was often sitting in the window and generally looked angry and grumpy.

After breakfast, we hopped on the ferry to go to Skansen on Djurgården. There were buildings from all over Sweden. It was cool to wander around and explore. There was a glass studio where someone was making glass birds. It only took him a few minutes for each bird. We saw a general store, a school, a post office and lots of tradesman stores and shops.

U with a fountain at the entrance of Skansen.

An example of a very formal traditional Swedish outfit

  A lady showing us her spice box.

U with one of the homes

Me and Megan with one of the allotments.

A few Rune Stones

We spent a lot of time exploring the Delsbo Farmstead. It was quite large with many buildings: a main house, a guesthouse, a cowshed (where the family lived in the summer), grandma and grandpa's house, etc. 

Many of the walls were painted.

This lady in the Delsbo Farmstead had lots of good information.

A skirtwarmer. They would put a lit candle in it and then women would put it under their skirts to help them be warmer.

Fighter jets from Sweden and Finland were running drills together.

The Delsbo Farmstead with jets flying over. Apparently painting buildings red was all the rage in 19th century central Sweden.

2 baby moose with their mama

Me with the Vastveit Storehouse which dates to the 14th century and came from the Telemark region of Norway. (Skansen was created when Sweden and Norway were still united and this building was an early acquisition.) There were cool engravings in the wood.

Brown bear

Owl

Grey seals

Yes, they had a cat on display.

U petting said cat.

These music-playing chickens were fun to watch. They danced while playing the trombone, clarinet and saxophone.

The lynx racing down the hill.

Matthew watching the animals.

Peacock and peahen. The peacock was LOUD!

There were lots of geese and goslings.

Goats

Some of the beautiful flowers of Skansen.

Butterfly on flowers!

See the bee?

Fortress with the tailed Swedish flag

Stockholm waterfront

We ate at Grillska Huset which was delicious.

U, Me and Matthew had Swedish meatballs.

Megan had a grilled cheese sandwich.

Princess cake that we ate. The sisters told us about it. It was tasty.

Megan and Matthew call the amusement park in Stockholm a "rip off Tivoli." There were lots of thrill rides that looked like they would make Me sick!

U's Step Count: 19.1 k