I sit here on the plane back home from Copenhagen to Dulles writing for the first time the entire trip. I thought that perhaps I would write about the days adventures some evenings; however, with the Stockholm extended summer days, many nights it would be 11:00 before the girls would even go to bed and it was only at that time that I began doing my research of things to do and restaurants on tripadvisor. Overall the trip was amazing…a few little minor bumps in the road (a lost cell phone in the taxi on the way to my sister’s wedding, a few wrong turns navigating the streets extending travel time by a few minutes, and one missed boat stop in Stockholm Archiepelgo and one missed ferry ride back to the riverside hotel in Gothenburg. Truthfully all were minor though and will all be a distant memory in even just a few days.
I can’t even believe I am writing this post because it seemed like the trip was so far away for so long. My sister is finally married and our Swedish vacation is in the books. There is so much to write and probably a thousand pictures so we decided we would make a photo book of our trip…that way I feel a little less complled to make this the longest post ever. I still have a lot to say though so I figured I would document our travels day by day.
Monday June 26
We flew overnight from Dulles to Copenhagen and then to Stockholm. Since our flight was overnight, I was hopeful that we would all catch about 5 hours sleep. We all slept two hours only. The girls did great and Harper enjoyed her first time on an airplane.
Tuesday June 27
We arrived in Stockholm about 10:30 local time. We took a van taxi to the city (about a 45 minute drive). Our hotel wasn’t ready for us to check in when we arrived so we grabbed ourselves a cup of coffee and some water while my sister and Gabo met us at the hotel and then took us back to the flat that they had rented for the week where we again rested for a few and then went to eat at a typical Scandinavian restaurant for lunch. I ordered a potato pancake with lingonberry and bacon for the girls as there was nothing else the girls would eat on the menu (besides French fries…which I ordered as well). (They ate none of it…which was pretty typical of what they ate our entire trip….while Sweden is extremely kid friendly, their options for kid friendly food for Americans used to eating chicken fingers and mac and cheese is quite limited). Harper fell asleep while eating…literally she was chewing and eating at the same time. She would catch herself and then start talking like nothing had happened because she was embarrassed.
After lunch, Gabo took Justin to buy a 7 day subway pass for each of us. Kids 6 and under ride free in Stockholm with an adult. Gabo suggested we do the Skansen Open Air Museum Tuesday afternoon since it was fairly close by. He pointed us in the right direction for which tram and subway to take and we were off. The girls thoroughly enjoyed Skansen as did Justin and I because anything they enjoy is a win for us! We stayed there for a few hours exploring. We could have stayed longer but we knew with only two hours sleep the night before and still not having checked in, we were on borrowed time. We took the tram back and attempted to take the subway but walked in the wrong direction so we decided at that point to just walk. We were less than a mile away but the girls started to fade and Harper literally fell asleep while we were walking so Justin had to carry pure deadweight what seemed to be mostly uphill the whole way back to the hotel.
Wednesday June 28
After much research and debate on what island to visit in the archipelago and for how long, we decided to go to Grinda and then Vaxholm. We all got a pretty good nights sleep…granted we could have slept for longer but at the same time we wanted to get on the boat in the morning. The hotel had a breakfast that was included in the price…it was really excellent…lots of meats, cheeses, eggs, vegetables, fruit, and of course fresh baked breads, which I managed to stay away from early on. It was the same breakfast everyday so we did get a little tired of it by the end, but again that is because I chose to eat the same thing everyday. Also, at breakfast, we ran into Russell and Mary who had just arrived from their overnight flight.
We took the subway to T-Central and then walked to where the boats departed. We got on the 11:30 departure…the one way trip to Grinda was an hour and forty minutes. The archipelago was gorgeous and we took turns enjoying it from the inside upper deck and the outside upper deck when we could finagle a space. We managed to find a really good space as we neared Grinda. We thought there was a North and South stop for Grinda so when we got to the first stop and were capturing photos, we figured we would take the next stop. It turns out there was only one stop for Grinda! So we got off at the next stop not knowing anything about it. We got off with a few others and for a few minutes I was pretty scared. It was clearly a small island (permanent population of 30) and there was no one to ask when we got off the island. We just started walking along the path….i was a little scared as I only had a few snacks in my bag and no water. Granted our cell phones worked so it wasn’t like we were totally stranded. The girls were a bit panicked but we tried to keep them calm. After following the path for 15 minutes, we encountered the island’s market and restaurant along the water. The picturesque scenery was gorgeous, the sun shining strong, and we knew that it wasn’t the wrong stop after all. After inquiring abut the boats departure times, we decided instead of rushing back and going to our originally intended island, we would spend a few hours at this island. We picked up some groceries including some fresh strawberries and tomatoes, hummus, salami, and a some refreshments. I think we scored big with our missed boat stop.
We caught the 3:45 boat trip back as we were one hour and forty-five minutes away and we still had to factor getting back to the hotel. We made it back to the hotel where we said hello to my parents who had arrived earlier in the day. And then we quickly freshened up for a few minutes before heading to dinner at an Italian restaurant by Lauren and Gabo’s flat. Dinner was Lauren, Gabo, my Mom and Dad, Russell and Mary, and of course us. We walked back from dinner – a leisurely half hour stroll through the crisp air and daylight at 9:30 at night! The girls shared a pizza…thank goodness Avery will finally eat pizza! Usually just one slice…however, that is progress in my books!
Thursday June 29
Thursday morning was another beautiful day…we quickly learned that the correct way to dress in Sweden is in layers and that the forecast really means nothing as it was not so accurate. When the sun is out and the winds are at a minimum, it actually feels warm and quite pleasant. But when the sun goes away and you add a slight breeze, a jacket becomes necessary at a moment’s notice. It’s was interesting that most the restaurants actually had blankets placed on chairs outside…good strategization to keep customers when it all of a sudden gets cold!
We took the subway to T-Central and headed to Junibaken (Pippi’s House). We were going to attempt to walk from T-Central, however we took a wrong turn and headed on the wrong side of the water. By that time, we figured our best option was to hop on the paid ferry to get there. We spent a few hours exploring the stories of Astrid Lingrid and Villa Villuka. The girls had a great time.
On the way back, we stopped for ice cream (something we did on the trip quite frequently) and then we made a quick stop at a park by our hotel to let the girls get some more energy out. Stockholm is extremely kid friendly and has a ton of parks.
We were back in the hotel room a little before 4:00 and Justin and I showered again before heading over with my parents to the suburbs of Stockholm to Gabriel’s brother Pablo and his wife Pia’s house. We met Gabriel’s two brothers (Pablo, his wife Pia, and their two kids Sebastian and Rebecca), his brother Mario, Gabriel’s Mom Eva, and one of their good childhood friends who was named after Gabriel’s dad. They had a lovely home and we enjoyed a traditional Argentinian barbecue outdoors. Lauren and Gabriel have been together five years and it was great to finally be able to meet her new extended family. They really made us feel welcome.
Friday June 30
Friday morning we woke up and it was the first time the weather truly wasn’t great. But considering it hadn’t rained to date (which was in the forecast daily prior to us leaving) and the fact that they were calling for 80% chance of significant rainfall Friday, strong winds and a tiny bit of rain were nothing to complain about. After breakfast, we went to Fotografiskia, the Photography Museum. They had three exhibits…one in which was horses. I’m personally not that into horses, but it was probably my favorite exhibit…I think the girls really enjoyed the horse exhibit as well. We finished going through the museum within an hour so we stopped off at the cafe for a decadent snack and to enjoy the awesome view.
When we left the museum, it was slightly drizzling but very windy and dreary. Justin did some quick research and found the Transportation and Toy Muesuem was only about 15/20 minutes walking. We headed there next…the girls enjoyed going on the little train and checking out the old buses. It was really cool to step foot and sit in some of the buses. Some of them were from the 60’s and while they were Swedish vehicles, it still made me think of the Civil Rights Movement. It is just so unbelievable that less than 15 years before I was born blacks had to sit at the back of the bus. Justin took a quick peak at the toy section of the museum as the girls really weren’t interested. We headed back via the bus. (By the way, Justin was awesome navigating the subway, trams, and buses and we literally never waited more than two minutes for any subway, tram, or bus).
Friday night was the dinner for all the out of owners. My sister said there were about 70 people. They rented out a restaurant for the evening. It was a cool place, with good food, and it was really wonderful to meet some new faces and see some old friends of my sister’s who I hadn’t seen in years. The girls spent a lot of time hanging out with Katy!
Saturday July 1
Wedding Day! I woke up a little bit nervous…I’m not sure why…Lauren was getting married, not me! We ate a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and then I showered and walked over to the salon with my mom a little after noon. Justin took the girls to the park in the morning with my dad and was in charge of getting them ready. I was a little nervous about this but I figured getting them in their dresses would be fairly easy and I could do their hair once we arrived at the ceremony location.
I had my hair and make-up done. I debated about it…my make up was heavier than I would have done it (but I think that is what i wanted) and my hair was okay…I wasn’t in love with it but I also didn’t hate it. Either way…it wasn’t about me. In traditional Swedish fashion, the wedding was scheduled to go until 3:00 a.m. Dinner didn’t end until after midnight as there were over 17 speeches!
The wedding was really beautiful and you could feel the love between Lauren and Gabriel. We are thrilled for Lauren and Gabriel and while they are far away from us, we are still excited about what their marriage means for our family. Harper fell asleep on Justin at about 11:30 p.m. and slept on the concrete floor until we left the wedding at 2:15 a.m. Avery wavered between dancing and falling asleep after midnight and Emerson was a dancing queen until we left! The wedding went for one more hour after we left. By the time we got home and I was finished washing up and getting the girls into bed, the sun was almost close to coming out again!
Sunday July 2
This was the only day of our trip that we truly didn’t have anything planned. While we didn’t set our alarms, we ended up waking up earlier than I thought we would. We made it to breakfast around 10:00 where we saw Russell and Mary…my parents were still sleeping and Stewart, Lynn, and Katy had caught an early flight to Amsterdam. We took the subway to Gamla Stan area where we explored the cute streets, ate some ice cream, and walked through the exterior of the Royal Palace before making our way to the restaurant on the floating dock that my sister and Gabriel had arranged for some post wedding drinks. One drink was enough for me! Justin and I were hungry though so we ended up ordering food off the menu…I got the halibut in a burre blanc sauce…it was yummy! We hung out there for a few hours chatting with friends and family before saying our goodbyes to Lauren and Gabriel. It was bittersweet….i was so happy for Lauren and Gabriel but hard to believe this day that they had been planning for so long had finally come and gone. Sunday evening when we got back to the hotel, I packed as we were headed to the Swedish countryside for the next part of our adventure.
Monday July 3
Monday morning after breakfast we checked out of the hotel and took a taxi to the Stockholm Arlanda airport where we picked up our rental mini-van. By 10:30 we were off and on our way….driving in Sweden means taking lots of round-abouts! Justin surprisingly did an amazing job navigating during the trip. The first part of the drive was typical highway – nothing much to write home about. Our first stop was in a town called Norrkoping. I didn’t do much research on the town prior to getting there so we just parked and walked around. The one restaurant I was hoping to go to was closed so we just went to their nearest cafe as it was already approaching 2:00 and the girls were hungry. It was okay. We walked around for a little while afterwards…the city was somewhat grubby but still fun to explore for a short time. It was a University town and many of the buildings were on water.
After another hour in the car, the next stop was Linkoping. Linkoping was definitely more upscale. We stopped at a beautiful church…took some pictures of the girls outside…and then explored inside. I cant say that I am totally into churches; however, European churches built centuries ago truly amaze me. The architecture that was done centuries ago without electricity without technology…just hard manual labor that took more years to complete than often one’s lifespan.
The weather was gorgeous and I figured since the girls barely ate anything at the cafe in the prior town, that it was best to have them eat something in this town since there would be no options once we arrived at the cottage. Since I actually wanted them to eat, we opted for hot dogs from a street vendor followed by some dessert at The Coffee House (Sweden’s equivalent of Starbucks) primarily because we needed a place to use a bathroom.
We got back on the road and while we we were still on highway, it was rural and the scenery of the red roof cottages and water was really beautiful. As we approached Smaland, the two way lanes became very narrow and Justin was definitely nervous of what would happen if a car came in the other direction. None did.
By the time we arrived it was 8:30 p.m. but again it was still light out so after unpacking some in our cottage, we walked around the grounds for a little while. It was crisp, quiet, and peaceful.
Tuesday July 4
After another typical Swedish breakfast (eggs, bacon, veggies, cheeses, salami and ham, and breads), we played soccer. It was actually a lot of fun. I did quite a bit of laundry (5 loads since the load was so small) as well starting in the morning and throughout the day at the cottage. The girls enjoyed the scenery (the rabbit right outside our cottage), the mansion (not the black cats though), the cows, and the horses. We took a nice hike on part of the lake. And we did some sight words during some down time.
We took a nice leisurely stroll to the dock before dinner where we had fun taking pictures. We even let the girls take turns taking pictures of Justin and me.
Dinner was at 7:00 and it was delicious! It was pricey though…it would have been cheaper to book the dinner as part of the room rate but I didn’t do it and likely should have…oh well. Dinner was great food, great light, and a lot of laughs. It was an evening that made us feel truly blessed for our family and this wonderful vacation – seriously we were in a cottage on a lake in the Swedish countryside! I can’t say that was ever on my bucket list yet there we were! After dinner, we played some more soccer (a.k.a. Football). Again, some great family time! We capped off the night visiting the horses…taking more amazing pictures at 9:30 at night!
Wednesday July 5
After breakfast, we checked out and got back in the car to go to Gothenburg. With the destination being three hours away, we decided we would go straight there. Fortunately the girls fell asleep for quite a bit of the ride and nobody (not even Justin or I) had to go potty. We arrived at the hotel at about 2:00 p.m. and after unpacking some, we took the ferry across the water (our hotel was on the riverside) and headed for some lunch/dinner at a restaurant named Beerista (yum!) before heading to Liseburg amusement park for the rest of the evening. This was actually the girls first real amusement park and they had an awesome time. Avery and Emerson liked the roller coasters the best. Harper meanwhile buried her head into Justin’s lap during the first roller coaster ride. The second one was a little “simpler” (the one I went on with the girls) and she seemed to like that one better. The girls went on a few other rides besides roller coasters including the bumper cars. Emerson navigated pretty well. Harper was a little unsure of herself and Avery had me cracking up as she simply went in circles for a good minute giving me flashbacks to my sister in the go carts as a kid. Lauren hated the go-carts! The girls didn’t want to leave and we promised them ice cream (yes again) a little later as a way get them to walk the 40 minutes back to the ferry without too much whining.
Thursday July 6
Since we only had one full day in Gothenburg, I stayed up way later than I should have Wednesday night after everyone else had gone to bed to come up with plans for the day. After another great breakfast, which was included in the daily price of the room, we hopped on the ferry to cross the river. First stop was Slottgarten, a massive park that kind of reminded us of Central Park. The walk should have taken us about 40 minutes but a few wrong turns and a bathroom stop made the walk closer to an1 hour and 15 minutes! The girls were getting ancy so it was a good thing that we came across the play area of the park first. Avery and Harper and even Mommy enjoyed the equipment. Emerson loved watching the performance. The fact that it was in Swedish didn’t deter her one bit.
The next stop in Slottgarten was the petting zoo. It turns out there were only goats…goats of all sizes that you could roam around with. Emerson, Harper, and even Daddy enjoyed the close proximity to the goats, while Avery’s heart was racing and she just wanted to get out.
The park is massive and you could literally spend all day in it and probably still not see everything so we decided to be happy with the parts we saw and we headed towards Skansen, our next stop. We walked up the hill to the top; from the top you could see an amazing view of the city. The girls were so excited to enter the fortress and I was excited that they were so excited so you can imagine the disappointment when we saw that the Closed sign on the entrance. To this day, I still don’t know why the fortress was closed that Thursday, but it was. We tried not to make a big deal out of it…a promise of a special treat may have helped that diversion! We headed towards the Haga neighborhood. It was quite small but it was cute. We stopped at a delicious little bakery/eatery. They were bringing out warm pastries and I decided I hadn’t indulged enough on this trip. Avery, Emerson, and I got a huge chocolate chip cookie and cupcake while Harper took a nap on Justin. After we devoured it, we stumbled across this group playing music, which the girls enjoyed listening to.
After leaving the Haga neighborhood, we went back to the hotel for a little to freshen up before heading back out. We took the ferry across the river and then strolled through Hortiultural Gardens, which was another huge outdoor space, with what appeared to be several cafes and restaurants and more play areas.
After dinner, we headed towards a Mexican restaurant. We waited close to an hour and the girls were getting tired! The food was pretty good. Avery ate tortillas….only tortillas…oh well. After dinner, we moved quickly to make the 9:30 p.m. ferry. The public 9:30 ferry never came and it was close to 11:00 before we got on the ferry…and by then it wasn’t the public one, but we didn’t care…we just wanted to get home as the girls were exhausted, still needed showers, and I had to finish packing to leave the next morning.
Friday morning, we ate our last hotel breakfast 🙁 and then got on the road. We decided to take the north route back to Stockholm in order to see some different scenery and stop at a different town on the way home. The total ride was six hours non-stop. We made it a few hours before needing to stop for gas so we stopped at a 7-11 (which by the way there are a TON of in Sweden). Since we were already stopped, we figured we would go to the bathroom and get the girls hot dog too. A few more hours in the car, we stopped at a town called Orbero. Orbero was another university town. They had a gorgeous castle. We walked around it and when I saw what appeared to be the Swedish tour of it about to start, I knew we had to have a tour. We went to the touring office and signed up for the next tour, which also happened to be in English! Imagine my disappointment when the tour of this massive castle, was literally two rooms! Two rooms and the guide just talked about four different pictures in one room! I have read reviews on tripadvisor and the reviews are quite mixed and I’m still not certain if the Swedish and English tours are truly different tours…I’m thinking they were but who knows. I think the girls were a little disappointed in the tour as well, but I tried not to let on too much. The city was having a modern art exhibit as well, which intrigued Justin especially. We finished off our stop at Orebero with an early dinner at a pretty good Italian restaurant before heading back in the car for the final leg of our trip to the Radisson at the Stockholm airport. Ironically, we were at the Radisson airport hotel for a total of nine hours including the five hours spent sleeping, and it was the best hotel in terms of sleeping accommodations. Avery and Emerson slept on these cute little bunk beds; Harper her own pull out sofa, and Justin and I our own bed as well!
We somehow got out the hotel door fairly easily and on the 5:30 a.m. shuttle ride to the airport. The airport was packed and since it was already light out, it was hard to believe that it wasn’t even 6:00 a.m. in the morning. The flight back was better in the sense that while still long, the time change worked in our favor this time in terms of not losing a nights sleep. Emerson watched movies and shows the entire time, getting angry when I tried to get her to take a nap or even leave to take a bathroom break. She somehow managed to through up as we were landing. Luckily it wasn’t anything a quick strip of a cardigan and change of pants couldn’t fix.
Looking back, the trip was really amazing. I could have told you that at the time though. We took over 1300 pictures and seeing the joy in our faces especially in the unposed pictures, really makes my heart happy as it is proof that we were living in the moment. Now that we are home, we are back to reality. But to some extent we have managed to apply some of things we want and learned on vacation since we have been home so as to enjoy the weeks at home just as much as the weekends. We have a little bit of the travel bug in us as well which we have already put into motion. We were truly blessed to be able to make this trip with our girls and further blessed to be able to continue to plan for more amazing experiences along this life journey of ours.
