Weekend in Stockholm Day 2- Touring Tuesday

After Saturday's epic walking adventure, we were pretty tired on Sunday morning.  Of course not too tired to partake in breakfast.  Once we were fueled up on carbs & coffee, we were back out on the street.  The goal for our day was to visit the Vasa Museum, which was a thirty minute walk along the waterways of Stockholm.    

The Vasa Museum is all about a boat - a seriously impressive boat.  The story goes that King Gustav Adolf commissioned the building of four boats.  Hundreds of men work tirelessly for almost two years to build the first one, and everyone turned out to watch the launch of the ship in August 1628.  

The ship was delivered with 68 cannons and over one thousand trees were used on the hull alone.  It was a celebratory affair with families and friends of some of the craftsmen on board for the maiden voyage.  

As the ship was on her way out of Stockholm Harbor the supporting cables from shore were released.  To everyone's surprise the ship started to list (tip!).  Water entered the gun portholes and the darn thing sank!  It only ventured approximately 1300 meters (about 4000 feet).  It is stated that around 30 people died on the ship.  

Obviously the Swedes wanted to find out what caused the disaster.  The final verdict was that the lower hull of the ship was too small to compensate for the weight on the top; the ship had two levels of gun portholes which proved to be too much for the vessel. 

The next part of the story is quite unheard of - they forgot about the ship for the next few hundred years.  I'm sure it wasn't forgotten accidentally; the King's inner circle probably made sure no one spoke of it to avoid embarrassment for him.  Explorers attempted to locate the ship over the years, but it wasn't until 1956 that two men found the wreckage.  An immense effort was taken to release the ship from many years of silt, and it wasn't until 1961 that the team successfully reunited the ship with land.    

The brackish water where the ship rested for hundreds of years preserved it so well that only 5% of the ship's structure had to be replaced.  The overall lighting in the museum was low, I suspect, to protect the ship.  In person the detailed carvings on the ship is astonishing.

We continued to walk during our final hours in Stockholm.  It just so happens we ended up over by the cafe where Matt had his soup bowl of coffee the previous day.  I'd had my eye on the Prinsesstårta, and it did not disappoint.

I'd been pining for a piece of this cake after it was on The Great British Bake Off.  If you can get the You Tube video below to load, skip forward to the 22 minute mark to hear the master Mary Berry explain the cake.  

After that calorie-free snack we slowly made our way back to the airport for our trip back home.  

Did we see all there was to see in Stockholm?  Not a chance.  Warmer weather is definitely the time to see this country, unless you fancy time on the ski slopes.  Our short weekend in Scandinavia certainly gave us a taste for this region.  

The best part about our flight home?  We walked in just in time for the latest episode of Downton Abbey!

Weekend in Stockholm - Touring Tuesday

Matt and I went to Stockholm for the weekend in early October.  It was the perfect chance for a get away because my mom was still in London for a visit.  We got out of town and she got quality time with the Kiddos before she flew back to 'Merica.

Our weekend started off with a flight out of City Airport.  I've never flown out of City, and when we got through security I immediately figured out why.  City Airport caters to business people with flights on smaller planes to major financial destinations.  Neither one of us had ever traveled to Scandinavia so we were pumped for the weekend.

We arrived long after sundown so our first glimpse of the city had to wait until morning.  Well, maybe wait until after breakfast.  If there is one thing I can say, the Swedes know how to put on a breakfast spread. The single photo was all I took for two reasons - I was starving and it was packed!

  

Just imagine tables lined with pastries, sausages, eggs, lunch meats, cheese, cheese, cheese, and the most interesting tubes of squeezy fish pastes.  I passed on the fish although it's a traditional Scandinavian food.  After breakfast, we finally got out into the city.  Oh my goodness was it worth the wait.  

We had no destination in mind for our walk, but we covered a lot of ground.  

Stockholm City Hall was across the narrow waterway from our hotel.  The building was closed at the weekends, but the outer architecture was beautiful on the sunny morning. 

The remainder of our morning was spent meandering the streets of Stockholm.  The cathedrals were beyond gorgeous.

The Riddarholm Church

In between cathedrals we stopped for lunch.  One guess what I ate.

The highlight of my day was a tour of the Royal Palace.  Act surprised.  I have to say, the Swedish Royal Family is one beautiful group of people.  Please follow the link to see them.  If we lived in Sweden I would carefully keep tabs on their lives as I tend to of William & Catherine.    

Photos were not allowed inside the palace.  We were surprised to see that pointing and ice cream were also prohibited.  

We needed some refueling after walking the halls of the Royal Palace.  Thankfully the most adorable cafe was nearby.  Matt tried to explain to the barista the recipe for a flat white coffee. Imagine the sheepish look he gave me when his drink arrived in a soup bowl.  I guess a double shot of espresso meant a double dose of milk, too.  The apfel strudel was phenomenal.      

The break gave our feet just enough of a rest to get back to our hotel.  Along the way we stumbled upon a small cemetery in the garden of the Adolf Fredrik Church.  The arrangement and style of the headstones and markers kept us engaged longer than I expected.  

  

As you can see the fonts on the headstones are beautiful.  We talked about so many of the people who rested here and speculated about their lives.  There were couples that lived long lives together and those that lost a partner early in life.  The families that lost children at very young ages, of course, were sad to see.  We were very pleased that we found this gem in the city.  

Our feet told us it was time to call it a day.  Overall, we walked an impressive distance across Stockholm.  We had a few hours to spend in the city on Sunday before our flight back to London.  

A4 Update - October 2014

October was the most tame month we've had since moving here!

• The first few days of the month spent with Nana as she wrapped up her visit.
• Matt & Holly spent a weekend in Stockholm Sweden.
• Holly volunteered for two of Oldest Kiddo's school trips to the Victoria & Albert Museum and the British Museum.  Taking 20 kids on the Underground is exhausting.  
• The kids had their autumn half term break, and we kept the kids busy!

A 14 Year Tour - Touring Tuesday

Today's Touring Tuesday is a little different.  Today we're touring down memory lane because it's our wedding anniversary!

It's not a milestone anniversary as in the number of years, however, isn't every anniversary a milestone?  Hallmark says fourteen years deserves ivory (traditional) or gold jewelry (modern).  I'm guessing no one has decided to update the traditional list for some time.  I do believe many animal rights groups would be unhappy if we bought some ivory for the house. Gold jewelry is always appreciated.

Check out our 2011 anniversary - it has a little more comprehensive list

What have we accomplished in 14 years?  Aside from what I shared in 2011, there are a few more things....

Holly took a leave from her job

We sold our house, cars, and a whole bunch of furniture

Moved to England

Added a few more stamps to the passport (with a lot more to go!)

Marienplatz in Munich

Amsterdam

What's on the list for the future?

• Add more stamps to the passports
• Buying a vacation home is still on the list, but now the question is if it has to be in the US.
• Where do we go when the London gig is over?

The answers will reveal themselves in the next few years.  And I'm glad to have my partner along for the ride.  

Celebrity Sighting & "Celebrity Sighting"

Matt and I spent the first few days of our vacation in Los Angeles.  We used some of his hotel points to stay gratis at the Hilton Universal City.  This hotel is within walking distance of Universal Studios & Universal City Walk.  We were not going to the theme park but free can't be beat.

Celebrity Sighting (a real one)

In addition to theme park proximity, we were really close to The Hollywood Bowl.  The schedule for the weekend included A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keeler, Grease Sing Along, and Reggae Night.  Why do you care about The Hollywood Bowl's schedule?  The cast of The Prairie Home Companion happened to have a rehearsal at the Hilton on Thursday.  As Matt and I walked to the elevator for we looked toward a conference room and each saw different things.  He pointed out that the event in the conference room was for A Prairie Home Companion.  On the other hand, I was looking at the people in the room and thought one of the men looked familiar.  By golly he was familiar, it was Martin Sheen.  Yes, Apocalypse Now Martin Sheen and President Bartlet Martin Sheen.  He looked quite casual in a Hawaiian shirt.  It was not appropriate to attempt to speak to him since he was busy.  Made us giddy seeing a real celebrity.


That brings us to....

Celebrity Sighting (not so much)
I flew home out of LAX alone (more on that in another post).  I grabbed a bite to eat in an airport restaurant.  At the bar a man was talking quite loud.  He used to be in a band, but now he was focusing on his acting.  He's met Christian Bale's wife, what a nice lady.  He pays $500/month for a room in an LA suburb, which is an AMAZING price for a room.  Blah, blah, name drop, blah, name drop, name drop, blah......He is not a celebrity.  That is unless you consider he's a dead ringer as Luis Guzman's doppelganger.

That's LA for you.

Can you keep a secret?

Saturday in Cali started off much the same as Friday - not in a good way.

An unscheduled 4:15 wake-up call, again.

True to form we had no problem going back to sleep for a few hours.

After a mediocre breakfast we started making plans for the day.

Drive into Hollywood? Nah, too touristy
Drive up the coast?  Nah, too much in the car time on such a gorgeous day
Find a spot at the beach to read and nap? Nah, the fog stays at the coast until at least noon this time of year

Go to Disneyland?  Heck Yeah!

I had immediate guilt thinking about having a day at Disneyland without the kids, but then I got over it.  We have not been here without kids in about 6 years.  There are very few pictures of this day because I did not have to carry a bag with diapers, snacks, and bottled water, and neither one of us was sporting a belt with which to hook the camera.  There are a few iPhone photos, but you've seen it all before, right?  The only noticeable changes were the Halloween decorations.

Mickey and his friends decorating the entrance turn-styles

We started our day at California Adventure and the ride lines were extremely tolerable.  I suppose they were more tolerable since we had no preconceived notions of what rides "had" to do - other than Toy Story Mania and Soarin'.

The Toy Story Mania line was pretty long, I'd say it was about 45 minutes.  The wait was well worth it.  Matt and I get very competitive on this ride.  We've only ever ridden it with the kids so we have never rode together to see our close scores.  I started off with a narrow lead, but Matt eventually beat me.  I would say it was a close competition.  Matt would not ride California Screamin' because the guilt of riding it without M was too much for him. 

After a few more rides at California Adventure we spent the rest of the day at Disneyland.  We rode our favorites including the Finding Nemo Submarines and Indiana Jones.  There were two odd occurrences - Pirates of the Caribbean was closed!  They say it was closed for refurbishments, but we were still mad.

The second odd occurrence was the wait for The Haunted Mansion.  Now we say "duh" to the long wait, but I never expected this.  The sign outside the mansion read 85 minute wait from the gate.  However, the line had an overflow corralling that went over by the Disneyland Railroad stop and New Orleans Square.  Yeah, I may not be in a hurry to ride the rides, but I can find something better to do with myself than spend almost 2 hours in line for The Haunted Mansion.  We definitely got a Fast Pass for this one.  Plus the Fast Pass was for about two hours later so it was a win-win.

While we waited for The Haunted Mansion we rode another favorite, Buzz Lightyear.  Today's ride was particularly spectacular as it kept stopping.  That gave maximum opportunity to rack up points.  I love the Disneyland Buzz Lightyear ride because you can hold the laser zappers in your hand and shoot wherever you want, unlike Disney World where they are stationary on the safety bar.  I say that only knowing what it was like the last time we were in Orlando.  Matt scored big when he hit a high scoring target that was also blinking (blinking targets =  mucho points).  See how he turned out....

He certainly beat me today

Once we got in line we realized what all the excitement was about.  The Haunted Mansion is seriously decked out for Halloween, starting with the front gate.

  The mansion takes on the Nightmare Before Christmas theme, and they did not disappoint.  In the entrance room that stretches, the usual wall portraits were replaced with movie-themed scenes.  As a matter of fact just about every other possible spot in the ride was replaced or enhanced with movie-themed scenes.  Check out the backdrop as you get into your doombuggy.

Scary Christmas

The low level of light on the ride made all the rest of the iPhone photos come out black.  I think everyone should check this ride out at Halloween.

After a quick run to the car or our jackets we grabbed some dinner at Downtown Disney.  The main restaurants were 90+ minute wait for walk ups.  The UVA Bar is a small extension of the restaurant Catal and the line for an outdoor table looked manageable.  

We ate this trio of dips that could have sufficed as my dinner - hummus, baba ghanoush and mouhammara (hummus-like but made with walnuts and red peppers and our favorite of the three)  with warm pita slices.

Enough about the food, we had one ride left for the night - Indiana Jones.  I will make a confession right here, I had never ridden Indiana Jones before.  The lines were always crazy long and the Fast Passes were all out by the time we made it over there.  I think we picked the perfect night for it because we watched the fireworks through the trees as we waited in line.

Our day had come to an end, and we were certainly fulfilled.

*Update - M knows that we went to Disneyland.  She bluntly asked Matt when we got home and he was the good dad and told her yes.  I think she was sad, but understood that she can't go every time.  Although she wants to go every time!