Stockholm, Spring Break 2009

Our last full day in Stockholm fell on my birthday. We visited more sights, and were able to see the Royal Guard in action in front of the palace:

Sophie begged us for a hotdog for lunch, so she struggled through it with her gloves on. Although her face doesn't look like it, she did love it!

We walked by the Jewish synagogue, and were able to see an interesting Holocaust memorial dedicated to Raoul Wallenberg* near the harbor. It consisted of a sphere with his name on it linked to the synagogue (about a block away) by railway tracks. Very moving:

*The Wallenberg family is one of the wealthiest families in Sweden and according to Wikipedia, controls about 1/3 of the Swedish GNP. Raoul Wallenberg, one of the more famous of the family members, was a diplomat during WWII and was responsible for saving up to tens of thousands of Jews in Hungary by giving anyone who applied Swedish passports. There is a goosebump-raising account of his courageous actions on Wikipedia for quick reading if you're interested, but I'm sure there are some great books out there too...

We decided to head to the other side of the city to go the Nordic Museum. We had been promising Sophie a ride on a boat the entire trip, so we took a ferry ride across the harbor. Even though it was freezing outside, Sophie insisted on checking it out:

But then she realized how cold it actually was and contented herself with watching the ride from the inside.

We saw this thermometer from the boat, which at one point read +0 degrees C...

...and then -0 degrees C! We're not really sure what the difference is, but either way, it was cold!

The Nordic Museum was in a beautiful building, and upon entering, we came upon this giant statue of Gustav Vasa, a 16th century king of Sweden.

It was an interesting museum, but the real beauty, I think was in the building itself:

Just some fun pictures of Sophie throughout the trip:

Trying to lift the world's largest coin:

As I mentioned above, the last day was my birthday, so Ian and Sophie gave me some beautiful tulips and got me a Swedish cinnamon roll to start my day off.

Later in the day, we stopped by the indoor market to pick up a special dinner.

I passed on the stingray...

But I did end up with a mixture of yummy Lebanese and Swedish food! (I know, a strange mixture, but it was my birthday, so I could eat what I wanted!)

And we got these tiny tarts to share as my birthday cake...mmmm!

It started dumping snow right after we got back to the apartment. Needless to say, we spent the rest of the evening at "home!"

Queen Sophie:

We would love to go back to Stockholm (in warmer weather, of course!), and highly recommend the city to anyone traveling in Europe!

Spring Break: Stockholm, Sweden, Part II

Okay, my goal is to catch up on this blog before it gets as cold as it was in Stockholm over Spring Break! In that spirit, my explanations may not be long, but I think in many ways the pictures speak for themselves anyway.

The city was full of beautiful scenery and beautiful details. Much is preserved (unlike many places in Europe) because Stockholm did not bear the brunt of World War II.

A detail on a building:

The Vasa Museum (the 17th-century ship seen in the last post) from across the bay:

A view of the city:

Beware of driving off of the docks!



The royal church (right next to the palace):


More lovely building details:


Sophie posing with the lions:




The palace and church in a snow storm:


Sophie insisted on us taking this picture. She has quite the eye for intriguing shots!

She also insisted on this photo:

I absolutely loved this square. The buildings were so interestingly shaped and bright.


After a long day of walking around (in very cold weather), Sophie decided to take a rest on our bed and listen to some tunes.

While she kept herself busy, I tasted Swedish gooseberry cider.

And Ian grated cheese with the world's tiniest grater!

We're Home!

Hi all! We've made it back to the United States! I'm sorry that we're so behind on the blog, but the end of the year was busy for us. I'll be updating it soon, and hopefully we'll get caught up before the summer is over.

We may start posting our post-Europe pics over on Sophie's blog, so check both in the next few days for some updates. Eventually, when we get caught up on our adventures in Europe, we'll move permanently back to Sophie's blog.

Also, we have new phone numbers, so if you'd like them, shoot me an email, and I'd be happy to send it on to you!

Spring Break: Stockholm, Sweden

Okay, sorry it's been so long since we've posted here. My computer broke down a couple of weeks ago, right in the middle of Ian's busiest time. We moved a desktop (that was originally here in the apartment anyway) back to the apartment from the classroom, but we've just been really busy, including a trip to Zürich last week. Our time here in Strasbourg is rapidly coming to a close, so I'll try to catch up as much as I can over the next couple of weeks.

During spring break, at the end of March, we took a short trip to Stockholm, which turned out to be a really great trip. Stockholm is a beautiful city on the water, and although it was cold while we were there, the weather was beautiful for most of our trip.





A view of the Nordic Museum:


We took Sophie to Skansen, a living history park/zoo. They had large versions of a typical artisan craft, the painted horse:


And they also had this weird pig area, which Sophie absolutely loved!


They also had pony rides, and although Sophie was a little concerned about the movement of the horse, she loved the ride.


Here's a short video right before her pony ride:

After Skansen, we headed off to the Vasa Museum, which houses a 17th-century warship that sunk on its maiden voyage, but was kept mostly in tact for hundreds of years. These statues were found in a garden outside the museum:


And the amazing warship, Vasa, itself:






We were busy that day. :-) We headed back to our apartment at sunset, which turned out to be a beautiful time of day to walk around in Stockholm.