Stockholm Stunning Scenery not Seen

18 June

I had picked two tours for Stockholm - a harbor tour and to have a city tour and visit a Viking museum which I thought (mistakenly) might include the Vasa museum. The harbor tour was canceled and I should have taken the Land and Sea Tour instead, but I didn't. I just kept the remaining tour I had scheduled.

I also canceled the Arhus tour because I thought we'd be too tired from the 13 hour tour to Berlin on the previous day (and I was correct).

Thursday rug in the elevator

The entrance to Stockholm was to be through stunning scenery of the archipelago, but it was going to be quite early so I did not get up to see it, under the assumption that I could see it just as well at a reasonable hour when we went out. NOT

Tour ticket

Our tour was scheduled to go at 0900, and we got there early, so we managed to get a front seat on the bus so we could see well and take pictures as we started out to see the sights of the city. As the bus was loading, B saw the pianist from the night before, and took his picture as he was hailing a cab.

Pianist hailing a cab

We proceeded along the shopping streets, and visited some of the many islands that make up the city.

Building with brown and red and white decorations

Bike lanes

Bridge over Kungsgatan

7-11

Icebar

Clock and building from the bus

A clock from the bus

Flags

Red arrows

Sergel fountain

Gustav Adolfs Square The equestrian statue of Gustav II

Antiquitatis litterarum artium monumentis - Antiques in the Monument to Literature and Arts

Pink building

Gröna Lund Amusement Park

Naked man statue surrounded by scaffolding

We caught a part of the minor changing of the guard at the Tre Kronor Palace (three crowns palace) at 1000.

Changing the Guard

We stopped opposite where the Volvo boats were docked and took some pictures,

Volvo Around the World Boats

Volvo area

Statue inside the Volvo race area

Saw this ship on a city tour and took the pictures of it. I was not aware at the time that it was actually a youth hostel. I have not stayed here.

Chapman showing gangplank

My granddaughters photos of the ship

from the Djurgården ferry dock

Spire

Modern art

Statue of John Ericsson, engineer, Berzelii Park on Nybroplan

Flowers

and we got to the Viking Museum at 1015.

Museum entrance

B left her camera on the bus because she didn't want to be tempted to take pictures in the Gold Museum part where it was forbidden.

I wanted to buy something for Bob for our gold anniversary, but all the items they had were for women - bracelets, earrings etc. So I just bought a book about the museum, and some post cards. Then I tried to find the group to do the Viking part of the museum

Viking Summer in the Courtyard

Viking summer in the courtyard

and ended up lost on the second floor where there was a Baroque section and a textiles section and never did see it.

Painting in the Baroque section of the museum

Stained glass

Baroque room

Museum item

We got back to the boat about noon,

My granddaughter [i

'running'[/i] To the Boat]
and I looked at souvenirs but did not find any I wanted.

Souvenirs in the dockside stores

Krone

We went to the Lido for lunch.

Lido lunch

I went to trivia and our team won again. We got more mugs - I now have three of them.

When it came time for the sail-away, we were in the dining room and although I had a seat by the window, there was too much rain on the window for me to take pictures.

A relatively good picture taken at dinner

B only took 115 pictures today and I took 160

For dinner, I had the

Peach orange and pear delight appetizer

Roasted baby beef and oak leaf salad

Korean Kalbi Beef Short Ribs

B had the French onion soup and

Baked Mahi Mahi filled with Shrimp Mousse

which also had steamed crab legs with it.

Tiny fork

She got a neat little fork to take out the crab meat with. I had

Apple pear crisp with vanilla ice cream for dessert

Our towel animal was an elephant.

Grandaughter with towel elephant

I did go out on deck afterwards to take pictures of the lighthouses.

Range markers

Aids to Navigation

June 19 - at sea

Reflected in the elevator

I had breakfast in the dining room

Chocolate stuffed bun

Fried eggs

B was still sleeping when I left. She went up and had breakfast in the Lido and discovered that she likes the thick pancakes up there,

My son and daughter-in-law knew that her father was dying and they had thought that they would not mention it to B so as not to spoil her trip. But when we got back to the room, she told me that she had been on the computer and her Uncle Jimmy had let the cat out of the bag and had sent her the news that her grandpap had died. She said it was too early in the morning for her mom to know about it yet.

She was on Myspace quite a bit today and ran completely through the minutes I gave her, so I got her another set because I felt that she needed them. I also tried to catch up with writing up what we had done.

We had lunch in the dining room

Flowers on the table at lunch

and B had shrimp and corn chowder, and a

Cheeseburger on sourdough bun

I had a

Crab tower with Avocado Salsa

Minted Melon and Raspberry Soup, and a

Reuben sandwich

Sundae for dessert

We went up to the ladies room outside the dining room and it was quite luxurious - I took a photo of B in the window.

Granddaughter reflected in the ladies room mirror

She said she'd happily stay there in that room.

Ocean photos taken by B

For dinner B had an

Alaskan king crab leg appetizer

and French Onion Soup. I had the

Marinated Pineapple Spears

Seafood Bisque and a

Steak

I had lemon sherbet for dessert and B had a sundae in which the ice cream was stuck at the top of the sundae glass leaving a void at the bottom.

Sundae glass with a void at the bottom

A somewhat unhappy day. She took 17 pictures today and I took 27.

Flying fish towel