HELLO MOI: STOCKHOLM...THE CITY OF 50 BRIDGES

We had planned a sightseeing trip to Stockholm, Sweden. We embarked our cruise boat, Silja Line, on Tuesday afternoon from Helsinki. On our way to terminal we purchased some ice cream cones, and the plan was to eat them while walking to our boat. We were warned about the seagulls attacking people eating ice cream, and I became their victim. I was just strolling down the street, minding my own business, enjoying my peppermint ice cream cone. I did hear the boys laughing behind me, commenting how this bird was following me, but I did not take it too seriously. All of a sudden it crashed from back behind me, hitting me on a left side of my face, reaching for my ice cream. No way I was going to let him have it. I recovered, little shaken up, but still having my ice cream scoop on top of my waffle cone!

The boat embarked at 5 pm, and we arrived to Stocholm next morning at 10 am.

We spend the day touring the Royal Palace. One of the hightlights was changing of the guards, and watching the Royal Marching Band play during it.

If you ask the kids what the hightlight was, they would tell you it was when Jason broke the slushi machine in Gamla Stan (old town). He was not satisfied with the slushi he was getting out so he decided to push the handle down a little harder. I was waiting outside the little shop, by the window, and could actually hear the snapping sound. That was embarresing, to say the least.

We also took a sightseeing boat tour around some parts of Stockholm.

After walking around all day everybody was ready for some food. We decided to be typical tourists, and found a local Pizza Hut. It was definetely the fanciest Pizza Hut we have ever been in...and that reflected on the price of our pizza. But oh, it tasted good.

The next excitment happened when we went to use the Pizza Hut's restrooms. Markus was in boys's one and Maija went to girl's room. I was waiting for Maija in the restroom foyer. All the sudden I heard a loud snap, and all the power went off. I heard Markus muttering something...and then I hear Maija starting to cry. Her rest room was a larger one with handicap access, and she could not find her wayaround at all. Finally Markus went in with his iPhone which had a flashlightnto help Maija finish her business. That excitment we could had lived without.

After dinner we experimented with local subway system, and found our motel...actually a youth hostel. It had a room for seven people, it was clean and cool. We dropped our stuff off and headed to Gröna Lund, the amusement park. We walked down a long walking district, and finally found a tram to take rest of the way to the park. Fortunately the park stayed open until 11 pm, since the sun stays up so long in Stockholm as well. Maija and Niko rode few roller coasters.

Poor Kai has been having a cold, so he has not had too much fun. If you ask Kai how he liked Sweden, he would probably say that it was horrible, since he had to walk two days around town while coughing and sneezing, and even running some fever.

We got back to our room around midnight and by thens we were ready to crash. Next morning we woke up early to have another sightseeing day.

We walked down the walking street again, and found some hot chocolate, OJ, and some pastries and good bread for breakfast. We also grabbed some delicious rasberried and apples from a market place. Then we hopped into a tram and went to Vasa Museum, where the Vasa ship was displayed. It sank on 1600 something during its maiden voyage, and it lay in the bottom of an ocean until 1950s when it was brought back up. The ship is 98% original, and it is quite a sight. I highly recmmend visiting this museum.

After the Vasa Museum we crossed the street and spent rest of our day in Skanssen. It is a huge outdoor zoo and a museum. We saw a moose, wild hog, reindeers, and lots of other Scandinavian animals. We also saw how a glass vase gets made and how clay is molded into pottery.

We topped our visit to Stockholm with an ice cream cone before returning back to our boat.

The kids enjoyed the PS3 video games at the boat while Jason and I took a stroll around the boat. While walking around we got a text from Niko that a security guard had visited our cabin. Appearantly Kai had taken a steamy shower, and opened the bathroom door. The steam from the bathroom set off the fire alarm. The security guard told the boys to keep the door closed while taking a shower. Never a dull moment while traveling with our family! Rest of the trip went without an incident...thankfully!