Rödräv

Tonight for dinner we made our way down into Södra Hällarna Naturereservat to grill hamburgers and relax near the water.

At the grill by the sea 

It was a perfect evening for it and we had some fun company when a little family of 5 red foxes (rödräv) decided to sniff around.

Lite röda räven

ONE OF THEM NIBBLED ON MY SHOE.  I have never been so close to foxes before and they are pretty awesome.

After dinner we decided to go check out Hemmakväll for a movie night, and settled on London Has Fallen since Vendela is heading there so soon... It was the typical action movie full of tense moments that are less tense because you know in the end the good guys are going to win.  We all enjoyed it and headed off to bed much happier than when we watched Cut Bank.

I'm not sure what tomorrow has in store for us but Anja's birthday is right around the corner!

Hej då, Momma

And they are off. :(

We almost missed the boat this morning... but fortunately we made it JUST in time.  We were apparently confused about the time of departure and so we showed up thinking we had all kinds of time, but really the boat left in 15 minutes.  Oops.

I think I'll spend the rest of the day relaxing and catching up on sleeping.

Kräftor

Today was mom and dad's last on the island before they head back toward the States :(

They got to see another 4-1 victory over another top team in our league, and then we went into the city for lunch and last minute souvenir shopping.

We had a great cookout on the back porch for dinner with chicken and corn and asparagus and potatoes and salad and wine and snaps and laughs and great company and Swedish Kräftor (also called Norwegian Lobster - it's salt water, HUGE crawfish.  Delicious.)

We all stayed up too late, and mom and dad still had to pack, but they will be able to sleep on the boat tomorrow.

Lickershamn

Today we went on a bus adventure to Lickershamn!

It's a pretty little port up toward the north of Gotland with some interesting rock formations and a pretty pebble beach.  We hiked around and visited an awesome little pottery shop.  Adventuring with mom and dad is always fun.

Me and Momma :) 

Two of my favs <3

Regn

Rainy days mean museum time and popping in and out of stores all day.  Not much to report.  It cleared up and got pretty later in the day so we walked around the town some more :)

Visby and Picnics

When we finally got motivated to head to the city, we took the but to town at 11 and went on a ruins hunt!

Walking up and down cobblestone streets all day is pleasant but also tiring.  We built salads at ICA and headed to the Botanical Garden gazebo for lunch and looked off the tower at the corner of the city wall.

In some of the ruins you can still climb around in the old staircases and get up inside the walls!

At Drottens Ruin

At Drottens Ruin

Välkommen till Gotland

Around noon I got mom and dad from the boat at the port! Ali let me take his car even though he was hoping to take it on a Pokemon Go chase.  What a guy.

We picked up some sushi on the way home and lunched on the porch overlooking Kneippbyn and the ocean.  After food and a short rest, we took Messi for a walk so that they could see the trails around and go down to the beautiful granite pebble beach.

It's Vanessa's birthday, so we had a whole family birthday Fika before heading into town for fancy drinks and dinner.

It was a long and enjoyable evening and dinner didn't end until midnight. Vanessa wanted to go dancing after, so we went to Gute, which was absolutely deserted on a Tuesday night.  But we danced anyway (at one point we were literally the only two people dancing...).

Ali came to get us around 2 (he had just gotten back from a Pokemon Go hunt) and I fell into bed completely exhausted but looking forward to the trip into town the next day with mom and dad.

Shopping is Stressful

Today I spent the morning and afternoon looking for a birthday present for Vanessa.  Between the hoards of tourists and the pressures of finding the "right" present, I was a stressball.  I meant to go last week so I wouldn't have the problem of last minute browsing, but of course that didn't happen.

After popping in and out of almost every store in Visby, I settle on a cute, black, silk sleeping mask that I knew she had been eyeing, and a set of very simple gold colored necklaces to compliment her fashionable every day outfits.

I was glad it was over :)

We had our regular Monday weight session with Stillman, and then headed home tired and ready for food.  Everyone got off work late, so we ordered pizza for pick-up and lounged around the table munching and half asleep.

Tomorrow mom and dad come to the island for the week.  It will be fun to show them around this beautiful little town.  I don't know how I'll keep them busy, but I'll try my best!

Täby FK

It's good to start of the fall season with a win :)

Despite having two obnoxious PKs called against us, we jotted down a nice 4-1 win over Täby on their home field.

Prior to the game, we decided to visit the largest IKEA in the world.  We only got lost a couple times, and we finally found the exit.

It's been fun navigating Stockholm again with my parents, but I am excited for them to have a shot at it tomorrow by themselves.

Then they will be in Visby with me!! I have to figure out a good way to entertain them while they are here :)

The Royal Palace

I can't imagine ever living in a place as big as the Royal Palace in Stockholm.  The Royal Family doesn't live there today of course (there are too many tourists running around for that...), but I'm sure that their current palaces are pretty good sized as well.

It was really interesting to learn about the history of Sweden through the Royal Family and see a whole lot of Royal things.

We went through the Royal Apartments, the Royal Treasury, the Tre Kronor Museum, and Gustav III's Museum of Antiquities.  I think my favorite was the Tre Kronor Museum.

The Royal Apartments tour was incredibly interesting, but mostly we just learned that all the rooms in there are still sometimes used for important state events, and are for the most part on display for visitors to the museum.  They didn't let us go in all the hidden passageways (which I was bummed about and I think would have elevated that visit above all the rest).

The Royal Treasury was interesting to see because it was sparkly things like crowns and pins and swords, but the lighting was really dim and no pictures were allowed.  It was also a much smaller collection than I was anticipating... I suppose they don't want you to see how many jewels they really have :)

The Tre Kronor Museum was the most interesting because it told the story of the old palace that had burned down and the reconstruction of the "new" (finished in 1754) palace in the same place.  That's where you learned about how the staff got around in the castle and the secret passageways and hidden rooms and false walls.  It also gave a little more insight to how life in the castle used to be.

Gustav's Museum made me feel like I was just back in Italy.  That probably had something to do with the fact that he went to Italy, bought a bunch of statues, and then brought them back for his personal art collection.  After he died the collection was opened to the public and is one of Europe's oldest public museums.  That part was neat.

In between visiting the four museums, we walked through Gamla Stan and found lunch and souvenirs.  Mom and dad are significantly better adjusted to the time change today :)

Familje

THEY ARE HERE!!

Despite some delays out of JFK, and an inability to communicate once they landed at the airport in Stockholm, I found my mom and dad and it was so so good to see them.

I decided finally to just go to the train station and try to see if they got off the train.  I had impeccable timing (which surprised me), and showed up right beside the door that they were coming out of on the train in Centralstation.

The jet lag was apparent, but we forged ahead (for a little while) and got their passes for the public transportation, dropped the bags off at the Airbnb, and headed to Gamla Stan for lunch.  We spent the afternoon at Myntkabinnetet (the money museum), got groceries, and popped in and out of tourist trap stores.  Anything to keep their eyes open for just a little bit longer.  Around 6:30 we finally caved and headed back to the apartment.  We played some cards and tried to watch some Swedish TV, but we lost dad to snores right away.  Mom powered through until around 8, and then they both were out.

I entertained myself by watching Friends for a while, but now it's time for bed for me as well.  They might wake up very early tomorrow, so I have to be ready!

It was definitely a good first day :)

Back in Stockholm

Hey, everybody! Guess who is coming to Sweden? Mom and Dad are coming to Sweden!!

This evening I ferried back over to the mainland so that I will be here in the morning when they arrive. The trip was easy (I slept and read), and it feels good to be back in Stockholm.  I think maybe I love it here so much because it's where I keep coming to meet the people I love ❤️

The sunset from the bus as we drove back up toward the city center from Nynäshamn was beautiful, but it did make me miss the back porch view over Kneippbyn and the ocean a little. 

I don't know what we'll have planned for tomorrow yet.  They land early and I'll have to see how they are feeling. I hope they get some rest on the flight! 

The weather looks good for our time here, so maybe we will go for. Boat tour of the archipelago. 

T-minus 9h until they land 😇 🙌🏽 😇 🙌🏽 😇

Flat Tires and Bike Wrecks.

The internationals are having a rough time of it in terms of our bikes...

Yesterday after practice MJ had a nasty little spill off of her bike that tore up the left side of her body.  

So today we had some damage control to do.  First we met at the gym (she lives really close by) to pick up my bike and walk it over to the nearest cycle repair shop. After we dropped it off, we headed to the pharmacy to get some HUGE band aids for her leg.  The pharmacists insisted that they didn't have anything that would work for the big patches of road burn and they wanted us to go to the hospital. We thought that seemed like overkill and so instead she messaged Anton again (he's our trainer/medic guy) and asked what she should do. After we got that appointment set up, we finally had our picnic! 

We went to ICA Atterdags and built our own salads and then walked down to the gazebo in the botanical garden to eat and the meet Holly (who so far has avoided any bike related troubles).  We sat and chatted there for about an gourami then I took them up one of the watch towers so they could see the view of the ocean and then we went down and walked alon it back to the harbor. 

It's week 29 which means it's Stockholm week in Visby.  The harbor is filled with huge boats and mini yachts that "rich Stockholm brats" borrow from there parents to bring for a week of partying.  I saw them Monday when I went down to the library but Holly and MJ hadn't yet so we figured we should check it out again. 

There was no dance parties happening while we were there, and it was time to head back and check on my bike, so we headed back up the hill and toward the cycle shop. 

It's fixed! I have my wheels back 🙌🏽 so home I went to relax and rest a little before practice. But first we stopped by the clinic to see Anton and get MJ patched up. That's when I found out that our Airbnb just canceled on us for Stockholm, and it was time to scramble to make new arrangements... I was not impressed, especially following the conversations that we had had previously finalizing details for my arrival the night before my parents, etc. Apparently he decided it was too difficult to get the key to me. So with 24 hours to go, it was time to scramble to find another place. Which thankfully we did. Team work momma ✋🏽

Practice was short tonight and after we had a fun dinner at our manager, Micheal's house.  It was so fun to get to hang out with everyone outside of practice and laugh and joke and make fun of each other for our bad second language attempts. 

Some people swam and some hot rubbed and some just sat and ate popcorn and talked (🙋🏽 ) 

After we decided we should have a movie night so we stayed up to late watching Suffragette, which was sadder and less uplifting than I was expecting... 

I meant to pack for tomorrow, but I will have time in the morning. 

Blue Lagoon round 2

The bike fixing activities will have to wait until tomorrow. Vendela and I spent the day at the blue lagoon with Alice parking cars and making money for the club. We parked about 203 cars and made enough money for a couple more plane tickets.

I'm too shy to try to talk Swedish still.  I'm getting better at understanding, but speed is still a major issue...

No Wheels

My bike is stranded at the gym... The back tire is so so SO flat.  So I rode back home on the back of Vanessa's bike.  And my quads cramped from having to hold my legs up.

Today I finally went to the library and got my account set up! And I found a great book that is all about learning Swedish grammar for English speakers.  I really enjoyed hanging out there and reading and browsing and learning.

But then my bike tire was flat.  So I pushed it over to the nearest gas station (which is not very near...) and put some air in.  And when I got home it was fine.  But then two hours later when I left for weights it was very flat again.  Fortunately Bobbo was home and helped me put more air in so I could make it to the gym.  When we got ready to leave weights it was gone again.  So I'll have to sort that out in the near future...

I'm going to be sore tomorrow for sure.  Weights and then 15 minutes of sustained quad contraction while riding home... wooohoooo! I will sleep well tonight.

Ljugarns Strand

Beautiful weather on a Sunday means go find sunshine.  Anywhere.

Anja, Bobbo, Boston and I decided to go find it at Ljugarn, a beach on the east coast of Gotland, about an hour drive from Kneipbbyn.  Boston and I slept the whole way there and the whole way back.  It's something about being in the back seat of a car.

We met up with a family friend of theirs that spends the summer camping in that area for Fike and enjoyed the sun and company for a while before heading for lunch on the beach.  I had a shrimp salad that actually had so much shrimp that I wasn't sure I'd finish it all.  I prevailed though.

We headed back around 5pm because Anja had a planning party for her 50th birthday party coming up in August.  They sent Vendela and Boston to the circus, and sent Vanessa and I into town for an amazing dinner at a restaurant called Bolaget.  It's a wine bar too.  My dinner was fabulous and Vanessa was also really happy with hers.

Bolaget is a French joint, and reading a Swedish and French menu is a challenge that I wasn't quite prepared for... but I ended up just fine :)

I'm still working on some planning stuff for Momma and Dad.  They get here Friday!! It's so so so so so so so soon!!!

<3

Pretty Woman

This morning we had practice since we have no games until next weekend.  It was SO FUN.

We barely had enough for 4v4 because of people's work schedules, but that was what we did for the majority of the time.  It was exhausting, but small sided is always fun for me.  My team scored a lot of goals, and I think we won 90% of the games so I was very happy.

The bike ride back home was very sluggish... and it took me a while to get motivated to do anything else with the day, but finally I headed into town to meet Vanessa for lunch.  She had the afternoon free and wanted to go shopping, so I tagged along for a while.  We finished the day at a sweet little drink spot called Vinäger where one of her friends works the bar before picking up sushi on the way home for dinner.

MJ had been all day at Blå Lagunen working, and her family is currently at their summer home, so we convinced her to bike over for a movie night.  None of them had seen Pretty Woman (Julia Roberts & Richard Gere), so we settled on that for a feel good, funny movie for the night with popcorn and candy and cinnamon rolls.

Having a team is quite a good thing.

Gotlands Musiet

This morning it rained.  A lot.  So MJ and I didn't go to the field and eat lunch outside because biking anywhere didn't sound like the most pleasant of situations.

Instead, Anja took Vendela, Boston, and I to the Gotland Museum for lunch and a fun afternoon.  I learned a lot about the history of Gotland, both geographically and culturally, and saw a lot of old viking relics.

I knew that the Vikings pillaged in a widespread fashion, but I didn't realize how widespread.  They got all the way down to Jerusalem.  That was surprising to me.

I also enjoyed the interactive nature of the museum.  There were chainmail replicas that kids could try on to see how heavy they were, a whole section where you could learn to tie knots, and plenty of rocks and fossils that you could touch to see how the different rock layers of Gotland felt.  Fun fact - the rock type and fossils found here indicate that a long long time ago (Pangea era), Gotland was settled somewhere around the Equator of the earth.  I think a geologist would love this place.

When we got home, it was time to prepare for Friday Night Taco Night.  Anja bought Vanessa, Vendela, and me Taco Night T-shirts.  They are simple white tops with a little logo of a taco ringed by the words "Taco Me Out."  We saw them in H&M one day and she thought they were hilarious and then she surprised us later with them.  So after preparing everything we donned our shirts and sat down for tacos :)

It gets late here faster than anywhere else in the world.  All of a sudden you realize that it's 11:30 an you aren't prepared for it because the sky is still a little bright.

Have I mentioned that my family buys lactose free milk and yogurt?  It's a game changer and I'm so happy that they do.  I was prepared to just roll with the punches while I was here, but breakfast is always friendly to me.

Blå Lagunen

Today started early with an hour drive out to Blå Lagunen - an old limestone mine that has now filled up with beautiful blue water and tourists in the summers.

Our (Vendela, Ellen, Teni) mission was to make people pay for parking to raise some money for the club.  I discovered that people in Sweden hate paying for parking just as much as people in America do (including me).  We wore these fancy yellow vests that said something in Swedish about "parking assistant", and tried to drink enough water to keep ourselves ready for the evening training session.  The downside to that was having to visit the composting toilet.  And those never smell good. 

We raised some good funds (that will barely chip away at the travel expenses from flying to and from the mainland...) and had some good laughs when people just chose to nearly drive us over instead of stopping and paying.  It was warm in the sun, and we were tired for practice.  

Blå Lagunen with Vendela pre-fancy yellow vests

Practice was a little peppier tonight, which was good.  I just learned today that there was a team that had to drop out of our league because they didn't have enough players to field a team for the Fall season - so we actually finished 5th instead of 4th because the 3pt win we had over them no longer counted.  Bummer.  But we still aren't in too bad of a spot.

After practice I cycled home and grabbed some leftovers and a nice shower before settling in to play guitar and watch the sunset.  It was SPECTACULAR tonight.  The photo doesn't do it any kind of justice because it's too hard to see how mauvey and pretty the water was under the sky.  I also waited to long to get the silhouettes of the 3 sailboats that were traveling through my view. 

The sunset tonight 

All in all a successful day.  Tomorrow we are off of practice but I think I will go meet MJ at the field briefly and then maybe lunch and wandering around inside the city wall.  She's been doing online classes for school, so even though she's been here since the end of April she hasn't see too much of the city.  I will show her tomorrow :) 

Fall Training

Today was a recovery day from traveling and running around crazy for two weeks.  

I didn't realize how tight my whole body was from being on my feet all day everyday - walking, standing, biking... So I took the opportunity to do some stretches and lay in bed reading and looking up Airbnbs because I'll have some more visitors in a couple of weeks :) 

I'm SO excited that mom and dad will be coming to visit, AND they'll get to see two games because the timing worked out so well!! 

So that's mostly all squared away, and YAY! 

It was first fall practice today.  It was good to be back on the field.  We were all a little rusty, and we had low numbers, so it was a slow day.  I'm looking forward to it picking back up and our first game on the 24th.  

We biked to Thai Thai to get take out for dinner and then it was time for shower and catch up on some things and now bed.

Jonathan is back in the States and still trudging through his 40 hour travel day to make it back to Missouri.  October is a long ways away... 

Goodbye For Now

Today I had to put Jonathan on a boat back to the mainland... 

I can't believe that 8 days FLEW past so quickly.  

Travel wears me out and so I've been slowing down over the last couple of days, but we still had a fun last day.  This morning was mini-golf with Boston after breakfast.  Jonathan beat me by 4 strokes, and agreed that it is the most intense game of mini-golf he's ever played.  

After a good snack back up at the house, we motivated ourselves to bike to town for one last look around and some souvenir shopping.  Then we had a late lunch to hopefully tide him over until he finds good food next... 

We pedaled back home and finished up his last minute packing, then Ali took us to the terminal.  I waited with him until Vanessa got there to say bye and then he had to check in and go get on the boat.  

Vanessa and I then went to three different grocery stores to find the foods she wanted for making dinner (it's HIGH season now so the tourists are here en masse and you can feel it in the grocery stores...) 

Then I watched a really lame Rom-Com on Netflix to cheer me up (it didn't work really), and then headed to bed after hearing from Jonathan that he was safely off the boat in Stockholm.  

I'm tired.  

Godnatt. 

REAL American Burgers

Högklint round two was today! It's an amazing view from up there, and the hike down to the beach is incredible.  hiking through the woods right next to the sea is a really unique experience for me.  

We're both tired from adventuring so much, so once we made it down to the waterside it was good to just sit on the rocks and enjoy the view and the sound of the tide slowly rising. 

After the bike&hike we went back home ot make a grocery list for an "American-style" dinner.  Then it was accidentally nap time (good thing Jonathan set an alarm when I fell asleep on the couch).  After, we biked into town for the grocery store and picked up everything we would need to make: 

Goober Burgers (peanut butter yum)
Salad
Grilled Veggies 
Lemonade
Sweet Tea
Potatoes Au Gratin
S'mores

It was so fun to cook together again :) 

The family LOVED the meal and was super impressed with our cooking talents, even though we made the kitchen a mess.  The s'mores were Boston's favorite part, but the potato dish was also quite a hit.  Lucky for me, we made WAY to much of the potatoes so I get them for leftovers for a long time. yummy.  

American Burgers <3

After dinner and a little clean-up time, Ali, Vendela, Boston, Vanessa, Jonathan, and I went to Hemmakväll to rent a movie and get drinks and candies for a "home night." 

We picked some twisted movie called Cut Bank.  Personally, I don't recommend it...  It was all kinds of psycho. 

After too much food and too much candy, we all went to bed happy but concerned by the events in the movie.  

Tomorrow is the last day Jonathan will be on the island and I'm still trying to convince him to stay (along with everyone else in the house).  Bobba offered him a job at the American Diner in Kneippbyn if he can "teach everyone to make burgers like that."

I'm happy I'll have the potatoes. 

Bumper Cars

Today was a Kneippbyn day and we rode all most all the rides.  We didn't participate in the bounce houses because I just feel like I'm too big of a human for that. 

But we ran around with Boston and two of his cousins and rode the roller coaster and jumped on the trampoline and did go-karts and the flying boat and the paddle boats and bumper cars (by far my favorite for some reason) and ate waffles with ice cream (incredible...why have I not done with before?) and did the ropes course and did most of those things more than once.  

Before we went down to Kneippbyn we had a short walk with Anja, her cousin, and the kids down to the beach for rock skipping and general enjoyment of the scenery.  Jonathan decided to become a pro rock stacker (mine never got very high).  

The little tower

Dinner was at Solsidan again with the fam, and despite the realllllly long wait because the amount of people and the understaffedness, the food was tasty and the company was great. 

Visby Stout

Today was a bike to town kind of day.  It was pleasantly warm but not overly so, and there was a nice breeze that kept us company the whole day.  We got a slow start, but made it into town just before lunch time.  After walking around for a little while we decided on an outdoor place on Stortorget (main square).  We tried a local brew with the meal and may try to go on a tour of the place if we can figure out how.  Lunch was well timed and delicious and afterwards we were ready to take on some more sight seeing.

Gotlands Bryggeri Wisby Stout

We went to the botanical garden, climbed to the top of one of the towers of the city wall, visited some of the ruins (unfortunately we couldn't go in because they were all closed on Saturday), went to S:ta Maria Domkyrka, saw the Glassmagasinet at the port (ice cream shop), met my new American teammate, and had frozen lemonade before turning our wheels back toward Kneippbyn.

One of many ruins.  Drotten Kyrka.

Fiskargränd.  The most beautiful street in the world.

Roses at the botanical garden :)

S:ta Maria Domkyrka

Tonight was a big barbeque because with 12 people in the house that's just the easiest thing to do (Anja's cousin and her two kids are in for a visit as well and one of Anja's friends joined us, and Vendela's boyfriend Ali).  It was quite the spread with hardly enough room on the table for all the delicious foods.  

Family Dinner Time

After dinner we sat on the porch enjoying the weather and company.  Everyone went to bed a little too late with full stomachs and happy hearts. Tomorrow's activities are mostly unplanned.  But it's always a good day for a summer day on Gotland.  

Destination Gotland

Today I went on a mini cruise.

This morning was our last in Stockholm.  After breakfast, we packed up our things so they would be ready to go once we got back and were about to head to the port.  Then we went to Skogskyrkogården, a UNESCO World Heritage cemetery with really beautiful chapel architecture and nice green spaces.  I lost my marbles fora second when we passed a month old grave for a two year old little girl, but other than that it was really wonderful to see such a beautiful place and tribute to people that have come before us.

When it was time to head back we walked back to the Tunnelbana and rode back up to Södermalm to collect our bags and bid Lidia adieu.  Then it was back to the train station for a ride south to the bus that dropped us off at Nynäshamn for the boat to Gotland.  We arrived a little early, so we had ice cream at the port and sat and enjoyed the weather for a while before heading to the terminal.

Jonathan didn't believe me when I described how big the boat was, but he was pretty surprised when he saw it.  The ferry we were on could hold 1,500 people and about 500 cars.  There is a cinema on board as well as three restaurants and a candy store.

It was a comfortable crossing.  We slept, read, and watched professional minigolf (I didn't not know that this existed.  It was fascinating).  Jonathan had his first kötbullar (swedish meatballs), and we wandered around on the upper deck of the boat for a while and marveled at the size of the life boats that we were carrying with us.

Vanessa came to get us from the Visby terminal when she got off work and we headed to Kneippbyn to meet the family for dinner and the Krogshow.  I enjoyed watching Jonathan's confused expression the whole time (all in Swedish - I had no idea what was happening either, but it was my second time watching it).  I think the best part of the evening was when one of the performers came up during the sing-a-long portion of the show and held out the microphone for Jonathan to sing along as well.  I don't know who was more confused, him or her.  Vanessa, Vendela, and I had a good laugh about it.

Traveling always takes some serious energy, and we were wiped out after the show.  Everyone trickled into the house at various times and we all chatted for a little while before calling it a night.  Tomorrow I'll take Jonathan into the city wall and show him the quaint beautiful city that is Visby :)

It was good to see the sunset over the porch again.

yay :)

Vasamuseet

Today we started at the Vasa Museum.  A building dedicated to a ship that was at the bottom of the ocean for 333 years before being recovered and restored.

The story of the Vasa is simple.  The king commissioned a huge, impressive boat to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies.  The Vasa was the most ornate and incredible ship of her day, and the most heavily armed.  Every statue was meaningful and painted to underscore the honor and power of the king.  She set out on her maiden voyage, made it 1000m from harbor, got knocked over by a breeze, and sunk within 3 minutes.  Fourteen people were unable to escape because it sank so quickly.  The design didn't include enough displacement to account for the height of the boat, so when the breeze buffeted the side, the gun ports began to take on water.  Quickly.  Oops.

Fortunately they decided that no one was really to blame, and after trying to salvage some pieces, they decided to let her lie there indefinitely.

Hundreds of years later, they wanted her back.  So they mounted the most impressive recovery mission of their time, pulled her up from the silt (almost completely intact), and took great care to recover the artifacts that were onboard as she set out to sea.  It's an interesting business model:  "hey, here's a cool boat that didn't work, but you can pay to come see it because we decided to bring it back up to life."  Judging by the number of people that we were there with and the statistic that it is the most visited museum in Scandinavia, I think they have gotten their monies back at least 10fold.

I enjoyed learning about the boat.  It was so incredible big.  Pictures don't really do justice.  The building (designed specifically for this purpose) was incredible as well, and hosted all the exhibits well.

After we had looked our fill and learned more than we were going to remember, it was time for lunch.  Sushi caught our eye and we enjoyed the fresh fish that we found.  Then it was time for a tour of the Riksdag and a lesson on how Swedish government works.  It was very fun to learn about the differences between the US system and the Swedish system.  They probably have too many parties right now, but they have more than two, and you bet I wish we did too.

From the Riksdag we metroed to the Stadsbiblioteket, the city library.  It's apparently one of the libraries to see.  The architecture was definitely enjoyable and it was a really interesting space to be in.  We browsed the English section while we were there, and then it was time for Fika with friends.  We met up with the Stenfors family and spent a great couple of hours talking about Stockholm, the States, Cities in general, political differences between countries, and the merits of different sweets.

The pumpkin pie slice Jonathan and I shared was delicious, but it didn't fend of hunger for long.  The evenings start to get chilly, so we dropped by the Airbnb to get jackets and then set out for the evening.

The first stop on the agenda was the Katarina elevator.  Elevator here was not literal.  We took the stairs.  The view over the city was spectacular, and the climb hurried us toward hunger.  After looking over Gamla Stan from above, we strolled over to find a restaurant where we could watch France play Germany.  I was again sad about the outcome... but it was fun to watch and the food was good albeit very americanized were we ate.

Sleep time now.  We've been on our feet a lot.  I'm ready for sleep.

Skansen

Day 2 in Stockholm was all about learning the history of Sweden and riding around on public transportation some more.  We visited Stockholms Stadhus (Stockholm's city hall) and dropped by the Riksdag (parliament building).  We'll hopefully tour Riksdag tomorrow if we have some time.

For lunch we stopped by the highly rated Östermalms Saluhall (indoor market fro food) and found a reasonably priced delicious meal.

Then we headed to Skansen, the world's first open air museum founded in 1891.  It's located on Djurgården (so we got to take the ferry again!), and is a minipicture of historical Sweden.  Buildings have been transported there to document how Swede's have lived through the centuries.  City houses from the 1800s, Farmsteads from the 1700s, churches, schoolhouses, town halls - all of these now have staff dressed in traditional clothing of the correct time period there to tell you about life as it was years ago.  We also saw traditional arts like furniture making, glass blowing, ceramic throwing, and baking, as it would have been done long ago.  The pastries were delicious.

Part of Skansen is also a zoo dedicated to celebrating and preserving animals that are native to the area.  We saw bison, elk, reindeer, wild boar, foxes, owls.  My favorite to watch were the four young brown bear cubs that were just born recently.  They ran, fought, tumbled, and splashed around in their enclosure while a HUGE momma bear stood nearby.

We spent the whole afternoon there and then decided it was time to find food and rest for a little while before we started seraching for a place to watch the Portugal/Wales game.  We picked up sandwiches at ICA, and then later settled on a little Irish pub called Patric's for the game.  I was pulling for Wales (I like an underdog), so I was a little sad about the outcome.

I was bad about taking pictures today...  Everything was too interesting I suppose.  I'll try to be better :)

Later gator.

5 Juli

I waited impatiently for Jonathan's train to arrive at the station this morning, and then I had a full day planned to get the jet lag out of his system.  He made it (barely), and he'll thank me tomorrow (maybe) 😴

We headed first to Gamla Stan. The old town. Here we saw the traditional changing of the guard at the Royal Palace, Tysk Krykan (the German church), Mårten Trotzigs Gränd (the narrowest street in the world), the Myntkabinettet (world money museum), and toured the Alfred Nobel Museum. 

Mårten Trotzigs Gränd

American Monies: the first $5, $50, $0.25 (top to bottom)

Jonathan found a tiny chair to rest while we walked around :)

Fika is an important part of Swedish life, so we stopped by Kaffekopen on Stortorget (the main square) for coffees and a slice of rhubarb pie. 

Fika @ Kaffekoppen

I can now say that I've ridden a boat as a form of public transportation because we took the ferry over to Djurgården on the way home (ish) to check in out for tomorrow. It was a beautiful view and we saw a rainbow. 

View from Djurgårdsfärjan of Gamla Stan

Rainbow view from the ferry as well

It was good first day. Jonathan was a trooper, and he is very excited for sleep now. We're already old hands at public transportation and we're excited for tomorrow. 

It's so nice having him here 💕

Hej, Stockholm 🇸🇪

It was an early start to the day, but a relatively easy travel schedule. Much better than the one I know Jonathan is facing 😁😁  LESS THAN 9 HOURS EVERYONE.

I started the morning with a walk to Santa Maria Novella train station to grab the Volainbus to the airport. From there to Düsseldorf, from Düsseldorf to Arlanda, from Arlanda train to Södra. 

Airberlin gives you little Lindt chocolate hearts after every flight. But I did feel sorry for some of the travelers that were connecting through Düsseldorf because we took a bus from the plane to the terminal and I think a lot of them were cutting it close. I had a more relaxed layover, and enjoyed Goldfish and and a nectarine for lunch while reading in a semi-comfortable chair by the wrong gate. 

Airports in Europe are confusing to me, but usually I can follow signage well enough to get to where I'm going.  Kiosks and I don't get along, so the nice lady at the service counter helped me buy my train ticket from Arlanda to Södra Stockholm Station.  I think public transportation will fascinate me forever.  Even when it lets me down I always come back to it.  

The directions from the station to the room were easy to follow and I made it to my lodging without any problems 🙌🏽

I definitely needed to do some laundry, so my host Lidia showed me how her washer worked and then it was time to find food. 

I picked up cereals and yogurt for the next couple of days for breakfast and found a kycklingwrap for dinner. 

Now sleep.  Tomorrow is so exciting :) 

Ciao, Italia

I can't believe that it is already my last day with Blake and Laura in Italy 😱 It FLEW. I don't know when we will all be together again, which is sad, but I know that when we are it will be a fabulous reunion ❤️

Today was the day to finish up the Duomo Museum parts and climb high for great views. 

We started with the Baptistry, headed for snacks and picking up gifts, hopped in line for the climb up to the top of the Duomo (463 steps, everyone.), lunched on gluten free pizza (because we were so surprised to find it in Italy), and then into the cathedral for one last church visit. 

On the outside, the Baptistry is the plainest of the 3 buildings, but the inside is incredibly ornate.  The golden mosaics and paintings splashed across the ceiling made our necks hurt, but the view was worth it.  The craftsmanship ceiling to floor was, of course, of the highest quality.

Baptistry Ceiling

Floor and holy water in the Baptistry

The climb to the top of the Duomo was literally breathtaking (hah).  Fortunately the sets of stairs were (kind of) broken up to give the climbers little breaks along the way.  The claustrophobia in the narrow staircases winding around the outside of the dome was real, but it made popping up into the sunshine sweeter.

View from Duomo of the Italian Country side 

Happy that the stairs are over

We thought we were done with climbing, but after lunch and going through the main church (surprisingly plain on the inside compared to the detail on the outside) and a brief rest and packing period back at the apartment, we trudged up to Piazzale Michelangelo to take in one last panorama of Florence. 

View from Piazzale Michelangelo

We were hungry and tired after the climb, and we knew where we could find a GREAT apartivo, so we rolled back down (almost literally) to Piazza Santo Spirito for drinks, food, and many laughs. 

Drinks! 

Grilled veggies are always a good find

Ponte Vecchio is beautiful at night. 

The old bridge at night

On the walk back home we stopped by Magnum Firenze where you get to build your own chocolate bar.  The combinations were endless, but I settled on vanilla ice cream with a dark chocolate dip, covered in dried cherry pieces, crushed almonds, and ginger salt.  It was delicious, and a combination that Blake deemed "very Teni." 

My Magnum bar

We only cried a little while thinking about how long it might be until we do anything together again.  It was an amazing week and I'm SO glad that our schedules synced up so well for the trip.  I'm going to miss the little sandwich shops and beautiful views of Italy, but I'm going to miss these girls even more. 

At the orange gardens

WPS forever🐗❤️

Florence - The City of Flowers

Today I bought the most expensive banana of my life for breakfast.  But it was fruit and it was SO good. 

We queued up outside of the Florence Duomo for tickets for later in the day, and then went to the meeting point for our bike tour. 

Our tour guide was incredibly informative (she studied art history), and full of fun facts about the city.  We saw lots and learned lots, and finished the tour with some more gelato. 

After we returned our bikes we headed to the leather market, where I gave Blake a couple of lessons in haggling.  We escaped with some cash still in our pockets and headed home to siesta before using our tickets to Il Duomo.  It's good for 48 hours and includes all five parts of the church (bell tower, dome, museum, cathedral, crypts, and baptistery), so we picked two and decided to save the other for tomorrow. 

We made the 414 stair (!!!) climb to the top of the bell tower and enjoyed the uncles inks view over Florence and the Italian country side.

Once we caught our breath, we stumbled back down to ground level and made for the museum. We all agreed that this museum was our favorite of all the ones we've seen so far. We couldn't explain why well, but it was something to do with the artifacts, the layout, the stories... 

When it was time we strolled across the river for apartivo with one of Laura's German cousins. Apartivo has been a well kept secret that we were VERY excited to be shown. For 8€, you get a drink -'f a buffet of all you can eat deliciousness between 6:30 and 8:30. It was the best dinner we've had, and the company was incredible as well. Julia meet us with two of her friends from work (all transplants from other EU countries), and we talked and laughed and dined before heading to a piazza to watch Germany take on Italy in the Euro 2016 cup. Julia was the minority cheering for Germany... We were not inconspicuous. 

My heart dropped when the game headed into PKs.  It's such a bummer of a way to end a game.  We were all very excited when Germany won, because there was a really rude lady behind us the whole time that made it personal.  But id rather forget about her so that's all I'll say. 

Afterward, Julia was riding high so we went to celebrate with her before heading home.  It's late (or early depending on what your time reference is), but it was a very fun evening. 

Tomorrow is the rest of the Duomo museum and then maybe watch the math between France and Iceland. 

I can't believe it will be my last day in Italy 😔 BUT that means the time to seeing Jonathan is getting shorter and shorter.  

Public Transportation

This morning we waited for the bus for 40 minutes.  I'm not sure what happened to the bus we were supposed to get on, but it never came. 

Finally, we arrived at the Borghese, where I was very pleased to know that I could still recall some of the high points of 6th grade Ancient Greek Studies.  The statues of the gods and goddesses were spectacular, even when the stories weren't necessarily pleasant.  The interior decorating (i.e. the ceilings, walls, and floors) were again so detailed and amazing, but I couldn't help but wonder what kind of furniture you could've kept in such ornate rooms... 

From the Borghese we were scheduled to find the Trevi Fountain.  Which we did, we just missed our bus.  If it were the first day I think we would've walked, but we couldn't get our feet to agree to that. So we waited again.  Unfortunately, because we had missed it by a fraction of a second, that wait seemed like a long time.  The Trevi was worth it, and we decided to sit and have gelato there with thousands of other tourists who were jostling for a spot for pictures. We did the cliche thing... 

...twice. ☺️

From there it was a short walk to the Pantheon, where I was surprised to discover that it has been converted to a church.  I guess that shouldn't be surprising, but for some reason it was.

 We sat for a while and marveled at the architecture before moving toward the Capitoline Museums.  But this time we were so absolutely dogged that we nearly cried when we saw the stairs up to the museum.  We nearly cried again when we saw the stairs on the inside.

After traipsing up and down and around we stumbled back to the apartment (the bus was much better to us in the afternoon) and crashed HARD for an hour. 

The dinner.  Which was an absolutely adventure.  We stopped by a pizza place that had been realm ended by our host.  It was a local place - outside of the tourist zone.  We were very excited.  There was no English at all in the place which made ordering exciting because we weren't sure actually what we were getting.  Blake went conservative and got a margarita pizza which was exactly what we expected.  Laura and I ordered off the area of the menu that said "tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese base."  She got a calzone, and I got a pizza that boasted garlic and "Oregon" and a side of cooked veggies.  When they came, we were a little confused.  Laura's calzone had a conspicuous lake of cheese or red sauce, and my pizza just didn't have cheese at all.  Now, I like red sauce and bread, and Oregon is a pretty cool state, but I like cheese too.  The cooked veggies were a steamed pile of green stuff.  Maybe spinach, maybe lawn mower clippings.  Laura didn't exactly like salt enough to finish the calzone, and after we all ran back up to the apartment to guzzle water and laugh about the confusing experience. 

We deciding to visit Giardini Degli Aranchi for sunset (there was a lack of oranges that made Laura sad), and took it the amazing views from above the city. 

Since we'd been told we should, we hopped the bus and headed back to the Trevi for a night viewing. It made sense to get gelato again (of course). 

We've finally got a little bit of a handle on the bus system.  It'll probably let us down again, but we made it around after our nap much better than we did in the morning. I think it's because we made another wish 😂

Tomorrow is the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica.  Than on to Florence. 🇮🇹