Sweden

It was my New Year's Resolution (or something like that...) that I find a way to take advantage of John's increased travel days and destinations by joining him on a few trips.   We didn't "join" him at Disney at Spring Break, per se, but leveraged the fact he was nearby.   But we fully executed on this for a conference he had in Sweden.  My dad came to stay with William while I flew to Stockholm to join John for a long weekend in Sweden and then a few days in Iceland using the Icelandair layover.    The "plus Iceland" came about when I realized you can't fly nonstop to Stockholm from Chicago (frankly, a surprise).   It ended up being a great combination!  On the first leg from Chicago to Iceland, I won the bid to upgrade to Saga Premium, which is the equivalent to domestic first class.   It was nice to have the extra space and meal and drinks, and it made the quick flight over the Atlantic (around 5.5 hours) even quicker.   After a quick transition through Iceland immigration, I continued on to Stockholm and arrived early afternoon to get myself checked in and settled at the lovely hotel that John picked (much more convenient than my first pick!) before he got done with his show wrap up.

This was my first introduction to fika, the afternoon snack of Swedes.  I'd read about it in advance but love the concept.  These goodies were in the hotel lobby each afternoon.   Our room overlooked one of Stockholm's harbors and was in walking distance to everything we had on our to do list.   It was overcast and a bit cool the first day but that had been forecast and packed for in advance.  I don't recall needing an umbrella at any point.  

Friday night's dinner was at Freya Soder, which I had scoped out in advance.   It was in Sodermalm area which was about a 20 minute walk through/past the historic Gamla Stan area from our hotel.  It was definitely a trendier area and there were also a lot of young adults celebrating end of exams or something.   Lots of sailors hats.    

Saturday morning we had coffee in the park before tackling the historic sites of the Royal Palace and the armory.   Oh how we loved the armory museum!  Definitely could have stayed there plaque reading for another hour, but we were on a timeline for the changing of the guard.

The changing of the guard ceremony was neat; lots of pomp and marching.  I was annoyed with home many people were trying to video it and holding ipads and large phones over their heads blocking people in the back.   At the end this woman pushed her way to the front for her perfect pictures, so I took a photo of her taking her photo.   I guess this is just how we do things now instead of enjoying the moment.

 
Took this picture for my Lindsborg, KS, adjacent people!  After refreshing at the hotel, we went to the Museum Island to see the Vasa.   We knew of the Vasa from various history programs on TV over the years, but it was even more impressive in person.  It's a very manageable sized museum but lots of reading for those of us who enjoy that.   The biggest surprise to me was that the ship was colorfully decorated when it was launched and how they were able to determine and recreate the colors.

Standing next to the scaled down model recreation with the recovered Vasa in the background.

A cut out view to demonstrate how it was poorly balanced.   It only made it about 1,300 meters (1,400 yards) on its maiden voyage in August 1628 before it sunk and was buried in the muck of Stockholm Harbor for 325 years.

The view of our hotel across the harbor as we walked back from the museum.   We enjoyed a cocktail in the hotel before dinner at an Italian restaurant that John had discovered with his co-workers earlier in the week.

Sunday after brunch we head back to the airport to continue our adventures in Iceland.   This woman's bag made me chuckle.   I got a lot more laughs when I didn't win the bid to upgrade my flight - only making it as far as the bulk head row where I could see John in Saga Premium.  I asked the flight attendant if I could move to the empty seat next to him and was (as expected) declined.  But since I was friendly about it, she did treat me to a bottle of bubbly and a chocolate bar from first.   The seats I had were more than spacious so it wasn't a big deal at all to not move.   But I appreciated the treats!