Sweden Trip 2.1

1 WEEK AGO, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, i was sitting on the couch after a long day of trying be productive at work with my internal clock completely messed up. Not only was i pretty dang tired, everyone in the office was curious about my trip and would ask some variation of the following questions, "Timmer, how was Sweden?" or "Timmer, what was your favorite part of your trip?" My response was, and still is, "I am not sure, i honestly liked it all." (then i usually had a big grin on my face because i truly did like all of it and then thinking of it makes me remember the fun i had so i a NOW showing a big grin as i'm typing!! wow, i'm a dork) I know i have been very slowly logging my trip, this is partially because i'm busy and partially because i enjoy looking back and thinking of my trip :)

WE LEFT GOTHENBURG TOWARDS STOCKHOLM on Tuesday morning around 11am. It was yet another beautiful, sunny day; perfect for driving across Sweden! My sister had talked to some relatives back home prior to our departure and found out where a few of our ancestors lived, so we headed north in the direction of Lake Vanern (as we had some ancestors from that region). As we drove we came to a small town called Haverlund, there was neato aquaduct there. We took a nice little hike and decided that we were like 35 minutes away from where the family of long ago lived. This was as close as we got because we all figured we should get back on the road. Now its not like we didn't WANT to see exactly where we were from, but we were still hoping to make Stockholm and were about 4.5 hours away (without stops) and it was already almost 3:00pm.

WE CONTINUED DRIVING and were on some of the skinnier roads that i've ever been on, it was exhilarating & scary. We stopped in the city of Carlstad, which is on the north end of Lake Vanern for dinner and caught a nice view of the lake. This lake is very big - actually it's the largest lake in Sweden and the third largest lake in Europe After we ate it was finally my turn to drive, WOOHOO!! Before i got too excited though, i was reminded of how ticketing works in Sweden (you are fined on the spot, often several hundred dollars; if over 30 kmph(=18.64mph), your car is towed right then and there. yikes! my car might have been towed a couple times already if i lived in Sweden) With such strict speeding laws, they don't seem to need as many cops as we have here, but if you get caught... BAM!!! Aaron did point out one cop car to me, the only one we saw on our trip. As I drove, within the laws of this great country,i was still was able to enjoy myself very much.

WE GOT TO STOCKHOLM at around 9:30pm, after trying a couple different hotels, we found one. (we didn't get a hotel ealier cuz we didn't know if we'd be is Stockholm that night or not) This hotel was nothing fancy, but it worked. after and 10:30 check-in Aaron & went on a walk towards a lake that he thought he saw. we found it after a 10 minute walk and it was awesome! Now, we were about 24 minutes outside of downtown Stockholm and if i didn't know any better i would have thought i was in the wildnerness. There are no houses on the lakes(to help preserve nature)and you can't even realy see lights through the trees. We then took a path through the woods back towards the hotel, it was not paved and i honestly felt like i was in the middle of nowhere until we walked up a short hill and we were in the middle of the suburbs again.

OFFICALLY STOCKHOLM, DAY 1. It all started with Aaron and I getting ready before the girls so we went up to breakfast. It was again, a nice sunny day, nearly perfect, so we ate out on the patio. We were sitting in the shade, as the sun had not yet poked it's rays over the roof of the hotel. We both reached over the railing to get a little bit of warm sun rays on our skin and i felt something cool... that's right, cool, not warm. what was it? As i had a confused look on my face Aaron was pointing at my arm. Then we both almost puked! i had put my arm in a nice slimy pile of bird poop... it was SO disgusting! Anyways, off to Stockholm. On the bus stop, Aaron met this woman who ended up going to Covenant church in Stockholm and knew Aaron's roommate from Seminary, small world. We talked to her on the bus & train rides on our way downtown & after her and Aaron exchanged contact info she asked us to come over to her family's house for "night fika" that night. which we did and it was pretty cool.


We got downtown and started our tour. We were on our way to see the palace to see what time the changing of the guard took place when all of a sudden a tympani was pounding in the streets! a large group of horses rode past us with a soldier on each one. we booked it across the canal over to the palace and beat the horses there. We watched the changing of the guard, impressive.

NOW, we did so much over the next two days i'm not 100% sure of the order we did them all. so, here goes nothing. We saw the National Museum, The Royal Palace, The Architectural Museum, The Harbor Tour, The Vasa (15th century ship that sank in the harbor on it's maiden voyage) Museum, Drotningholms Palace (The Royal Residence) Skansen (the world's first outdoor museum) Many Churches, many squares, many coffee shops, many, many streets and SO much more. it was truly amazing and i can't explain how fun it was.

I feel like we saw so much history in those 2 days in Stockholm that i don't know what else there is to see (yes, i know i am way wrong with that thought, i'm sure there is a TON more to see) Hopefully i will get the opportunity to go back and see the rest of it someday.
Well, this is not the end of my trip, but it is for now. There isn't too much left, just a couple more days ;)

Peace out!
Timmer