We’ve made it to country #5!
We had to wake up at6:45am. Tried to get the kids to eat a few muffins or cereal before our driver arrived at 7:30. We triple checked the apartment before leaving 😉 and we were off for the airport. Check in went smoothly and like we’ve experienced most everywhere outside the US, Security was fast, efficient, and not a big deal. Why is that?!
With a small wait before boarding they announced our flight. It suddenly became clear why all these people had lined up before there were even agents at our gate. They just said the flight is now boarding, all passengers please come up. It was a total free for all! The passengers were soon lined up all the way to the gate agents and they couldn’t let anyone through till more people got on the plane. Seemed to us like such an inefficient and silly way to load a plane.
We finally get on and get settled. The kids wanted to sit with Papa and Ty and I lucked our with a whole row to ourselves! Best two hour flight! Aside from being surrounded by socks and screaming young kids. Oh we don’t miss those days.
Landed in Stockholm and it was cold! Everything was frosted over. It was very much like coming home to Alaska at 20 degrees.
Grabbed Papa’s suitcase and got ourselves into a bus into the city. It was a beautiful 40 minute drive. The boys sat in the back and R and I sat near the middle. She listened to Harry Potter and was totally content.
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We got off the bus and R was insisting she was SO hot. Didn't want to wear her coat, let alone, hat and mittens. L started screaming because R got in the stroller and he didn't want to be in the carrier. Just one of those moments when you wonder why is this such a big deal?! After walking to the end of the bus station, I think between the cold and the fussing kiddo Papa was ready to spring for a taxi. 😉
We were all pretty excited when we saw where our apartment was located. Right next to the Royal Castle! It's a beautiful area of town.
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We were too early to check in so we dropped our luggage off and went to find a Thai restaurant Ty had found for us. The food was good but the bill was quite a shock for us. There was a 12% tax and a 20% tax on top of very high prices!
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Typical L restaurant behavior. We’re working on it…
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After our meal we walked to tourist shops a bit.
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Found an incredible church.
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Then we went to investigate the Royal Castle. However, it was closing in 45 minutes so we went to the Royal Armory, which was staying open later. Ty had read you can try on actual armor too!
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We saw Royal carriages used by Marie Antoinette alone with examples of their clothes. Pretty hard to picture dressing on that style any more.
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At this point we learned the armory was closed for a years renovation. We were all bummed and decided we’d had enough exploring and to go get into our apartment.
It’s quite the building. Up two flights of twisty stairs to our door. Up another flight to the kitchen and dining room. Up another flight to the one bathroom and two bedrooms. Then up one more flight to a living room/bunk room. It’s a lot of stairs! One neat feature is the rooftop deck. It’s totally like the scene from Mary Poppins with the chimney sweeps.
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Ty and I left the kiddos with Papa while we went to try and get tickets to the ballet. Ty had found this amazing ballet based on Alice in Wonderland. He was super excited for the kids to see it! But much to our disappointment the only seats available were non-visual seats. Which with a ballet is pretty important. ☹️
We were bummed but went exploring for a bit.
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We came across some road construction they were doing, in a giant tent! I guess this is how you can extend the road construction season?
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We walked back home and grabbed everyone for some dinner. Ty had found a yummy sounding burger joint near us. But when we found it, it was super packed. So we decided to keep walking but the kids were pretty set on having a burger at this point. So when I saw a sign advertising burgers at an Irish Pub we just went for it.
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The burgers were good. My fish and chips (haddock) were just fine. But Papa’s Swedish meatballs where apparently dry and flavorless. Lame! Also everything was super expensive again. Nothing like a $20 bar burger!! 😬
We stopped by a mini mart on the way home to get some water and milk and I saw these candies. I couldn’t figure out why you’d want salt flavored candy. Is the other one supposed to be like a piece of charcoal?
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walk home is beautiful. Old very narrow streets.
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lly got the kids into bed around 8:30. That’s so late for them but on vacation we’ve learned to roll with it.
Only a few days left before we start making our way back home. Excited to see more of Stockholm tomorrow in the day light and fingers crossed not quite so cold!
