Stockholm

Now that we are home I should just finish up the last couple of days of this trip. The Skoda carried us up the east coast of Sweden toward Stockholm. We stopped on the way at the Gota Canal in the town of Soderling. The Gota was built nearly 200 years ago to facilitate boat traffic and commerce between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. Today it is a tranquil way to spend 4 days meandering on your yacht through Sweden. Very picturesque village and great ice cream though it was $5 a cone.
Our hotel was on the outskirts of Stockholm which enabled us to park the car for the day and use the train to get into the city. We had a wonderful day exploring the Old Town- Gamla Stan. My Sweidsh is very poor. As an aside, for days whenever we met someone or to buy we were greeted by the person saying "Hey". I kept thinking it was just an affectation because we were American and they were being folksy. Took nearly 3 days for me to get that Hey means Hi. You say Tak for thankyou. In truth most of the time the people thought we were Swedish and it took several attempts to get them to speak English. Definitely the blond hair and blue eyes.
The highlight of what is a great city was the Vasa Museum. The Vasa was to be Swede's mightiest war ship built nearly 400 years ago. It was very tall and had 2 gun decks. So ornate nearly every square foot was covered with black oak intricate carvings of animals, gods, emperors, you name it. On its maiden voyage in Stockholm harbor a wind sprang up about 20 minutes into its trip and it sank! They lost 30-50 people, and over the years it was all but forgotten. In the 1950s a man dedicated himself to finding it and in 1956 they found it almost intact. Took a few years to raise it and restore it but today it sits proudly in its own museum 95% original. It is a fabulous site and we spent nearly 4 hours there.
After a bite at the Taste of Stockholm and a train back we were ready to say goodbye to Sweden. Actually I am never ready to say goodbye to any part of Europe. The weather was perfect throughout the 10 days. Usually in the 60s to 70s except in Iceland , of course, but there it was in the 50s and relatively clear.
One last note on the trip home. This proves what a small world it really is. When we went to Antarctica there was a nice man in his late 80s from Quebec. Traveling alone but one of those characters who was everywhere you looked . Always in the front of the line ,a little oblivious ,but kind of fun to watch. Well I got up to use the lavatory on the plane from Reykavik to Boston and noticed this guy who looked like Mariano sitting a few rows ahead of us. I attributed this mirage to fatigue and did not mention it to Bert when I sat down. As the plane landed and those in front stood up, Bert said "There's our guy!". I knew immediately who he meant. We figured it couldn't be. How could you see the same person in two such out of the way places? Nevertheless there he was at baggage claim. As we were talking to him about how amazing to see each other I asked him where we were going next. He answered either Madagascar or Senegal. I told him he was on his own but then I got to thinking.....

Karlshamn Sweden

This morning we picked up our car. It is a Skoda Fabia. Basically a really base small car but the gas mileage is great and at $8 a gallon who cares. The countryside in Sweden is so beautiful. We passed rolling hills as green as Ireland with all kinds of crops and perfect little red farmhouses. It seems at least 75% of Swedish houses are red with white trim and a multitude of every color flowers. It is very appealing. After checking into our hotel we went to Morrum , the town where Bert's father was born. We headed for the church and within 5 minutes had found the graves of his grandparents. It was uncanny but Bert seemed to zero in on the exact spot. We later planted flowers on their site. These cemeteries are absolutely beautiful. Every plot is just filled with several types of flowers and shrubs. They are well tended and there is even a shed for spades and shovels and watering cans. We drove to the next village of Elleholm where, through a fortuitous turn and quirk of fate, found ourselves on a dirt road talking to a kid painting his barn-red of course- and he mentioned the cemetery down what seemed to be a deserted road. We followed his direction and again within minutes were standing at the gravesites of Bert's great-grandparents and their daughter. Again a fabulous setting near a stream. An idyllic place to spend eternity! Seriously if you have to have a hometown this area would make anyone proud. What is even better is that every single person we have encountered speaks perfect English. I had never really thought of Sweden as a must see place but I have changed my mind. Now if they would just lower their prices by about half...

Copenhagen

On our last day in Iceland we saw Reykavik. Small city really little more than a town. It was kind of cute but easily covered in a few hours. The interesting thing about it is that all their heat is geothermal which means no fossil fuels needed and consequently no pollution at all. There are also no dogs and very few cats. The Icelanders feel dogs are dirty and banned them until a few years ago except on the farms. I only saw 1 or 2 the whole time. The evening of our flight we went to the Blue Lagoon which is a giant hot pool over a acre large outside, lots of minerals and kind of fun. It is surrounded by these large hills and very peaceful, as is much of Iceland. Our flight was at 1AM so we were tired but Iclelandair is a nice airline and we reached Copenhagen at 6AM. After a short ride on the train we reached our hotel hopeful that they had a room ready. No luck but they did store our bags and off we went to explore.
A ride on a canal boat was awesome. Copenhagen is so much fun and so beautiful. Lots of canals and colorful narrow old houses and wonderful masted boats. Three palaces and a city hall so ornate you have to see it. We saw Tivoli Gardens from the outside. It looks like a fairyland any child would love. Overall one of my favorite cities so far.
This morning we took the train to Malmo, Sweden where we are now staying in a gorgeous old hotel in a part of the city that dates back 500 years. For the past 7 years there has been a bridge connecting Denmark and Sweden called the Oresund Bridge. It is over 6 miles long but what a difference it has made in this part of the world. literally connecting Sweden to the rest of Europe.Malmo is so much better than I expected. There are streets with old, brilliantly painted canal houses covered in flowers. The streets near our hotel are trafficless unless you count the ubiquitous bicycles. Literally there are more bikes than cars. No wonder these women have great legs. Tomorrow we pick up a car and head out to Karlshamn to see where Bert's father came from.