Love that View!

Stockholm's skyline is beautiful, so we tried to find spots to dine with a view. We found this vegetarian buffet restaurant by accident when the girls needed an emergency potty break after a sushi picnic. They enjoyed eating corn-on-the-cob which is hard to find in Holland, but they especially loved playing on the hammocks. We liked the food and the view so much, we went back by ourselves to celebrate our 13th anniversary as shown here.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Wetsuits...

We managed to escape the hustle of the big city by taking a ferry to Vaxholm, just one of the 24,000 archipelago islands, islets and rocks off of Stockholm (guessing this one is too small to count). Jimmy promised to take the kids swimming; they didn't care that the water was chilly.

We're really fortunate to have such good friends to be able to travel with. The kids get along and behave so well that we actually got them their own room for 4 nights in Stockholm that was down the hall. What a treat! And we weren't even banned from ever going back to the hotel.

A Truly Amazing Museum...

We had heard that the Vasa Museum was impressive, but frankly that's an understatement (and this photo doesn't do it justice). It's shocking when you first see this enormous warship built in 1628 as part of a fleet to battle Poland. It's especially shocking when you realize that it sunk in the harbor just 20 minutes into it's maiden voyage killing at least 30 onboard and sat under 90 feet of water for 333 years. We were surprised to hear that the canons were recovered back in 1669 when divers went down using a diving bell, but then the ship was forgotten about for almost 300 years. As the largest object ever preserved, it was a huge jigsaw puzzle to put back together. If you ever make it to Sweden, seeing the Vasa is a must.

Giggles and Disgust in Sweden...

It doesn't take much to make me laugh and seeing the word "Fart" all over signs in Stockholm, definitely made me giggle. And seeing the words "Fart" and "Hinder" together seemed worthy of a photo especially after discovering that "Fart" is defined in the dictionary as either "Speed" or "Sleeping Police Officer." Gotta love a country that warns you about sleeping cops ahead.

Unfortunately, not everything we saw in Stockholm made me laugh. A visit to the Modern Art Museum left me nauseous. The main exhibit featured an American artist that worked for Playboy for years as a cartoonist. Granted, there was a warning that the exhibit wasn't for sensitive people. Since I've never been accused of being sensitive, I went in and quickly regretted it. While I used to find Playboy cartoons very funny when I was in college sneaking peaks at my boyfriend's father's copies (by the way, the articles were very well written), this artist had moved beyond silly cartoons into solo performance art. I've never been a big fan of censorship, but I would have liked to have met up with the museum curator and hit him upside the head for thinking this repulsive stuff was art.

Where Pacifiers Go to Die...

We were surprised to see pacifiers used as art in the children's zoo at Skansen, the open-air museum. Alex was able to translate a sign and told us that when kids outgrow their pacifiers they can donate them to the zoo as toys for the kittens and to be made into chains to decorate the zoo. It might make for some strange art, but it's a sweet tradition.

More Cute Kids in Sweden...

On our 2nd day in Stockholm, we met up with Vivynne, Tony, Ariana & Max, old friends from Florida. Tony's brother Alex has been living there for a year doing his post-doc, so he played tour guide. This photo was taking at Skansen, which opened in 1891 as the world's first open-air museum. This oversized traditional Swedish horse is based on small wooden toys that are rumored to be originally made in the 1600's out of the cutoff corners left over when making round clock faces.

Check Out These Swedish Babes...

Ok, maybe these aren't the babes you were hoping for, but you have to admit Veronica and Ashlynn in Sweden do look cute. On our first night in Stockholm we were lucky enough to stay in a hotel with a fantastic view and a kiddie playroom with dress-up clothes (this was a great Best Western amazingly enough). The weather was fantastic, but since Sweden is cold much of the year, the bar offers blankets when you're sitting outside watching the sunset. If you're having a hard time placing Ashlynn's costume, she's dressed as Pippi Longstocking, the infamous heroine of books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren.