6/8 -- Bye Bye Finland, Hello Stockholm

Our exit from Finland would have been uneventful, except that my Norway cell phone decided to not respond to touch commands, meaning I couldn't restart it OR access the payment information I needed to use the tickets we had already purchased for the train ride from Stockholm airport to our hotel. I tried a couple alternative ideas, using my main cell, but nothing was working in a way that I felt sure would be good enough to prove our purchase. I was obviously distressed at breakfast and asked Veera if she could restart the phone and she did! Whew! It only took a couple hours for the tension to wear off enough for me to feel like eating.

Other than that, our trip to Stockholm and our hotel was uneventful. Because we arrived more than four hours before checkin time (we gained an hour on the flight), we walked to Gamla Stan, the old town, to have lunch and explore. Gamla Stan the island where Stockholm started during the 1200s..

Jim being happy at lunch because I am
finally relaxed enough to be hungry.

An NGO office on an island off the bridge to Gamla Stan

Building that highlights both old and new

There were two of these in front of an adminstrative
office for the royalty here, shown below.

The main street connected to the bridge we crossed.

The cross streets were much smaller: so small
that Jim (below) can almost reach across.

The old buildings framed this shot of
modern towers we are clueless about.

Royal Palace

Carl XIV Johan. Presumably a king.

Cathedral of Gamla Stan

One of the guards we saw. The other was a woman.

Band playing in the afternoon in front of the Nobel Peace
Prize Museum (below).

Parliamentary buildings leading to the pedestrian mall

The water on the other side of the bridge was
flat, so there is either rapids or a dam sluice
under there.

At 11:25 am, when we got there (just a short walk), it was charming and easy to navigate. By 1:30, it was jammed with tourists, many apparently from cruise ships, and pretty hot. We were in meander mode after lunch, looking for the shady side of the street to walk on and meandered back to the hotel before 3, and fortunately our room was ready. It is a little tight, though not as bad as the ship. The downside is no enclosed storage to put the backpack with the PC into. But the staff is friendly and the air is dryer than Helsinki, so our handwashing is finishing up faster.

Except for a quick jaunt to mini grocery, we stayed in the rest of the day to relax, catch up, and plan our busy day tomorrow, when the weather is supposed to be a bit cooler.