Sunday, August 28, 2005

Copenhagen


Hi,

We went to Copenhagen as a side trip from Stockholm. It rained the day we got there. Here is a picture of Sean and Sil in front of the Mermaid (w/ head intact) in the rain. It was miserable. Sean was a little out of it b/c of all the travel and wouldn't respond to commands. He was either full-throttle or asleep.

The other two days were great weather and we hit Tivoli, the shops, the Viking museum and the palace ruins.

Well, we come back on Wednesday. See you all real soon.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Boat ride...


Hi,

We went on this awesome boat ride today. It was a speed boat tour of the archipelago here in Sweden. The inflatable boat was powered by two 250hp outboard Mercs. The driver took it easy on us b/c we had small children... otherwise it was 50knotts easy.

It has been sunny every day this week! Unbelievable weather. All the locals are back from their travels and are swarming the leisure spots for their last hurray b/c school starts on Monday here. I think tomorrow we are going to drive to a Viking village.

The ferry ride too and from our island destination consisted of an endless stream of threats to small children for their endless hyperactivity in a confined area.

There is McDonalds here of course. And there is a knock-off called MACS. It is ok. There are no Starbucks! Hurray!

Friday, August 19, 2005

Vasamuseet...


Here is a picture of Warren and Sean making faces for the camera on the streets of Stockholm while waiting for Aunt Rocio to finish shopping.

Stockholm is a sleepy little town that you can walk accross in about 45 min. If you miss your bus, then it is usually quicker to just walk there.

There aren't as many playgrounds as Berlin, but there are more indoor facilities such as playrooms and kindergyms. We are staying at the Wenner-glen which is an apt building on the north end of the city.

The gov't actively supports the family. They give a lump sum of $10k/child every year for families. But the population is still in decline. The lifestyle for single adults must be pretty nice.

Everyone drives like a senior citizen and the city is even cleaner than Paris. There are no deisel engine cars here as environmentalism is as important as feminism to Swedes.

So we managed to get enough energy up to go see the Vasamuseet and Skansen Zoo. The Swedish Man-o-War was an awesome site. Sean was interested for about 10 minutes. So we only got to spend about two hours there before going to a McDonald's knock-off for lunch. Sean welcomed the culinary delight of chicken nuggets. But he is having ranch dressing withdrawls.

Sil has a sore throat and Meghan woke up with a fever this morning. But at least we are sleeping through the night. Sean has the sniffles too today.

Last night we ate at the Mongolian BBQ. It was good. Everyone eats outside here if possible. Today is a cloudless day like CA but 25 degrees cooler.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Meghan's First Birthday.. and our 8th Anniversary...


Hi Again,

Today is a special occasion. It is both Meghan's first Birthday and my wedding anniversay. We plan to celebrate by taking many naps and not leaving house if at all possible...

In Stockholm at last...

So we made it finally to Sweden! First our Britch Airhole flight was cancelled the morning before we leave. So Silvia found a Continental flight the next morning to Newark with connection to Stockholm. But that plane had a mechanical we didn't know about. So it was late. But we arrived at LAX at 5:30am only to be greeted by a huge line of people. About 2 hours into line the terminal was evacuated onto the curb for 2 hours. Then we finally get checked in and fly out at 2pm! We had been traveling for 9 hours and hadn't even left LAX!

We get to EWR (Newark) and it is about 10:40pm ET. We get our vouchers for a place to stay and then our bags which we short checked to EWR (luckily). Then we take the tram to the hotel shuttles at 11:30pm. Unfortunately, the hotel stopped their shuttle service at 10:30pm. So we, along with the other 20 stranded international travelers bribe another random shuttle driver to drive us to our hotel. But then at the last minute, two of his customers have arrived. So we had to drop them off first! That made our 15 minute ride 45 min! Finally, checked in and settled at 1:30am.

The next morning was more of the same. It started out way too smoothly. First of all, we get strip searched every time we go through security. That is a huge problem with a 3 year old who is crying after being corrected for running off every two seconds. Then they want to pat him down too but I called them on it b/c I know if he doesn't trip the metal detector, then kids under 12 don't have to be searched.

We spend out food voucher on really greasy food at Nathan's, cruise the shops and then finally board at 6pm hopefully ending our wonderfully hot and humid day in NJ. But it wasn't to be. The gravity was too strong and we couldn't escape. Thunder storms and the associated wind sheer kept us on the runway for 2 1/2 hours. The kids slept and then woke up when we took off. They stayed awake for another grueling 3.5 hours and finally passed out. We arrived in Stockholm 4 hours later.

So we got our rental car and followed David to his apt for a typical Swedish lunch of bacon, potatoes, and creamed spinach with just the babies.

A three day odessey ends successfully. Our motivation was too strong. Stubborn has its advantages.

Friday, August 05, 2005

7 Days.... not a problem.

I don't dream while sleeping. At least, not that I can remember. But I dream while awake and work to make those come true.