Sabima Hotel Bromma

... at the cabin.

The Gentle Power Band continued the evening with some wonderful music.for the next half hour.

We got into the Accessories shops more in detail before returning to the cabin for the night. Opposite the Reception, there's a huge wide map which shows the whole route taken from Stockholm to Helsinki with red and green light flashing at the start and destination pts and the stopover at Mariehamn.

Had a good read before went off to sleep in the Serenade :-D

... in love with this city. Right now I'm almost finished re-reading Hero. I've devoured it twice now. While it'll never be considered a great work of literature, I have to say that I love it. It's about this young man who realizes he has superpowers and he's also gay. It definitely hits on two of my major fantasies: having superpowers and being in a loving relationship. Needless to say, I'm sure I'll be re-reading it at least once more before the end of the trip. Back on ...

... and have no indication of where I should be walking. (I should have learned my lesson.) But this is an even better story. I end up finding the place (how, I'll never know, they seriously didn't even include a map of any sort), but don't you know it was an hour walk from the station, and not even in Stockholm!! I couldn't believe it, how they could possibly tell you that that's the way to get there, without any directions, is ludicrous! I was pretty worked ...

... rest of the week, while I took the boat to Helsinki, my main destination and so far only concrete plan for this trip. We are past midsummer now, it is great to watch the sun take a really long time to set, only to come up again after a very short time. The weather is not very summery though, there has been much rain and, while it is reasonably warm under the sun, it can be very cold when the sun is hiding, or in the shade. Some spring still lingers.

... showed how life in Stockholm was like in the 1800s. It also had an exhibition for Nordic animals.. which cracked me up because they're the same animals that exist in Montana today.. bison, elk, bears yada yada. It was all still pretty interesting though. Saturday we went to another walking area of town and saw this HUGE yacht. It was docked in the Stockholm harbor. It had two helicopter landing pads an indoor pool, and no one on board except the ...

... Also in Finland try the sauteed reindeer w/lingonberries with red wine and a shot of cloudberry Akvavit. Check out our photos of the cruise and our day trips in both cities: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=123 j0hzb.9pdbssef&x=0&y=-pv74ko Check out a video of Jon & Alice eating sauteed Reindeer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW71Kdg- IAM

Stockholm is the capital and largest city of Sweden, and consequently the site of the national Swedish government and parliament as well as the official residence of the Swedish monarch. Stockholm has been the political and economic centre of Sweden since the 13th century. Today it is the largest municipality of Sweden, with a population of 786,509 (March 2007), while the populations of the Stockholm urban area and Metropolitan Stockholm are roughly ...

... After repeatedly dosing off, it was time for lunch. We met with Pernilla, Pontus' oldest sister for a delightful lunch of hotdogs and hamburgers at the "famous" Presto! ( a local hamburger joint). mmmm! We got to sit with Pernilla and the Ahlqvists and enjoy the beautiful sunny and clear swedish weather. After lunch, we were off again! What had seemed like a fairly quick travel over to Sweden was suddenly ...

... We don't often go inside churches but we did this time and it was worth it. Small but very nice, it contains the famous statue of St. George made of wood and antler. From here we wondered around the narrow streets and ally ways looking into a number of shops and restaurants/cafes. Then into the downtown are of Stockholm this is the major shopping area with many department stores and shopping malls, on one block alone we ...

... because it was a fire alarm. Wasn't to concerned, the tower is made of bricks. Finally got to the bottom. Firefighters had arrived. Clearly there was no fire. We were not going to climb those steps again, so we left and got a snack. We then met the other 7 to find somewhere to watch a game, Sweden against someone. Half way through I was over soccer, so I caught the train back to camp. Sweden lost and Fred was in tears!