Leavin' on a Jet Plane

Finland journal--Part 1
Wednesday Sept 15
I managed to get packed, my tomatoes froze, & my mind wrapped around the idea that I really did not have to do all the misc things that were needing done at home.  My mom is there caring for the two youngest (the two older M & M's are with their older sister)
I know mom is capable of folding the clean clothes, emptying the dishwasher, sweeping the floor....I really did walk out of the house on my own, and did not have to be carried, kicking or screaming.  That is not to say that I wasn't a total wreck of nerves.  I was!

We left home at 6:30 in the a.m. to Omaha where I flew out of at 10, arriving in Chicago around noon.
I was so pleased to have Rob (Ruth's husband) meet me when I got off the plane.  I would have hated to try to make my way around that airport alone.  We went down to the baggage claim area where Ruth was waiting for me.  My flight to Chicago was un-eventful, but my nerves from being away from home really did not calm down until I was with Ruth, and reality really set in!

We had several hours to wait until our plane loaded, direct from Chicago to Stockhom Sweden.  Although I have flown quite a few times, and on different airlines, but I have never been on a plane of that size!
It had 3"rooms" and the area we were in two seats on each side of the plane, then a row of 4 across the middle where our seats were.

Ruth and I in the airport in Chicago

Ruth and her husband Rob--and a HUGE thanks again to him for "letting" his wife travel with me!!

The Airplane we flew on

Inside--in the area we were sitting in

Ruth at our seats

Me at our seats

I had very little sleep on Tuesday night at home before I left.  I still had things to do to get ready, so didn't get to bed until quite late, but then it was storming out and I couldn't sleep well.  I probably barely got 2 hours.  Not so great I know....but that's the way it was.  I napped some from Omaha to Chicago.

We finally took off from the ground about 5 p.m. in Chicago, and it was scheduled to be a 8 hour flight.

After a good supper that was served us, along with drinks & doing some reading & snacks, we did try to sleep.  It of course was rather crowded & certinally not very conducive to resting (lights, talking & small space) I probably managed another 2 hours of snoozing off and on.

It was about 11 p.m. our time (6 a.m. current plane time) when the lights came on and it was announced that breakfast would be served soon.  There was sunlight starting to come in the plane windows, so I stretched, woke up, washed my face with the hot rags they passed out and convinced myself  "It's morning....Time to wake up"!

We enjoyed a small breakfast, hot tea, and a cup of strong coffee before preparing to land in Stockholm, and the excitement really starts!  We're ready to see Laura!



We land accross the water

Thursday a.m.

Our plane landed at 7:55 a.m.  We were near the back of the plane and it took considerable time to get everyone in front of us out of the way and we finally luggage in hand made our way to the front and off the plane, down the long halls into the Stockholm terminal and thru customs (with no problems), thru security doors, down more hallways to the baggage claim where we were quite happy to see our suitcases arrive safely, down another hallway....

and there was Laura waiting around the corner! (flowers in hand as a welcome for each of us!)

Out into the cloudy damp day

To a very lovely mini van that we felt right at home in....



Off down the "interstate" towards our friends the Skallebergs

And the sun came out and it's all sparkly & bright with a rainbow in the distance!

Thursday-Day 1 in Stockholm

The capitol of Sweden and home to the Royal family.

If I could manage to keep notes on what we're doing as I go, I'd be better off.  I realize that I already am having a problem remembering what we did on Thursday afternoon, and this is only Saturday evening.  If I don't keep this journal updated often, I will get back home and everything will be a total blur!  It's always rather strange to look at Laura's blog (where she has the time difference posted) or talk to her on the phone and realize the time difference between us when I'm home, but it's even stranger to be on this side of the water and look at my computer and see that it's still middle of the afternoon at home when it's bedtime here!

We're having a lovely time of course, and our days have been very full.  Sleep has not been too much of a priority, although we've been tired enough at the end of the day to thoroughly enjoy a good solid nights sleep. I would imagine all the walking we're doing has something to do with that--I wish I had an idea how many miles we've walked in the last 2 days--on Friday we were out and about for 7 hours, and alot of that was on our feet!
 I wake up here about 6 a.m. just like I do at home. and the time difference didn't affect me a whole lot after coming over.  I'm guessing when I get home I'll probably crash for several days!
I'll continue with my journal back to-

Thursday afternoon
After leaving the airport  we came to Obbe & Patty S's here in Stockholm where Patty had breakfast ready for us!  Patty is from Idaho, but has lived here since marrying Obbe almost 27 years ago.   We checked/wrote our mail and by then we were pretty tired & enjoyed a 2 hour nap before we set of to do a bit of sight seeing & shopping.

 The grounds/conv. building

This family owns a greenhouse/nursery business.  Here in Stockholm it is cooler than at home (at least when I left) and it is just barely starting to show some changing of color in the leaves/foliage However the big difference that I notice is that the grass is still very green and the flowers all are blooming pretty much like summer at home.

We had a late lunch at a food court & then walked around the shopping center to see the sights.

well, that is we did after we made a stop to fortify ourselves with a latte!  No problem with taking care of Ruth's & my coffee addiction.....we've discovered they have all sorts of coffee shops on every corner and a few in between!

We learned very quickly that in this city there are three basic modes of transportation....Your feet, your bicycle or the train!  My future photos will give more proof to this!

The open air market, with delicious looking fresh produce.  See the mushrooms in the lower picture?

The other thing we discovered very quickly is that the clouds roll in and the weather changes very quickly  without notice. All of a sudden it's raining.  No one here seems affected by it in the least. We saw children  dressed in darling little rain outfits.  The umbrellas come out, the babies in their buggys get covered up and the people keep right on with their walking.

We finished our trip to the square with a quick trip to the grocery store, wanting to pick up a few things as we were heading out to a cabin that the family owns about 15 miles from here. 

I was quite interested to see pear jam on the shelves of the store!  Although I make pear jam at home, and it's one of our favorites, I don't believe I've ever seen it in the grocery stores that I frequent.

Coming next--Our cabin by the sea, and Fridays excursion into Stockholm by train, old town & Junibacken, a museum about the books by Astrid Lindgren(Pippi Longstocking). 

Hope you all have a good night & wonderful Sunday tomorrow.  We will be gathering here at the home where we're staying and looking forward to meeting some more of the friends here. 

Ruth has been very good at getting names & keeping track of where we've been & what we've done, so maybe I can keep things straight after all *smile*!

Thank you all for your greetings & comments--it's fun to share our journey with you.

Friday--Day 2

 Thursday night (and Friday night) we spent at a cabin owned by the family here.  We had the place to ourselves, and it was delightful.  Surrounded by trees with a view of the Baltic Sea out one side of the house (I have NO idea of my directions here!!)

A little trivia for you here...Stockholm is made up of 14 different islands, so we are pretty much surrounded by water no matter where we go!

We left our delighful quiet retreat on Friday morning, heading into the train station. Our destination was Old Town, and  Junibacken, a museum about the author of books by Astrid Lindgren (Pippi Longstocking)

The train stop where we got on/off

View from the window-

Our destination-

The view looking out at the station from the inside-

Inside view at the station-

Very important--The internet area.... lol! (no, I did NOT haul my computer around town with me!)

From a bridge looking down--see all the bicycles on the right?

Scenes from along the way

It started raining, as we were heading towards our desination and we decided we would take the opportunity to go and eat since we had forgot our umbrellas. The street we were on was lined with restraunts & coffee/dessert shops to choose from, inside and out.

 Lucky for us even tho it did rain several times during the day it was pretty short lived each time and we did not get soaked as we were out for 7 hours!

Oh yes....Good Chinese buffet *smile*!

Friday afternoon--continued later.

Friday Afternoon-Old town

I wish that I could have had known how many miles we walked, or even had a map of the area we covered.
After our lunch we headed towards "Old Town", across the Royal palace courtyard and had a very delightful time walking the winding streets, popping into various shops to see what they offered and exclaiming at the amazing architect, & color.
Quaint coffee and pastry shops dotted the area. A school and school yard we came upon unexpectedly around a corner--the very narrow streets, cobblestones, twists & turns and somehow we came across the very narrowest street that Laura wanted to show us and didn't know how to find.
Very unique.  Some 200 pictures worth!  It's going to be hard to narrow down which ones to post here.

Down the streets--as you can see, these particular streets are made for walking, not cars!  There was traffic on the cross streets tho.

Accross a bridge (remember, we're on islands here in Stockholm, the Baltic sea and Lake Malaren)

Map of the royal palace area in Old town

Royal guards--we did end up not being able to see this --it's only once a day & the next day we were too late afterall (along with the fact that the next day (Saturday when we went sightseeing, it was very rainy!)

Heading off down the winding narrow streets of old town.

I can't remember exactlly where this was, I think it was actually before we got into the middle of old town, as the streets are vehicle wide here.  Notice the school grounds/enterance & bikes to the right?

aha! Chocolate!  Alas, can you believe we didn't stop?

See Ruth Shopping?

The shop right behind us was a delightful little Misc "junk" antique, collectible shop. 

We had no idea where we were going as we turned down these little streets.  We could only see that they turned and went a different direction, on to more streets to explore.

The school and school yard/kids playing that we came accross.  Some of the school rooms were in buildings accross the street.  Although the yard was partically enclosed, it was open to people wandering by on the streets.

And here is the narrowest street with many steps that we found.  Of course we had to go down it!

Now, I'm not honestly sure if I've duplicated photos or not.  If so, maybe someone will let me know so I can remove the extra!

Coming next--Still on Fridays tour, many more miles of walking before we found  Junibacken, a museum about the books by Astrid Lindgren