Day 4 Sunday, August 5th, Gota Canal MS Diana

We woke up very excited to be boarding a boat named the Diana.  This is a boat from the 1930’s that was specifically built to go through the Gota Canal.  As some pictures will show they did not leave much space in the locks that we are going through.  I have heard anywhere from 68-72 locks that we will go through over the 6 days of boat travel.  The boat has 24 cabins with most of them only 2 bunks and our room is on the C level, we do have a porthole with limited views.  All of the toilets and showers are down the hallway for everyone and we have a small sink in our room, so not too primitive. VERY COZY!!



We board with 44 other passengers with 1/2 from Germany, 1 couple from England, 1 couple from California, a Grandfather, father and 2 daughters from Boston (though they speak Swedish), us, and then the rest from Sweden.  The English speaking contingency is very small!



We start our day going through a lock right away into a lake, then a lock to the Baltic Sea and then so more.  We saw a castle with wonderful history and then We did get the opportunity to get off the boat in ......  (I will remember and put the name in ;-)) and walked a heritage trail.  How quaint everything is. 







I didn’t get a picture of the food which I should have it did get a picture of where we eat.  Our first lunch was corned beef gourmet style. The food has been nothing but amazing.

Day 2 Friday, Museums, Boats and More

We slept well in our lovely room, the bed is one of the best that I have slept on that wasn’t mine.  We even have a sauna in our room, though it has been too hot during the day to use it.



We started our day with a buffet at the hotel, very nice! A lot different than the US breakfast with meats, cheese, pickled herring, smoked salmon (not the dry kind), lots of yogurts, Swedish pancakes and the regular fare of eggs, bacon, fruit and breads.

We then went on a Hop-on-Hop off boat across the waterway to the Vasa Museum.  Oh My! It is an amazing sight hopefully some of the pictures will tell the story better than my writing.  We then went to the Nordic Life Style Museum, the Spirit Museum (History of Absolut and Champagne), Antiquities Museum.  We then just explored on foot the various alleys and pedestrian areas of Stockholm.  It is a very comfortable city to walk around though you really need to have good shoes as the cobblestones are killer.

Day 3 Saturday August 4th, Royal Palace Area

Today started at the Nobel Museum.  This is one of the most interesting museums that I have been to and I wish that we could have spent more time there, but what I have found is that you really can not do Stockholm in 2ish days. I really didn’t plan on the 9 hour time change kicking our butt.  There are such fascinating people out there from Einstein to Curie to Obama and many, many more.

We then went to the Royal Palace, the Tre Kronor Museum, the Royal Chapel and the Treasury AND then we had the honor of watching the changing of the guards at the Palace.  This took an hour and again was an amazing site.  The guards look so young and the Royal Band rode horses and played intricate music at the same time. I have videos that I might try and post.

We thought we would be clever afterwards and take the boat to the other side of the waterway, that went well. And have a nice lunch in an outside cafe, not so good. And then take the Hop-on-Hop Off sightseeing bus to see the the northern area of the city.  Well this was hot, bumpy and though we saw some REALLY big cruise ships due to the Pride Parade and events most of the area was closed off.  We frantically got off at a place that we recognized and walked home through crowds.  We did get some ice cream along the way so was worth it.  Still a very full and wonderful day.

As we were walking into our hotel we noticed that our little canal boat has arrived. The MS Diana is much smaller than I imagined, but very cute! We are excited to start the next adventure of this trip with a cruise up the Gotal Canal to Gothenburg.  More about this tomorrow....

Day 1 Thursday August 2 Travel Stockholm

Well the first day and the second  became one. With travel time of 21 hours from home to Stockholm and losing 9 hours Thursday was a fast one. We took a train from the airport through the countryside and then walked to our hotel. This is an amazingly beautiful city. We took a short nap and then went out to dinner!  2 of my favorite things to do!

Stockholm Here We Come

So as anyone that has looked at the blog can tell I am not very punctual with posts.  Usually I think about doing one when we are about to go on another BIG adventure.

This summer has been one busy summer.

• First summer I have worked in 23 years AND I have a new superintendent 
• We bought a condo unexpectedly
• We are about to sell our home of 16 years, unexpectedly and downsize
• We have attended 2 weddings and have 1 more to go.  (We love our nieces and nephews!)
• AND last but not least the reason for this blog we are going to Sweden and Denmark for 2 weeks. 

Now mind you we planned to go to Sweden in October 2017, but some of the other big doin’s we didn’t know about.  

I will be posting here at least for the next few weeks pictures and my impressions of Doug’s motherlands.  We are very excited and I hope that you enjoy our adventures!  

Here is Doug waiting for the shuttle!  The the adventure has begun.