http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Jim-Murray/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Jim Murray en-us Sat, 02 Jan 2010 10:59:17 +0000 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 10:59:17 +0000 arrived safely in san diego tuesday at about 430 after a long fligt. 8 hours from stockholm to newark new jersey. a couple of hours lay over then another 5 and a half flight to san diego. but all in all very smooth and good flight. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Diego/blog-418988.html we are flying back tomorrow. yesterday we visited upsalla and saw some sights. today we went inside the church we photographed yesterday. afterwards we went over to some friends and had dinner. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/Stockholm/blog-418248.html today we packed it in and took the train where a friend picked us up. we went to a viking museum and church viking burial ground where cheiftans were buried under hugh mounds I think with their ships and assorted stuff. then we went to the university and to the kings palace and then over to Gabor's house for dinner. His wife is from Srilanka and fixed us a home town dinner. great and now w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Uppsala-County/Uppsala/blog-417928.html we ventured in another part of stockholm venturing on its subway system and visiting with susann's brother and his daughter. then we did some shopping. got another baseball hat for my collection and took some more pictures. tomorrow we relax clean up the apartment and then sunday travel to uppsala another cityuniversity town north of here. then its to the airport on tuesday and on our way h http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/Stockholm/blog-417111.html the vasa museum was really interesting. In 1628 the most powerful war ship the Swedish king had built was set out to sea. There were mostly seamen and there families. they fired the lower canons in salute while all the swedes looked proudly on. A wind blew the ship tilting it and water started plunging in the open gun doors. the ballast balls also rolled to that side of the ship preventing it http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/Stockholm/blog-416920.html today was fun. took a long walk by the water. we met a friend and her daughter who's claire's age and we went to grona lund an amusement park near the apartment. it was fun but i'll have to say next to the US parks its kind of small but still fun. We'll go out for dinner and I'm not sure what the rest of the trip involves http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/Stockholm/blog-416185.html our apartment is located conveniently. It's easy to take a walk along the water or through the woods. I've been doing more biking also. It's easy to grab a bus into downtown which is maybe a 10 minute ride. Also there is a boat which goes to all the different parts of the city called hop on hop off. for 100 krona which would be almost 13 dollars you get a 24 hour pass to visit about 5 differ http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/Stockholm/blog-415869.html Stockholm is becoming more relaxing in the sense that we have time and don't feel compelled to do a hundred touristy things a day. The food is great. We have an apartment so we can shop and have breakfast here and then go out for dinner. You can get anything you want. Plenty of choices. We went to an Indian all u can eat buffet yesterday. totally great. Spent more time browsing around down http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/Stockholm/blog-415315.html we arrived from the cruise yesterday took it easy had friends over for an eastern indian dinner. last night we went to a diva premel concert in down town stockholm. sort of spiritualfolk new agey type. she has a great voice her husband is a good guitaristvocalist and the third guy plays the flutepercussion. today we went to skansen. its a combination zoohistorical park. they've moved http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/blog-414126.html the cruise to finland was really nice as well as the stay in helsinki. we did some touristy things like tours but mostly walked around the city. we also got to visit with some of susann's relatives which was fun. on the cruise back its really weird but the sun sets like 11 12 oclock and then rises back up at about 330. ill pick out a couple of pictures. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/Stockholm/blog-413651.html HI. when i pushed in where i am in finland i didnt get where i was in finish so im in the city of hilsinke i guess thats how its spelled. my antique pc cant get on the wireless at the hotel so ill post some pictures when we get back to stocklholm. its weird to be walking around in a city half way around the world but pretty cool. the old archetecture is interesting and the whole attmosphere of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Paimio/blog-413023.html today we are boarding a cruise ship and heading to finland for a four day trip. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/blog-412411.html today we walked around downtown and looked into some shops. Stockholm has a lot of water with alot of islands. its really nice. had a great lunch. our apartment is close to an amusement park which is somewhat comical because every couple of minutes the screams come as the rollercoaster drops for its first build up of speed. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/blog-411968.html the flight was really nice. we landed at 745am and then took a taxi to the apartment that susann rented. I'm with Susann Claire Alex. we went to a little cafe for some waffles and then did some grocery shopping. the internet wasn't working when we left so i didn't take my camera but now i won't go anywhere with out it. some pictures will come later. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/blog-411825.html tomorrow we take off from the sandiego airport to the city of my birth beautiful downtown Newark New Jersey. then off to stockholm. pretty much all packed and ready to go. I'm going to send a couple of pictures just to practice. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Diego/blog-411301.html i''m sending another picture or two from the auto show. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Santa-Rosa/blog-410023.html just hung out with friends. saw a great car show. went out to the coast at jenner by the sea where the russian river empties. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Santa-Rosa/blog-409965.html leaving linz's today and will arrive in santa rosa about 2. maybe i'll take some photos of the area like sonoma which is a cool little town. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Davis/blog-408181.html I visited Barbara Risling my exmotherinlaw where the University of California Davis is located. Spent some time with Lindsay my daughter and Ethan and Connor my grandkids in Woodland. Lindsay Lori and I went out to the Cheesecake Factory in Sacramento and indulged in some totally outrageous cheesecake I've played my favorite XBox game Halo every morning with Ethan and Connor and as http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Davis/blog-407943.html