Hooray, It's Over!

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That was the travel day directly from hell. HP up about 6:00 on Wednesday and Bird about a half hour later. Yep, early for Bird. We finally arrived at our apartment in Stockholm on Thursday at 7:30 pm. To be fair that is synonymous with 1:30 Georgia time. Nonetheless, it encompasses over thirty hours-a long time to be traveling.

Now for the sorry details. HP obtained the tickets last January, being quite pleased with himself at the price even though it included a six-hour lay over in Munich. He thought perhaps a car could be rented for a brief foray to some locale. Well, HP was able to secure absolutely no sleep on the flight over, while Bird was limited to less than an hour. We arrived in Munich very tired, looking for a place to crash in the airport. Being unsuccessful we remained awake until boarding the plane fifteen minutes late. After a few hours flight we left the Stockholm airport on a bus traveling directly to downtown and moving at a rapid clip. We took this change of circumstance to congratulate ourselves at the money we saved by not taking the 125 mph train. Soon after these self-congratulations the bus stopped dead. As we sat Bird pointed out the train passing over to the right on it's twenty minute journey undeterred by the accident. Eventually we passed the accident responsible for the delay resulting in our forty minute trip totaling two hours. Seriously?

We soldiered on arriving at the apartment building where the owner proudly advertised the apartment sits on the top floor only to discover the lift (elevator for Georgians) elected to take a vacation earlier that day. What, six floors! Okay, we regained our composure and began carrying all three suitcases and assorted backpacks up the stairs counting dutifully each floor. Arriving at six, we were confronted by the fact there was one more (often those sneaky Europeans label the first floor 0). Eventually we overcame the trauma of the stairs, settled into the apartment, took showers before Bird informed HP she was terminating him from his position of Acting Assistant Associate Tour Guide. Oh, the embarrassment.

If you remain with us, we'll share just a few pictures from a short, but simply beautiful, day in Stockholm. Temp today in the mid 70's, low humidity and a few dots of fluffy cloudy. Yum!

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Photos

German Church
Sermons continue in this 16th century German church to this day. And they are entirely in German.

Guarding the Crown Jewels
Gave the guard a thumb's up after the picture, which he returned.

Reprimand
Just after the guard acknowledged appreciation, this officer appeared. Is he being dressed down? I don't know.

The Beautiful Day
Stockholm is a series of islands. Gamla Stan, where the previous pictures we taken, was the center in medieval times. We look out here across to later development with the beautiful day overhead.

Comments

[Luanne Helms]

Travel Day
Oh, my gosh--what a travel day ya'll did have----can't even imagine how exhausted and frustrated you had to be!! Happy you all finally made it to the apartment and now--the fun can officially begin!! Hopefully, the tour/social director can earn his job and title back from Bird!! Have a safe time and we look forward to more thrilling descriptions and pictures. Love you guys!!!