Hello! Time is flying and we can’t keep track of what day it is any more. Feels weird, but we’re having fun.

We were all laughing over tacos at home tonight about how unplanned our trip is, and how weird it is to be eating tacos in Stockholm. Don’t worry we will have meatballs one on one of our nights here. Back to planning – I use to be much more of a planner. When Wayne and I went England 20 years ago, I remember having a multi page daily itinerary for London. I think I’ve found a pretty good balance between extreme planner and just winging it.

Amsterdam thoughts – it was more relaxing than Paris. The architecture was quaint. I loved looking at all the different houses along the canals. Seemed more relaxed but with so many tourists everywhere it was hard to tell. Of course walking past “coffee Houses” while inhaling was likely to cause a relaxed attitude 😉 Along the same lines of Paris – Cheese is still amazing! Old Amsterdam is my favorite cheese and now I can say I actually ate it in Amsterdam.

Stockholm was another culture shock. The words make no sense. I didn’t realize how much of our language is influenced by French and we could often guess at what we were reading. Not here. We rode the hop on-hop off bus today which helped the words start to sound like words instead of just random noises.

Our apartment is actually somebodies home instead of just a rental property so it’s very comfortable, well stocked and has amazing internet. It was built in 1901 so it’s much newer than our Paris apartment but still has lots of character.

Some pictures of Amsterdam

Lots of national excitement about the World Cup! It was bizarre to see plastic streamers with soccer balls attached to historic buildings.

Turtles at the amazing botanical gardens. Yes, i was in a very happy place 🙂

Wayne in his happy place! Flashbacks to Lake Como apartment 🙂

My favorite reading spot in the house boat.

Lions on the base of a lampstand in Amsterdam’s central plaza. Gorgeous details make the whole city beautiful.

Stockholm architecture is much less ornate but colorful. Looks like the buildings are covered with stucco. There are graceful turrets on several buildings. One area they described as being based on Paris architecture. I saw some very basic similarities. Overall, after Paris and Amsterdam I can see why Ikea products look like they do. No nonsense frivolity here yet still a sense of beauty.

Parts of Stockholm are sinking. See the tipping building?

Swedish palace from 1780. The most modern building we saw at the Skansen Museum.

Rune stone (head stone). Lots of similar graphics with celtic art. Which came first?

Modern Coke sign mounted on a very old building. Yeah for Coke’s domination of Europe!!!