Lucky!
Sort of.
The day we left it was stormy. Richard, having spent many years working undercover for the FBI in JFK posing as an immigration agent, had the good sense to ask if we could board an earlier flight out of Ft Lauderdale. We were booked on the 5:15PM flight, but were there two hours early as required for international flights. The announcement informed us that the 3:15PM flight was delayed by an hour due to thunder storms. Rich figured that the 4:15 flight would also be delayed by at least an hour and, likewise, our subsequent flight. He asked if we might be put on standby for the next flight and, sure enough, we got on that one. This worked out great for us. Not so, unsurprisingly, for our bags. When we arrived at Arlanda International in Sweden our bags were not there. To Delta's credit they did know where our bags were. Apparently they were en route to Stockholm via Paris. We hoped for the best and that is what we got. About ten or twelve hours later our bags arrived at the hotel. Things were looking good. I figured that if that was the worst we had to deal with on our trip we would be getting off easy. As you know, that was not meant to be.
T he next couple of days were amongst the nicest of our trip. The weather was gorgeous. All of the Swedes came out for the big marathon and it was really a wonderful atmosphere in Stockholm. It couldn't have been better. The hotel had in-room Wi-Fi and that was when I was able to post the picture of all the people down along the Slussen.
I knew that the Swedes in the NHL were not typical. The professional hockey players are big. But still ...
Not only were the Swedish people nowhere near as big as I expected, they were fairly small. So much so that it struck my notice virtually immediately. The first day (Saturday), boarding the metro, I expected to be on guard psychically against the forbidding descendants of the vikings. Nope. They were neither as large as I expected, nor as blond.
The last day, the weather turned. That was the day that we had already boarded the ship and we spent that day on a tour bus visiting all the must see places around Stockholm while it rained. This turned out to be for the best. Our previous two days had been on foot and, at least, on this final day we were sheltered by the bus.
to be continued
3 comments:
PMT, Where have I been? I obviously haven't been checking here much. There are several posts that I totally missed in the past few days. I figured it would take you a while to get back on Florida time and Florida mind-set and we would patiently wait for you. I don't even have the wonderfully busy excuse of WM, or the hardworking excuse of WH. I do have a few excuses and I will be filling you in, in the not too distant future.
In the meantime, I'm happy that our new car selection is a blog hit. So far we are loving it. What's not to like with 43 MPG overall, both city and highway. We've had several Hondas (and still have our Odyssey) and have never been dissatisfied. When we saw the new Insight, we just didn't see anything we didn't like...a nice sporty look, lots of carry room with the fold down back seats, access via the hatch back or rear doors and that mileage again. We are not "trade-em-in-every-year" people, so I expect we will be hanging on to what we have for quite a while.
Back to you. I'm so glad that you are settling back in and posting. We are all waiting to hear more details of your trip. You have started out with a nice overview of Stockholm. You apparently didn't meet up with any of my relatives. All of them are tall tow-headed blondes. Well, a few of them have turned the corner from blonde to silver, but the principle is the same.
Is that your cruise ship docked in back of the building in your photo?
PMT...just checking in so you know I am reading your posts. Have finally reached the end of a few very busy and very long weeks...actually started a new painting today...so enjoyable. now, once I can get caught up on my sleep... ;o)
If you check C.C.'s blog tomorrow, CA or JD (or possibly both) will post a Flickr link to some photos my friend took before the opening...At this point I will be outed and can no longer hide behind my paintings on the blog...but will keep up the pretense.
I have being thoroughly enjoying all your posts to date and look forward to a continuing journal...for now I have to live traveling vicariously. I am hoping to see you back on the blog soon...and you may have to post something provocative for WH as he has taken his philosophising( why doesn't that word look right?) around the corner...
We miss you much and hope you haven't entirely abandoned the xword...I'm sure that C.C. has greatly missed your erudite comments.
Cheers...
PMT...where are you? Please don't tell me you are still unpacking and doing laundry and washing your hair.
We miss you around the corner.
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