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We spent 2 nights with Svante and Ulrika in their beautiful home outside Uppsala, Sweden.
August 24th - 30th - In early afternoon of 24th we took an Uber to the Ferry terminal in Helsinki, we had already bought our tickets online, so at the terminal we just had to validate out QR and it printed out our tickets. Boarding the ferry was a breeze, so much smoother than boarding a plane. As we walked into the ferry we were immediately assisted on our cabin information. We took the elevator up to our floor and settled into our room. We had upgraded a bit in order to avoid being below deck. Afterwards we went to the Ferry's bar and having a view out to sea we sat and had a couple of beers. While talking about the next few night stay, I realized I had made a mistake and had to run up to our cabin to get the laptop and try to change our nights for Stockholm. We couldn't do all the change online...unfortunately I also had to call in to IHG and make the change with their operators. At one of the ships shop, I bought myself a long sleeve thick t-shirt almost like a long john type material for the upcoming winter in Texas. From there we ended up going to the live entertainment, which was 80's music with lots of ABBA music and dancing and lots of top European music. We had pre-booked the dinner buffet at 45 € each, it was well worth it! Lots of wine, beer and all sorts of drinks, with a large assortment of sea food including herring which Carmen loved. There were cheeses, fruits and deserts, I think I made about 4 trips to the buffet. Lots of rain and strong winds as well as a full belly keep me up all night. We woke up by 7am , got a Starbucks coffee from a machine and went upstairs to enjoy the view coming into Stockholm. The weather now clear and the sun out it was beautiful small islands, one after another. I kept walking to both sides of the ship over and over taking pictures of each beautiful island, some with just small houses some with shipyards while others with just a small dock, a boat and lots of sheep.
Marriott Skeppsholmen
Now reaching Stockholm we packed our backpacks and walked down to Customs where we were just welcomed into Sweden with no request for a passport, Covid 19 shot record or any other question asked. We got an Uber to our hotel, about a 3-4 mile trip cost us 19 €, For the next two nights we would stay at the Marriott Skeppsholmen for about 6000 SEK or 35K Marriott Points which at the time was $225 a night all for free thanks to our points.
We dropped off our backpacks and walked around Skeppsholmen Island towards the area which had a restaurant and the docks for the locals to dock their boats. We walked into what we thought was local workers restaurant, but quickly realized that it was a bit of an upscale, we ended up having lunch of a burger and a salad for about $50.
Now leaving the island and walking towards old town Stockholm in the rain we immediately saw the Art Museum, having to put on our mask we walked the Museum for a couple of hours before going to the city center, while the museum had beautiful pieces including Rembrandt , most of what we remember is once we exited the museum it had stopped raining, With the weather not in our favor we ended up going back to the hotel after purchasing a couple of sandwiches and snacks and upon reaching out hotel we asked for a kettle to make hot tea and coffee in our room,
We dropped off our backpacks and walked around Skeppsholmen Island towards the area which had a restaurant and the docks for the locals to dock their boats. We walked into what we thought was local workers restaurant, but quickly realized that it was a bit of an upscale, we ended up having lunch of a burger and a salad for about $50.
Now leaving the island and walking towards old town Stockholm in the rain we immediately saw the Art Museum, having to put on our mask we walked the Museum for a couple of hours before going to the city center, while the museum had beautiful pieces including Rembrandt , most of what we remember is once we exited the museum it had stopped raining, With the weather not in our favor we ended up going back to the hotel after purchasing a couple of sandwiches and snacks and upon reaching out hotel we asked for a kettle to make hot tea and coffee in our room,
In the morning we were back out to the city center looking for breakfast, we got to a breakfast restaurant, but it was not opening time and the waitress and sole person at the restaurant asked us to come back in 5 minutes, we did walk around a bit and came back, we ordered breakfast, me an espresso and Carmen a Chai Latte, which within a few minutes made her extremely sick and she had a hard time breathing, I had to run into a nearby store and get her a water bottle. The water soon calmed her breathing and cleared her throat. After taking an allergy pill she felt better. We walked the old town for hours, getting Krona from an ATM so we could buy a few pastries and we would have a few Swedish coins for our table that we would make at home with the coins currently of all the countries we have traveled, on the way back to the hotel we stopped off at the Toy Museum to see a very nice large toy collections in a building which was located inside a giant rock formation. The museum was inside what had been an evacuation cave for the military during WWII with all the corridors in the cave showing different types of toys, from old comic books, dolls, children's play area to a Tin-Tin collection. Entering the museum cost us 14 SEK each, but it was well worth the price as it reminded us of our friend Marco who passed some months earlier and was a keen collector of toy soldiers. We rested the rest of the afternoon and at about 8pm we went back to the town renting a scooter with our Uber app just outside our Island to move around and go into the center of the old town but this time it was very little pedestrian traffic.
Carmen in front of Carmen
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Svante and Ulrika's Home
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Potato Filled Sausage
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Friday Aug 24th We Ubered to the train Station in Stockholm, dropped off our backpacks in a locker and went out to lunch in the city center, We had a great sausage dog with a potato filling, it was my first time to have such a flavor combination. We took the train to Uppsala to meet with my friend and old teammate, Svante Bodin. He picked us up and we made the trip to his "very traditional Swedish Home" as Svante put it in Enkoping. We meet his lovely wife Ulrika. For lunch we had Salmon Steaks and wine. We sat in his sunroom and caught up on old times, talked about our trip and future hopes of many more trips.
Next morning Carmen and I got up early and went out for a walk around the village, to see the lake where they kept their small sailboat. After breakfast we got up and talked about the days activity. We went out to an American style restaurant, with lots of American cars, mostly corvettes and high end muscle cars. While they ate their sandwich with knife and fork, I told them I was going to eat mine American style with my hands, while having lunch Rika asked Carmen if she would cook a Mexican meal for dinner. Ulrika shared that we would go to the Market and pick out all the ingredients, and she paid for the items. After lunch we went to Svante's new office/medical building where he would be moving in this week. I was very impressed with all his accomplishment to have such a successful business. The clinic was spacious and will be offering a complete health service to the community... including dental and mental health services! We need clinics like this in more communities.
We visited the gardens of the local college, all very beautiful. They explained that the community gardens are the work and planning of the Horticulture students as part of their degree program at the University. What an excellent collaboration!
After visiting the Market, we all pitched in with the "Mexican dinner" Carmen made a fantastic Rice with Fajitas. We sat around enjoying Swedish beers, wine and finally coffee with Baileys. Afterwards they took us for a walk to see their sailboat and on the way back met some of their neighbors Carmen asked if we could walk into one of their neighbor's beautiful garden. The owner came out as we were admiring the flowers and greeted them. We were allowed to walk in and take pictures.
On Monday the 30th, I could not sleep and woke up around 5am, finally at about 6:30 we came down for coffee and toast and by 8:30 Svante took us to the train station for our ride back to Stockholm. After a 45 minute wait we took the train towards Copenhagen , but because of work being done on the track, we stopped short of Malmo where all the train passengers had to debark and catch their respective bus to their final destination. We took our bus after about a 45 minute wait and headed to Malmo, where we would get a slice of pizza before boarding our train into Copenhagen. Thanks to Svante telling me that the train passes by our hotel before reaching town, we saved a couple of hours and some expense by getting off the train by by our hotel.
We found our Crown Plaza hotel after a 10 minute walk, we were both very tired from the all day travel. After a shower we took a late nap and stayed in for the night with only a walk to get a burger across from the hotel.
Next morning Carmen and I got up early and went out for a walk around the village, to see the lake where they kept their small sailboat. After breakfast we got up and talked about the days activity. We went out to an American style restaurant, with lots of American cars, mostly corvettes and high end muscle cars. While they ate their sandwich with knife and fork, I told them I was going to eat mine American style with my hands, while having lunch Rika asked Carmen if she would cook a Mexican meal for dinner. Ulrika shared that we would go to the Market and pick out all the ingredients, and she paid for the items. After lunch we went to Svante's new office/medical building where he would be moving in this week. I was very impressed with all his accomplishment to have such a successful business. The clinic was spacious and will be offering a complete health service to the community... including dental and mental health services! We need clinics like this in more communities.
We visited the gardens of the local college, all very beautiful. They explained that the community gardens are the work and planning of the Horticulture students as part of their degree program at the University. What an excellent collaboration!
After visiting the Market, we all pitched in with the "Mexican dinner" Carmen made a fantastic Rice with Fajitas. We sat around enjoying Swedish beers, wine and finally coffee with Baileys. Afterwards they took us for a walk to see their sailboat and on the way back met some of their neighbors Carmen asked if we could walk into one of their neighbor's beautiful garden. The owner came out as we were admiring the flowers and greeted them. We were allowed to walk in and take pictures.
On Monday the 30th, I could not sleep and woke up around 5am, finally at about 6:30 we came down for coffee and toast and by 8:30 Svante took us to the train station for our ride back to Stockholm. After a 45 minute wait we took the train towards Copenhagen , but because of work being done on the track, we stopped short of Malmo where all the train passengers had to debark and catch their respective bus to their final destination. We took our bus after about a 45 minute wait and headed to Malmo, where we would get a slice of pizza before boarding our train into Copenhagen. Thanks to Svante telling me that the train passes by our hotel before reaching town, we saved a couple of hours and some expense by getting off the train by by our hotel.
We found our Crown Plaza hotel after a 10 minute walk, we were both very tired from the all day travel. After a shower we took a late nap and stayed in for the night with only a walk to get a burger across from the hotel.