Europe Blog # 5 - Amsterdam - Stockholm

                                Europe Blog # 5 - Amsterdam - Stockholm

      Our data and device system -Jerry brings his own power strip.

He never knows how many sockets are in the hotel wall or on a ship.

                                        When in Sweden...

Ice cream cup: A novel way to hold jelly and honey. When finished, eat the cone.

We were surprised our hotel room did not have any privacy. The sheer curtains allowed people in the office/apartment complex across the way look into our room. Only when ready to leave did we learn a button on the wall activates a dark-out curtain.

                            There are more bikes than people

We had to carefully look right and left, behind and in front as we walked throughout the town.

            Airport lounge offers a pretty, calming atmosphere

                    KLM was a happy experience until it wasn't...

Because of Arlene's wheelchair, our seats were changed from an exit row with extra legroom to the "back of the bus..." Seats did not recline, no legroom and the bathroom was behind us. Oh well. We survived!

We were served a simple meal even on the short flight. Nice touch was the airline incorporating windmills on the napkins.

Between the Stockholm airport and town there were beautiful forests and parks. Men pushing our airport wheelchairs and helping with the luggage had other jobs. For example, they clear snow and from runways during winter. The taxi driver is starting his own import-export leather goods business.

                            A protest was going on near town

            It was surprising to see this type of food in Stockholm

                            A great view from our hotel room

                                    Jerry finds a manhole cover

                            Visiting the palace - Guard is a woman

                           Shiny helmet, beautiful reflection...

                                    Changing of the guard

                                Many soldiers were women

                Sometimes horse cavalry participate in the performance

                            Time for a little marching music.

We met two Chinese women from mainland China. They are English teachers on an educational tour. They loved the marching band music. At one point of the music, most of the thousands of onlookers sang along with the band. We also sang the song. The women thought everyone was singing the Swedish national anthem. Almost, but not exactly. The band was playing, ABBA's Dancing Queen! Jerry borrowed one of the lady's phones and "Goggled" ABBA so they would have a better understanding on what was going on.

        Interesting manhole cover designs depicting the local area 

Visiting the palace - The king regularly drives to work in a fancy sports car. (He lives in another nearby palace). On special occasions a horse and carriage will take him from one place to another.

  We were lucky - not a lot of palace visitors. This made it easier to enter "The Treasury" ( vault ) that housed many beautiful and valuable items.

                                A royal robe for a royal lady

                        Many crowns throughout the rooms

                            Plenty of ceremonial swords

Rather than navigating many slippery stairs, we were able to use a small elevator hidden away in the building.

The operator happened to be a manager. Jerry knew quite a lot of trivial history about the royal family. The manager's interest was piqued. We became friendly culminating in getting a private tour through areas normally off limits to the public.

These marble statues are huge - all made in Italy and transported by ocean and land. Using ice during winter made it easier to "slide" the heavy pieces to the final destination.

      Due to size and weight, statues had to be shipped in pieces

Being able to turn "stone" into folds of material that look like fur took a lot of work - amazing craftmanship!

All of the statues and facade are going through a refurbishing and cleaning process. It will take many years to finish the project!

  One of the main hallways is fashioned after Versailles - it appears dark because the drapes are closed to protect the items from fading

                                        Beauty everywhere...

Tapestries and carpets have to be carefully cleaned, repaired and kept out of the sunlight unless there is a special occasion. 

      There was a celebratory function two weeks ago at the palace

This is "Peter" - our new friend. He used to teach. Even though he is (politically) against "Kings," Peter likes this job -- he enjoys "history" but more importantly, he accepted a pay cut because the palace offers a great perk. He is allowed to rent, at a greatly reduced price, a home owned by the palace.

One of the better aspects of traveling on our own is having opportunities to meet locals and foreign travelers such as the airport staff, taxi drivers, the Chinese teachers and Peter. Most likely, this would not happen if we were touring with group.