My daughters and I finally made it to Stockholm on July 12th. What a wonderful town and SO clean!!! We were so impressed by the friendliness (as some of my contacts on Comm of Sweden told me) and the service at the restaurants and shops. We walked the entire town, just going here and there, residential and commercial areas, taking it all in, as we enjoyed it so much. We are always approached by someone to give us a hand or show us something that we may have missed. One gentleman showed us the carving of the gallows on the City Hall entrance walls, so we walked from downtown Stockholm to the place of the original gallows, which was quite a distance, but the view was well worth it. We took a Good Morning Stockholm tour boat to the island (with a very long name) and toured the island and shops, before the major portion of tourists got there later in the morning. It was beautiful! We visited Skansen, Old Town, Postal Museum, and NK, but what is unforgettable is the Vasa Museet. We must have spent three hours in there admiring the workmanship and forethought to build such a tremendous ship, in 1660! Our countrys age is a mere two hundred and twelve years old and is really a baby considering the age of Sweden. It was so lovely to see the old homes, buildings, cathedrals, and waterways, that have been there for hundreds of years with little change. To think our grandparents came to the USA in the late 1890's, to have a better place to live, just astounds us. It is so beautiful there.....and we see why so many Swedes settled in Wisconsin and Minnesota, because it reminds us of Sweden also. There are many lakes and the same type of flowers and animals as found in Sweden. Many times my oldest daughter and I were mistaken for Swedish, because of the color of our eyes or something. My other daughter has brown eyes and she was never mistaken for being a Swede. We found this funny as waiters would start talking Swedish to us, until they looked at my other daughter and then ask, "English?" The people are so kind and helpful. We always felt safe walking on the street and talking to anyone. We made many acquaintances there and will remember this trip forever. We plan to go back in (at least) five years....maybe before if we can afford it. I have recommended Sweden to everyone I know, because of the lovely time we had. We were very sorry to leave so soon (after 10 days). There is so much we want to see and do, so we will be back. One thing I found out was that iced tea was rare in Stockholm. Matter of fact, ice was rare. I think we Americans must really use ice compared to Sweden. Iced tea is a summer time drink here in the States, with Sweetened Iced Tea, the drink of the southern states. We brew tea then ice it down and add sugar or lemon. It is a refreshing drink in the summer time when it is so hot. Sweetened Iced Tea is made by boiling water and adding sugar and when it dissolves, add the tea bags to steep. It is very sweet and favored by many, and usually in the south. You eat much healthier in Sweden than we do in the States also. We loved the walnut bread served with breakfast and lunch. I would like a recipe for that also. I will add pictures to my site to show all of you, where we visited and who we are. Thanks again to all my contacts for giving such good advice.
Karen