STHLM

We spent all day sightseeing. Even with a 3 day unlimited subway card, our feet are still sore from walking all over town.
We visited the Old Town, Gamla Stan, with it's very classic European architecture, cobbled streets and small shops. It's where the Royal Palace is located and we watched a changing of the guard, toured 2 of the royal apartments, the royal armory, the crown jewels, and the museum which displays artifacts from the original royal palace before it burned in the 1690's.


We walked around Sodermalm, which is the hip cool neighborhood. We even found a Vietnamese restaurant here for dinner. A little too posh to be considered authentic Viet for me, but the food itself was familiar and comforting. From Sodermalm, you can see a great view of Stockholm and its harbor.


We walked through Ostermalm for the food. A big market can be found here where you can buy produce, meat, fish, cheese, bakery items, etc. And it's all beautifully displayed. We stopped here for a late lunch and also bought some baked goods. There are a dozens of hot dog stands in Stockholm and the Swedes like their dogs with mashed potato for some reason. Rolled up in a flat bread with various condiments and mix-ins and you get a really popular, cheap meal. Joe had one with mash potato, lettuce, tomato, onion, ketchup and mayo.
We went to the Modern Art Museum in Skeppsholmen which, if you're not into modern art, can be a snoozer. Lots of pieces that don't make any sense. We also went to the Vasa Museum in Djurgarden. It has on display the only surviving 16th century warship. It sank on it's maiden voyage. This thing is unbelievably huge and there was so much information on display. We easily spent 3 hours there.

Do You Smell Smoke? I Think Your Wallet's on Fire

You guys, I figured out how Europeans stay slim. Food is way expensive here!! Sheesh! Stockholm is not known to be cheap (I previously heard Copenhagen to be notoriously expensive, so I came prepared) but if you ever find yourself in the area hopefully these tips will keep you from burning a hole in your wallet.
Joe and I booked a mid-priced hotel outside of the trendy hotspot neighborhoods. Again the room is small by American standards but it's comfortable, clean and quiet. It includes breakfast so we make sure to eat a hearty meal to start the day. Breakfast here includes scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, and Vienna sausages (not Jimmy Dean breakfast sausages) and a cold bar with deli meats and cheeses, tomato wedges, cucumber slices, liver pate and pickles. Bread bar includes hard rolls, baguettes and pastries. Don't forget the yogurt bar with all kinds of toppings and mix-ins.
Lunch is where you have to get smart. Many restaurants here offer daily specials or prix fixe lunch for about 89 Kr. It usually includes a main entree, salad, bread and a cup of coffee. Take advantage of this because it's a lot of food for about $14. Many restaurants have a board out on the sidewalk with their specials and the lunch times. If you can, try to have lunch as late as you can but still taking advantage of lunch pricing.
I hope you're not thirsty because free refills is not in the vocabulary and sizes of drinks are small by American standards. Most drinks are, like, less than 12 ounces. My coke today cost me $2.82. Beer is expensive too, we each had a big mug of beer and the total was $21.97. You best bet might be to find a beer and wine store and drink in your hotel room before going out.
With a big breakfast and a late lunch, hopefully you can get away with a light dinner or skipping dinner altogether. Most dinner entrees are more than $15 a la carte. With drinks, it can really get expensive. Cafes are open late and you can get comfy with some coffee and pastries and spend an hour writing home about your day on free wi-fi. If you can hold out, another big breakfast awaits you in the morning. If you really got a hankering, try some street food. Hot dogs stands are popular late night stops and the hot dogs are cheap and filling.

Doing the Unstuck

On 2 occasions we have gotten ourselves in a pickle. The first time we were out sightseeing with Axel and Kathy in Iceland. There is a good spot to view some southern shoreline but there is no access road, actually the road was being built as were were driving on the dirt path. After seeing the coast with it's wonderful views we headed back on the dirt path when we got ourselves stuck, DEEP, in the ash. We tried pushing the car but we were pretty stuck, out in the middle of nowhere-land and barely any other people to help. Luckily the road construction workers (all 3 of them) came and towed us out with the big wheel cars.


The second time we got stuck was last night in the snowmobile. We were a small group of 6 (3 snowmobiles) and I guess we were doing so well, our guide took us off trail and into some deep snow. Joe got stuck and the guide had to try to unstick us. He got his own snowmobile stuck himself (on a tree) but we eventually got ourselves out. The snow is deceptively deep. Like over waist deep. Er, I mean Sophie-sized waist deep. We guesstimate over 1 meter but I'm talking DEEP SNOW. I thought for sure we would be stuck for more than an hour when the guide couldn't get our snowmobile out from what seemed like snow-quicksand.

We have reached our destination

Location: 67*51'2" N, 20*35'44" E
Jukkasjarvi, Sweden

IceHotel Lounge



Ok, I lied. For being 200 km above the Arctic Circle it is incredibly warm here and who guessed there was Internet connection?? Silly me for thinking we would be so remote, out in the middle of nowhere. In fact, it actually feels like a little ski resort town with a constant flow of incoming and outgoing people. Doesn't feel so far away after all.
We arrived yesterday afternoon after a flight delay. The plane's reverse went out, which helps in landing. So after about 40 minutes wait, we had to de-plane and board another plane. Then a quick 1.5 hour jump and we arrived at our planned honeymoon destination. We walked on our own through the IceHotel and toured all the rooms, the chapel and the bar. It's definitely as magical in person as seen in pictures.


I couldn't help but make Joe pose for pictures so he'd look like Superman in the Fortress of Solitude. Ha! In the evening we had a fancy dinner of reindeer and elk. It was the kind of fancy where they give you a huge plate and the food is piled in a stack on the corner and the sauce is painted on the rest of the plate. Joe wasn't at all impressed by this. Late in the evening we put on our snowsuits and walked out to the field and stargazed. We hoped to see some aurora but we didn't. Instead we saw a clear sky full of bright stars, some really bright shooting stars, and some other phenomenon that we can only describe as "a rainbow in the dark". It was a low slung, light colored arc that stretched across the sky (but it wasn't the Milky Way).


This morning, we took a snow shoe excursion into the woods. The guide said it wasn't ideal conditions for cross country skiing. The snow was too soft and powdery to ski on top of the snow. We would end up walking the whole way anyway which would have been pointless. We snow shoed, looked for animal tracks and saw some reindeer. Later we will take a guided tour of the IceHotel and then take a Northern Lights tour by snowmobile.

Poll: Snow shoe or cross country ski??

During our stay at Ice Hotel, we have a choice of snow shoeing or cross country skiing for one morning. Use the comment section and tell us which we should choose. We will tell you what we ended up doing upon our return.

FYI

Sweden is 6 hours ahead of EST.
Currency: Swedish Kroner. $1 is about 6.5 Kr.
Weather today is partly cloudy with occasional shower. High 34, low 27.
I think I'm going to talk like the Swedish Chef until I find some meatballs. Will they get mad?

Location: 59*38'57"N, 17*55'47"E
Arlanda Airport
Sweden

We ended our stay in Iceland with a stop at the Blue Lagoon. It is a geothermal spa known for it's mesmerizing blue color and the water's relaxing and medicinal qualities. They have stations along the lagoon where you can apply a special silica mud to your face and body to sooth and clarify your skin. The best part was the steam room, sauna, and waterfall massage area. It's a must-do when you are in Iceland and definitely when you spent the prior day driving all over the country and seeing the sights. What a relaxing way to end the Icelandic leg of our trip.

A quick 2.5 hour flight and we are here at the hotel in Arlanda Airport for the night. We leave for Kiruna, within the Artic Circle, tomorrow morning. I can't imagine that there is any communication service up there. So my next post may not be until we return from the Ice Hotel. The weather looks favorable for our 2 night stay. Highs in the 20's!!

Looks Amazing. Smells Even More Amazing!

We saw a bunch of hot springs and geysers on our trip. They all have signs marked that the hot springs are, well, hot. The steam and hot water can burn you. And the sulphurous smell is real, like rotten eggs out in the middle of nature.



But all smells aside, the sights we've seen can be jaw dropping. Like these waterfalls.


Today we walked up to a glacier, Solheimajokull. Just like in the magazines, this glacier had a sublime blue tinge. Remember in the movie, Into The Wild, where you got towards the end and you feel like your eyes just opened for the first time? I swear I had that moment when I saw and touched the glacier with my own two hands. The whole landscape is like you're at the edge of the world, cold white ice against the black ash that had fallen from last year's volcano eruption. Its really wild. What is most striking is how much the glacier has receded. A tour group or school group marked where the edge of the glacier was in October 2010. I'm not as good at judging distance, but I think we walked 10 minutes from the mark to the actual edge of the glacier. It was shocking to realize how quickly the ice melts.

Local foods we have eaten

Joe has commented that this is the most un-foreign country we've visited. Strange for a European country, huh? Most people here speak English as a second language and everything here is modern. Our hotel room, although small by American standard, is comfortable and incredibly clean. The bathroom has a towel warmer, which I quite enjoy. So far we've had the comforts of home during mealtimes, including fried chicken and pizza, but we've enjoyed the local foods too.


The most popular hotdog joint in town serves a beef/lamb/pork hotdog with fried onions, mustard and a remoulade of some kind. It's good! Last night we had boiled haddock, potatoes, peas, and red cabbage. All served with sweet rye bread. Seems bland but you slather everything in a rich Icelandic butter and you are all set. One delicacy we've quickly latched onto is Skyr (skeer). The process to make skyr is similar to cheese making, but it tastes and looks like yogurt. It's high in protein and is eaten at all times of day- bfast, dessert, snack, etc.- with cream and fruit.
We've been dared to eat boiled sheep's head and fermented shark meat. Uh...we have not gone there yet though. It's intimidating so far but perhaps we'll get brave during our stay.

FAQs

Break out your maps, you may be surprised that Iceland is only a 5 hour flight away, similar to a flight from Baltimore to LA or Philly to Barbados. Iceland is on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or 5 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.
Currency is the kronur. USD 1 = ISK 117.
Temperature is strangely similar to York, high around 41 and low of 31, sunny with occasional snow shower.
The sun rises and sets almost at the same time in York too. The only difference is that it takes a lot longer for the sun to rise and set so it's like twilight for hours and hours.

Day 1

Location: 64*8'39" N, 22*55'48"W
Reykjavik, Iceland

Babalu Coffeeshop
We left Logan Int'l at 8:35 pm on Saturday and landed at 6:40 am on Sunday at Keflavik Airport. It's a short 5 hour flight overnight, and Kathy and Axel were so kind to pick us up at the airport. After a quick nap to re-calibrate, Kathy and Axel picked us up for our introduction to Iceland.
We visited Thingvellir, where the first Parliament met. There's a continental divide here and I guess it is constantly moving. Like a few inches a day. The visitor center is built exactly the width of 1000 years movement.


We also saw a geyser, or shall I say, the Geysir. Apparently geysers are named after this particular geyser named Geysir. The Icelandic word for geyser is actually some other word. Other things we saw: big waterfall called Gullfoss ("golden falls"), a big dormant volcano crater, and oh yeah! Axel's family cave. He apparently has ancestor's who apparently lived or were born in a cave out in the country. Strange thing, we found a geocache hidden in the family cave. So in case you are geocacher, there's one in Iceland!

Welcome Back

Oh hey, guys. Welcome back to our travel blog. We started packing our bags last night and leave for Iceland tomorrow! We will try to post as often as we can (whenever we find wifi access) about our trip and share our adventures with you. In the meantime, please enjoy our previous travels to Barbados and Vietnam in 2010 and 2008 (choose from the menu on the right).