Travel Blog

2 Weeks To Go!!!

Actually, less than two weeks to go. And it's a good thing because Winter started a couple of weeks ago.

O.K., it's not Winter yet, but Summer ended very abruptly a couple of weeks ago. It's been in the 50's. It might actually hit 65 on Saturday though, which means I'll have to break out my speedo again.

I haven't posted anything lately, because I really haven't been doing anything. Just doing some walking around every now an then. I'm looking forward to coming home. I miss my family and friends, and my queen sized bed. :)

Zurich

Swiss Air immediately had two strikes against them:� I arrived at the airport a couple of hours early and the flight was already � hour late, and there was no self check-in booth, so I had to stand in line for the ticket counter.� Other than that they were o.k.� I landed in Zurich around 10PM Friday and found (I was hoping) the train into Zurich.�

At the train station in Zurich I had a little trouble finding the Tram to my hotel, but I eventually did.� I got off at the Helmhaus stop and managed to stumble upon my hotel sooner than I thought I would.

SATURDAY
Zurich�s �Old Town� is on both sides the Limmat River.� With your back to Lake Zurich, my hotel was on the right side in between the first two bridges crossing the river.� I got up early, had breakfast, and headed out.� I crossed the bridge over to the other side of old town and walked along the river.� I eventually found myself near the train station, crossed back over the river to the other side, and walked back to the hotel.� I walked around old town near my hotel and found the art museum that I was going to check out after it opened.� The nice thing about heading out so early was that there weren�t a lot of people around.� I walked back down toward the hotel and walked around awhile until the museum was open.� The Kunsthaus Z�rich had a pretty good collection, including some works by Van Gogh and Degas, which I took pictures of.

I stopped for lunch by the hotel and had a $20 Caesar salad.� Zurich isn�t cheap.� After lunch, I decided to walk down Bahnhofstrasse � the world famous shopping mile.� I didn�t buy anything.� In fact, the only store I went into was an English language bookstore.� Go figure.� I decided to head back toward Lake Zurich by walking through old town.� I walked through an area called Lindehof, which had some great views of the city.�

I decided to walk along Lake Zurich and headed down the right side of the lake.� It was a very warm day, and the docks, beaches, and parks were crowded with people.� I just kept on walking, eventually walking off the tourist map that I had.� I then headed back to the hotel.� After resting my feet and legs for a bit, I decided to walk along the smaller river Schanzengraben.� It was a nice walk, a lot of shade and no tourists.�

I then worked my way back to the hotel through old town and started looking for a place to eat.� I had passed an American restaurant that seemed relatively cheap.� After looking at the menus at a dozen other places, I decided that restaurant would be the cheapest.� Plus, they might have milkshakes.� They did have milkshakes, just not very good ones.� At least it was cold.� The hamburger, fries, milkshake, and a coke, cost me $30.� Like I said, Zurich isn�t cheap.� �

I went back to the hotel to rest.� I had given some thought to getting a beer or a glass of wine, but my feet really hurt from all the walking, so I called it a night.

SUNDAY
Another early morning.� I hopped a tram and headed up into some residential areas to check out the FIFA world headquarters.� FIFA is the international governing body of soccer.� The building was set back from the street to far for me to get a good picture.� I took the tram back down the hill a little ways and got off to catch a bus that took me to the cable car thing that took me up the hill.� I walked around up there for awhile.� I saw the big ice skating rink and walked on a short wooded trail.� I then head back down to old town and walked around a bit before heading back to the hotel.� I rested there for a bit then checked out.� �

I then spent a few hours walking along the opposite side of Lake Zurich from the day before.� Once again I walked off my map.� Around 13:30 I started heading up the hill search for the house that holds the E.G. B�hrle Collection.� It�s a huge house in a ritzy neighborhood, which houses an impressive private collection of art.� The bulk of the collection is Impressionism.�

My feet were killing me, so I went in search of tram to take me to my hotel.� I grabbed my suitcase and hopped on the tram again to the train station.� From there it was off to the airport.� Evidently I had booked SAS for my return flight, so Swiss Air never got the chance to redeem themselves.� My flight landed around 22:00 and I got home around 40-50 minutes later.�

I had a great time and Zurich and would consider going back.� This was my third weekend in a row traveling, and I�ve been traveling five out of the last six weekends.� It�s time for a break.� I doubt I�ll visit any more countries while I�m here.� I would like to visit some places in Sweden outside of Stockholm.

It's A Boy!

Congratulations Debbie!!!

Prague

My flight out Friday morning was at 8am. The flight lasted just under 2 hours. I caught bus #119 from the airport to the Dejvick� metro station. Then I took the metro to the Můstek station. I dropped my luggage off at the hotel. I stayed at the Floor Hotel, which was located on the street Na Př�kopĕ right near Wenceslas Square. I then headed off to Hradčany to see the castle.

FRIDAY

This is the point were I stop using the special characters of the Czech language; otherwise it will take me a week to write this up. The ticket office at the main office had a big line. Fortunately, I had read in my guide book that there were several places inside that sold tickets. The line at St Vitus Cathedral was ridiculous, so I didn�t end up going in. I did go inside the Old Royal Palace, where I found out you had to pay extra to be allowed to take pictures inside. Then I went into the Basilica of St George, followed by a stroll down the Golden Lane. Last stop at the castle was the uninteresting Daliborka. I stopped to take a bunch of pictures of the city, then I head back to the hotel to check in and change into some shorts. Friday was quite warm, but not as warm as Vienna was the week before.

After changing, I headed off to Mala Strana to wander around for the rest of the afternoon. I eventually crossed the River Vltava, walked up to the Charles Bridge, and walked it back over the river. I stopped for dinner at Kampapark which was right on the water. I didn�t have reservations, so I didn�t get to sit right on the water, but I could see it. I walked back to the hotel after dinner, and called it a day.

SATURDAY

I was up and on the streets by 8:30am and started wandering around Star� Mĕsto (Old Town). None of the shops were open and most of the restaurants and cafes were still closed, but there weren�t too many people out. A couple of hours later, someone opened the flood gate, and tourist came flooding in.

One of the really cool places I went into was Klementinum, a former Jesuit college. The highlight was seeing the huge library. We only got to go part way in, and the lights were off, but you could still see all of the old books. We also got to climb up into the Astronomical Tower which meant I had to take a ridiculous number of pictures. Some of the other places I ventured into were the Mucha Museum, the Tyn Church, and the Anezsky Klaster.

For lunch I stopped at a restaurant called Blatnice and had some pork with dumpling. Czech dumplings are a little different than what I�m use to. Their really just small slices of bread, but they are good for soaking up sauce. After lunch I stopped at a small teahouse in a courtyard.

When I left the Anezsky Klaster, which was museum of medieval art, it started to rain. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, but kept on going. That was until it really started to poor, then I had to duck into a courtyard with a bunch of other people. After a failed attempt to leave the courtyard, I took a look at my map and realized I was only a few blocks away from my hotel. So I went for. I got a lot of strange looks walking in the pouring rain, but I eventually got to my hotel and took off my wet clothes.

After the weather cleared up and I put on some dry clothes, I headed off to Narodni Museum at the other end of Wenceslas Square to buy a ticket to a small concert for Saturday evening. It was called Nocturne with Mozart and consisted of a number of arias and duets performed in period costume from several of Mozart�s operas: The Marriage of Figaro, Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni, and Magic Flute. It was held in the beautiful inner staircase of the Narodni Museum, and of course I didn�t bring my camera. I�ve never been to the opera, so this was sort of an introduction for me. There were 3 women and 1 man. They all sang beautifully and I had a real good time. I�m definitely going to think about going to opera sometime.

After the performance, I headed back into Stare Mesto to look for a place to eat. I ended up at a place called Captain Nemo. I don�t know. I decided to finally have a Czech beer, but the only thing they had on tap was Budweiser, which is only slight better than the American version. I ended up having a Fanta orange with my pork and dumplings. Then it was back to the hotel to plan Sunday and go to bed.

SUNDAY

After breakfast I hopped the Metro up to Prague Castle. My intent was to visit the Prague Picture Gallery, but for whatever reason I ended up at Sternberg Palace � the old European art collection. Unfortunately, some of the more important pieces had been removed in preparation for a special exhibit, but there was still plenty to see: Durer, Cranach, Bruegel, Rembrand, Rubens, et al.

I then headed back to the hotel to check out and catch a tram into Vysehrad to visit the fortress there. It also offered me a chance to see some not-so-beautiful parts of Prague. First stop was Cihelna brana for some more pictures of Prague. Then I headed to the church (sv Petr and Pavela) and the cemetery. This was followed by a visit to the underwhelming the museum Goticky Sklep and a stop at the adjacent caf� for a coke. I then slowly worked my way back toward the tram. I ended up spending around 1 � 1 � hours at the fortress.

I stopped back at Blatnice for lunch. The waitress remembered me. I tried a different pork dish this time. I then wandered around some indoor and outdoor shops before ending up in a 5 story bookstore in Wenceslas Square.

That�s about it.� I then headed back to the hotel to pickup my suitcase, then took the metro to where I needed to catch the bus to the airport.� The bus was very crowded.� I had to stand the whole time.

I had a great time in Prague and it was definitely the highlight out of all of my trips this summer. I didn�t quite get to see everything I wanted, so a return trip someday is a distinct possibility. Tomorrow night I�m off to Zurich for the weekend. That will probably be my last trip outside of Sweden.

Vienna

I left for Vienna Thursday morning around 10am on Austrian Arrow, or as I like to call it, Hottie Airways, because the 4 flight attendants were so gorgeous. The flight was a little over 2 hours long. I caught the CAT (City Airport Train) to the U-Bahn station Landstrasse and caught the U-4 to the Schottenring station where my hotel was located. I stayed at the K+K Palais, which is a small European chain that has hotels in: Vienna, Prague, London, Paris, Salzburg, Munich, Budapest, and Bucharest. I actually had someone show me to my room. I've never had that happen before. Too bad for him I hadn't gotten any money out yet.

THURSDAY
The weather in Vienna was very hot - 80s and 90s. I ended up going through several t-shirts a day. I had to use the hotel's aundry service to get a couple of t-shirts washed; otherwise I would have ran out of shirts. I also ended up having to buy another pair of shorts because 1 pair wasn't enough. Fortunately, I found a pair on sale.

After I unloaded my suitcase and changed shirts, I caught the U-2 the Museum Quarter. I walked across the street to the Kunsthistorisches Museum - a very impressive art museum. It has quite a few pieces by Bruegel and Rubens. There is also a Vermeer, along with works by: Rembrandt, van Eyck, Bosch, D�rer, Titian, Raphael, Caravaggio, and many others.

My next stop was the information center, which was behind the beautiful Opera House, to get a map and other "touristy" information. Then I hopped on the U2 and headed back to the hotel for a brief rest - I had been at the museum for quite awhile. I chose a place near the hotel for dinner. I sat outside and had a dish that included pieces of pork in a reddish sauce with potatoes. I then caught the #2 Tram and rode in a circle around the Ringstrasse.

FRIDAY
First place on the agenda was the Sch�nbrunn palace. I caught the U-4 to the Sch�nbrunn. I really liked Vienna public transportation system, First I did the tour of the palace, and then I wandered the gardens. I even hiked up to the Gloriette in the heat.

From there I took the U-4 to the Landstrasse station and caught the U-3. We were all kicked off the train at the next stop, I'm not sure of the reason, and had to wait for the next train which ended up being really crowded. I got off at the Herrengasse stop and got a little turned around, but eventually made my way to the Hofburg palace. I didn't do the tour, but just wandered around the Hopfburg for a bit.

One of the places I stopped and took a lot of pictures was Josefsplatz. This is where Harry Lime (Orson Welles) was supposedly killed in the movie The Third Man. If you saw the marquee in picture #51, the very last movie listed is The Third Man. I wanted to see it while I was in Vienna, but it only showed at 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays, which is past my bedtime. Pictures 93-99 are of Josefplatz square. The street is where Harry was "killed" and building #5 is where Harry lived. Picture 116 is of the doorway in the famous scene where Harry (Orson) first appears in the movie. The ferris wheel also appears in the movie.

Next stop was Demels, recommended by my aunt Sherry - thanks, for a bite to eat. I had a couple of finger sandwiches and a coke, and then followed it up with some delicious chocolate cake that the waitress recommended. Pictures 109-10 show a bunch of the deserts.

After lunch is when I hunted down the doorway from The Third Man, and then I caught the U-4 back to the hotel for a rest and a change of shirts, socks, and underwear.

The next big the thing on my agenda was Stephansplatz and the Stephansdom cathedral. From there I just wandered around the Innere Stadt and eventually ended up back at my hotel. I caught the U-4 to Schwedenplatz and then switched to the U-1 to Stephanplatz and had dinner at a Hungarian place - Goulash and Hungarian rice, see pictures 169 and 180.

After dinner I caught the U-3 then u-4 to Rathaus Park to wander around then caught the tram back to the hotel.

SATURDAY
Saturday began with a trip to Stadtpark which is supposed to be a much better place to visit in the morning than at night. From there I worked my way over to Belvedere. I walked up the hill to Oberes Belvedere and went in to see the art. They had a number of pieces by Klimt included his famous painting "The Kiss". I did take quite a few pictures at this museum and others, but didn't add them to the gallery. A lot of them didn't turn out because it was too dark. I might add some at a later date. After removing those pictures and putting the pictures of Baden in a separate gallery, I still ended up with around 250 pictures of Vienna.

After the Belvedere I headed over to Karlsplatz to check out the church and stop for lunch. From there I went to the Secession and was disappointed. It was 6 or 8 euros and the only thing worth seeing was the Klimt fresco in the basement. The building itself was cool looking. Check out pictures 275-6 and 278. Picture 277 is a shot of the place I ate lunch at.

Next stop was the Museum Quarter where I visited the Leopold Museum which had some more Klimt stuff and pieces by a few other artists I like, but now I can't remember their names. I then went back to the hotel after being out for 5+ hours.

I knew that if I went out to do what I had planned for the rest of the day, I'd have nothing to do on Sunday. I searched through my guide book and decided to take a short trip to Baden. The guide book said trains leave every half hour from the S�dbahnhoff station and only takes 20 minutes to get there. Unfortunately, the S-Bahn isn't as easy to figure out as the U-Bahn. I eventually found what track the train I needed to take was leaving from. It ended up taking almost 45 minutes to get there. All I really did was walk around Baden for a couple of hours and took some pictures. I got lucky when I got back to the station in Baden and only had to wait a minute for the next train. Plus, it was a double decker, air conditioned, and an express - it only made 3 stops on the way back, as opposed to the 7 on the way there.

I ate dinner, wiener schnitzel, at Bermuda Blau, and then stopped for some gelato at Fratelli.

SUNDAY
First stop after checking out of the hotel was the lame Roman Ruins at Hoher Markt - not much to it. Then I caught the U-1 to Prater and rode the Ferris Wheel (Riesenrad), taking way too many pictures. Then back on the U-1 for a couple stops to Donaunisel. I finally got to see the Danube. I walked to the bridge in picture 343 and then back, and caught the U-1 back to Schwedenplatz and had lunch. I finished my lunch around the time it started to rain. I decided to call it a day and headed back to the hotel to pick up my suitcase was off to the airport.

This weekend I'm off to -------. My flight leaves at 8am Friday morning - Ouch! But it should be a real good time.

Random Notes

I was upset about losing my camera and all those pictures in Oslo the previous weekend. As everyone knows, there is only one way to get over such things - spend 4 days in Vienna, so if you need me from 7/19 - 7/22, I'll be in Vienna.� My hotel room has a queen size bed and air conditioning.

Speaking of that week, everyone is going to be out of the office the last 2 weeks of July. Fortunately, another one of my coworkers has arrived from Seattle, so that will make 3 of us all alone here. Some people have already started their vacations. The main person on the client side that I deal with has just started his 6 week vacation. Random restaurants have signs on their doors saying they'll be open again in 2, 3, or 4 weeks. The worst part is that the transit system has been scaled down for awhile. That means waiting longer for crowded trains.

Maybe I should explain the pictures in album "Walk". There is walkway where I live that looks across the water into
Kungsholmen, downtown Stockholm, and Gamla Stam. The pictures in album "S�dermalm" were shot from there. I took a bunch pictures there one night around 10:30 - a half hour after sunset. Most of them were too dark and didn't turn out. Maybe I'll try and go earlier next time. I usually go for an hour walk every night along the water. The rest of the pictures were taken during my walk.

I bought a new camera right before my trip to Riga. There's a huge shopping center near Ikea that someone told me about. I was going to buy a cheaper camera, but wasn't sure what to get. I decided to go with what I knew, so I bought the exact same camera, memory card, and camera case that I had before. It was a "bit" more expensive though. The VAT rate is 25 % here. Oh, well!

I seem to have replaced the pizzas from my last trip to Indian this trip. It's decent, but not exactly cheap. I'm going to try and start cooking dinner at home most of the time. By cooking I mean heating up stuff from the freezer. :)

Riga

I've been to Latvia! And I managed to hang on to my new camera. I landed in Riga Friday night. The local time is 1 hour ahead of Stockholm. I knew I needed to catch bus 22 or 22a into town, but I didn't know where to get off. Fortunately, there were other tourists on the bus, and we all got off at the last stop. I then walked a couple of blocks, turned left, and was at my hotel.
Saturday
I started off the morning walking around Old Town. I saw St. Peters Cathedral, the House of Blackheads, and the Dome Cathedral. I then went to the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation which was adjacent to the Dome Cathedral. From there I hit the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia. They were invaded the USSR, then the Nazis, then the USSR again. Next stop was the bridge Akmens tilts to take a couple pictures of the river Daugava. Riga Castle, which looked nothing like a castle was my next stop. It contained the unimpressive Museum of Foreign Art. Before heading back to my hotel for a break, I stopped at the Opium Cafe for a bit to eat.

I stopped to take a few pictures of the Freedom Monument before heading to the National Museum of Art. This was a better art museum than the previous one. It consisted of 19th and 20th century Latvian art. The Central Market in Riga is huge. There are a lot of outdoor booths selling everything from produce to shoes. There is also a huge building that houses all kinds of stores and booths. From there I headed to Bastejkalns Park to walk around. It was 7-7-7, so there were wedding parties everywhere in the park and in Old Town. After walking the lenght of the park, I headed back to Old Town, stopping by the Swedish Gate and the Powder Tower. Dinner was at Casablanca. The service in Riga is horrible, which I discovered at lunch and then again at dinner.

At this point, there was nothing else for me to do, so I went back to the hotel. I got bored and went for a short walk. There was a casino connected to the hotel, and I went in to check it out, but decided to hold onto my money. "Adult Entertainment" is big in Riga. As I was thumbing throught the tourist guide Friday night that I had picked up in the hotel lobby, there were advertisements in the back for "massages", "night clubs", and escort services. When I cycled through the channels on the t.v. Saturday, one of the channels was hardcore porn. This wasn't a pay channel or anything, it was just one of the channels you got. I went out walking one more time, but I kept getting stopped by these guys trying to lure customers into the "nightclubs", so I finally gave up and went back to the hotel.

Sunday
After eating at the hotel buffet, I checked out. My first stop was the Museum of the History of Latvia located in Riga Castle next to the Museum of Foreign Art. I could have stopped here the day before, but then I'd have nothing to do on Sunday. More on that in a bit. From there I headed for the streets Elizabetes iela and Alberta iela which have a number of Art Nouveau buildings. From there I stopped by the Orthodox Church and the American Embassy for a few pictures. There was some ceremony at the Freedom Monument. I believe the new President of Latvia was sworn in on Sunday and he the ceremony was him placing flowers at the base of the Freedom Monument.

I think Friday night through Sunday afternoon was too much time in Riga. I had seen pretty much everything there was to see, and still had a lot of time left. I decided to go to Old Town for lunch. I figured I could kill an hour just having lunch. That's about how long I was at the restaurant to. Eventually I ended up by the bus stop and decided to hop on the 3:30 bus. My flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 6:20. It was good timing, because just after getting on the bus, the skies opened up. It only took about 15-20 minutes to get to the airport. Getting my ticket from the machine took 30 seconds, about 90 seconds to get through security, and 60 seconds to get through passport control. That left a lot of time to sit. The flight only took about 45 minutes.

Oslo

I've now been to all three Scandanavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Let me start off right away by saying my new camera was lost or stolen Saturday evening. Besides being out the money I just spent on the camera, I lost all of the pictures I took on Saturday. This means no pictures from my Oslo trip. I'm sure you can imagine how I feel.
Friday Night
I realized while I was at Arlanda Airport (Stockholm) eating dinner, that I had forgot to change into my tennis shoes before coming to the airport. This meant I'd have to spend the weekend walking around in my not so comfortable black shoes, and of course I only packed white socks. The flight was only 45 minutes. The train ride from the Oslo airport to the train station was amazing. The sun was setting and the landscape was rolling farmland. I found my way to the Hotel Thon Spectrum and checked in. The bed was the smallest I've ever been in.

Saturday
I finally got out of bed around 10am after a sleepless night. I started off with the self-guided walk from my Rick Steves guide book. It took my down Karl Johans Gate, which is mostly a pedestrian street. I then took a left and headed toward the harbor as the guide book suggested. I walked around one of the piers and then grabbed a little breakfast.

My first stop was the Akershus Fortress where I visited the Norewegian Resistance Museum. I knew that Germany invaded Norway during WWII, I just didn't know the extent of the invasion and occupation. From there I went to the National Gallery. They did have some paintings by Manet, Monet, Picasso, and others, but I mainly focused on the Norwegian landscape paintings as recommended by Rick Steves. Since I was in the area, I stopped by the Royal Palace which is at the end of Karl Johans Gate. The train station is at the other end of the street. I then hopped the subway and rode out to Frogner Park which contains the Vigeland statue park.

The statues by Gustav Vigeland are awesome. This was the best attraction in Oslo. www.vigeland.museum.no/
I took a lot of pictures here. It started raining quite a bit while I was there. I then caught the subway back, walked to the harbor, and caught a 50 minute tour boat ride. I then walked back to the hotel to rest.

Around 6pm I decided to head out for dinner. Outside of the train station I stopped to take a couple of pictures, then crossed the street and walked into the pizza place on the corner. I ate, paid, walked out, and headed up the pedestrian street. After a couple of blocks, I realized I didn't have my camera and ran back to the restaurant. It wasn't there. I walked around outside the restaurant for a few minutes and then went back in to look around again. I don't know if it fell out of my pocket or it was stolen. I guess pickpockets are a problem. Now completely dejected, I headed back to my hotel.

It was only 7:30 and I had no idea what I was going to do the rest of the night. Finally around 9 I headed out for a walk even though my legs were sore. I walked down Karl Johans Gate and stopped to sit on a bench facing the Grand Hotel. I sat and people watched for a bit then headed back to the hotel for another sleepless night.

Sunday
I forced myself out of bed at 8:30. I ate breakfast at the hotel then checked out. I took my bag to the train station and left it in a locker. I walked to the harbor and caught a water taxi to Bygd�y. My first stop was at the Viking Museum. The boats were cool, but I think overall the exhibit in Stockholm is better. My next stop was the outdoor Folk Museum. Stockholm has one called Skansen. I bought a book on Oslo with pictures at the museum store. I then hopped the boat taxi back to downtown. I decided to go back to the National Gallery to see if they had any books on the Vigeland museum park in the bookstore. They did.

I decided that my last stop in Oslo would be the ski jump. The tour guide from my boat ride on Saturday said they are planning on tearing it down because it's out of date. I took the subway out to Holmenkollen and then started the walk up the hill. The view of Oslo is awesome from the top of the ski jump. It sure would have been nice to have a camera. Then it was time to head back down to catch the subway and walk to the train station.

I got to the airport way to early. I think around 3:30 and my flight was at 6. I kept hearing flight being delayed and gates moved. That didn't sound good. It wasn't. There was a shortage of air traffic controllers. My flight didn't leave until 9. I landed in Stockholm around 10. I did finally get some sleep Sunday night.

I'm off to Riga this weekend and need a new camera. I'll try and find something fairly inexpesive to get me through the rest of my stay in Europe.

* Riga is the capital of Latvia which is on the Baltic Sea between Estonia and Lithuania.

Midsummer

Heading into work on Friday, I felt as though I had gone to sleep Thursday night and woken up Saturday morning - there was hardly anyone out. It was Midsommarafton and everyone had left the city for the weekend.

I got to work and there was no one there. This was my 2nd holiday here, and 2nd time working in an empty office, so I knew the only place open for lunch was the Chinese restaurant that I don't like.

Walking home was the weirdest though. It was a Friday afternoon and no one was around. Maybe a couple of pedestrians and a couple of cars. The Tunnelbana was practically empty. They trains were only running every 10 minutes and they removed 1 or 2 cars from each train.

Midsommardagen (Midsummer Day)
I guess if I had to sit at home and try and recover from a bad cold, this would be the weekend to do it. Most of the stores and restaurants are closed. Also, the weather sucks. It's rainy and cold.

I left my apartment on Saturday around 11am, looking for a place to have lunch. I ended up in downtown Stockholm and found a place to have a burger and fries. On my way home, I decided to go past my stop and continue on to Liljeholmen. There is a lake there I wanted to check out. It's definitely a place I'll end up walking around in the evenings.Since I was there and had nothing else to do, I thought I'd catch the Tunnelbana again, and ride around 7 more stops to
Sk�rholmen where the Ikea is. I got there and caught the bus, even though I figure it would be closed. It was, but at least I know how to get there, and where the entrance is, and next time I'll bring my camera. :)

Sunday
I had trouble getting to sleep. I think I finally fell asleep around 3:30-4 Sunday morning. I got out bed around 11am, just in time to do laundry. Around 2pm I hopped a commuter train and rode it to the end of the line at Saltsj�baden. It took around a half hour. I wandered around the marina and looked at sailboats for awhile. Eventually I caught the train and headed back to Stockholm. There were marinas at quite a few of the stops along the way. I'm thinking I might have to try and go sailing while I'm here.

Some the stores and restaurants that were closed on Friday and Saturday were open today. I went for an hour long walk Sunday evening along the water and did some grocery shopping. That's about it. Next weekend I'm off to Oslo, Norway.

Reno

You gotta love US Airways and the Philadelphia airport - a US Airways hub:
- 3 1/2 hour delay out of Stockholm
- Land in Philly and sit for an hour before going to the gate
- 3 hour delay for Seattle
- Get on plane and sit for 1 hour before taking off
- Land in Seattle and no luggage

They suggested I wait around for the next flight from Philly and see if my bag was on it.� It was.� I finally got to Mom's around 3am Thursday morning.� Then I left for Reno Thursday night.

The whole point of coming home was to visit my dad in jail for Father's Day.

He says he'll never tear the tag off of another mattress again.

I had a real good time in Reno.� I went to Virginia City and Pyramid Lake, ate at Bavarian World, and went to California twice - in the same day ;)

I got home Sunday night at midnight and prepared for my trip back to Stockholm on Tuesday morning.� The delays weren't quite as bad on the way back and my suitcase arrived with me.� The bad news is that I developed a bad cold which really kicked in on the flight to Stockholm.� I got to my apartment in Stockholm and was going to sleep for an hour before going in to work, but ended up sleeping for 4 hours and not going to work.� I'm glad I don't have to do that flight again for another 3 months.� Most of my flying should be for 1-2 hours, which I can handle.