Stockholm

We are totally smitten with Stockholm.  It is such a beautiful city-it is built on eight islands.  In the summer everyone is out on the water or biking or in the evening out eating and drinking at the many sidewalk cafes.  There is so much to do-great museums and fabulous food.

The view from our hotel room-sometime in the middle of night.

Beautiful restaurant in our hotel.  Breakfast was so good-fresh squeezed juice, homemade very grainy breads, delicious fresh butter.  Yum!!!

The Skansen museum.  So cute.  A combination zoo and old time Swedish culture. 

The Vasa museum.  The Vasa sunk immediately after departing on its native voyage 300 years ago.  Thirty years ago it was discovered at the bottom of the port and raised.    The detail work on the boat is fascinating and beautiful.

Courtyard of our hotel that we overlooked during breakfast.

Terrace cafe at our hotel where we had lunch and dinner.

Southern Sweden

After our cruise we were picked up in Copenhagen by our fun antiques guide Daniel.  He whisked us across the bridge to Southern Sweden.  In 2000 the 10 mile Oresund Bridge was completed that connects Denmark to Sweden.  I am a geographically challenged American and did not know about the bridge until I crossed it for the first time 8 years ago.  There is an artificial island that was built as part of the bridge project and it has it own unique ecosystem.  

After shopping in Malmo we stopped in this little seaside town for lunch.   It was hardly a town, just a group of summer fishing shacks.  The restaurant when we ate sends their boat out in the morning and whatever they catch is on the menu.  We had a great meal-so fresh!  

Love these three!

K and Daniel enjoying the wifi.

Loved this little girl giving her dog a bath.

Then we headed to Helsinbourg where we spent the night.  We stopped at this castle and got to preview an auction that is taking place next month.  This property has always been in the same family and now everything including the property is being sold.  

Fjords

We boarded our boat and settled in.  Our first day was a day at sea.  K got to know the other teens on the cruise and spent a lot of time with them playing chess and watching movies. I worked out and read.

The cruise was all the beauty of the fjords.  The towns where we stopped were very, very small.  There were a few souvenir shops selling trolls and Norwegian sweaters.  I should have bought a sweater-it was so cold!  

We took a train into the mountains on our first stop in Flam.

 We had tea every afternoon on the boat.  Beautiful views!

4AM!  It never got dark.

Bergen.  The second largest city in Norway with 400,000 people.  We did the hop on, hop off tour and really enjoyed the city.  It was so cold, we walked around looking for a place to eat and ended up in Starbucks and had hot chocolate.  K enjoyed the wifi.  

Signs at Starbucks.  K was mortified that I just had to take a picture.

Copenhagen

We flew to Copenhagen and spent the night before our cruise.  K had a great time at Tivoli Gardens last summer and wanted to go back this summer.  She talked me into riding on a really scary roller coaster-my feet were dangling.  So glad I did not loose a shoe!  

There is a Wagamama at Tivoli Gardens so, of course, that is where we had dinner.  

The next day we had a wonderful lunch before our cruise.  One of the best meals of the trip!  k had some kind of potato dish.  I like how K is having a cup of coffee and I am having a glass of wine.

London Calling

We started our summer vacation in London.  I made lunch and dinner reservations and we worked other activities in around eating.

First stop was dinner at Inamo.  A Japanese restaurant with an interactive table.  This was a great way to keep things lively and keep us awake our first evening.  The food was good and we had a fun time ordering from the screen on the table.  A projector above the table projects what the food will look like and then you press the order icon.  You can also choose your table cloth, play games and watch the kitchen with the chef cam.  

Our next reservation was lunch at the National Portrait Gallery.  I love the view.  After lunch we strolled through the Victorians.

I think K ordered the meat lovers special.

And then she had the chocolate lovers special.

The next day we started out with brunch at Duck and Waffle.  Loved the view and the food was good although we did not have Duck and Waffles.  I had granola and fruit and K had eggs and bacon.

A late lunch at Wagamama.  Love how K can multi task with the chop sticks.  This was really just a ploy to get her into Harvey Nichols.

K wanted to go to the Doc Martin store on Carnaby street so after we wore ourselves out there we went to Liberty and had tea.  That is my big piece of cake!

We had dinner that night at River Cafe and I regret that I did not get any pictures.  It was a perfect evening and a perfect setting.  And even after that big piece of cake I ate a big dinner.

Our final night we ate at Tom's Kitchen and I really think I was sitting next to Lindsay Lohan-I didn't even realize she was in London.  I think she liked me because I didn't bother her.  Before dinner, we also did a fun (at least I thought so) activity called Clue Quest.  They lock you in a room and you have to solve puzzles to get out.  It was hard!