Midway Through the Trip

The last few days have been a bit more low key than the first week and a half. We spent an afternoon and evening with Robin and his family, having a picnic and playing in the park with his two kids. They were extremely cute and very Swedish with their curly blond hair and pale skin. At two-ish and five-ish, they were full of energy and wanted to impress the visitors (Jeremy and I), but since they only speak Swedish, it was hard for me to understand what they were saying. However, in the non-verbal language of kids... I was in much better shape! We had a great afternoon and evening with them!

The next day we spent almost the entire day at home (besides a leisurely evening walk), as I wasn't feeling well. I've managed to come down with a cold/sinus infections/allergies, which is causing my ears and throat to ache. As usual with me, it is worse at night and completely bearable during the day, but since I can't seem to get much good sleep, I'm not as chipper as I would like to be even during those daytime hours.

After a day spent at home, I was ready to be a tourist again today. We headed to the Vasa Museum, which houses a giant boat built by a Swedish king in the 1600s. It was massive and the decorations extremely intricate! Very impressive, but it's also somewhat ironic that this boat (which sank on it's maiden voyage, and was therefore an utter failure) is now a hugely popular attraction here in Stockholm. There were tourists from all over the world there today, not to mention the line of 200+ people that were waiting outside the museum the other day when Jer and I originally attempted to visit.

Below are a few pics... some of hot air balloons that float above the city nightly, and then of course those from the museum.