On the move ... Hello Madrid

Another trip, another plane, another airport treat.  Normally, my first stop at the airport is at Starbucks to pick up a White Cafe Mocha (with whipped cream and cinnamon), but today my choice was not as much motivated by taste as by the nutritive value of the different drinks. As a result I ventured out of my comfort zone, and gave this Light Caramel Frappucino a try.  Nothing will ever beat a full fat & full sugar drink, but I think this one might become a regular.  At least on non-winter day. If we're travelling in freezing temperatures, I think I'll pass on iced drinks. :o)  

Last day in Stockholm

Today was our last day in Stockholm and we only had two things planned : a visit to the UNESCO world heritage site  Skogskyrkogården, aka the Woodland Cemetery, and a trip up the Skyview for a fabulous view of Stockholm.

Upon arrival at the Cemetery, I wanted to take a picture and ... shock and horror ... I forgot to put the memory card back in the camera :o(  A special site and no camera to record any of it.  I was so angry with myself.  Luckily I still had my phone on me but taking pictures with your iphone just isn't the same thing.

Drottningholm Slottet, a day on the royal estate

The trip is nearing its end :o(  Except for the nights not being dark (enough) and our sleep therefor being shortened, this has really been a wonderful travel experience.  Too bad, I'll be back at work on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, I have a few pictures to share of today's visits.  We took the boat to Drottningholm Palace, the private residence of the Swedish royal family.  The visit of the palace itself was restricted to well-defined areas and again no picture taking was allowed. But we did the visit before heading out to the park to admire the layout of the French gardens and the water features.  As in the palace, half of the garden was closed to the public but there was enough area to cover as it was.

From the Baltic to Lake Mälaren - a day on the water

Almost a whole day on or near water, a bit of sunshine and guess what ... yours truly got a sunburn!  That's what you get when your skin (which hasn't seen the sun in over a year) gets kissed passionately by Helios.  I bear a slight resemblance to a cooked lobster at the moment. Just the head part though, because of the wind and the spray ,I didn't expose any other bodyparts to the sun. My cheeks are really hot as well, hopefully everything will cool down a bit by tomorrow.  

Strolling through Gamla Stan

On this new day strolling the streets of the Swedish capital, we were again blessed by the weather gods.  After a sunny morning with chilly winds, we got another day of bright sunshine.  And considering we spent a large part of the day, exploring the little streets and alleys of Gamla Stan, it was just perfect.

We started off from a different T-bana station than yesterday and this one had the cutest decorations, like the one on the left.  All these pixelated drawings made me feel like I was a character in a Mario game. Instant good feeling ...

A day on Djurgården

Who switched on the light?

Today started at the crack of dawn, i.e. 4 in the morning.  Although I knew through Em's pictures that 600 km north of here, the summer days seem endless, I didn't expect that the day started this early in Stockholm as well.  At 4.00 AM there was a much light as midday.  A bit disconcerting when you're not used to it.  And although your mind tells you that this is really an ungodly hour to be awake, your body seems to kickstart when flooded with light.  The fact that I am used to sleeping in pitchblack and that the venetian blinds of the flat are not that obscuring, probably didn't help.  I was up and running way earlier than expected and without any "morning moods" neither, so there's no complaining really.

Getting settled

The morning started like a normal workday.  For once, taking a plane wasn't synonym of having to get up in the middle of the night.  You won't hear me complaining :o)  So, as usual, the alarm went off at 6.00 and we were all set when the taxi showed up 10 minutes early.  Unsurprisingly, the Brussels ringroad was already jammed, even before 7.00 AM, but we were still well on time at the airport.  I already checked in online yesterday, but apparently you have to do the check in yourself with Brussels Airlines nowadays, either beforehand or at the airport itself. The staff is only there for luggage drop off.  Result : baffled senior citizens staring at computer screens wondering how to work the machines.

Sverige, här kommer jag.

I haven't had any days off since last Christmas, so I am really looking forward to finally enjoying a well-deserved vacation.  For the first time, we'll be travelling to Northern Europe. Surprisingly it didn't take too much to convince my other half to travel north for a change.  The thing is, with the weather being what it is over here (i.e. awful in general), we usually tend to look for sunny destinations to spend our off days.  Obviously Stockholm won't be hot (see below) but if we can keep the rain at bay and grab a little sunshine along the way, I'm sure we'll have a great time.

First travel post and final countdown

I should find a way to adapt this template to display the date of the posts, which somehow it refuses to do.  Nevertheless that will be something for after the holidays, because I don't have to time to tweak it before departure.

So final countdown : two more nights sleep and we'll be heading to Nordens Venedig, the Nordic Venice, the City on the Water ... you guessed it, Sweden's capital ... Stockholm.

By Oke Fredrik Posse/Stryngford Photo Michael Krautwasser/en:User:Micha221, Krautwasser.com Fredrik Posse/Stryngford Photo Brorsson Mastad Grishasergei MindBlocker Jürgen Howaldt Samwong124 [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

ETA : I just changed the template of the blog again.  This way the date appears at least.