Hello from Austin, Texas…it’s nice to be back and amongst the sunshine. We had a grand last couple of days in Stockholm after the tour officially ended. The charm of that city never let up, and we saw old stuff and pretty stuff and pretty old stuff.

THIS WAS OUR HOTEL. Thank you, cheap online hotel booking site! The rooms were tiny – we had bunk beds, a small space to turn around in, and that’s it – but what else do you need when you have the city of Stockholm to wander in?

Susan got a deck of cards and we went up to the “boatel” restaurant and played King’s Corner for a while…the cards had Swedish tourist spots on them and we had a card with our own boat on it!

We shopped for souvenirs and found what is “probably” the best souvenir shop in Old Town. I dunno. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.

We stayed in Gamla Stan – “Old Town” – and that’s where the palace is. They have quite a few museums on site and we toured the Royal Armoury, which is full of suits of armor and old garments worn by royals and the “Coach House,” where they keep all the coaches that used to carry the Kings and Queens. THIS STUFF IS REAL IT IS NOT JUST DISNEY!!! Enlightening.

I did sing Bedknobs and Broomsticks songs in my head on repeat…

We also happened upon the changing of the Palace guard! This guard just started her duty when we were there. Watching tourists all day is either a total drag or kind of entertaining…not sure.

Then we headed over to the Nobel Museum. The Nobel Prize was started by Alfred Nobel at the turn of the 20th Century and was actually awarded while we were in Sweden this year. They have all kinds of artifacts, one of my favorites being Malala’s scarf from her speech before the U.N. when she was 16 years old. Awesome.

One last “fika” (coffee) stop in this really old (like ca. 1400) monastery turned prison turned other things finally turning into a coffee shop underground next to the palace. Incredible setting…though a little creepy to think the little cubby you were sitting in probably held some prisoners 500 years ago. They didn’t have wifi to entertain themselves.

Then Gamla Stan bid us goodbye as we walked to the train station to catch a ride to the airport…