Aug 1, 2008 - Stockholm here we are!

The alarm rang at 6 am. We wanted to make sure that we would get ready and make it to the airport to pick up Stephanie's mom, Peggy, on time. Peggy will join us for the remainder of our trip through Scandinavia. Her plane was supposed to land at 7:45 am at the Stockholm airport. Unfortunately, we were not aware that there are two Stockholm airports! One is called Stockholm airport (to which our TomTom GPS had sent us); the second one is called Arlanda airport. It is sort of the difference between the Los Angeles International or the small...

Jul 20, 2008 - Stockholm, Sweden

Yet another beautiful day. Tour on our own. Castle - armory - coaches. Ship - Vasa Museum in park. Changing of the guard. Guard asked Larry to come stand in a special place. Camera lady gets right in front of us to take picture. Dinner at night. We go to show - rock & roll. Not very good.

Jul 8, 2008 - Tallinn - Stockholm

Pre-20th-Century History The site of Tallinn is thought to have been settled by Finno-Ugric people around 2500 BC. There was probably an Estonian trading settlement here from around the 9th century AD, and a wooden stronghold was built on Toompea in the 11th century. The Danes under King Waldemar II (who conquered northern Estonia in 1219) met tough resistance at Tallinn and were on the verge of retreat when, so the story goes, a red flag with a white cross fell from the sky into their bishop's hands. Taking this as a sign of God's support,...

Jun 19, 2008 - Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm, Sweden, has an extensive harbor and port. While riding around we saw a McD's, a Cab-On-Net; you just order on-line. We visited the Wasa. If you can read the text on the plaque, it will give you an overall picture of the event. Otherwise, it was build top heavy and because the Mayor or some such mucky-muck ordered all of the cannons pushed out through their holes, the center of gravity shifted and the captain was unable to stable the craft. All on board were lost. What an embarassment. This museum building must have been someones...

Jun 19, 2008 - .Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm has so much to offer, it certainly needs more time. When the ship was sailing back to the Baltic, I saw so many islands with little houses on them. What a great getaway area for the residents. Being a sailor would be second nature to most Swedes.

May 2, 2008 - Stockholm Syndrome

Stockholm is the Venice of Scandinavia. Built entirely on a network of islands hidden in Sweden’s broken Baltic Sea coast, it is connected by a network of tunnels and bridges. After checking in at our hotel, Emily, Ian, and Todd took a series of buses and trains to the southern end of the town’s center. We climbed Stockholm’s “mountain”—a lone hill that juts up a hundred feet—and got a good look at the entire city. The patchwork of water and land was mostly flat, punctuated by church steeples and town hall spires. The larger buildings were...

Mar 16, 2008 - Sweden, tall, blonde and beautiful..

Lesson Learned: If you are a female that thinks that you are somewhat secure about how you look and whatnot. You might be risking your self esteem traveling to Sweden, especially with three guys. EVERY female in Sweden, and I mean EVERY single one, is TALL, BLONDE and BEAUTIFUL. No joke, and beautiful. Even if you might remember a specific conversation with your guy friends who swear that they don’t really like blondes or tall girls, trust me, they lie. Its honestly like walking into a cosmo magazine and living the dream if you are a guy...

Jan 8, 2008 - Oslo to Stockholm

I was awake shortly after 0800 and had a shower before calling Shane and Kayla. We packed up our bags, checked out of the hostel and headed over to the train station where we put our bags in a locker to avoid carrying them around with us while we were sightseeing. We headed over to the tourist info to confirm that it was the #30 bus (as stated in my guidebook) that we needed to catch to get to the Bygdoy Peninsula where our sights were located (it was). We headed over to the bus stop that was beside the Oslo cathedral. The cathedral is...

Nov 26, 2007 - Scandinavia, Sauna, and a Turkey-less Turkey Day

Sorry for the lack of any updates recently, its been a very busy week, but here goes. Last Friday, twelve of us (9 students, as well as my friend Alex's host dad Pyotr, his cousin Natalya, and his friend Fyodor), left Petersburg for a weekend cruise to Helsinki and Stockholm. Leaving Ploshad Vosstaniya at about 8 PM Friday, we cruised through the night, crossing the border into Vaalemaa, Finland shortly after midnight and arriving in the Finnish capital at about 4. We had rented a mashrutka (van) and driver for this trip, and upon reaching...

Nov 14, 2007 - My journey

Joney's World are my mission to learn more about our world. My name is Jonas Eriksson and during 2007 I've been trying to get some perspectives of my life and what I want to, and need to do. I've been thinking and talking to people, and now I want to learn more about the world, build contacts and tell the forgotten stories from regions where the good news are unusual. My aims during the route: LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WORLD I want to see and listen. When we get all your information from schoolbooks and media, we tend to get a limited view. So I...

Nov 13, 2007 - Estocolmo (SUECIA)

Estocolmo esta en la misma latitud que el sur de Alaska, y se siente! Hace frio (felizmente no bajo 0) y viento, y ademas llovio y nevo. Oscurece a las 4pm! Es tambien carisima, mas o menos como Londres, pero muy bonita. Todo esta en su sitio y todo es eficiente. En los supermercados el cajero mete los billetes en una maquina que te da automaticamente el cambio (asi no tienen que "cerrar caja" al final!). Cada 1/2 cuadra hay una peluqueria y la mitad de ella esta llena de productos para el pelo (no se que tanto se pueden echar las mujeres)....

Oct 30, 2007 - Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm is a bunch of Islands. People dont come to visit the city center but to visit the islands attached or near by. Sweden is the birthplace of the Nobel Peace prize and H&M. My couchsurfing host was Anna and we got along well. She lives with 2 cats. When I arrived I found her apartment well and that night we made a traditional meal of a sausage cooked with tomatoes, cheese and mustard inside, really good. The first day she walked me around Stockholm and we watched the movie 'Stardust' and headed to a few pubs. It is expensive in...