We have not joined the group tour yet and so today was museum day for us. We had a long jet lag recovery sleep, which seemed to rejuvenate us until 2 hours in the first museum! After a sumptuous breakfast at the hotel (all the hotels here seem to feature an included breakfast buffet and this one is no exception) we traveled by metro to the Swedish History Museum which did a fantastic job of informing us of the Scandinavian past. One of the most interesting exhibits was on the type of clothing they wore in different eras, especially medieval. Big differences between the classes but both had to keep warm. Here, even in Summer most are wearing jackets or sweaters. After a break for drinks and a pastry we walked to another museum called the Nordic Museum which featured very interesting exhibits of life through the last 500 years. Each era had an “interview” with a character describing there life challenges, which made the exhibit more relatable. Most everything is presented in English as well as Swedish. Also most Swedes speak English which makes travel here most enjoyable for us! The last few photos are from the Nordic Museum which also had some interesting light displays. Finally our museum legs gave out and we rode the electric tram back to hotel passing several canals to remind us that the city is located on several islands. Very water oriented city not unlike Amsterdam but a little more modern. One last interesting observation is that the city is essentially “cashless” as we use Apple Pay on our phones to purchase everything including public transportation. Tomorrow we will do a walking tour on our own and then join the group at end of day.

Today was mostly travel with flights from Austin to DFW then on to Helsinki, and lastly to Stockholm Sweden. All went smoothly except we both only had 3-4 hours of sleep. We both are impressed with the transportation here. The airports are modern and efficient. Train ride from airport was on a high speed ( 120mph) train. We walked for two hours until our room was cleaned. Found a gift shop that sold almost entirely licorice candy and had our first dinner out. Now to catch up on sleep and get over our jet lag!