Sweden’s capital and largest city is Stockholm. Earliest records of date back to 1252. Stockholm is actually on 14 islands connected by 57 bridges. The city is nicknamed “The Beauty on the Water.” Today, Stockholm is a mixture of the old and new. If you ever hear of the word “Stockholm Syndrome,” it means when hostages form a liking to…
In our five day sojourn in early July of 2019 to Stockholm, Sweden, we visited the majestic “Vasa Museum.” It is the best preserved 17th century ship in the world. Why did it sink? How many people died? Why was it so well preserved? When was it found? These questions and more are discussed in our blog that follows. The…
The sculpture of The Little Mermaid was first displayed in 1909. It was based on the 1837 Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale. I first saw it in 1979. It was actually further out in the channel. Today, the Mermaid is reasonably close in order for people to climb all over it and take pictures. Copenhagen was and is one of…
There are actually more canals in Amsterdam (165) than Venice (150). The canals are part of the UNESCO World Heritage sites. A number of these canals have been painted by famous artists like Claude Monet. There are over a thousand bridges in Amsterdam. Along the canals are narrow homes and buildings no more than five stories high. The 17th…
If you ever get to tour Norway, one of the stops will be Bergen. I was there in 1979 and in July of 2019 with Kathie. In 1979, it rained for three days. It is one of the rainiest cities in Norway and in Europe. On the average, it rains 239 days out of the year. Bergen is not directly…
This sojourn would be easy if we were going to St. Petersburg, Florida and possibly see the famous Dali Museum. Going to Russia, though, takes rewarding planning. The city is considered to be the “cultural capital of Russia.” There is so much to see and explore. We did our sojourn at the end of June in 2019. The Russian…
A visit to Peterhof Palace is a “must see” activity while in St. Petersburg, Russia. This famous Palace is about twenty miles west of the city along the Gulf of Finland. You have various options of how to get there. We decided to do this Palace on our own. We took the metro to Avtovo Station. Taking a metro…
On June 21st, 2019 we had the pleasure to be in Helsinki for the Summer Solstice. Yep, the sun does not set. The picture below was taken at 3:00AM: “The Land of the Midnight Sun” can also be seen in Sweden, Norway, Iceland and even in Alaska to name a few places. It is celebrated in one form or another.…
Thinking of all the places I have visited, and being blessed to do so, I began to record in alphabetical order a list of places I have been from my earliest memories. Luckily, I have many of the pictures to go along with my travels. My parents in 1953 did a three month bicycle trip through Europe which encouraged my passion to…
We received “free” tickets on-line to travel on Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin “Brightline” train from West Palm to Miami. Why we received them is a mystery? We used the tickets on a Friday. The only payment was for parking–$8—at a dedicated parking garage by the train station on Quadrille Plaza Drive. We went on-line to pay for our parking spot. Our…