Scam Emails

I've received two scam emails in the last couple days. Both were attempts to get account information which would've been used to steal money from me. One was allegedly from Bank of America and the other was from Amazon. Unfortunately, such emails are becoming more common now a days. People need to be very careful who they give their bank or credit card information out to. If you suspect the email is legitimate, instead of replying to the email, check with the company or bank directly. That way, you can safely check into the matter. If it's legitimate, the bank or company won't mind you contacting them. If it isn't, you won't have given your account information to a thief.

I still haven't forgotten when a thief or thieves got ahold of my Northwest Airlines credit card number. They charged over $500 worth of Greyhound bus tickets to it which presumably they could return and get a refund for the tickets. I noticed the fraudulent charges on my credit card bill at once and reported them to the credit card company. I had to cancel that credit card, get a new one and write a letter to the credit card company about the fraudulent charges. I got lucky in that I didn't have to pay the charges but, it did create a lot hassle. Make sure you use caution when giving credit card or bank account information out. It can save you some possible grief later.

Daylight Savings Time

I just wanted to post an early heads-up on Daylight Savings Time. Daylight Savings Time will end in the U.S. at 2 a.m. on November 4th. It'll end in Europe on October 28th. When it ends, you'll need to move your clock forward 1 hour. It'll give you 1 more hour of sunlight in the morning. For me, it means 1 more hour of darkness when I'm trying to deliver the mail. I've already checked my miner's light to make sure it's still working. I'll be needing it soon. Cheers all!

Optionals

My friend Harvey and I have been going through the optional tours for the cruise we'll be taking in March 2008. There is quite a list for each port. I find the list aggravating in that I wish some of this stuff was included in the cruise like it would be if I was taking a Globus tour. Instead, the only thing that'll be free is if we walk around the ports we pull into. Otherwise, the cost of the various optional tours run from $30 to $200. I find this part a real turn off as far as cruises go.

Another drawback I've found to our cruise is the time we'll have to leave each port. At 3 of the ports, we'll depart at 5 p.m. That means in a number of cases that we'll only have time to do 1 optional tour and then some looking around on our own. I wish we had more time in the various ports. That way, I could go scuba diving AND do a tour on the history of the place. As it is, I'm going to have to decide what is the tour I most want to do.

Still, I look forward to the cruise. It'll be neat to watch the ship pull out of port or pull into port. I look forward to exploring the ship too. The ship we'll be on is huge so there will be lots to explore and discover on board. Hopefully, the cruise will end up being a nice time.

Hard Rock Cafe - Washington D.C.

After finishing the orange tour on the Old Town Trolley, I decided it was time for some dinner. To my delight, the tour I took finished right across the street from the Washington D.C. Hard Rock Cafe. I'd visited the cafe twice before but, I'd never eaten there. I went in and was promptly served. I decided to try the Tupelo chicken fingers, New York 12 ounce strip steak and a wild berry smoothie. The smoothie tasted different from what I was use to but, it was very good. I received a good serving of chicken fingers and the sauces they served with them were excellent (bar-b-que and honey mustard). Lastly, the steak was well cooked and came with mash potatoes with gravy and green beans. The mash potatoes and gravy were tasty. The green beans weren't overly cooked and were still crunchy. Overall, it was an excellent meal. Price wise, I paid $8.99 for my smoothie though that came with a pilsner glass I got to keep. I paid $9.50 for the chicken fingers and $23.50 for steak.

The cafe has an extensive rock memorabilia collection as all Hard Rock Cafes do. It was neat to look around and see the various guitars, concert posters and other stuff. They played assorted music videos on tvs that were spread throughout the cafe. Because of my All Access membership, I earned $42 credit toward my next $20 reward. If you like to eat or buy stuff from the Hard Rock Cafes, I'd strongly recommend you join their All Access club. It can earn you money back that you can use on food or clothing at the cafes.

That's all to report for this visit. I hope to visit the Baltimore cafe sometime soon and see how their food is. Rock on!

D.C. Sightseeing

I've lived outside the Washington D.C. area for over 6 years now. To my embarrassment, I've seen little of D.C. I have no excuse. It's easy to drive down to the Greenbelt station and take the Washington Metro (their subway system) into the capital. From there, you can easily take one of the hop on - hop off tours. Yesterday, I mended my ways somewhat. Initially, I planned to take the afternoon tour of the Washington memorials with Grayline Tours. I dithered so much that by the time I arrived at Union Station, the bus had already left. Luckily, there was another company called Old Town Trolley. They run 3 routes that cover all the main sights in D.C. As I was late getting out to D.C., I decided to ride the green route trolley (that route covers Union Station) its entire route. I found the driver/guide to be very knowledgeable and friendly. He told people when tours were available of the building that houses Congress. He also told which museums were closed for renovation (the Smithsonian had one that was closed). Trivia question I learned: who has the tallest statue in D.C.? Answer: Lady Freedom. She stands 19 feet 6 inches. A law was passed that no statue in D.C. can be taller than Lady Freedom. After taking their green route tour, I decided to take their orange route tour. This tour covered embassy row (62 embassies line this one stretch of road), Georgetown, the National Cathedral (did you know there is a gargoyle with the face of Darth Vader on it?) and the National Zoo (they have problems with the pandas in that all they want to do is eat and sleep i.e. they apparently aren't very interested in creating any baby pandas). The driver on this tour was particularly impressive as he was able to name every embassy on embassy row. I bet that took some memorization.

The third tour (a shuttle actually) which they offer which I didn't have time for is the one that takes you to Arlington to the tomb of the unknown, where John and Robert Kennedy are buried and where the Marine Memorial is. I plan to get back there sometime so I can see those.

Each tour on the trolleys took approximately 1 hour and 10 hours minutes (except for the Arlington tour). The company promises to stop at each stop on their routes every 30 minutes. The tours start at 9 a.m. and stop at 5:30 p.m. The cost is $32 for an adult. I don't know what it would cost for a child. I'd definitely recommend the Old Town Trolley. I found both their tours very interesting and informative. They also have the advantage that you can hop on and hop off as much as you want during the day. Their website is: http://oldtowntrolley.com/Washington-DC/.

Little Mermaid Statue

This is one of the pictures I took of the famous little mermaid statue in Copenhagen. Because the sun was behind the statue, the front of the picture came in very dark. I had to use my photo tool so I could change the background and increase the light in the picture so you could see the front of the mermaid.

Concerning the statue, I learned a couple things. First, I was surprised how close to shore the statue is. You can actually step from the shore to the statue's base if you wanted to. I thought it was further out in the harbor. Second, sickos have three times mutilated the statue. Twice the statue's head was cut off. In order to prevent the head from being cut off again, authorities poured concrete inside the statue's head making it impossible for them to ever do it again. I thought it really sad that they had to do that in the first place. Lastly, as you can see, it is a very beautiful statue. It is one of the sights I'd recommend seeing in Copenhagen if you can ever visit there.

Iceland Hard Rock Cafe

I emailed Hard Rock Cafe's headquarters today to find out what happened to the Hard Rock Cafe in Reykjavik, Iceland. If you had a t-shirt from there, you had some bragging rights as not everyone goes there. To my delight, they quickly replied. They stated that the Reykjavik cafe was a franchise cafe. The franchise owners decided to close it in May 2005. I suspect they had a real problem with costs. Things are very expensive in Iceland. Because of that, a number of the menu items would've been very pricey and a turn-off to those visiting Iceland. I can understand how that is considering I paid $67 for a large beer, order of onion rings and a 10 ounce steak dinner in Bergen, Norway. Prices like that don't encourage business. Still, I'm saddened they closed it. It was neat getting a t-shirt from there.

Last Day

It was the last day of the tour. I don't know about anyone else in the group but, I wasn't thrilled about that. The 2 weeks had gone by incredibly fast. Today, we were supposed to do a tour of Oslo. Like Copenhagen and Stockholm, a local guide showed up to tell us about Oslo. The reason they had a local guide tell about the city was because they'd be more knowledgeable about it than Arvid would be.

We were supposed to visit City Hall and Frogner Park but city elections prevented us from seeing City Hall. Frogner Park was interesting. This park is filled with nude statues by Gustav Vigeland. They are definitely more laid back in Norway than we are in the states. Some of the statues were suggestive too. Vigeland apparently was fascinated by the circle of life and showed it in a fountain he created at the park. It shows nude children playing in the tree of life progressing to mature men and women to men and women with children and finally elderly men and women before beginning again with young children. It was an interesting series of statues.

Our guide whose name I can't remember took us to a spot where we could get good pictures of the harbor. We also visited one of the piers where the Akershus Fortress is located. The fortress houses the Norwegian resistance museum, the Norwegian Armed Forces museum and a joint headquarters for the Norwegian Ministry of Defense and their Armed Forces. It's an impressive fortress. Incredibly, the cruise liner Star Princess was docked right next to it. The Star Princess was HUGE. The letters spelling out its name were over a foot long which gives you and idea how big it was.

After the city tour, we had a 90 minute break for lunch before the optional tour of the viking ship museum, the Fram museum (an arctic exploration ship) and Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki museum. I used the time to dash to the Oslo Hard Rock Cafe to buy some of their t-shirts. I also bought some of their pins to give to Joyce La Chapelle, Carolyn Clancy and Greta Paulsen. The three ladies were our ladies from North Dakota. They were super nice. Joyce had given me a pin from North Dakota so I felt I had to reciprocate. I don't know if Maryland has any pins (I plan to keep an eye out for one and if I find one send it to her) so I decided to get them Hard Rock Cafe pins.

Diane Porch of our group requested I get a Hard Rock Cafe menu for them if possible. It seems they collect them. I said I'd try. I had no idea what I was getting into to. It turned out I had to speak with the cafe's general manager (I think his name was Jimmy). I told him the situation and he very kindly said he'd see if he could find an old menu. He succeeded. Only the menu didn't say Norway in it. After all the trouble he'd gone through, I wasn't able to appear ungrateful about that. I thanked him and offered to pay for it. He said that wasn't necessary. I also asked him about the Reykjavik Hard Rock Cafe. To my surprise, I found out it's gone. He didn't know anything about what happened with it. I found out that the company that owns the Oslo, Gothenburg and Stockholm cafes is trying to get the licence for Finland, Latvia and Estonia. There might be new Hard Rock Cafes on the horizon in those countries. More t-shirts for me to collect.

I returned to the hotel and dropped of my t-shirts. Our city guide returned to take us to the viking ship museum. The museum has 3 viking ships that were buried with important viking nobles. Two of the ships were in outstanding condition. It was something to see them. The museum showed artifacts they'd found with the ships. Some of those were also very impressive.

After the viking museum, we visited the Fram museum. The museum is built around the Fram which is a pretty big ship. You can actually go onboard the Fram and explore it. The ship made 3 exploration voyages and helped enormously in mapping these previously unknown areas.

Thor Heyerdah's Kon-Tiki museum was our last stop. It was something to see these fascinating ships. We also got to see an 8 minute film on Heyerdahl's voyage on the Kon-Tiki. It was quite a voyage.

The last thing we had on our itinerary was the farewell dinner. It was held at the hotel. The hotel did a nice job. The food was superbly presented and was very tasty. We made chit-chat one last time with those we'd become friends with. Around 8:30 p.m., the dinner broke up. We had to get up early the next morning to catch the bus to the airport. Everyone shook hands or hugged one last time. I very much doubt I'll ever see any of these people again. They were wonderful people. They made my trip to Denmark, Sweden and Norway far more enjoyable. I very much enjoyed meeting them. I wish them all the very best.

The next morning, I quickly packed (I was getting pretty good at it by now) and went down to the reception area. The hotel kindly provided us with a box breakfast which I ate in the reception area. At 5 till 7 a.m., it was time to board the bus for the airport. The airport was 35 minutes away. Once there, we waited for the Continental Airlines check-in to open up. Once they did, those of use flying on the flight checked out luggage in and made our way to security. That's where I found out I should've packed my large jars of vitamins, fish oil tablets and fiber pills. Because of those, I had to open my carry-on bag so they could inspect it. At the game, security was doing random checks. Harvey got tagged and I ragged on him about looking like a suspicious character. The flight to Newark was uneventful. Thanks to the Sudoku game Harvey told me about, I was able to waste 4 hours of the flight playing it. When we arrived at Newark, we had to go through Customs, re-check our luggage and go through security again. That's where I lost a large tube of toothpaste as I guess that was forbidden in carry-ons. I plan to make sure I pack that next time.

That concludes my Scandanavian adventure. The tour reconfirmed my high opinion of Globus tours. I can't wait to take another one. I'm looking forward to their 2008 catalog where I'll be able to see the dates for their France tour. Hopefully, this time next year I'll be on a French adventure. We'll see. Cheers all!

FYI

I arrived back safely yesterday. My flights back were uneventful. Thanks to Harvey, I found out about the game Soduku. Its a game where you try to place the numbers 1 to 9 in colums and rows and 3 by 3 squares and the numbers can't repeat in the columns, rows and squares. You have to use logic to figure out where the numbers go. It's a challenging game as well as a good way to exercise one's noggin. As luck would have it, the flight had an electronic version for sale in its duty free store. I bought one and proceeded to play the game 4 times during the flight. It was a great way to make the time go by.

When I got home, I was relieved to find everything the way I'd left it. There wasn't anyone to watch my apartment while I was gone and I was afraid someone might break in while I was gone. Thankfully, that didn't happen. Once I got sorted out, I visited the Baldons to find out what had been happening while I was gone. I wanted to give Modestine (I hope I have that right) her Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt. She'd asked for something from over there and I decided to give her a t-shirt from Stockholm. I found out Maryland has been having 100 plus degree days while I was gone. I was soooo glad I missed those. I wasn't thrilled when I arrived at Baltimore Washington International (BWI) Airport and heard the temperature was 88 degrees. I don't like hot weather. I'm not looking forward to delivering mail in it. I plan to go into the Post Office today to pick up my held mail and find out when I'll go back to work. It'll probably be Friday. We'll see.

Oslo

We departed around our usual time (8:40 a.m.) from the Dr. Holms Hotel. We had a long drive ahead of us. We head to drive to south and east to Oslo. It isn't super hard driving south in Norway but driving east can be because of the fjords. To break up the monotony of the drive, we stopped at the Torpo stave church. Unlike other places where the people totally tore down the old stave churches, this one was saved somewhat. A good deal of it was torn down and the remaining church is a shadow of what it had once been. Still, it was an interesting church. A guide told us about the church and pointed out various highlights. It has a fine example of Medieval art in its nave which has a painted story of Jesus and Saint Margaret.

After visiting the church, we drove to Gol where we took a pitstop so everyone could use the bathroom. From there, we drove over 2 hours to Oslo.

Oslo is the capital of Norway and it's a good size city. It also has an active port which sees a number of ships including cruise ships. The day after we arrived, the Star Princess from the Princess Cruise Line arrived. It was one BIG ship!

After we arrived at our hotel the Radisson Scandanavia, our guide Arvid hustled to get our rooms keys. The afternoon was free but, Globus offered two optional tours. You could visit the Museum of Skiing and see the Holmenkollen ski jump with dinner afterwards or just to the dinner. I opted to do the museum and the dinner. We left at 6 p.m. and Per our driver dropped 15 of us off at the museum. It was then that we found out our guide Arvid had committed a boo-boo. It seems he didn't call the museum to make sure it was open. When we arrived, it was locked up tight. Arvid managed to speak with the cleaning lady who was leaving as we arrived. Not only couldn't we see the museum, we couldn't go to the top of the ski jump. Lastly, we couldn't call our bus back so we could join the rest of the group that was going to the dinner. Arvid finally found Per's number and got him to come back.

Per stopped at a couple places so those of us who stopped at the museum could take pictures. One place of note was the status of King Olav V who was a very beloved monarch. He was also a very capable cross country skier and the statue shows him doing that. It was a nice statue.

After the photo stops, we proceeded to the restaurant which was at a hotel at the top of Holmenkollen. I don't remember its name. The dinner itself was a fine example of fine dining. All of the food was superbly presented and it tasted great. My only complaint was how LONG they took to serve it. Like at the Dr. Holms Hotel, I was ready to chow down and they took forever to serve the food.

Without a doubt, one of the highlights of the tour was what happened after dinner at Holmenkollen. The group walked to the bar where those who wanted it could have coffee. Then, we walked out onto the terrace. The terrace overlooked the city of Oslo. By now, it was dark and you could see the city all lit up. It was incredibly beautiful. This would've made a perfect ending to our tour but, we still had a tour of Oslo as well as a farewell dinner at the hotel. Stay tuned for my next hopefully interesting episode of my Scandanavia adventure. Cheers!

Geilo

Because the tour itinerary promised that people would have a chance to walk around Bergen in the morning, we left later than usual. Normally, this would've hurt us at our arriving destination. However, in the case of Geilo, there wasn't anything to do there. Geilo is a known Norwegian ski town. As it is late summer, none of us were going to do any skiing so there wasn't any rush to get to Geilo. Still, our drive to Geilo wasn't entirely boring.

We stopped at one large waterfall called Stein something. The thing that is so interesting about this fall is that you can walk behind it. It was pretty neat. Another neat thing we did was take a short ferry ride across Hardangerfjord. The crossing only took 20 minutes but, I found it neat.

The rest of the drive to Dr. Holmes Hotel was uneventful. The hotel itself was founded as a place to treat respiratory diseases and became very successful. Later, it served those who liked to ski in Geilo. The hotel has a 6 lane American bowling alley which surprised me. It also has a spa with a wading pool, whirlpool, hotpool and good size swimming pool. I saw the swimming pool and decided a swim would help me burn some pre-dinner calories. The swim ended up being fantastic. Afterwards, I changed back for the group dinner.

The dinner was supposed to be a buffet but, the summer season was over so the hotel changed it to a set meal. Each of the course was superbly presented BUT I found the staff were incredibly slow to serve them. I was ready to chow down. I wanted FOOD! Instead, the meal dragged and we ended up not finishing till past 9 p.m. It was very annoying.

After the dinner, it was time to crash. The hotel's breakfast buffet turned out to decent though we had the same cramped seating we had the night before. We finally departed the hotel at 8:40 a.m. for Oslo.

Note: The rest of my adventure blogs will be reported from home. Tomorrow morning, I'll fly back to the U.S. It saddens me that the tour is coming to an end. Yet, it has been a fun tour. I can't wait to take another one. Harvey and I are looking at taking a Globus tour of France late next summer. It would be a lot of fun. We'll see if it happens. Cheers all!

Bergen

We boarded the ferry around 8:45 a.m. It was a strictly passenger ferry. (they have 2 kinds, the other is a combination car and passenger ferry) There were at least a couple groups heading for Gundervegan (I hope I have that spelling right). Unlike the train, the boat travelled slowly which made it easier to take pictures of the waterfalls, towns along the fjord and the fjord itself. One town called Diordal could only be reached by boat. It was reported that villagers there lived to great old age in part because of the pure water they drank. We saw farms located far up on the mountains. One farm at one time could only be reached by ladder! The views were extremely scenic. All totalled, the cruise lasted 2 hours. It was seriously awesome.

At Gundervegan, we left the ferry and boarded our bus. Our guide then offered us the choice of taking the dull boring way to Bergen or the more adventuresome route. We chose the more adventuresome route. Little did we realize what we were getting ourselves into. The more adventuresome route went along a twisting turning road with mere inches to spare on the sides. A driving mistake could be disastrous. Our respect for your driver Pere increased dramatically. Still, the views were awesome and we saw two more stunning waterfalls during the climb. It was an incredible drive.

After surviving the adventuresome route to the main Bergen road, things became more quiet. We had a long drive to Bergen. Interestingly, we had to pass through 38 tunnels to get there. It gives you an idea of how mountainous Norway is. We finally arrived around 4 p.m. I think. It was grey and drizzly. Harvey and I checked out the fish market which was interesting. We also visited Harald's Hall which dates from the beginning of Bergen and Rosencrantz tower. While there, we saw a re-enactor group that was skirmishing. It was interesting to watch them fight. They had real swords, spears and axes. We also checked out the buildings from the Hanseatic League times. They were neat old wooden buildings. Bergen was one of the towns in the league. I forget what they traded for there. After wandering around a bit more, we had dinner at the Big Horn Steakhouse. The place showed just how expensive Norway can be. I order a large beer, an order of onion rings and a 10 ounce steak with baked potato and corn. The onion rings alone were 70 Norwegian Kronor which breaks out to approximately $12. I received 7 onion rings. That breaks out to over $1.50 per ring. Serious ouch! Still, the meal was good.

After dinner, I called it a day. The next morning, Harvey and I took the funicular up one of the mountains that surrounds Bergen. The views at the top were awesome. You could see the whole harbor from up there. I was able to get some really good pictures. After that, I headed over to Harald's Hall and Rosenkrantz tower to take pictures of those. Then, it was time to get back to the hotel. We were departing for Geilo and further adventures. Stay tuned.

Flam

The Norwegians are incredibly blessed. I've never seen such beautiful waterfalls, massive mountains and stunning fjords. You can point out the difficulties the fjords cause trying to cross them. You can point out that the massive mountains make it very hard to get around Norway and, it does. And, waterfalls don't do a lot of good barring looking pretty. Still, the waterfalls, mountains and fjords make this one of the most picturesque countries I've ever visited.

We arrived at the Fletheim Hotel in Flam just in time to catch the Flam-Myrdal train. The train goes through some incredibly beautiful countryside. I kept getting excited about every waterfall and tried to take a picture of each one. By the time we returned to Flam, I must've had over 30 pictures of waterfalls. I couldn't believe how many they had. Before I went to Australia, I'd never seen one. I know of only four waterfalls in the U.S. There is the Niagara Falls and Horseshoe Falls in New York and there are two waterfalls in Yellowstone National Park. I've never seen any of them. Because of that, it has been a treat to see a waterfall. Norway is a waterfall paradise. After a while in this country, you become a connoisseur of waterfalls. They have so many kinds. It's really incredible.

After the train ride, I managed to satisfy my internet fix and posted a blog on Lillehammer. Then, it was time for dinner. The Fletheim Hotel did itself proud. It was another one of those buffets where if you didn't leave stuffed, you weren't trying. Another nice thing about the hotel was its location. Its snuggled between mountains and right next to a beautiful small harbor. It was a very pretty location.

After a super dinner, it was time to crash. We had more exciting things to look forward to. We were to take a 2-hour cruise on the Sojnefjord, Norway's largest fjord. After that, we were to drive to Bergen, once a member city of the Hanseatic League. New adventures awaited. Stay tuned for further posts on my exciting Scandanavian adventure.

Lillehammer

I have to play catch-up today because the internet connection at the Radisson in Lillehammer was so poor. I had problems trying to check my email and I didn't care to try to type up a blog entry.

We departed Karlstad bright and early and headed toward Norway. At the Sweden-Norway border, I got to claim back the tax I'd paid on the Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts I bought in Stockholm and Copenhagen. I wasn't able to claim my refund for Gothenburg because I forgot to get the refund form you have to have to receive the refund. I found that annoying but, I remembered the form too late. Thankfully, I was able to get 150 Norwegian kronor back which will buy me a few Norwegian brews. FYI, in order to get any tax you pay in the EU back, you must spend $50 plus at one store. They must fill out a form they will give you that you will present to the tax refund desk at either one of the borders between countries or at your departing airport. You'll have to show your passport, fill in your address on the form and sign it. Once that's done, they'll give you your refund in whatever currency you request. Since I was going to Norway, it made sense to get Norwegian kronor.

After we departed the border, we still had a long drive to Lillehammer, Norway. We finally arrived 4 p.m. First, we visited the Maihaugen Open Air Museum. The museum has 200 buildings from Norway's past. It's a very nice museum. We received a guide name Cary who was a riot. When we entered the old school house, she had all the men sit on one side of the school and all the women sit on the other like they would've in back in 1865. Then, she asked if we knew any American songs. Some suggested Old McDonald Had A Farm. So, the entire group sang Old McDonald Had A Farm with Cary picking the animals. I'm not sure who laughed more, she or us. By the end of our brief tour, the heavens started to open up. The next stop was the ski jumps for the 1994 Olympics. The ski jumps were very impressive and it was seriously cool to stand in the landing area where it had taken place.

From there, we had a short drive to our hotel. Our guide Arvid had told us they had a phenomenal smorgasbord at the Radisson and it turned out he wasn't kidding. I couldn't believe all the food they put out. It was another one of those where if you didn't leave stuffed, it was because you didn't want to. It was a fantastic meal.

The next morning, it was wake-up call at 6:30 a.m., breakfast anytime after 6:30, bags out at 7:30 a.m. and departure at 8:30 a.m. We would have another decent drive to Fram, Norway. Stay tuned for the next chapter in my Scandanavian adventure.

Karlstad

After my last post, I walked over to O'Leary's Sports Bar. It's a nice restaurant filled with memorabilia from Massachusetts. One wall had an advertisement promoting Ted Williams Root Beer. Another had an newspaper article telling about the retirement of Carl Yeztremski's number (he played for the Boston's Red Sox). Because this is Sweden, they were showing British Football matches on the numerous television screens they had on the walls. Food wise, I was very pleased. I ordered they Celtics Bar-b-que hamburger with fries. The burger was large and so was the order of fries. Beer wise, I wasn't impressed with their selection of international brews. I had a Newcastle Brown Ale and a local brand export lager. They were nice. It ended up being a nice meal and I'd recommend the place if you're ever in Stockholm. After this fine meal, I chilled in my hotel room till I crashed.

The next morning, it was time to depart Stockholm. I quickly packed my bag and left it outside my hotel room for pick-up. Because it was Sunday, we left later than usual. Gripsholm Castle doesn't open till 11 a.m. on Sundays. The castle was originally built by the Lord Chancellor of Sweden back in the 13th or 14th century. Later, King Gustav Vasa bought it and changed it into a royal residence. The castle is filled with portraits of royalty and other nobles. It has something like 4,000 such portraits and is the largest such collection in the world. The people who run the castle provided us a guide who showed us around the castle. She was fantastic. If you ever visit Mariefred, this castle is worth visiting.

Also, at Mariefred is the Mariefred railway. It's a small train that runs on small gauge track. It's a beautiful train and looks like it would be a lot of fun to ride. It actually runs all the way to where you could catch the modern trains to Stockholm so it actually serves a legitimate purpose besides providing a neat experience to those lucky enough to ride it.

Once people were done seeing Gripsholm Castle, it was time to continue our journey on to Karlstad where we spent the night. It's a nice enough town and on our way to Norway. At Karlstad, we checked into a hotel that had been a former prison. It supposedly housed some of Sweden's most notorious criminals. Its a neat hotel.

This morning, we depart for Lillehammer, Norway. Stay tuned for further updates. Cheers all!

Stockholm Continued

Last night, I got to do a walking tour of the Old City of Stockholm. There are buildings there that date from the time of the Hanseatic League. It was something to wander the cobblestone streets. The Old City is filled with shops and restaurants. Our guide took us to one that has a 13th century wine cellar. There, we enjoyed a glass of wine, a bowl of onion soup, reindeer stew (or fish) with mash potatoes and linden berries and a slice of apple tart. The food was fantastic and with the tour of the Old City made for a wonderful night.

This morning, we had the tour of the city proper with an optional tour of the Wasa Museum. Our guide was a city guide. She knew the ins and outs of Stockholm and was a delight. She had a very funny personality. With her guiding us, we got to see the city hall where the Nobel awards banquet is held. It's a beautiful building reminiscent of an Italian piazza. After that, we visited a spot where we could get a good shot of the hall. Then, we were off to where we could get good views of the harbor. We also drove around with her giving us a narrative of the city.

After the city tour, those who didn't sign up for the Wasa tour either returned to the hotel or were dropped off by harbor where they could take a harbor tour or do some shopping. Then, it was on to the Wasa Museum.

The Wasa Museum holds the 16th century warship Wasa. It was commissioned by Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus the II. It was the first double deck warship. Unfortunately, it was top heavy and sank on its maiden voyage. It remained on the bottom of Stockholm harbor until 1961 when it was raised. The warship is a striking ship because it is so well preserved. It also has over 700 statues adorning it. The museum shows a 25 minute movie clip that tells of the history of the ship and how it was raised. The museum is fascinating and worth doing if you like history or sailing ships.

After the Wasa Museum, everyone had a free afternoon. I chose to go in search of the Hard Rock Cafe so I could get some Stockholm t-shirts. I got one heck of a shock when I finally found it. It isn't close at all to the harbor. I had a long walk getting there and a long walk getting back. Still, I got my t-shirts.

I'm a little pooped so I plan to check out a sports bar and restaurant that is close to the hotel. I'm hoping they'll have some Victoria Bitter. If not, they'll hopefully have a good burger. For some reason, I'm really in the mood for a good hamburger. We'll see. That's all for now. Cheers all!