Today's post is themeless.....
Gruna-Land:
Yesterday we spent most of the afternoon at the old-timey amusement park in Stockholm called Gruna-Land. (There are two dots above the U, but no idea how to make that happen). I quite liked how they crammed so much stuff in such a small area with rides all intertwined like a bowl of spaghetti (sticking with the pasta theme from yesterday). But at the end of the day, we're actually not much of an amusement park family. Autumn doesn't like crowds, Zane is prone to motion sickness, Bryce is height challenged, I don't like the sensation of sticky, and Nicole, well, I actually thinks she's pretty cool with them.
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| It's a lovely setting right on the harbor. |
Quick story.... Zane and I stood in line for a roller coaster and after 30 minutes got nearly to the front when the controller lady garbled something over the loud speaker and the line came to a halt. I turned to Zane and say, "Hmmm, wonder what she said." A nice gentleman overhead me and said in perfectly coherent english, "Mechanical problem, but nothing major. Shouldn't be long." I glance at him, say thanks, notice he is with a child of Zane's age, and, considering we might have some time to kill, put on my lets-make-a-new-friend hat.
"Are you from Stockholm?" I inquire in the friendliest tone I could muster.
"Yes," is all he can muster in return.
"So.... Today is our first day here, any other places we should take our children while we are in Stockholm?"
"No, this is pretty much it."
Oh, boy, this is going nowhere fast. Change course! "We're thinking of going kayaking in the harbor. Any suggestions?"
"I don't like water."
And thus concludes my attempt at making a new friend.
Beds
Our journey has been nearly all in AirBnBs, which means sleeping on beds that I assume locals sleep on, not the uber plush beds our hoteliers have exported from the states to cater to the tourist crowd. If there is one particular thing I miss most about home, it's our bed. Oh, I love our bed. It's memory foam perfectly contouring to every precious curve and wicking away excess heat. Something in our american culture has elevated us (both literally and figuratively) to a higher level of sleep knowledge. I don't quite understand the trend these days to make beds so thick you need a trebuchet, trampoline, or a rope ladder to summit, but if it is required to make our beds so heavenly, then so be it. Up until two nights ago, we have laid ourselves to rest on effectively various forms of one foot tall trampolines and air mattresses that telegraphs every subtle move and sucks you in to a pit of dispair. Our current bed, is finally in the realm of acceptability and I'm sleeping like a champ.
There is one interesting concept that we may bring back (Nicole would probably disagree), the separate comforters. Instead of blanketing the entire bed, they use two smaller comforters, one for each slumberer. The advantage... double leg extraction! Instead of cooling with one leg at the side, now you can do two. Brilliant!
Living a Movie
You know how every now and then you find yourself somewhere that reminds you of being in a movie? Say, the Seattle Fish Market, or when you stand at the bow of a moving boat you do that thing from that movie I hate. Well I had one of those moments the other day on a morning run through the beautiful open space next to our apartment. The movie.... The Blair Witch Project. I love trail running and often find the little spurs off the main trail to be most enjoyable. This particular park is large (say Golden Gate Park large) and I started trailblazing, occasionally checking my GPS to make sure I was generally heading in the right direction - I had a target in mind that was 10 minutes away. 20 minutes later I begin to think...that river should be here by now. I look down at my GPS and my little blue dot is NOWHERE near where I should be. I actually restarted my phone to see if my GPS wasn't working.
You see, the forest is nearly identical looking in all directions, with no discernible landmarks to orient off. It was thick, and occasionally had these odd man-made branch enclosures in random places. I spent 10 minutes effectively running around in circles trying to triangulate my position and eventually found a paved trail. Upon review of my pathway on my running app, I had apparently run 10 minutes in one direction, and because of a subtle turn in the trail I was following, I ran to a location 100 feet away from where I started. Suffice it to say, the following day's run was strictly on the prescribed 10 foot wide gravel roads that a blind man could follow.
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| Looked like this in all directions. |
Hot Dogs
Forgot, Bryce's latest Hot Dog Assessments:
Bergen - Tastes like Caspers hot dogs, but way shorter. 4 out of 5 stars
Lofoten - Totally amazing! Split four ways down each end to make it look like an octopus. We got fooled. The menu actually said Octopus Dog, which Bryce, bravely said, yeah, I'll try that, assuming it was actually octopus. Go Bryce, I said. In any case, because the dog was a normal hot dog (but fried), he was very happy. 5 out of 5
Stockholm - Bought a package at the store... Gross. Couldn't finish it. Too mushy. 1 of 5 stars
Funny Names
Sometimes, like you see at IKEA, I wonder if the Swedes just like naming things kind of funny.
Swedish Fish
Sad to say that Swedish Fish are not just called Fish in Sweden
Gamla Stan (Old Town)
Today we did a walking tour of Gamla Stan (Old Town) in the heart of Stockholm. Was the original city, and has all that old timey charm of narrow cobbled streets, cafe's that spill out of the storefronts, and a gaggle of tourists (us included, of course). While most of the pics so far have been from our cell phones, this time I toted along my "real" camera. Here are some shots.
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| Smallest Statue in Stockholm (anywhere, as far as I'm concerned) |
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| Friends |
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| Friends too |
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| Doorway looked like a robot to me |
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| The ironwork was eye catching |
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| Pint sized door near a GeoCache |
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| Narrowest "street" in Stockholm. 130cm wide. |
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| Navigator |
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| Hangin around |
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| Center square selfie |
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| Just killing time |
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| Playing around with using panorama at an intersection, but up and over my head and back down again.... |
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| Was it wrong of me to surreptitiously take this shot of parents and their kid? |
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| Fun with Shutter Speed (1/8s) - Handheld...breathe slowly...now click! |
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| Tracking shot at 1/15s |
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| Same |
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| Street performer |
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| B&W in post production |
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| Should have tried slower shutter, but still shows motion... |
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| Bishop to Rook-5 |
These last shots were at a small central park that had a wonderful open turf area around a statue. Made for a perfect place to just grab some snacks, lay down, and chill for an hour.
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| Not sure if this is natural |
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| He's alive |
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