Stockholm, Day 1

We planned this little adventure because Andrew served his mission in Sweden and really wanted to go back, and his brother currently lives in Norway so it was also the perfect opportunity to visit them. On Tuesday night we moved down with the Glenns; on Wednesday Andrew took his final, I finished packing/cleaning the green house/running all the last-minute errands, and we both stayed up a little too late packing; and on Thursday we got up at 3 so to get ready and head to the airport. We had a pretty direct route, going through Chicago and then straight to Stockholm. I've never been on an airplane with two aisles or ridden long enough to be served meals. I thought it was awesome except for when we were getting dinner around 1am Stockholm time and I was trying to tell my body to go to sleep. I think we got a couple hours of sleep eventually and when we landed it was 7:30am.

Waiting around during our 5 hour layover in Chicago

It was fun riding the train down to Stockholm because we went right through an area where Andrew served and he was pointing out different things that he recognized. We got to our hotel without any trouble and were able to go ahead and check-in even though normal check-in time wasn't for a few hours. Even though we were already pretty exhausted, we went right back out to go see City Hall. After finding out that they offer tours later than it said online, we decided to go to the royal palace. One things led to another and before we knew it, we were stuck behind some ropes along with a billion other people. We had no idea what was going on or why all these crazy people were willing to just stand there. So what was all the fuss? The changing of the guards. That was it. and we were forced to stand there and watch. It ended up being kind of cool because there was a horseback band and the guys with the drums have and horses reigns attached to their feet, we were just bitter because we missed the tour we were trying to go see. We were able to sneak away just before it ended and go see the treasury. It was pretty cool! Modern royalty is something I really don't get, considering that I live in America, but it was still awesome to see swords from the 14 or 1500s with etchings depicting Moses leading the Children of Isreal out of Egypt or scenes from Roman history.

The first time we went to City Hall. This is in the first courtyard

He and I were not very good friends at this point

In between the royal treasury and the chapel. (One of the few places in the castle that we could take pictures)

On our way back to city hall, we happened upon a random church so we went inside. It was beautiful. The decorations and statues were so ornate and there was the biggest framed painting I've ever seen. It was a neat, spontaneous little stop.

So many organ pipes!

twins. definitely.

After the church, we made it back to City Hall. As soon as you walk in, there is a HUGE courtyard and then another beautiful courtyard behind it over looking the water. I really liked our tour of the building. We got to go in the main hall where the have the Nobel Prize banquet. The building is not even 100 years old, but the architect that designed it wanted it to fit in and look old so he did some silly things like making it look like there used to be windows in places and they were taken out and had new brick put in. I thought that was so funny! The building is currently used for all sorts of government offices and meetings, so we  got to go in the room where they have parliament discussions (I can't think of what else to call it). The ceilings in this room have murals of the sky because the architect wanted to symbolize that no secrets are kept in that room. The interesting thing is that that is the reality. There are benches on the side where anyone is welcome to come and watch and meeting take place, and the meetings are always broadcast on TV.

These first two pictures are in the Blue Hall which is not blue, but is where the Nobel Prize banquet is held each December. How cool is that?

Do you see that spot in the corner where the bricks don't match?

See it now? Wasn't that architect silly? There was never a window there!

Andrew in the parliament room, but all he could think about was tetris ;)

I guess he was missing school

This is the queen of Stockholm and she is depicted as being in the middle of the world. On the left you can see things like the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty, and on the right you can see elephants and the Taj Mahal

The walls in this room are covered with mosaic and they were asked to finish it in a very short amount of time. Well...mistakes were made. If you look near the top you can see a guy on a horse with his head missing. Sadly, this is King Eric IX, the Patron Saint of Stockholm of all people. Oops! (apparently was beheaded, so I guess it's actually kind of fitting)

Next we went to Drotninggatan. It's a long, pedestrian shopping street. I kept feel lost because there seemed to be an H&M on every corner. After walking around for a while and looking in some shops, Andrew really wanted to find the new (to him) institute building and he knew we were close, but he just couldn't find it. Luckily for him, we ran into some missionaries (the 3rd pair we had seen that day) and they were headed there anyway. We got to see Sister Gambles (from our singles ward before we got married) and Andrew had fun chatting with everyone about how the mission has changed and whatever else they were saying in Swedish.

We were STARVING at this point. The last thing we had to eat was a grocery store sandwich that we shared while waiting for the subway that morning. We were looking for a restaurant recommendation and everyone said to go eat at Max. After getting there, I learned it was Sweden's fast food chain-basically burger king. I was hungry enough that it sounded great (it turned out to be our most expensive meal in Sweden). After we ate, I was dying to go to the bathroom, but they had some weird thing about the bathroom there and I was frustrated that I don't know Swedish, so rather than figuring it out, I figured I could just find another one. I found the bathroom at the subway, but it cost 10 kronor. What?! I had to pee so badly and I was so frustrated by not understanding people that I just started crying. Andrew led me back to Max, worked his Swedish magic to figure out the bathroom thing, and I finally got relief. It was a rough, sleep-deprived, not-at-my-best couple of hours. After all that emotional turmoil, we just went back to the hotel and went to sleep-at like 7:30. I don't know why Andrew expected anything different from me. By now he should know that if I'm hungry or tired (especially the "haven't slept in 30 hours" kind of tired) I'm going to be very cranky.

Our first day was a bit of a rough start for me, but it got better!