Continental Odyssey

Just over a year since our last trip abroad, Karel and I are traveling again. This time we’ll spend three months exploring Europe, starting with Scandinavia, then working our way south through Eastern Europe, and finally a swing northward again through Tuscany and down the Rhine to Amsterdam. We’ll spend a couple of days visiting Karel’s family, including Bianca and Sander’s new baby, due in August.

Our flights went smoothly, although it was pouring rain in Reykjavik, and our luggage was drenched when we collected it in Stockholm. Luckily, we had two nights in our first hotel, so I was able to hang my clothes out to dry.

Karel prefers to battle jet lag by bulling through the extra hours until it’s time for bed locally, but that technique wasn’t working for me. After a nap, however, I was functional enough to go exploring. Our hotel was just a few blocks away from Gamla Stan—Old City—which is the original townsite dating from the Middle Ages, built entirely on a small island. It is now cram-full of souvenir shops and restaurants. We chose one of the latter for our first meal in Sweden, and we weren’t disappointed. Our selections of traditional fare were delicious.

The next morning we joined a walking tour of the city center, which included a smattering of history and tales of royal family scandals. The weather was lovely, and we were told this was the first sunny day of the season. Shortly before we left Colorado, the long-range forecasts were for cool, rainy weather, but the outlook improved dramatically just before our arrival. Our weather karma appears to be in effect once again.