Day 3: Farewell to Stockholm

This morning we said goodbye to Sheri and her family. Sheri was nice enough to drive us to the central train station, where we stashed our luggage in a rental locker. We then went out to explore Stockholm for the last time before our train left at 5:30 pm. We started off at City Hall, which is one of the most beautiful buildings in Stockholm. It is also where Nobel laureates go to accept their prizes and participate in a formal banquet. We didn't quite have time to do a tour of city hall, but we did climb the never ending stairs to the top of the bell tower, Sal with Nuri and diaper bag in tow, to see an amazing view of the entire city. We purposely picked the day with the best weather forecast to see the view from city hall and it was a great choice. The courtyard at city hall is also a sight to behold. We had a great time just sitting out front, eating a snack with Nuri, and watching the waterfront.

We decided to walk, rather than take the subway, to Gamla Stan where we wanted to check out one last museum. Strangely, the Nobel Museum wasn't listed in the guidebook. As you might imagine from the name, it is about Alfred Nobel and the legacy he has left behind in his death to reward scientists and others for Nobel-prize worthy work. Nuri didn't have much patience at this museum, so Sal and I alternated in bringing him out to the sandbox outside to play on a rocking horse. The Swedes appear to be very family friendly and we find these types of conveniences everywhere we go (not to mention, diaper changing stations, etc.). On the ceiling of the museum, there is a giant line of banners for the 800+ individuals who have received Nobel prizes over the years. One by one, and very slowly, I might add, they come forward into an area where they space out enough to read the banners. Meanwhile the others are all lined up to circulate until its their turn again. As notable scientists that we knew of came across, we snapped photos of a few of their banners. I looked for Owen's banner (very difficult to find since most of the banners were only an inch apart from the next one) and to my surprise, I managed to find it (as far as we could tell, there was no alphabetical or chronological arrangement of the banners at all). Sadly, it wasn't going to make it's way to the front until our train departed from Stockholm, so we snapped a picture of it in the queue instead.

We got some freshly made ice cream on the way to the train station and then boarded the "choo-choo" for Gothenburg as Nuri called it. Nuri got his own reserved seat, though he rode for free. The 3-hour train ride was a little challenging for Nuri, but he got through it with the assistance of Looney Tunes. As for me, I bought a delicious salmon quiche in the dining car, not that I knew that was when I bought it. I was given very specific instructions in Swedish about the quiche that I didn't understand. Then the instructions were repeated in English, which I also didn't understand. The cashier from the dining car actually hunted me down after I had paid and left to let me know that the quiche would taste awful if I didn't warm it up first and he took it back to the dining car to warm it up and then brought it back to my passenger car. Shortly following this incident was an overhead announcement in Swedish. We didn't know what they were saying, but we imagined that it translated as, "attention all passengers, if you choose to purchase quiche in the dining car, please warm it up before eating."

Cindy and Anders met us at the train station in Gothenburg. They haven't had a car for years, but recently inherited one from a relative who was buying a new car, so they had rented a car seat specifically for our arrival, which was very generous of them. We took a short driving tour of Gothenburg, an old port city that is mostly known for being a university town now. We had a lovely snack of cheese and crackers, put Nuri to bed, and discussed our plans for the next several days. We need to plan around the weather, as well as the midsummer (solstace) festival, which is a big deal in Sweden and closes the museums for two days. Exhausted, we went to bed without writing a blog post. We are staying in their daughter Megan's bedroom, who kindly gave it up for the 5 days that we're here. It is located near the "quiet" end of the flat, which also includes Cindy and Anders' bedroom as well as the living room. On the other side of the flat is their other children's bedrooms. Their son Liam is moving to Oxford in a few days, and they are having a good-bye LAN party with several visiting friends, so the other side of the flat is up late at night and sleeping in the mornings. Cindy and Anders have been incredibly hospitable. Anders teaches high school history, so he is off for the summer, and Cindy is taking time off while we are here, so they our at our service as full-time tour guides!