Scandinavia

This was our last adventure for our European reign of terror.  Scandinavia, specifically Finland, Sweden & Norway seem to be much different from the Eastern European area that we've spent the majority of our time exploring.  We started our tour in Helsinki, Finland where we explored the Sea Fortress of Suomenlinna.

 Having a picnic on the island of Suomenlinna

 We checked out the restored submarine from the 1930s; it was pretty small & cramped!

 After a day in Helsinki, we caught a night train to Rovaniemi, Finland.  Since we were limited on time to see each country, we opted to do our travel in the night.  It was a first for our family to travel by night train and the kids loved it for the bunkbeds!  Once we got to Rovaniemi, we took a bus up to the Arctic Circle and Santa's Village.  We also visited the Arctic museum and enjoyed the relaxed town of Ravaniemi before returning to Helsinki by night train again.

 Ready to board the train

 In the Arctic Circle

We saw lots of moose sculptures!

Back in Helsinki, we visited the open-air museum of Seurasaari, with buildings brought in from all around Finland, dating from the early 1800s.  We also did a quick walking tour of the city before getting on a night ferry to Stockholm.

At Seurasaari, doing a treasure hunt around the different buildings.

Feeding the sheep

Trying out the stilts

Picking wild raspberries

Senate Square & Cathedral in Helsinki, Finland

Our Ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm

Checking out Helsinki while we leave port

A view of Suomenlinna from the ferry

The ferry had a great little kids area where our kids spent the evening

The next morning we were able to see the Stockholm Archipalego as we approached the port

A view of Grona Lund from the ferry

In Stockholm, we played at a science musuem called Tom Tits Experiment, swam in the hotel pool, spent a day at Grona Lund, ate at IKEA, viewed the city from a bubble on Ericsson Globe Arena and did a little walking tour of the city.  Stockholm was beautiful!

Cam playing a brain power game at Tom Tits Experiments

Playing at Tom Tits Experiments

Dinner at IKEA; it is Swedish after all!

SkyView at the Ericsson Globe Arena

Swimming in the rooftop pool

Grona Lund amusement park - the good old swings!

Becca loves the coasters!

During the night, we were evacuated from our hotel twice because of what turned out to be false fire alarms.  We were very glad they were false alarms, but not to happy about the terrible night's sleep.

Waiting for the word to go back into the hotel

In Norway we drove out to the western fjord area to experience the beauty!  We drove to Gudvangen were we stayed in a cabin at the head of the Naeroyfjord.  From here we took a fjord cruise on the Naeroyfjord, which is the most narrow and deepest fjord and then into the Aurlandsfjord.  There were waterfalls everywhere!  At the end of the fjord cruise, we took the Flamsbana railway up the mountains.  This railway is the steepest standard-guage railway in Europe.  It was also picturesque! 

A little town on the fjord

Naeroyfjord

Ready for the Flamsbana

At the Kjosfossen waterfall

Troll hunting in Norway

Our cabin in Gudvangen

On the way to & from the fjords we traveled through the world's longest tunnel, the  Lærdalstunnelen.  It is 24.5 km long and broken into segments by three caverns with bright colorful lights.

Hiking in Ceské Švýcarsko Národní Park

This was one of the last items on our short list of "to do in the Czech Republic". We joined the Bunnell family for this beautiful hiking adventure.  The kids enjoyed having other kids to hike with and they were almost impossible to keep up with.  Our destination was Pravčická brána, the largest natural arch in Europe.  Once we finished our lunch at the arch and headed back out, we got caught in a downpour!  We unwittingly left our rain jackets in the car; fooled by the nice clear skies at the beginning of the day.  The kids were freezing and we were all soaked to the skin; lesson learned!

Brian, Steve & Georgia

Becca was a great hiker; slow and steady!

Hotel "Sokolí hnízdo" built in 1881 next to the arch

At Pravčická brána

Scrambling on the sandstone rocks

Glad the rain has nearly stopped and we're almost back to the cars!

The Netherlands & Denmark

As soon as the kids finished with school, in the middle of June, we headed out for our first "summer" adventure. It started in Amsterdam, where I played in an ultimate frisbee tournament and the kids went swimming in the hotel pool.  The next phase of our plan got foiled because I got deathly sick (at least that's how it felt!).  Brian was working in Rotterdam for the first half of the week and the kids & I were planning to explore the area.  The only thing we managed was a playground one afternoon and the beach for an hour on another afternoon.

At the beach in the Netherlands

By Thursday of that week I was finally starting to feel better and have more energy, just in time for our drive to Denmark.  On our road trips this year we have been listening to the Harry Potter series, so we quite enjoy the time in the car!  We surprised the kids (I love doing that!) by staying at the Legoland Hotel and then going to the park the next day of course.

The kids loved the bunk beds in our room!

We had a fun time at Legoland and it turned out to be the only sunny, nice day of our trip!

Next we headed across the sea, then onto Zealand, the island of Denmark where Copenhagen is located.  We spent the next few days exploring the area.  It was cool and rainy most of the time, so we did a fair amount of "drive-by" tourism!  We visited some of the castles and fortresses, a viking museum, the Copenhagen Temple and the old waterfront area.

 Crossing from the mainland, Jutland, to Funen, the smaller island, then to Zealand.

Denmark's flag

Frederiksborg Castle

These original Carl Bloch paintings are in the chapel at the Frederiksborg Castle.

Hellsingor Fortress, this is the closest point to Sweden

A replica viking boat at the Viking Museum

Copenhagen Temple

Around Copenhagen