Sweden & Norway June 2008

In mid-June, we took a short trip to Sweden and Norway. The inspiration for the trip was to attend a concert, but it was also a great excuse to visit our Nordic neighbors!

We took the overnight ferry from Turku to Stockholm. The journey takes you through the autonomous province of Finland called Åland, an archipeligo of over 6,000 islands in the Baltic Sea. We arrived in Stockholm early in the morning and drove straight to Oslo.

To save afew kroner, we set up camp just outside of Oslo. The two nights we spent there were quite chilly! Heavy rains forced us to stay at a hotel in Stockholm for our third night of the trip.




The Royal Palace in Oslo was built in the first half of the 19th century and is used as the official residence of the present Norwegian Monarch. We enjoyed watching several marching bands perform in front of the palace.

The Viking Ship Museum displays the large Viking ships Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune, as well as founds from the chief grave at Borre in the Vestfold district. The three ships are the best preserved Viking ships known, found in royal burial mounds in the Oslo fjord. You can get an idea of the size by noticing Brian in the lower left corner of the photo.

Norwegianwood Music Festival's performance of the Foo Fighters. Well worth the trip!

Beautiful views on the way from Oslo back to Stockholm. Looks alot like the upper Midwest, don't you think?

The Vasa Warship (replica foreground) was the most expensive and ornamented ship built in 17th Century. It took a three years' work of carpenters, smiths, painters, sculpturers, sail makers to build the ship, which was to become the pride of Swedish Navy. Unfortunately the sailing ship never left port- it sank after 1300m of the maiden voyage. On 24th April 1961 after 333 years lying on the sea bottom, Vasa was brought to the surface and preserved in a special environmentally-controlled museum.

The Royal Palace is one of the main attractions in Stockholm’s Old Town (Gamla Stan). It is the official residence of the Swedish Royal family, but today they actually live in Drottningholm Palace, just outside of Stockholm. The royal family holds official receptions at the Royal Palace and it serves as the work place of Royal Court, the King and the Queen. The Royal Palace, ornately decorated in the new Rococco style, dates from 1754. The site has been occupied by a fortress since the 10th century and a castle since the 1300s. The Swedes rebuilt the existing structure after it was ravaged by fire in the late 1600s.

Exploring Stockholm's Old Town.

View of Stockholm from City Hall's tower. The palace can be seen on the middle-upper left.

Germany & Czech Republic May/June 2008

We took an early summer vacation, spending two weeks in Germany and the Czech Republic. We flew into Frankfurt-Hahn airport then rented a car to go exploring. Along the way, we learned that most youth hostels allow guests over 30yrs old, but bunk beds are smaller than we remember from childhood! The food in both countries focuses on meat and potatoes, but it was asparagus season - yummy! Here are some photos from our trip:

We began our journey by driving about an hour north to the small town of Irmtraut. According to my Grandfather Armentrout's geneolgy research, this is the area where my family's ancestors emigrated from in 1739.

Heidelberg Castle, on the left, overlooks the city of the same name. The castle, mostly in ruins, is a mix of styles from Gothic to Renaissance and was begun in the late 1300's.

In Mannheim, we went on a factory tour at the John Deere facility.

View overlooking the Black Forest near Freiberg in the Saxony region. From here we drove south through Zurich, Switzerland, en route to Konstanz. A little out of our way, but we wanted to add another country to our list!

We spent two days in Konstanz, on Lake Constance or Bodensee, whose shores touch Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Mainau is an island in Lake Constance and has extensive landscaped gardens, a tropical conservatory, and a butterfly house. Garden staff were working on this enormous "dwarf" made entirely from flowers.

Neuschwanstein Castle inspired the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Park! Construction began in 1868, commissioned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who died before it was completed. It is the most photographed site in Germany :)

No trip to Bavaria would be complete without a visit to a beer garden (in Munich's English Garden). Don't worry, mine was alcohol-free!

View overlooking beautiful Munich from a church tower.

The Prague Astronomical Tower, constructed around 1723, draws a crowd every hour to watch the clock's mechanisms. Our tour guide told us to watch out for pickpockets here!

Prague at night. This church (background) and square were very close to our hotel. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Last fall, Brian spent a week in Pilsen for business, but did not have the opportunity to visit the Pilsner Urquell Brewery. We stopped by, but it was too late in the day for a tour. Brian thought this beer machine in their visitor's center would make a good addition to any office!

Italy February 2008

We spent our winter holiday (called a ski week in Finland) in Italy. The sunny blue skies were a welcome change from our cloudy winter up north! Our trip started in Milan, then we took a train to Rome for 4 days, heading back north we spent two days in Florence before flying back out of the Bergamo/Milan airport. Here are a few highlights:





Standing on the roof of the Cathedral of Milan (Duomo di Milano), great views!

Self portrait at St. Peter's Square after a tour of the Vatican City

St. Peter's Basilica

The Colloseum or Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre, in the center of ancient Rome.

Five euro for a picture with Roman soldiers, anyone?

Touching ancient ruins in the Roman Forum on a half-day tour of the city.

View over the Roman Forum.

Santa Maria del Fiore or Duomo di Firenze is the Cathedral of Florence with a famous towering cupola known as Brunelleschi’s Dome. This is the fourth biggest church in Europe, after San Pietro in Vaticano (Saint Peters) in Rome, Saint Pauls in London and the Cathedral of Milan (Duomo di Milano) in Milan.

Michelangelo's David, sculpted from 1501 to 1504, resides in a museum in Florence, which we visited. However, photos are not allowed in the museum, but this copy of the statue is in a square nearby.



Evening view of the famous Medieval bridge, Ponte Vecchio, and the Arno River.

Our friend Roberto was in Italy on business and we met up in Florence for the weekend. Here we are dancing the night away at Y.A.B. - You Are Beautiful.