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.

September 2007 London & Dublin

Thanks to my cousin Stephanie for inviting us to stay with her in London! We started our week with a bus tour of all the major city landmarks, including Westminster Abbey.

Big Ben, with the London Eye in the background.

The second half of our tour included a boat ride on the Thames River. It was lunchtime so we got some fish and chips for the journey - yum!

Parliament and the London Eye.

The Tower of London's "Entry for the Traitor's Gate" is no longer accessible, but you can still see it from the river.

The Tower Bridge

Buckingham Palace

The gardens in St. James Park were still in full bloom.

2nd day - The Tower of London, established by William the Conquerer in the 1070's.

The entry hall to the Crown Jewel room displays the crests of all the monarchs since William the Conquerer. I snuck this photo of the crests of Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V - the title characters of the Prenzie Players 6th season shows!

Tower Guard [The ER on his uniform stands for Elizabeth Regina]

View of Parliament from the London Eye.

3rd day - We took a motorcoach tour out into the English countryside to visit Windsor Castle, Bath, and Stonehenge.

Our first stop on the tour was Windsor Castle, also established by William the Conquerer in the 1070's. Windsor Castle is an official residence of The Queen and the largest occupied castle in the world.

In Bath, we visited the Roman Bath ruins. In the background is Bath Abbey. The town has excellent examples of Georgian architecture including the famous Circle and Crescent buildings.

After touring the ruins, you can visit the restaurant and have a glass of the waters. Not so tasty in my opinion!

Our last stop of the tour was Stonehenge. You can't get close anymore, but it's still quite impressive!

On Saturday, we went to the British Museum to see the Chinese terra cotta soldiers on display there, but the exhibit was sold out for the day. Although we were unable to view the authentic statues, we could have purchased a replica available in various sizes :)

Stephanie, Brian and I spent an evening at the theatre to see Avenue Q - if you haven't heard of it, it's a hilarious musical featuring muppet-like puppets living in New York City.

Brian is enjoying a full English breakfast, which includes eggs, bacon, sausage, baked beans, hash brown potatoes, and don't forget the toast! (He is wearing his Suomi shirt :)

Week Two Ireland! On a bus tour of Dublin, our guide told us that this church was being used in the filming of the TV series "The Tudors" - can you see the beautifully dressed actors in the lower left?

The River Liffy (An Life in Irish) at sunset.

A self-guided tour of the Guinness Storehouse includes samples of their delicious stout.

I think Brian's favorite stop on our journey was the Jameson's Whiskey tour!

After the tour, six visitors were selected to participate in a taste testing. I can honestly say I preferred the Jamesons! Brian was disappointed to not be selected, but I let him finish my samples :)

We rented a car and Brian had no problem managing shifting gears and driving on the left side of the winding narrow roads on the way to our Bed & Breakfast in Wicklow County.

St. Kevin's Monastary ruins and education center. The site is surrounded by wooded walking paths, a stream, lakes and includes a small nature center.

Excellent example of a High Cross.

Wicklow Mountains

Boulders make great tripods for self portraits!

Stone marker designating St. Kevin's Way.

On our way back to Dublin, we stopped by Powerscourt House & Gardens. The estate includes 47 acres of gardens! To learn more visit their website: http://www.powerscourt.ie/gardens/house/history.htm

View of the Wicklow Mountains from the formal gardens. (Their website picture gives a much better perspective than mine)

The Japanese Garden. Lots of levels and little stone walled paths and grottos.

This pub has it all! Hotel rooms, a restaurant on the top floor, live music on the middle floor, and a bar on the ground floor. We had dinner here - excellent traditional Irish fare!

Brian - quit playing with your food!

Stephanie didn't get enough of us in London, so she joined us for drinks in Dublin!

On our way back through London, we had a few extra hours so we checked our luggage at the train station and headed back downtown. We hadn't found time before to visit the Globe Theatre, and were lucky enough to catch the last tour of the day before they had to set up for a performance. Great way to end our journey!