Day 10, July 24

Woke to a grey overcast skies and chilly weather. It’s another transfer day heading to Stockholm, Sweden. We were met in the lobby of our hotel by a transport driver with a van pulling a wagon. This was for our luggage. It’s a good thing it was a closed wagon as it did rain on the way to the airport. The drive took about half an hour and our driver pointed out a few things about Bergen that we hadn’t learned yet.

280,000 people in Bergen.
There are 7 mountains around the city

We drove through two tunnels to get to the airport. The first one was 2350 meters or 1 1/2 miles, which felt like the longest tunnel until we entered the second tunnel. It was 6.4 km which is about 4 miles. I didn’t think we would ever get to the other end but we did, right at the airport. Thank goodness the entrance was under a roof so we didn’t have to dodge the raindrops.
Inside the airport, we all got our boarding passes at the kiosks. It was very quick and easy. The hardest part was trying to figure out how to put all the pieces of the luggage tags on our suitcases.
With the suitcases checked, we headed to security. Four of the ladies had their carry-ons looked through and checked for explosives. Lee was dinged for her artificial knee. She also had to take off her shoes to be put through the scanner separately. With us all put back together, we made our way to the gate.
While waiting to board, a plane arrived. The passengers walked down the steps and up into the gangway. The top of the gangway was enclosed by glass walls and 3 automatic glass doors, none of which opened to let then into the terminal. A couple of passengers pushed on the doors as more and more passengers crowded into the glass area. An SAS agent finally open one of the doors and asked who they were and where they were coming from. Everyone in the enclosed area had to turn around and go back down the gangway to an transport bus. Apparently this bus was running late and the passengers were never supposed to come into the terminal at this gate.
When it was time for us to board, we lined up behind two electronic gates. The gates opened for the passengers when the barcode on the boarding pass was scanned. This was the same process we used going through security. Most everyone’s worked except for Mom and Linda C.’s. the gate wouldn’t open for them. We had to wait for the frazzled flight attendant to check them in. Mom, Linda C., Linda K. and I were the last ones to board the plane. While standing, waiting to go up the steps, the wind blew so hard that one of the suitcases took off and had to be chased down.

My seat on the plane was 1A so I felt like I was sitting in business class with tons of leg room. This is probably the closest I will ever get to first class flying. Since I was in the emergency row, I had to stow all of my belonging in the compartments over head so I didn’t have my camera to take pictures of the landscape as we flew over Stockholm, Sweden. Looking out of the window I notice twisting winding roads with many rivers and lakes as far as the eye could see. The flight to Stockholm was very short.
We were met by three airport assistants, They were exceedingly helpful when it was time to collect our luggage. When Ellen discovered that the edge of her hard sided suitcase had a large gash, they escorted us to the baggage claims area where Ellen filled out the paperwork and was given a new suitcase right there in the airport.
We met Simona, our tour guide for today and Thursday and piled onto the bus with the assistance of the men from the airport and set off for a bus tour of Stockholm.

Things we learned.

Stockholm is made up of 14 islands.
There are 46 parks in Stockholm.
The population of Sweden is 10 million with 2 million in Stockholm.
Stockholm is the fastest growing city in Europe. Most of this is due to Swedes moving into Stockholm from small villages looking for jobs.
Apartments in Stockholm cost about $13,000. per square meter so a studio apartment would cost around $150,000 and an average sized villa (house) is usually around $500,000.
Sweden is encouraging its citizens to go green and use public transportation. There is a fee to drive a car into Stockholm and one when it is driven out of the city.
51% of the land in Sweden is forest.
In the winter the sun sets around 2:30 p.m.
Vacation time is 5 weeks per year for most people. If you are over 40 you can take 7 weeks.
Swedes have a saying, “There is no bad weather only bad clothing.”
In government, there is no limit on the number of times the Prime Minister can be elected. An election is usually a vote of confidence.
Taxes cover almost everything as far as medical and education.
All movies are shown in their original language.
The pavements of downtown are heated. This was installed in the 1950’s

We passed by many places and buildings on our bus tour. The bus moved so quickly that I didn't get to take pictures of everything. I did manage to get photos of The Royal Dramatic Theatre, The Royal Palace and The Royal Opera House. Simona did point out a hotel on one of the islands that once was a prison. She said the workers now wear stripped uniforms and hats.

I did a little research looking for restaurants in the neighborhood for dinner. The Blue Door looked to be the best option. Linda H. knocked on our door to see what we were doing for dinner. I mentioned this restaurant. She had asked for recommendations at the front desk and they said that Bla Dorren was a very good option. It turns out that Bla Dorren is Blue Door in Swedish and we were talking about the same restaurant. Eight of us gathered in the lobby for the two block walk to dinner. It was the best dinner we have had so far. Tomorrow is our walking food tour of Stockholm. Hope it is as good as our dinner we just ate.

The tour ended at the Hilton Stockholm Slussen, our hotel for the next three nights. After checking in and going to our room, I was feeling antsy and needed to walk. I called everyone to see who was up to going down by the water. It started out with the three Lindas, Evie, Mom and me. We got a little turned around trying to find the way to get to the water and by the time we found it Linda K. had returned to the hotel. The walkways and paths are marked like they were in Copenhagen with lanes for cars, bikes and pedestrians. The three don’t really mix. We walked for about an hour and headed back to the hotel.