Girls Week

Sunday 2/20/11

Ellie and I woke up early to walk Daddy to the flybus.  He is headed to North Carolina for the week.   We haven’t told Ellie exactly where he is going since she would probably be on the plane with him.  After dropping him off we walked home and made a special pancake breakfast.  The rest of the day was a mix of catch up and girly girly.  We played tea party, dress up, baby dolls and painted nails.  Hopefully the rest of our girls week will be as much fun. 

Tuesday 2/22/11

Ellie and I decided we needed an adventure for the day.  Since Grandma and Papa House will be flying into Bromma Airport, we decided to figure out the best way to get them home.  After looking at the SL website, I thought we had a plan.  The green line and one bus later, we were at the Bromma Airport.  It was my first successful bus trip that I planned.  The airport is really tiny and you can even meet people at baggage claim.  Ellie was all prepared to wait until Grandma and Papa showed up.  She was so sad when we left without them. 

Waiting for Grandma and PaPa

Bromma Airport

Thursday 2/24/11

Today Ellie and I decided to try out the Bagel Street Café for breakfast.  We walked past it the a few weeks ago and had wanted to try it out.  We arrived about 9:30 to find out that they don’t open until 10 am.  I have not gotten use to the late starts for businesses.  After wandering around the neighborhood, we finally got a taste of bagel.  They are mainly a bagel sandwich place and only serve plain bagels but it tasted like home. 

Saturday 2/26/11

Today was the longest day.  Ellie just couldn’t wait for Daddy to be home tomorrow.  After he called to say he was getting on the plane the hours just dragged for her.  We went to the park to ice skate and after one turn around the rink she said, “Mommy, this just isn’t as much fun without Daddy.”  And she was done with ice-skating for the day.  Back at home we made Daddy a welcome home picture. 

Sunday 2/27/11

HE’S HOME!!!!!  Ellie and I were at the bus stop waiting when David hopped off the flybus.  Before he even had gotten his luggage set down to give Ellie a hug she was bubbling over with all the plans she had for the two of them.  After we got the luggage home it was like Christmas again with everything David had bought in Kinston.  Ellie was excited to help unpack all of the goodies from fruit snack to vitamins.  After unpacking it was off to the ice skating rink for some real fun.  

Home again, finally

I woke up to stillness.  Not what you want to wake up too when you are supposed to be on a train headed home.   David had been up for a while and knew the train had been stopped for at least one hour.  Ellie was awake also but our bunkmates were still asleep so we wandered out to the dining car.  The train had had a mechanical issue that was now fixed but they were having trouble getting enough “pressure” to get started again.  Unfortunately while power was off to the train the heating did not work and the water system froze.  Trains lose heat very quickly but they also warm up quickly.  The worst part was lack of bathrooms.  The water system only took a couple of hours to thaw.  After our long stop, we had quite a few minor delays on the rest of the trip home, most without explanation.  We ended up in Stockholm about 3 hours late. 

We had a couple of disappointments with the trip: not being able to go up on the chairlift and not seeing any Northern lights. We went back and looked at the SkyStations webcam and no Northern Lights were seen during our stay so at least we didn’t sleep through it. However, we had a wonderful trip and can’t wait to go back to the area next winter.  The scenery was breathtaking beyond words.  It was amazing to see how bright the moon and stars were.  Our pictures just don’t do the beauty justice.  It may be one of my favorite trips ever since it was so different than anything I have ever experienced. 

Reading to pass the time.

Back in Stockholm.

Sami camp, playmates and the Journey home

We woke up hoping that the chairlift would be operational so that we could at least see the view from the mountain but it was again too cold (-27C).  We again bundled up and headed out.  Ellie had fun making snow angels and climbing up snow drifts and sliding down.  The snow was way too dry to make a snowman but she tried. There was a recreated Sami village (Sweden’s native tribe) about 1 kilometer away that we walked too.  Ellie was our official snow remover so we could read the signs.   The Sami raised reindeer and followed their natural migration pattern so they would have been in the Abisko area mainly in the summer.  To keep from transporting all of their belongings, they built storage sheds that they kept seasonal items in during the migration.  We were okay as long as we stayed on the pathway, but several times David or I would step off and end up in knee deep snow.  Ellie was light enough that she didn’t plummet through. 

After two hours of exploring we headed back to the room to warm up and pack.  We again ate lunch in the dining room.  They served a yummy salad, bread and spaghetti made with moose.  It was delicious.  At 3:30 it was time to check out and get ready for the bus to pick us up.   We made it to the bus stop without any problems.  Ellie was fast asleep within 10 minutes of boarding.  It was a beautiful drive out.  The train was running a little farther north and so we were only on the bus about 2 hours.  In Kierna, we caught a train that would take us to our sleeper train.  About 10 minutes into the journey, the snowplow train leading us out got stuck on the tracks.  We had to wait about 25 minutes for it to get moving again.  Further into the journey we were stopped again waiting to pick up a second train that was having difficulties.  We had found a great group of people to talk with.  Leaving the hotel we met a German couple with a son 6 weeks younger than Ellie.  We ended up in the same train car and Ellie and the little boy, Nik had a great time playing.  The couple has been living in Sweden for three years and it was interesting to hear their thoughts on living in Sweden and medical care in Sweden compared to Germany.  She was a nurse and he was an anesthesiologist.  We also got some great travel suggestions.   Sitting in the same area was a refuge from Pakistan.   He was interesting to talk too and hear his perspective on moving to Sweden. 

We finally made it to Börden about 9:30.  Ellie and I were so glad to see our sleeper car.  Within half an hour we got ready for bed and were asleep.  Luckily, we had three Chinese bunkmates that were okay turning in early.   Ellie was tired enough that she slept straight through the night.

The view from our window.

Our hotel.

Ellie loved making snow angels.

Hiking up to Sami Camp.

David roaming off the path

Oops! Deep snow.

Ellie was the offical snow remover.

Walkng back through the woods.

Ready to find some warmth.

Arriving in the Cold

February 17, 2011

We awoke to a beautiful sunrise.  Passenger trains cannot run in weather colder than -30C because the water systems freeze.  We had to disembark in Börden and ride two buses the rest of the way – about 7 hours.  The first bus was a double decker bus and we rode up top.  It was an interesting perspective.  Ellie had a hard time with the concept that things were really bigger than she thought because we were higher up.  She thought the 30 foot tall trees were the size of Christmas trees you could put in your house.   We were able to see quite a bit of wildlife from the bus – 1 lynx, 1 moose and 4 caribou.  The hardest part of the bus adventure was food.  We were not prepared to feed Ellie and the bus only made one stop where we could pick up snack stuff.  Thankfully, David had gone to the dining car when it opened on the train and made sure we had a good breakfast. 

We arrived at Abisko at about 2:30.  After checking in and eating a quick ice cream snack, everyone took a nap so we would be ready for our late night adventure.  Ellie was very excited about the ladder bed (bunk) in our room.  She couldn’t wait to climb up and try it out. We ate dinner in the hotel dining room.   The food was excellent.  There was a starter of salad, bread, and smoky tomato soup.  The meal was dill lamb, lamb brisket in a red wine sauce, and potato pie.  We were all layered up and ready to go up the mountain.  Unfortunately, the chairlifts could not run in the cold weather either (less than -23C).  It was -34C (about -30F).  We decided since we were dress anyway we would go do some exploring.  We walked for about 1 hour looking at the stars and moon and hoping to see the lights.  Ellie walked for about ½ an hour before she gave out.  After an hour we were all very cold.  We headed back to the room and sat in the dark watching the night sky.  Our window faced north and also had a wonderful view of the frozen lake.  We slept with the curtains open and David got up periodically during the night to check for Northern Light activity.  David and I were pretty disappointed about not being able to go up on the mountain but Ellie’s natural enthusiasm made us smile.  She had a great time seeing snow, riding a train and two buses and sleeping in a ladder bed.  She thought the day was a great success. 

Moving to the bus.

Ellie (and Mommy) crashed on the bus ride.

Amazing wildlife -Caribou

Ellie's "ladder" bed.

Off to the Arctic

We are off to the Arctic Circle.  They are forecasting temps in the -20C.  I hope we have enough layers.   This will be our first overnight train adventure in Sweden.   We headed off to T-Centralen and wandered around trying to find platform four.  It was “wellmarked” since the building in under construction.  We found the train with minutes to spare and ended up running the last leg.  Ellie was so excited.  She just couldn’t imagine how you could sleep on a train.  Our bunkmate was a 20 something guy from Japan who had quit his job and was touring Europe.  Ellie was so excited to explore the train and to watch the scenery go by.  We even went through a couple of tunnels which made Ellie feel better since she thinks all trains should run underground. 

At bedtime we got our bunks set up and Ellie snuggled right in and went to sleep.  She only woke up once during the night for a bathroom break.  We had two more bunk mates join us about 11pm and she slept right through them getting settled. 

Train Bunks

Hallway outside our cabin.

Transportation Museum

Today we went to the transportation museum.  Not surprisingly, the SL system had put a bus stop at the front door.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a museum that details the history of public transportation in Stockholm but we had an amazing time.  It was very kid friendly.  There was a small train that you rode though the museum, you could try your hand at driving a subway train, stamp train tickets in the teller booth and Ellie’s personal favorite – tables of brio trains and track.  There were real buses and subway cars from each decade that you could climb aboard.  It was amazing to see how they changed from the beginning to now. 

Boats were the first form of public transportation in Stockholm

Horse drawn public transportation.

Ellie's favorite.  She couldn't reach so she climbed on up.

Example of buses from the 1960's

Trolly