Stockholm Sweden

I don't think it hurt any of our feelings to say goodbye to the Poesia, although Greg may have shed some tears after he said yes to the taxi's right waiting by the exit instead of calling for an Uber.  We were definitely hosed by both drivers at 5 times the price of an Uber but we got to the train station and sent Mack and Sophia off to the airport shuttle so they could start their journey home. The rest of us crammed our bags into storage lockers at $50 an hour, add in my $1 trip to the bathroom and we recognized Sweden was going to be spendy.

Emily had planned our day with the first stop at the City Hall Tower but unfortunately, the tower tickets were sold out so we just wandered the grounds enjoying the geese, swans, and views.

The Royal Palace had large sections open to the public so we enjoyed looking around.

We found St. Andrew in the adjoining chapel.

The streets and shops of the old city were packed but lovely.

We made a bit of a trek to get over to Meatballs for the People for lunch and on the way we saw a squirrel in a cemetary, we will take the mammals however they come.

We could have ordered bear or moose meatballs but stuck with pork, beef, and mix of the two.  We were expecting classic Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes, gravy, and lingonberries, but an order mix up gave us spaghetti and meatballs instead.  Still delicious but not quite what we were expecting.

We caught a but over to the Vasa Museum.  With limited time we weren't able to stop at the Nordic Museum but I admired the architecture on our way by.

Natali didn't have a ticket to the Vasa Museum and had already been there so we said goodbye as she left for her own solo European adventures.

The Vasa was finished in 1628 and sunk 1,400 yards (less than a mile) into her maiden voyage where she sat on the bottom of the ocean in brackish water for 333 years .

The Vasa is the best-preserved 17th century ship.

This is what she would have looked like in 1628.

It was a chilly 64 degrees in the museum too help preserve the boat.

We had a lovely walk back towards the old city through another cemetery

and by the harbor where we found a licorice rope vendor.  We tried four flavors best to worst: mango, peach, blue raspberry, rainbow.  Expecting rainbow to taste like rainbow AirHead strips we were disappointed to discover that one was filled with bubble gum flavored cream - a big fail.

A cinnamon bun and churros on our way back to the train station filled our tummies as we caught the AirPort Express and enjoyed wifi and a break for our feet.

The kids enjoyed hamburgers at the airport and were fascinated by this talking robot that would lead you to additional seating.

A quick flight to Finland landing after 9:00pm made it a late night when we arrived at our hotel in Kouvola, 90 minutes from Helsinki.  Seeing a moose, some deer, and discussing how many raccoons can fit in your butt kept us all awake.

Steps: 23, 910

Floors: 19

 Interesting Facts:

-The population of Stockholm is 2.5 million, Helsinki 1.6 million, Oslo 1.5, Copenhagen 1.3 million (explaining why Stockholm felt so much busier than our other stops)

-Stockholm is built on 14 islands, hence it's nickname the "Venice of the North"

 (our flight to Finland was over islands almost the whole way)

Sweden is the home of the Nobel Prize, ABBA, Swedish Meatballs, Pippi Longstocking, the world's first Icehotel, invention of the computer mouse, and IKEA.

As far as raccoons in the butt the internet gives me different answers:

1. This is a hypothetical and nonsensical question. It is not possible or safe to fit raccoons in any part of the human body.

Raccoons are wild animals that can weigh up to 20 pounds and measure up to 38 inches long. The human rectum, the part of the digestive system that is closest to the anus, is only about 8 inches long. 

Therefore, it is physically impossible to fit any raccoons in the human rectum. Additionally, attempting to do so would be extremely dangerous and could result in serious injury or death. Please do not ask questions that are nonsensical or harmful.

2. A human butthole can be stretched up to 17cm in diameter, a raccoon can fit through a 9cm hole. So you could stick up almost 2 raccoons up your butt.

Riga Latvia

Wednesday's forecast predicted late morning rain so we headed out early to see Riga before the worst rain hit.  Unfortunately, Andrew was in even more pain and his face looked terrible but he took some ibuprofen for the pain and we hit the road.  We even managed to walk with Mack and Sophia for a little bit before they went off on their own.

We were all carrying jackets and raincoats ready for the rain but in the meantime we were overly warm - a nice feeling for a change.

The city was absolutely asleep at 7:30 when we started wandering.  We had the town to ourselves. 

Which was fun but also means I can't remember what any of these building are.  I believe the one above was an outer wall to a palace but I can't find proof to verify that 🤷.

St. Jacob's Catholic Cathedral of Riga, identified on line.

The Three Brothers Latvian Museum of Architecture was closed but the three houses looked pretty cool.

Our Lady of Sorrows Church.

This unique structure was set up in front of St. Peter's church and had swings, benches and large mirrors so you could take fun selfies like these ones.

Who needs an armadillo sculpture?

Natali informed us that Riga was famous for being a cat city in part because of the The Cat House.

Built in 1909 with a cat on each turret.

Sculpture based on the Brother Grimm story, the Bremen Town Musician, said to bring good luck if their noses are rubbed.

A little break while we decide what to do with everything closed until 10 or later.  

The market is open so we head out again and are happy to see our first Latvian mammals...rats...well okay maybe not that excited but we are Easton's so we take a picture and count it.

Riga's Central Market's first impression was fishy, literally so much fish.  The kids were ready to take off but Natali discovered that the fish was all in one building so we skipped that one and moved onto the next.  Can you say pastries?! We all picked out different treats and were very happy, especially Emily with her meringue.  

However, Lily didn't want pastries (how can she be my child?) so we found her some blackberries instead.

I loved all the flowers lining the pathways, they smelled so good.

We headed back toward the main part of the city and I desperately needed a bathroom.  

Luckily we found a pay for use one by the Latvian Academy of Sciences.  It was in the top 10 grossest bathrooms I've ever used, but when you've got to go, you've got to go.

The Yellow Church of Riga, an orthodox wooden church built in 1825.

The Riga Great Choral Synagogue Holocaust Monument displays what remains of the Great Choral Synagogue build in 1871 and the largest synagogue in Riga before it was burned down on July 4th, 1941 three days into the Nazi occupation of Latvia. Other synagogues across the city were also burned that day resulting in the deaths of over 400 Jews.

The somber location honored the many Latvian Jews lost in the Holocaust.

Natali then led us to another cat image of Riga, or so she thought.  You can't fool the Easton's - that's no cat.

But this is a cat...a friendly collared and well mannered cat who recieved 15 minutes of abundant attention while we basked in the strangeness of the fox on the wall.

"Born For Freedom", as AI later informed me, was created by a father and son team and made of steel, rope, and glass.  It was built as a protest of the fur industry.

We spent a few hours at the Riga Ghetto and Holocaust in Latvia Museum learned all sorts of new things.  

The Riga ghetto was home to Jews from Latvia, Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Lithuania, and Moravia during WWII, most of them were eventually massacred. 

We also read about the SS St. Louis incident of 1939, where 907 Jews sailing from Hamburg, were denied entry into Cuba, then the US, and forced back to Europe to land in Antwerp, Belgium.  Tragically, many of them had to return to their countries of origin and at least 254 were killed in the Holocaust.

After that solemn education we needed to find some joy so we stoped at Crumble Cake and tried a traditional apple cake and a lemon cream cheese cake.  Both were fabulous and we enjoyed eating them outside where the rain had yet to start falling in spite of predictions that it could start any minute.

We went back to St. Peter's church to go up the tower but we decided it was too expensive so we went in search of lunch instead and Lily found a sleeping kitty.

We found a lovely place outdoors, but covered to eat lunch and finally got to try potato pancakes.  It was sort of like a hash brown but with sour cream and lingonberry jam on top - super yummy. 

The beetroot soup was less appealing and tasted more like radish soup to me, but the pumpkin soup was delish.

One of the best parts of Riga was the gorgeous flowers all over town.  Every store front, restaurant, and home seemed to have flowers blooming along the street.

Rigas Ratslaukums, or Town Hall Square, is a cobbled 13th century market square including the famous House of Blackhead seen behind us.  

At this point Andrew was in a lot of pain again and we were all waring out.  We needed some gelato to get us moving back to the boat for nap time.

The rain waited for us to get back on the boat, for which we were grateful because everyone still had rooms filled with wet items, especially shoes.  

We enjoyed our last night on the boat doing ballet leaps down the hall, playing a geography game in our room, raiding the buffet, and packing our bags.

Our show for the evening was the best of the week with illusions, tricks, glow in the dark hula hoops and areal silks.  It was a nice way to end.

Our last night of trivia was less impressive with only 5/10 but I felt good getting the correct answer to, "Which musical has been the longest running on Broadway?" Phantom for the win.

Last midnight pizza run.

Steps: 20,163 

Interesting Facts:

Nothing in Riga opens til 10.

Riga is the largest city in the Baltic States.

Tens of thousands of Jews were deported to Riga during the Holocaust.

21 Synagogues were destroyed in Riga on July 4th, 1941.