Stockholm

Last week we went to Stockholm as an addend to a necessary work trip for Nick. Though we were greeted by warmth and sunshine upon landing, the following days were filled with fits of damp, blustery greyness. Nevertheless we managed to soothe our disappointment with plenty of top-notch meals, creative cocktails, and fantastic coffee. Stockholm being an archipelago, time on and near the water was a must. Inadvertently we ended up on an outer island for an hour or so as we awaited a ship back to the city. Good thing Nick raised the semaphore or we may have been knocking on a vacationing stranger's door begging a night's lodging. On the bright side, had that happened, every Swedish person we encountered was friendly and met with their reputation for speaking fluent, unaccented English. Each familiar "Hej!" brought an odd sense of having been transported to an American establishment trying to pull off a Swedish theme. They're infatuated with American culture, so if you're ever in the mood to travel outside the North America but don't want to worry about the language or feel too out of place, Sweden is there for you.