Stockholm, Sweden Day 2

Our days in Stockholm were perfect for walking and believe me we did walk.  We started at 8:00 AM with a buffet in the Radisson Royal Viking.  I hate buffets!  How can a fellow look at eggs, bacon, tomatoes, sausage, toast, pancakes, cereal, croissants, fruit and juice and not collect enough food for several?!  No wonder I gained 5 pounds!  I quickly got adjusted to their coffee.  It tastes so strong you would think the spoon would stand up.  A little cream cured that issue right away.

Lunch was always eaten on the run.  We did sit down but finding a menu we recognized was not easy.  We sat in a place across the street from the Radisson trying to get an early dinner the day we arrived.  Service was so slow we left.  Guess where we ate?  McDonalds!  In fact we saw our fast-food restaurants through out our trip.  One thing you knew when you walked in was the menu.  And the consistency of a burger was right on.  Food is expensive but not nearly as costly as liquor.  Wine cost $7 and a martini $15.  We stuck with wine or nothing.

We vowed not to repeat our McD's visit but we were tired from the flights.  We flew from SAV to ATL, ATL to Paris, Paris to Stockholm.  Traveling east is the toughest for me.  Time of travel isn't as important as THE time of travel.  Getting on a plane at 6 PM and flying all night is wearing.  We were both restless even with a knockout pill from the doc.  We wound our watches ahead 6 hours upon arriving in Stockholm.  We left the house at noon and after adjusting our watch in Stockholm it was noon again!

Our mission in the morning was to locate a restaurant for dinner.  Di loves Italian so we located one nearby.  She had pasta Bolognese and I had a pasta dish with some heat.  More pepper than Grandpa Truce would pour on his pasta.  Thank goodness we had a bottle of red to wash it down!

Stadshuset - City Hall -- can be seen from miles away.  We saw the steeple and decided to walk to it.  Can you see the three Crowns at the top?  It is Sweden's heraldic symbol.  The tower is 348 feet tall.

It is Sweden's largest project of the 20th century.  Built in 1923 in Swedish National romantic style.  It contains 250 offices for city administrative staff.

How would you like to walk out an address a crowd from this height?

Outside detail at ground level of the building

Di is a great traveler.  When we saw the steeple yesterday we decided to find it by walking.

The Orpheus sculpture by Carl Milles at Konserthuset.  Orpheus is a legendary Thracian poet and musician whose music had the power to move even inanimate objects and who almost succeeded in rescuing his wife Eurydice from Hades.

Open air markets (Hotorget) are the thing in many cities.  A days food is bought fresh each morning.

 Flowers are beautiful and Di loves freshly cut ones.  The only reason she didn't buy a bunch was we were embarking on the Regatta that evening.

Now do really think that little life jacket is going to hold me up from sinking?

See, a skinny person has the same size as us fat folks!  What's with that?

We watched this rainbow for 20 minutes and I timed the arrival of the sail boat hoping it would turn out!  Does that mean the sailors have a pot of gold in their boat or is it a hole in the water where one pours money like all the rest?