Day 7 - Journey to Stockholm

In all my years of traveling with my parents (since Ry was born), I don't think we've ever used a train to travel across a border. We've used the train within a few countries- Morocco, Vietnam, Japan, China...but never to get from one country to another. I wish we could do it more often, as I much prefer this option over flying when it's available.

Although it *may* take longer, it's often not much longer...as you don't have to get there 2-3 hours before departure to queue in immigration and get strip searched in security, delays are less likely and you don't have to travel to the often further-off international airport. So it ends up being a lot less stressful, and a lot more scenic as well.

This train travel was the dream situation- the central train station was only a 12-15 min walk away from our apartment. And because both countries enjoy very lax immigration policies- there was no immigration or security. We grabbed food and beverages from one of the many restaurants in the terminal, then strolled up to our platform about 2-3 minutes before the train pulled in, quickly found our assigned seats (Rich paid a hair more to get tables/more space) and stowed our bags right above us. The next 6.5 hours were quiet, picturesque and comfy, as there were no flight attendant carts blocking the aisles (since there was a bistro car in the next car over) and you could get up and stretch at anytime. Ry was even able to find a vacant set of seats and snoozed for an hour or two.

Our journey out of Sweden didn't take long, I think we were in Denmark within 30 minutes. Most of the route was the very rustic outdoors, and the further north we traveled, the colder it got.

The further north we traveled, the icier the lakes were...a fun sight for Hawaiian residents!

Getting to our Swedish digs was very similar to in Denmark...a 12-15 min walk through the heart of town, to a slightly more modern apartment that was even more spacious and better equipped.

The kitchen there was far more functional than the tiny, basic amenities we were offered in Denmark...but the home was likely a few hundred years newer. One thing we greatly appreciated after not having one? A microwave!

The apartment was also set back from the main street, so we enjoyed our first quiet night of sleep in days on very comfy beds I forgot to take a picture of. Although my parent's master bedroom was quite spacious with a tiny patio, our room was pretty standard, with the usual toe-breaking door jams and older, wooden floors. ;-) Whew! Can't miss those!

And best of all, we were right next to the BEST grocery store (Joey would argue that being next to The Churro House was better luck) I think I've ever shopped at while abroad- Coop! Not only did they have the standard, required aisle of endless candy bins, they also had a pretty cool salad bar that I used...four nights in a row? It was a teensy bit cheaper than Island Naturals (my Kona reference) and Whole Foods (my mainland US reference), so that was something given the cost of living. It was easier/cheaper to buy dinner most nights, than to actually cook something. In fact, I don't recall cooking more than one night there since everything was so much easier to get ready-made.

Our apartment was in a slightly quieter residential area, known for it's amazing restaurants and proximity to Gamla Stan. We were also steps away from a metro stop (super convenient, but in a city so compact, we never used it!) and a stone's throw from the coolest library (YES, even cooler than The Black Diamond!). We loved our Swedish digs for the next six days!