The Vlach Six: Cruising the Baltic Sea: Stockholm and Helsinki

After my special trip to Paris and Boulder, I hopped a flight to Stockholm. While I was on a layover in London, Rob, my dad, Ning and all four kids flew directly from Lux to Stockholm. Our flights landed in Sweden within an hour of each other -- we couldn't believe it actually worked!!

Stockholm
While my dad and Ning checked into their hotel, we taxied over to our Airbnb in a cool downtown area of Stockholm called Vasastan (nicknamed Little Paris for its architecture), which was owned by a florist named Ninni -- we adored her! Rob took the kids to a nearby playground while I took an hour to rest from US jetlag.

In front of our Stockholm rental home.

My sisters and I must have worn this jackets as babies. I found it in my mom's things!

Then we all met up with my dad, Ning, and my lovely Swedish childhood friend, Linda Murray, at the Grand Hotel's Veranda for a traditional Smorgasbord. We sat overlooking Stockholm's beautiful view of the waterfront and Royal Palace. It was much more than a meal...really an experience! To be there with my dad brought my beautiful childhood memories of Sweden into focus. Linda guided us through Swedish customs as we drank house-made beer and Aquavit with caviar, herring, lingonberries, meatballs, anchovies, salmon, elk and so many other traditional foods. Man, I'm not sure there's anything that delights me more than seeing my four kids licking their fingers as they eat pickled fish like it's a pig-in-a-blanket or Kraft Mac-n-Cheese.

A traditional Swedish smorgasbord at the Grand Hotel.

Eating from Pippi Longstocking tableware.

The next morning, all the ladies went to Junibacken, a playland bringing Astrid Lindgren's (author of Pippi Longstocking) characters to life in such a whimsical, imaginative and FUN way. We met Linda, her two daughters, and her mother, Christina at the playhouse, then met up with all the boys for lunch...they came from the the Swedish History Museum, where they studied Viking artifacts.

Linda gave the kids GORGEOUS Easter eggs filled with traditional Swedish treats!

Before we knew it, we were saying goodbye, packing up and meeting at the Princess Anastasia cruise ship, operated by the St. Peterline. We walked into the ship's lobby....a simple carpeted vestibule with elevators, and Charlie said, "Wowwww! This is FANCY." I love these kids. He went on to say this was his "Number One" several times -- his way of saying this was his favorite trip of all the trips we've taken as a family during our three years abroad.

Boarding!!!

We checked into our rooms. Madeline and Charlie shared; Bitsy and I were together and John and Rob were third in line with Poppa and Ning at the end of our hallway. We immediately went out onto the chilly deck to watch the beautiful Swedish archipelago -- 30,000 islands, skerries and rocks for 80km -- pass by our ship as the sun set.

Helsinki, Finland
The next morning, we docked in Helsinki, Finland! We walked through Senate Square -- the oldest part of the downtown -- and milled around an outdoor market by the south harbor where locals sold reindeer hide and antler, and had a fabulous Finnish lunch at Roster (wow). Afterwards, we ate Finnish cinnamon rolls at the Old Market Hall, which has been serving food since 1889. Then leisurely headed back to our cruise ship to relax before is disembarked; Rob even figured out how to use public transportation!

We went to sleep positively GIDDY that we would wake up in Russia!