Swedish Archipelago and arriving in Stockholm!

Well we spent one night with some friends we met in Egypt 7 years ago at their summer home in the Swedish Archipelago. It is a series of some 24,000 islands all with beautiful little painted houses. Below are some pictures of their home and from the boat ride into Stockholm.

One of the guest houses, where I slept. Yes there were flowers on the roof...

Boat dock with "Tim" waiting for us.

A tour of the neighboring islands and homes.

The town where they get their groceries and go out to dinner sometimes.

Evil bird island... Island has been overrun with birds and their poop kills the vegetation...

Returning to their own island
{that they share with only two other families... huge 5 acre property surrounded by water!}

Sunset in the Archipelago.

One of their two pups, "Ben".

Wonderful dinner in the main house.

Amazing wildlife all around!

Mom and Eva on their boat on our way back to Stockholm.

Dad and Klaus getting ready to head out on the water.

Welcome to Stockholm!

Pulling up on their boat to our hotel {The big pink one with the flags}... The Grand Hotel, Stockholm.

Helsinki Part II

Here are some more!

We went to the new music center that was recently finished for a light lunch.

LUNCH {the smallest sandwich ever.. but yum! pesto, cheese, lettuce & cucumber}

The older music center called Finlandia Hall, that was designed by Alvar Aalto in 1971. We couldn't tour inside because Alison Krauss was in town and they were preparing for her concert that night. I would have loved to go but the tickets were sold out and I actually saw her last summer.

Stuffed Rudolf's cousin.

Finnish San Jose sharks fan?? 

Inside the beautiful train station.

Train station exterior sculptures. 

Statue in front of Stockmann {largest department store in Finland- woo!}

Helsinki, Finland

Here are my photographs from Helsinki. We visited a market place our first day, then continued sight seeing and visiting the various attractions! My mom's heritage is 100% Finish so this was really fun to see after so many years of hearing about her life with her parents who spoke finish and her grandmother who didn't speak a word of english!

Mom trying on some fur in the market.