july 2014 | Stockholm, Sweden

We took the boat into Stockholm.

Did a little walking tour around the city.... after which we had the BEST chicken caesar salad I have EVER had in my life.  Lunch for the three of us at a cafe was something like $60. Scandinavia is NOT cheep....everything is delicious though.

After lunch we went to see the castle-

 ^ lions everywhere

...a random government building- 

 and stumbled on this totally gorgeous, empty, totally round courtyard. Love the yellow.

In the later afternoon we headed to the museum area of town, and saw the Vasa, a 16th century ship that is 90% original. It was really cool, but my pictures wouldn't do it justice. I had never really heard about it before, but it was definitely a highlight / really cool / really impressive. 

This is the entrance to the former hunting ground of the King. It's a park now.

with crazy cool old houses-

We didn't really have enough time in Stockholm, but after saving up some money I would love to go back and explore more of the city.

That night was the USA- Belgium game, so we went to dinner then to watch the game at this awesome restaurant Josh found that was in an old cave (?) with no electricity and things like this on the menu-

 ^ You can eat a fairytale creatures, but even the "small" costs over $350.

We watched the game. USA lost. :(

This picture was taken at 1130 at night as we walked back to the hotel. 

july 2014 | Helsinki, finland

Helsinki. 

We saw quite a bit that I didn't take pictures of / I didn't feel like my pictures did justice to... like the Church of the Rock. Which, as you may assume, is basically a church carved into rock. It was really impressive and cool. 

Main square:

 I was in love with Uspenski Cathedral.  Because, how could you not be? It was SO gorgeous. 

 and one more picture, because I could not resist. 

^ aren't those clouds awesome, too?!

We walked thru the markets, ate an amazing lunch, considered eating reindeer (we didn't), looked at furniture stores, had a coffee, ate bahn mi... and I didn't take many pictures. It was a very low-key, chill day. We were back on the boat by that night, to sail to Stockholm! 

july 2014 | boat to Helsinki, finland

We took a boat to Helsinki. It was gorgeous.

 Group picture! :) (minus my Mom, the picture taker!)

 So much pretty!

 I stood on the deck watching, for a loooong time. Every little island was so pretty. Amazing. 

Our favorite Aunt Zina - a celebration is in order! We are so proud of her. She is the definition of ambition and perseverance. 

 ^ there were outtakes! haha

I asked Josh to take a picture of me on the boat. Since it was so pretty and all, and I was dressed up for the fancy dinner we went to later. 

 ^ this was the first picture Josh took. Brothers. I tell ya.

This one was better.

After dinner (arctic char is really good, btw!) we went to karaoke. Note that this picture was taken at 11pm, and the sun is still up. It never really goes down! It's so trippy.

 We sang "my achey breaky heart" ....and I don't think the people next to us understood. Look how completely unamused they are! We were having the most fun.... 

 ....along with the table next to us! They were Spanish, and convinced us to sing a spanish song with them. It sucked, but since we were the only people in the only place having fun.... it was fine. 

We got into Helsinki in the morning, and it was nice to wake up and just go explore the city. Boat travel is awesome like that. 

july 2014 | Helsingborg, Sweden part 2 / 2

 Did you know Sweden has beaches? I sure didn't. The water wasn't that cold, and the palm trees were a nice touch. I was bummed I didn't bring my swim suit- there were people swimming even at 10pm! 

We walked along the board walk after dinner, it was beautiful. You could clearly see into Denmark, which was cool.

july 2014 | Helsingborg,Sweden part 1 / 2

We took the ferry to Helsingborg, Sweden from Denmark- it took about an hour. The view was crazy pretty: 

After a quick shower at our hotel, we decided to take the bus into town for the afternoon and dinner.

 The town was beautiful.... I can never get enough of the old buildings!

 And the fact that around any corner you stumble onto something like this-

 Or this....

 which, when you climb to the top gives you this view....

july 2014 | copenhagen, denmark part 2 / 2

More Copenhagen pictures-

I always forget how many European cities are on the water with canals. Copenhagen is all bridges and channels... so pretty.

 ^ I LOVED this building. That roof! The architecture. Favorite.  It is the old train station. 

Government building:

^ I don't know what this animal is... but I love it! 

Copenhagen was super pretty- and very busy. We happened to be there the weekend of lots of high school graduations, and there were trucks of kids riding around the city screaming and celebrating with loud music and dancing.... it was awesome! What a cool tradition. 

july 2014 | Copenhagen, Denmark part 1/2

We got into Copenhagen realllyyy early,  and started our morning by going to Amalienborg, where the royal family lives... in the winter. Because naturally there is a summer home as well.

There are actually four of these buildings that all look exactly the same, and face each other.... one for each royal family member. I think it's ingenious. Why share a palace when you could each have your own?!

We laughed that we should see how many pictures we could get of kings on horses... because these statues are everywhere. Here are mom & Josh in front of one :)

We walked down by the water and I loved this old building. It used to be storage, for all the goods brought into the harbor, but now it's apartments. 

This is an english church, built for a Princess who married an English king. Pretty pretty!

.... and more Mom & Josh. We bought these snap peas- they were delicious. But Scandanavia is really, really expensive. These peas were like $8!