Babymoon 2014- Stockholm, Sweden

One (of the many) things we were sad about having to stay in Dubai for the summer was our annual temple visits.  Our ward here had started planning a trip to the Kiev, Ukraine temple back in March, but then all the civil unrest started up and so it was cancelled.  A few days before school ended, Nate got an email from one of the airlines advertising cheap flights to Scandinavia, and there are several temples up there, so we started looking into it.  Things fell into place pretty easily, so we booked ourselves a little kid free sight seeing and temple trip.  The cooler weather also sounded pretty appealing!  

However, true to form, we had a few glitches.  We had a really short connection in Amsterdam, and we barely made our flight.  Unfortunately, our luggage was not so lucky.  We also knew it would be cooler in Stockholm, which we were looking forward to, but they were having a freak cold spell - temperatures were around 10-16 degrees Celcius - which is in the upper 40's and low 50's Fahrenheit.  I had packed my jacket in my suitcase, not our carry on (as Nate suggested...), and only had sandals for my feet.  With the windchill, and occasional rain, as well as my much slower current speed, it was COLD!!!  We had high hopes that our bags would be on the next flight and would be delivered to our hotel in the early afternoon, but it turned out the estimated delivery time was between 7-9 p.m.  The airline said we could go buy jackets and get reimbursed, so we found out where a shopping mall was near our hotel.  Again, true to form, we were traveling on a holiday weekend (Midsummer), and everything was closed, so after we walked the few blocks to the mall, we found out our efforts were wasted, and we were still cold.  So back to the hotel we went, and were told of one other place we could try - a combination grocery/department store a few blocks in the other direction.  Nate was a good man, and ventured out on his own while I stayed in the warm hotel room, and he found a couple of jackets for me - but nothing for him.  He did have a pullover that he was wearing so we were able to venture out late that afternoon and start exploring, but a lot of that first day was kind of a bust.

We made it down to the Old Town, and were able to get in to the Nobel Museum for about 45 minutes before it closed, but that was enough.  And turns out that in that frozen north, the sun never really goes down in the summer - we were back at the hotel around 10 and it was just dusk, and when I woke up in the night around 3, it was still kind of light outside!

We started our second day at Drottningholms Slott - palace, where the royal family of Sweden lives, on Lake Malaren.  The blue skies in the background came and went, and we had moments were one jacket was enough, but a few where two barely did the job:)

After a nap, we ventured back out and found the Vasa Museum - a ship built in the 1600's sank on its maiden voyage, only 1000 feet from the port, and after 300 years under the water, it was finally raised and preserved and they build a museum around it.  It's pretty impressive.

The greenery everywhere, and the fresh air were a nice change from the sand and desert and dusty air in Dubai - and I do love rain, just not so much when it comes with a wind chill factor!

We also found the Fotographic Museum that was open a bit later than most, so we found our way there, and were happy that the second floor exhibit was much more interesting that the 2 weird ones on the first floor!

One of the staples of Nate's diet, and mine when I am pregnant, is ice cream, but it's expensive in Dubai, and often a little crystally as it has melted and re-frozen, so we enjoyed a lot of fresh Ben & Jerry's during our trip...

The old court house - it took us forever to find, and we found out that we took the most circuitous route possible after getting directions from several different people.  I reached the end of my abilities and took a little rest while Nate went over to find out about tours.  We scheduled a boat ride around the islands, which turned out to be kind of a disappointment, nothing like the canal tours we were comparing it to from Amsterdam.

We decided to take the trip up the bell tower instead of the guided tour of the building, and got some great views, and a brisk, refreshing breeze as we passed the windows of the tower on our way up and down.

Then, it was time to head out to the suburbs to the temple.  We were staying in the patron housing, and weren't really sure what to expect there.  It was a rainy train ride, and when we got to our stop, it was still raining, and we weren't sure how far away the temple was.  The directions Nate got in the train station said about a 5-10 minute walk, so we grabbed our suitcases and umbrella and headed off.  We hadn't gone very far when I looked up and was so happy to see Moroni peeking through the trees!  It was so close.  The patron housing was like a hotel - we had our own room and bathroom instead of it being dormitory style/gender segregated like some temples have, so it was great.

We spent the next day at the temple, and then walked back across the road to the small shopping center to find dinner.  We went back one more time on our last full day, then headed back into Stockholm for the afternoon, and our flight back to Dubai the next morning.

The kids did great with Calista for a couple of nights, and a friend from church's niece for a few nights, and had fun playing with their friends from church, and swimming at their neighborhood pool.  All was well when we arrived home, and even though I knew I would not be when I said it, that I would be so happy to get back to the heat and be warm, we survived the chilly temperatures and rain, and got home ready to get into our summer routine of no routine!