Laundry and Shopping

Another bottle of wine tonight. Boy does Pete like wine, so again I'll try and keep this brief no matter how much my fingers keep typing. Today we started with the mundane, a load of laundry. The washing part takes much longer than the dryer, pretty much the opposite of the states. We took a nice long walk, but nothing was open. We did manage to get shaving cream, a necessicity at a grocery store. Our next stop, after laundry and showers, was the Silja line. We wanted to see if we could get a cruise to Helsinki and back. It turns out that they did have rooms left, which was perfect. We also considered going to Visby the capital of Gotland, but that trip would have involved more travel and more of a hassel with our bags. The cruise allows>us more time to explore Stockholm and gives us a full day in Helsinki and a fun ship ride both ways. We are going to try the smorgesbord tomorrow night and the sauna, which apparently is a must do probably in the morning. I think morning times are free on this line. I'm glad we were able to get on the ship. It'll be fun now that I'm not as tired as I was at the beginning of our trip. Once we got that settled, we headed to the Vassa museum. For those of you who don't know, the Vassa was kind of like the Titanic, only not as many people died, it was a lot earlier and it didn't make it as far. I believe the date was 1625. Don't quote me, but it was definitely in the 1600s. The ship was top>heavy and it fell over and sank before it got out to see. It took 300 years to get the ship up. They were able to do it and preserve the ship almost completely. It's quite a site. The exhibits are wonderful and are all in English and Swedish and some are in other languages as well. They have a great film in English with French subtitles, or you can watch it in Swedish with English subtitles or a variety of other ways. We went with the English with French subtitles, but I found myself reading the French and seeing how much I remembered. Shockingly, I still remember quite a bit. We were so engrossed in the museum, that I was about to faint of hunger at 2pm. So we ate at the restaurant inside, which was actually fabulous. I had lime leaf soup, the consistency of creamy potatoe soup. It was quite tastey and a good temperature since I was freezing. I had decided to keep my jacket at the hotel for the first time and wouldn't you know, it was the one day I really needed it all day. Ah>well. Lesson learned. Drag it no matter what. Pete>had Swedish meatballs with Ligonberries and potatoes. I had a taste and it was worth the price as well. The most impressive part I think involves the wooden representations of the crew and the work. My dad would absolutely LOVE the craftmanship and the woodworking involved in this museum. It's the one thing I would HIGHLY recommend in Stockholm, though so far Stockholm far surpases Oslo by FAR. Pete's feet were killing, but he allowed me to do a bit of shopping while he sat at various benches. There are plenty of sales or REAs for the end of summer. I found a dress(perfect for the ship and some dancing), 2 skirts and a going out shirt. Katie, Katherine, Elaina, Chava and all my going out friends, you should have been there with me. I found something each of you would like, but I wasn't sure of sizes, otherwise I'd have taken them with me :). The dress goes nicely with the shoes I picked up in Bergen. I told myself all the shopping was worth it and it was because everything I picked up today was cheaper than I'd get in the States. We had dinner on the way back and yes we shared a bottle of red wine and yes, I still have to go to the bathroom...I probably won't be able to email again until our last day before we head back to the states and reenter real life.