Day 1 - Stockholm
We will be very hard-pressed to return to economy class for any long-haul flights now that we have tasted comfort.  Both Air NZ and Lufthansa provided us with charm, courtesy, comfort and cuisine to make our 2  X 11 hour and 1 X 2 hour flights pleasant experiences allowing us to disembark and find our way to the Stockholm CBD with relative ease. The only snag was that the hotel had no record of our booking. However when Peter produced documentation showing our booking and payment, they allowed us to sleep there for 1 night. We had to get back to our agent to allow us to stay the next three. We thought we had escaped jet-lag as well arising for breakfast at our hotel well-refreshed. We were taken aback to find the restaurant closed. Humm. It was 4.15am. Hard to tell in broad daylight. We're 3 days off their longest day so there is no night, just overcast.
The first port of call after breakfast was to the Isite to collect our hop-on-hop-off cards which we had purchased in NZ. Not an easy task as they are re-building the CBD (aren't we all?) So what looked simple on mapsme turned out to be a long trek with many twists, turns, up hill and overbridge. After a couple of domestics, we staggered in and procured the tickets. I had noted nearby coffee shops en route so they restored the harmony. And on we hopped. It was bitterly cold and raining so we were most grateful for the shelter as well as the English commentary. I suspect it is all very picturesque but in those conditions it was hard to tell. The bus windows reacted adversely to our breathing too which compounded the problem.
Suddenly we stopped at the Vasa Museet which Peter had mentioned on his must-see list so we dashed out into the cold over to this amazing museum. At least the rain had stopped by then. Just in case you don't know the story, the Vasa was a warship launched in 1628 by the exceedingly proud war-faring Swedish King. The launch was accompanied by grand pomp and ceremony to see the Vasa out to terrify the enemy. And so she did for a full 23 minutes  until a puff of wind filled her sails and tipped her over to sink to the bottom where she remained until she was discovered in 1961 and brought to the surface. She is a time capsule from 1628 with her 40,000 artifacts and considered the world's biggest jigsaw puzzle standing as high as a four storied buiding.  She is 98% original with her 700 sculptures. I'm sure Peter will be putting a photo journal on fb. The museum was built expressly around her. It is well worth the whole trip just to see her.
The remainder of the afternoon paled into insignificance so we hopped on another bus (after an hour's wait) and returned to our hotel to ascertain whether we had a bed for a second night. Ah eureka, all is well. We can stay on. So then back to the City Station to return the simcard Peter had bought this morning. It was the wrong one - a splendid reason for its malfunction. By then our 4.15 start was taking its toll, so we fell into an Italian restaurant for re-fuelling and Peter is now snoring loudly in our room filled with sunshine, at 8.15pm. An excellent day!!!!