swedenusa

This is a story about our last part of our vacation trip to the US. I suppose this is the part that goes FROM the US. We flew KLM which means a layover at Amsterdams airport. I was unable to sleep at all on the plane ride over the Atlantic, which is really bad for jetlag! Some day I will blog about my tips for avoiding the worst jetlag, but not now. We arrive in Amsterdam around 7 am only to find out that our flight to Stockholm won´t leave until 2pm!

7 hours at the airport is a drag so we decided to get us som Euro (the currency they use in Holland) and find a way to go downtown Amsterdam. Even though I think Amsterdam´s airport is one of the nicest I have been to.

This is a town we have never been to so why not check it out. The train ride round-trip from the airport costed 12 euro for the two of us. Not bad considering we get to see a totally new town in a totally new country.

Our experience in Amsterdam was double edged. The canals and the artitecture were all so beautiful. The bakery had wonderful sandwiches and sweetbread. The coffee is to die for! Tourist shops were everywhere with little souvenirs and flowers. We walked by the flower market and looked with awe how the Dutch park their cars inches from the canal edge without any markers or protective railings. The cable cars were charming (watch out though Sam was almost run over!).

On the other hand it was raining a lot. We learned quickly that we were NOT looking for coffee houses but bakeries to have our coffee and it was pretty dirty in different ways. The maps of the town costed several euros and we were approached by homeless people several times. They were very helpful and functioned like tourist information guides and then asked for some change. So instead of buying the costly map of Amsterdam, which we would only use once we bought targeted information for some change and we got a friendlier smile than from the tourist information store.

We headed back to the airport and caught our flight to Stockholm. Sam was stopped by a customs officer in the gate as we exited the plane. They wanted to know if he had been to Amsterdam. I suppose he was unshaved and was very tired from jetlag. They let him go when they found out he was an American and had just flown in from the US.

So would we ever return to Amsterdam? I don´t think so, but I sure would like to see other parts of Netherlands. I have a feeling it is not all like Amsterdam!!??

Well… thank you Sam for coming up with this blog where all of you helped me pick my glasses. Sort of embarassing but hey what´s done is done.

I went to the store to order my glasses and I picked the top two in the pictures. Most people seemed to like my own favorite the one with silver and black frames. Those I HAD to get. The second pair was more difficult. I had to try a few new ones in the store. But I felt obligated to stick with the ones I had picked from the beginning. The second pair I found the exact same frames with blue detailing instead of the green line. It was the last one in the store…

In a week and a half I will have 3 glasses to misplace in our little apartment! (Sam will announce the winner)

My how time flys! Almost 5 years ago, Mirjam was told she needed glasses. So, today we went to the eye doctor and found out that her eyesight really hasn’t changed in the last 5 years. But we decided to change her glasses anyway. (They were so 2002.) However we had SUCH a difficult time at the store trying to choose the frames . The decision seems so permanent. The glasses that she chooses are going to be sitting on her face all day long, every day!

So I have decided to reach out to our community (that’s you dear readers) in hopes that you can lend a little fashion advice. Kindly, tell us which pair of glasses suits my wife the best. It took quite a bit of cajoling to get her to agree to this, but we are going to review your responses carefully and really take your opinions to heart. 

Oh, and because you all tend to respond well to bribery, I will send chocolates to the person who picks her glasses. (If there are more than one, we will do a drawing between the winners.) Here are the four possibilites in no particular order… 

for more pics click here

Our last stop on our road trip in June was Denver Colorado. The plans had been for us to spend a night there and have a couple of days in town but we had only about 3 hours.

We went to the capitol where the governor was about to have a pressconference, walked through the mall and ate at a really cool local restaurant. Went up to the top floor of some hotel and saw the view of the mountains and then jumped back into the car. I think we left at about 2 pm and arrived in Minneapolis at about 5 am the next morning.

Denver was nice and clean, people were friendly. I didn´t see one Buffet and I can´t remember seeing any powerlines (as opposed to Springfield which I discovered is the capital of buffets and powerlines).

And that is the end of our road trip. We didn´t get to see any aliens in Roswell but we did see their ship!

“Release me” a song by a group from Stockholm. I first heard the song in a car commercial. I hate car commericals. Generally speaking, I hate commercials. I don´t like the stupid adds on the internet that follows on the screen as you scroll down. But I do like the song. There is something that is powerful about it. Sort of reminds me of who we are. Growing, forceful, capable to create a movement.

What ever happened to movements? They say most movements and organisations are loosing members, such as the Red Cross etc. This new generation that we are don´t organize, don´t come together to change things. Too individualized. Everyone fighting in vain for our own causes, our own rights, our own privilliges. Someone even told me that something as simple as singing in choirs are decreasing. We want to be alone on stage, shining as one idol, not share it.

Our unique growing force, movement can help create something so much bigger. “I am a tree reaching for the sun”. Release me… but not into a vacuum of selfishness but into a force much larger than myself. What would any great leader be without the movement that followed? What kind of catastrophy is close at hand because I am following in a dull movement without thinking about where we are going?

Release me… into the force that brings forth life, hope, peace, and all that is real. “I am a glas of water longing for the ocean”. But… I keep stopping me…

The commercial: http://www.reklammusik.se/?q=node/644

The band: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjQXMZe2ouk

Our last night in Alququerque we went up one of the mountains north east of the downtown area. You ride the tram for 2,7 miles making it the longest in the world.

On our way to the top the tram operator gave us a tour of the nature area that we were passing over. Telling us about how high up we were, how they built the thing and the trails that people can hike back down if you don´t want to catch the tram.

We had brought a picnic that we ate on the top. Others just went to the restaurant that serve food up on the peak of Sandia Mountain. I was afraid of running into black bears but this quickly changed towards the end of our few hours visit on the top.

There were huge rain and thunder clouds coming in from two directions. At first we just watched them from a far distance but they grew close very very fast. I think Shie got a good picture of the lightning.

As we made our decent the sun had set. In the desert land… that means cold… when the storm is all around you that means 49 degrees F or 9 degrees C. That is a huge change from the hot desert walk we did earlier looking at the petroplyphs that day. I was in shorts and a t-shirt and we had to wait outside for about 30 minutes for our tram since everyone was lining up to get back down after the sunset.

Just outside of Albuquerque you can find petroglyphs the native american form of hieraglyphs. Some of the petroglyphs are easy to decypher and look like animals or people for example while others are much harder to understand.

These can be found in different areas of the country but we went to the National Monument in New Mexico.

We went there on one of the hottest days. The sun was blazing and it was hot around the stones. Sweat was pooring down my back. I got dizzy on my way up the hill. Now remember… no humidity which was nice!

The water that we brought was gone by the time we came back to the car and the walk/climb only took about 20 minutes. The rocks were really interesting to look at. Some are several hundred years old others are more recent.

The views were also very beautiful and the landscape so different from what we are used to.

As we left Springfield to head our 12 hours west, the direction of hope for generations before us, we left the interstate highway to go a couple of hours on the famous route 66.

It takes a lot longer than the interstate but it is a beautiful drive and you get to see the little towns that ones benefited from all the travelers coming through. Not that I want to take another big road trip anytime soon, but I totally understand why some people go the whole historic 66. It would have been cool to stop and talk with people who remember they big times of old.

The highway used to go through Albeuqurque and there are some murials, signs and diners that celebrates the era. The desert, the cars, the adobe houses, the native americans, and the UFO (out of the picture).

Before we continue to write about our adventures through the land in the west, I would like to point out that we added a link to another blog. My brother and his wife is blogging now and it is all in English too! There are some fun pictures of mom by a giants table and more recently of my nephews birthday.

We named the link Blog Vicem

http://vicem.blogspot.com/