We could not possibly improve on yesterday’s experience in Bergen – so instead of trying, we left.
This trip has more locations than most of our Adventures. We extended the duration as much as we could and are still only going to a few of the many places on our Scandinavian wish list.
Our flight from Bergen to Stockholm today happened to be on Finnair and we realized with some regret that it will be the closest we’ll get to ‘Summer, the Finnish Way’ this year. Bummer but a reason to come back to this part of the world one day.
We arrived in Stockholm at midday with periodic thunderstorms and an under the weather Adventurer so we focused on settling into our apartment. We took the opportunity to catch the Spain vs Cape Verde World Cup Match. We are dependent on local tv so we’ve been watching previous games on mute since we didn’t understand the local Norwegian commentary. Today we found the game on a German version of Amazon Prime and decided to listen to the German commentary. Didn’t understand it any better, but it turns out that the voice inflections are the same as in English so a close miss or penalty controversy is pretty easy to recognize.
World Cup fever is everywhere. In every city we’ve been in so far, we’ve seen huge tents and outdoor areas set up for World Cup viewing parties. Denmark didn’t qualify and they had multiple huge areas set up for fans to watch games that take place at 9pm, midnight and 4am local time. Even the small city of Bergen had a tent set up that holds 1,700 people near the center of town.
We were hoping to watch a game for a national team while we were in that country but so far no luck.
Sweden played yesterday, we arrived today.
Norway plays tomorrow, we left today
Our last chance is the Netherlands game on Saturday which kicks off shortly after we arrive. At least they aren’t playing the US team. We rooted for the US against Panama sitting at a cafe in Panama City and it was awk-ward! So we don’t want to repeat that experience.
Since not much else happened today we can give you an update on the forgotten items shopping. CreeperKitty’s toothbrush was an easy fix, Mom had an extra. Toaster_ham was due for a new jacket soon anyway so a day one trip to Uniqlo solved his issue (and got him a puffy coat to match his sister, see below).
Mom picked up some deodorant at the local Apoteket (apothecary). They even had the European brand of her preferred US choice so no issue there. She hasn’t found sunglasses that she likes well enough to buy but picked up a hat yesterday at the convenience store to keep some sun off her face.
Suaram’s contact lenses took a little more time but did get figured out before we left Denmark. There was a chain optometrist called Synoptik that had a location not too far from our apartment. The internet said sometimes the chains will help you out even if you don’t have a European health access card. Mom and Suaram went to the shop to check it out.
1st hurdle – Were they willing to help a poor traveling teenager from the USA – Yes!
2nd Hurdle – Did they have her brand and prescription strength in stock – Yes!
3rd Hurdle – did the traveler have access to a prescription less than 1 year old – uhhhh whoops! Mom was 90% sure she could access the prescription easily with her phone so she hadn’t checked prior to going to the shop. Turns out the portal hadn’t been updated. Bummer, but also easily solved once the California time zone office opened later that day. A return trip to the shop the next day and the contacts were in hand.
Interestingly, since she only needed two weeks, they gave her the samples they get for diagnostic purposes. Those are marked ‘not for retail sale’ so they weren’t allowed to take any money for them. Problem solved and affordable too. Thanks internet.
We’ll share some soggy Stockholm stories tomorrow. But to start, a lovely plant outside our Old Town apartment.
5 Adventures Together 