Stockholm

25 July- another hot sunny day interspersed with a thunder storm in the middle of the day. Went on a boat trip for a couple of hours. It went under 12 bridges and through 2 locks which connect the Baltic Sea with Lake Malaren. Was interesting seeing Stockholm from the water. Was interesting to see the number of apartment blocks - I assume most people live in these apartments. They are very plain looking generally but we quite liked them but we both like a plainer style of architecture anyway. There were many people sun baking by the water and even saw some Swedish beaches.  Is high 20's again so very hot for here. We wandered around some shops after the boat trip and snapped more photoes as it is a very photogenic city. Helps that it has not been in any wars for some 200 years- everything is basically in tact. On an unrelated note we have learnt 3 words- Nasta which means next; hiss ( SA's favourite) which means lift and tak which means thanks. Suspect that is all we will learn. Also found out that the Vikings were not always war like and did a lot of trading and settling new places and there were not actually a lot of them. Also apparently they never wore pointy horns. That was an English invention in the 1800's to inspire young men in the army. Not sure why. Mind you if there were really not a lot of Vikings and they were really not that war- like; not sure how they got such a big and lasting legacy. Who knows. I do think however that they built the most amazing boats- based on the Viking museum in Oslo. They have also been very good for the tourist trade in Scandinavia. I think we will never know but they have certainly captured the imagination of many people. Would I come back here? Not sure. Is very pretty- lovely buildings and very easy being a tourist here. Lots of English spoken and seems very safe to me. Interesting to see a different culture but if I was going back to Europe would probably still prefer somewhere like Paris, London etc.