April the 9th was another red-letter day for us...Baba and Poppa arrived from Canada for a jam-packed 11 day long visit. They surprised the kids by showing up at school on Thursday afternoon, the start of the Easter Week holiday. They weren't disappointed by the reaction they got! The weather had warmed up significantly and we were able to enjoy Stockholm in spring.
On Friday, we met up with a co-worker of Kris' named Shahin, and his lovely bride-to-be, Lovisa. We packed lunches, blankets and soccer balls and joined many other Swedes enjoying the warmth of the day at Hagaparken, an oasis of green just outside the city limits. I'd like to describe the troubles that Elise had while paying a visit to nature's toilet, but I promised her I'd be kind. (But seriously, all of you should remember that this is the third bathroom disaster that Elise has been involved in and consider yourselves forewarned!) On Saturday, the group of us hopped on the subway and hopped off at Gamla Stan. We toured around the outskirts of the old town first, enjoying the sights along the water. Dad carried his 20-pound backpack full of camera supplies around the entire time...needless to say, he captured some excellent photos, 1300 of them to be exact!
Saturday evening was a special night. We celebrated Dad's 70th birthday with dinner and a view! The Gondolen is a landmark restaurant in Stockholm that stands 33 meters high and is enclosed by glass so the city is on display from all angles. We all enjoyed a gourmet dinner with lots of wine! Dad sampled the herring appetizer with a traditional shot of O.P.Anderson, a popular aquavit here in Sweden.I'll take a breather here before recounting the rest of the week's adventures....
