We reached at our hotel on the tiny lush island of Skeppsholmen surrounded by water and old Stockholm at about 9:30 in the morning. It took us less than 30 minutes to travel from Arlanda airport on the express train that displayed the speed on each carriage (the fastest I noticed was 207 kmph) followed by a short taxi ride from the Centralstation. But we had hurried up to wait. The hotel was absolutely full. They needed guests to check out before we could get a room - no early check-in. “Come back at 14:00 please”. So we left our luggage and decided to kill about four and half hours. But our bodies whispered to our brains that it was the middle of the night.
The kids played with bountiful dandelions and ran up and down the tree covered slopes. It is spring in Stockholm. Every tree is brimming over with blooms and the air is perfumed. We crossed the bridge and walked along a wide cobble stoned quay to the Grand Hotel and dropped in for breakfast and to pass the time.
The men were in slim athletic Euro suits. The ladies in Channel. Even the dogs were well dressed for breakfast. Evan was in his pjs. But they were nice enough to seat us by the windows with a lovely view of the royal palace across a short stretch of water. Unfortunately they promptly served us a sumptuous breakfast. Evan, who normally eats slower than a 17-year cicada larva, shoveled down a three egg omelette in minutes. Vivian put away a giant plate of french toast almost as quickly. So after Jo and I chewed our breakfasts slowly I had to heroically drink three cups of excellent tea while the hands on my Swatch grudgingly budged in slow motion. The kids sank back into the cushions to nap. So we got up and walked back across the bridge to our island hotel. While our rooms weren’t yet ready, we rested in a little nook-like lounge area up in the third floor that looked like someone’s very modern Scandinavian attic.
After a while the kids got fidgety so while Jo napped on a couch I took them back downstairs to play in the spring wonderland that is Skeppsholmen. More dandelions. Then they ran around under bloom-filled trees and across petal strewn lawns and jumped off walls and tumbled down slopes, delirious from the lack of sleep, Evan still in his pjs, till it was 14:00 and we checked into our room and fell into a deep slumber.
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