Day 21: A Bit of a Blur

Wednesday was our last full day of vacation. Wednesday night was our last to sleep in a European bed, at least on this trip. On Thursday, we would crawl into a metal tube, and when we crawled out we would be on American soil.

More importantly, I’ll finally be able to have a Diet Pepsi.

We nearly didn’t make it out of the attic hotel room, as wiped out as we both were. But as we had already paid for breakfast, we drug ourselves downstairs to eat. (Funny how that strategy doesn’t work nearly as well for going to the gym). At breakfast, we had the obligatory Swedish meatballs, among other selections at the breakfast buffet. I also had some muesli, confirming what I had remembered before, that muesli is basically eating bird food with milk. But it was slightly less daring than the pan-Asian dinner we had at East the night before. And it wasn’t T.G.I.Friday’s, so there.

After dinner, we headed to the water to take a boat tour of Stockholm. The city is actually an archipelago, a collection of 14 different islands, so a boat really is an ideal way to see the sights. Also, sitting on a boat for two hours was an ideal way for us to spend the afternoon. We stopped at the front desk to ask for directions. As the concierge pointed out where to go on the map, I made the mistake of pointing out the T.G.I.Friday’s logo as a landmark for how far we had walked the night before.

Apparently, the concierge assumed that his American guests would feel compelled to eat at said T.G.I.Friday’s, so he made a face and said it would be “just like being home.” We laughed politely, and on the walk Mary Beth tried to convince me he was teasing us. I was less convinced, and was tempted to observe that the distribution of T.G.I.Friday’s restaurants in downtown Stockholm was denser than said distribution in Omaha. So take that, Mr. American-chain-restaurant-snob-concierge guy.

Stockholm is quite lovely, and getting a chance to see how the city rose around the water was fascinating. But at this stage of our trip, my favorite part of the whole boat tour might have been simply opening the window to hear the lapping of the waves against the hull of the boat and smell the air. It was pretty neat to go through one of the locks and realize you were going from the Baltic Sea to Lake Mälaren, one of the largest lakes in Sweden and one of the cleanest bodies of water in all of Europe.

The only downside to the boat tour is that, early on, one of my contact lenses became dislodged. After unsuccessfully trying to fix it, I just punted and took the other one out (they’re one-day disposable lenses). No big deal, I thought, as I reached for my eyeglass case in my camera bag (not my purse, thank you very much).

The eyeglass case was right where I left it. Unfortunately, the glasses which were supposed to go inside the eyeglass case were not there. So, I was pretty much stuck for the rest of the day having a general, somewhat fuzzy idea of what I was looking at. And being even more useless than usual in terms of navigating through the streets of Stockholm.

Once the tour was over, we got off and (once we got our bearings) took the scenic walk back to the hotel. We stopped for a soda and cake at a small café inside what we’re pretty sure translated as the King’s Garden, admired the magnificent statutes and reflecting pools (very cool) which lead up to a different T.G.I.Friday’s at the end of the reflecting pool (less cool). We walked through Nordiska Kompaniet, known as NK, Sweden’s version of Macy’s, then headed back to the hotel room.

Mary Beth decided she wanted to take a nap and have some fresh Coca-Cola Light, so it was my job to head back to the 7-Eleven. At this point, I didn’t even feel impressed with myself for navigating the streets of a foreign capital. Apparently, I have now reached a level of boss-ness that is just taken for granted, without the need for observation. After accomplishing my mission, I headed back to the attic hotel room and joined Mary Beth for a bit of a nap before dinner.

Once Mary Beth was up and we were ready to go, we walked down the street. We decided that Italiano, an Italian café, would be our last meal in Europe. Mary Beth had a cold pasta salad and I had a Panini as we sat outside and watched people walk, jog, and bike down the streets of Stockholm. I sipped my Coke Zero and Mary Beth enjoyed her glass of wine (about a 40 percent Nuncio, compared to how much wine we got from our new friend in Rome) and reflected on everything we had seen and done over the last few weeks.

It’s hard to really grasp that Mary Beth has been in Europe for three weeks, both working and playing. I am still astounded to think how many countries I have been through (and that’s not counting the airports) and the things I have seen. I usually get sad at the end of a vacation, but I really didn’t feel that way as we sat in our Italian café on the Stockholm street. Partly it’s because I’m convinced I will be back to Europe again—after all, I did throw a coin into Trevi Fountain, even if there was no water and it was under construction.

But mainly I think I was just excited at the thought of being home, of seeing my family and friends once again. I’m thrilled at the thought of seeing the collected menagerie of animals that share our home. I’m really excited to sleep in my own bed and drive a car. I’m even excited to get back to work, seeing my colleagues and friends, and doing the things I love.

After dinner (which included Mary Beth finally getting the dish of green olives we unsuccessfully combed Rome looking for) we came back to the hotel. We sat in the Little Corner Café, a charming little nook on the side of the hotel, sipping a drink and watching the end of a World Cup match (Argentina 3-2 Nigeria, I think this Messi guy might have a future in soccer). We then went back to the room, packed, made sure all our electronics were charged for the 9.5 (!) hour flight from Helsinki to Chicago, and went to bed. The next morning, we would be on our way home.