Before leaving Sweden for Norway we stopped in a small city for lunch and spent the night as well at another. They were both really nice. Orebro was the first.

There was this enormous rabbit statue. Maybe he was exhausted from Easter and never got back up.

There was a wedding going on there when we were leaving. I’m a sucker for wedding photos. When the bridge and groom came out of the church there was a band playing which then led a procession down the streets with the bride and groom following in a horse drawn carriage.

These little bridesmaids were the cutest.

On to Norway. We decided not to spend the night in Oslo but did get a look at the fabulous opera house there and made a stop at the museum housing some viking ships which were used to bury some dead with things they might need in the afterlife-like the Egyptians-and there were even the skeletens of six horses. Treasure had long since been taken. The ships are amazingly well preserved because they were buried in clay.

The ships were used at sea and had sails. They were drug ashore for funerals.

Another headon view.

After going through a long tunnel and half way across a long bridge we were in Sweden. We spent our first night in Vadstena where the nunnery was started by the Swedish nun who was to become Saint Birgitta. It was a charming village to walk around with a castle and a cathedral.

There were many lovely homes with beautiful gardens there.

I liked this little sign at a hotel that was once a monestary-wish they had had a room there.

The village was situated on a lake. It was raining for a while but when it stopped a pearly light arrived and the lake sort of glowed.

A carved wooden statue of Saint Birgitta in the cathedral.

Stockholm was next. I was here many years ago for one day and remembered being charmed by it. It’s still wonderful.

The cathedral has a huge statue of St. Stephen slaying a dragon. There was also a sumptuous area for the royal family to sit in during services with a giant golden crown overhead.

The princess waiting to be rescued from the dragon.

Guards standing on guard outside the palace. This one was a female.

Just some of the great architecture in the old part of the city.

Just one of many interesting windows I saw there.

We made a quick stop in a town called Lubeck, Germany. I wanted to look at the Cathedral.

You see this as you enter the old part of the city, an old gate.

There was an incredible astronomical clock in the cathedral, very intricate.

A photo of the damage done to the cathedral by British bombs during WWII. It’s incredible that they were able to rebuild it.

The bells fell from the steeple when the bombs hit and they left them as they were found on the floor underneath.

Then on to Denmark. We had hoped to stop somewhere before Copenhagen but just couldn’t find a hotel. There is no advertising on the highway and we tried our GPS a couple of times but the information was incorrect so we went all the way to Copenhagen and finally found a hotel, really tired. That’s the trouble with having no reservations.

We took a canal trip and went under some very low bridges. It’s nice to see a city from the water.

Love the architecture there. So many incredible buildings. There was also a whole lot of road work going on in the city making it difficult to drive around.

There were interesting courtyards around too.

The Little Mermaid in the harbor seen on our canal boat tour. The sculpter used his ballerina wife as his model. We could only see her from behind as she faced the shore. There must have been 200 people there on the shore taking photos.

I’ve had Norway on my list of places to visit for a long time. After a successful home exchange done a few years ago, I contacted Britt and asked if she would be interested in doing something like that. As a result she and her family spent some time at our place in Paris and offered a room at her place any time. Maurice wanted to see Norway too, especially the fiords, so we decided to go but not by plane, but by car. A couple of people said, “Are you crazy? Three to four weeks in a car with your husband?” but it sounded like fun so we decided to do it. We also didn’t make any reservations as we had no way of knowing how long it would take us to get from place to place and we wanted to be a bit spontaneous as we went. So off we set going through Belgium and into Germany. The first place we stopped at was a city right across the border in Germany called Aachen (on the Aa River). I had read about the cathedral so we went there.

This lady overlooked the square near the cathedral.

The cathedral.

The ceiling was incredible with mosaic artwork.

Notice that this statue of Mary and Jesus are dressed and wearing jewelry. Suppossedly, many prayers were answered from praying to her and gifts were given and sometimes worn I guess. I lit a candle here-couldn’t hurt.

Next to Cologne, an incredible city with the fantastic World Heritage Cathedral. What an interior!

Angels out front. Lots of mimes and magicians too.

Look at this scaffolding on one steeple. How would you like to work up there? I’m wondering if they were just doing structural work or if they were going to clean it.

We had coffee at a place across from the cathedral and enjoyed the unusual toilets. When you go in the doors of the stalls are clear and you wonder about privacy. Look the shape of the toilet-liked them.

Here’s what happened to the door when you locked it. Very cool.

On to Munster after a night in Cologne. I loved the architecture there. Almost all of it was reconstructed after WWII. They could have gone modern but stuck with the historic.

Another look at some of the buildings. The cathedral was covered in scaffolding so no photos of it.

There was a group of 200 or so men in front of the cathedral all in black with black top hats. We asked around and found out that they belonged to various societies of chimney sweeps. Who knew there would be enough chimney sweeps to have clubs? There must be a long history of tradition behind it.

Behind my favorite Palais Royal is an interesting area.

A restaurant with a special entrance for the actors in the theatres nearby.

A sort of secret passageway leading to the street.

A painting on a toy store. I took the photo because it looks like my cat, Elliot.

I like these brown chairs, and the guys in the background are wearing brown coats.

I was in the area of the St Eustache church the other day. It’s a very nice area to walk around, full of history and interesting things to see.

This is on a store that once sold honey but doesn’t any longer. I’m glad they kept it.

The St Eustache church is covered with clocks and sundials. This is just one of them.

I really like the architecture of this building right across the street from the entrance of St Eustache.

St Eustache church is in the middle of what used to be the huge market of Paris where people came to buy food. It was shut down and an awful underground mall was put in its place. This sculpture is inside the church comminerating the closing of the market.

An ancient building on rue Montorgueile near St Eustache.

A row of flowers for sale on rue Montorgueile.