Aside from Pat Johnson, whose airplane failed to leave the ground in Anchorage yesterday morning, and Elise Moody's bag, which somehow ended up in Copenhagen, we're all alive and well at the Scandic Park Hotel.
The flights over were fun and everything went fairly smoothly. Those of us who flew SAS were stoked to use the seatback monitors, which had movies, television shows, front- and below-view airplane cameras and games. Pretty cool. The food was excellent; salmon over penne for dinner and [somewhat inexplicably] a fat triple-decker ham, Swiss and roasted red pepper sandwich for breakfast. Those who flew United enjoyed a slightly less posh flight.
In the airport we changed money and bought espresso. I have no idea if I got ripped off, because everything is in kroner. I also bought some salted licorice chewing gum. I love Scandinavia ...
We picked up the vans (Hyundai seven-passenger models), but ended up sticking the kids on the express train into Stockholm because Matt Boobar was a couple of hours behind us and luggage overflowed the two vans Gary and I had. Reid Pletcher navigated the group into the city, though by the time we caught up with everybody the group had split into guys and girls.
Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves so far, though people are getting a bit tired. The guys made a trek over to see a huge Viking ship which had sunk in 1628 and was recovered in the early 1960s out of Stockholm's harbor. Pretty cool, though our sleep-deprived minds probably had more trouble grasping the enormity of the ship and its recovery process.
Kids have been taking pictures, but I haven't stolen any from them yet. The only one I've taken is one of the Gucci store, which is across from the 7-11, which has limited value to most people who read this.
Anyway, people are cleaning up and chilling a bit before we go find some dinner. There are McDonalds, Burger King and TGI Fridays restaurants, but I think we'll look elsewhere tonight.
More later -- probably tomorrow from Falun.
-- Jason Cork
This trip is supported and funded by the National Cross-Country Ski Education Foundation. Buy goods that support these trips or donate today at: www.nccsef.org