h Ohmmmmmm

  I arrived back home yesterday evening and am still fighting off a nasty case of jet lag. It is not natural to be crammed into a teeny seat and forced to sit there for 9 hours at a stretch. Even with the multitude of movies you could watch it is still painful and unpretty... your feet swell and the food is lousy.  Someday I'd love to be bumped into first class just to know how it feels.

  A trip of that many countries in 2 weeks is crazy and exhausting. Everything is moving so fast that you come away not retaining anything you just saw.  I realize it is not the way to experience Europe... far, far too much history to absorb in that short a time span.  Nevertheless, it does give you a wee taste and provides the impetus to return specifically to a country.  I think out of all the places seen, I liked Estonia, Stockholm and Amsterdam the best (in that order).  See what I mean? I never would have even considered Estonia as a place of interest before this, but it was quaint and clean and historic.  Loved it.   Stockholm... well being of Swedish & Norwegian descent and a lover of all things Ikea, I was particularly drawn to it.  I purchased a beautiful sweater and a Viking ship pendant that I wear with pride (see picture) as a salute to my heritage, because the one thing that spoke to me most about this trip was the honoring and preserving of each countries history.  It's like walking into the past; you could almost hear the voices of the people once living there.  Quite trippy... even without the 'herbal' tea from Amsterdam!  hahaa!

I know I'll have more to say on the experience, but for now this is the Coles notes version.  I tried posting this yesterday, but something went screwy with the blog and it wouldn't publish.  Now I shall go and have my wee nap as I work on this jet lag.  Oh, did I mention that I missed my bed BIG time?  I developed kinks in areas I didn't know existed before this trip... but that is but a dim memory for me now that I am home sweet home.  Do svedanya, my lovelies!