Long time no talk - but finally an update on me!!!

Well I know that it has been a long time since I last wrote so here is a quick update on the past week! (Shan is much better at updating her blog than me so for more details visit her @ http://shanmoore.travellerspoint.com)

We left Gothenburg last Saturday and caught the train to Copenhagen! After arriving around 5.30 in the afternoon we had a little trouble finding the right bus to the hostel but we eventually got there! After coming from the lovely comfortable home of the Johnstones it was quite a shock to arrive at the hostel and come to terms with the full life of a backpacker - tiny rooms, bunk beds and shared showers.

Over the course of our time in Copenhagen we did two tours - in was a castle tour around the island on which Copenhagen is situated. We saw three castles -the first of which (Fredriksborg) was bulit by Christian 4th in the 16th century! It was am amazing castle with lots of artefacts and paintings! We also saw the beautiful chapel in the castle! In here we saw the coat of arms that was designed for our very own Princess Mary (see pics on Shan's site)!
After this castle we stopped briefly at Fredensborg - the Queens summer palace and also the castle that Frederik and Mary currently live at! We then went to Hamlet's castle in Helsingör and heard many stories of how the Danes fought the Swedes and so on!

The second tour was around Copenhagen and we saw the major sites of the city - Amalienborg palace where the Queen lives, the Little Mermaid and the Cathedral where Mary and Frederik were married! After this tour we did some shopping along the main street of Ströget and bought our Mother's their christmas presents!

On our final full day in Copenhagen we went to see yet another catle - Rosenborg which house the Crown Jewels! It was amazing to see these treasures up close! The weather was fairly awful but we did a little more shopping - bought a Hard Rock Cafe Copenhagen shirt and a little Mermaid charm each for our bracelets!

Yesterday it was time to move on from Copenhagen and return to Sweden and its capital Stockholm! We arrived here around 4 pm last night and caught the bus from the airport into town! Our hostel is right in the middle of the city and is only a blocks walk to the underground station! The hostel is lovely and modern with no bunk beds - thank god and a tv, computer and free internet in the room! It was also snowing when we arrived last night so that made it all the more magical!

Today we went to the Vasa museum - about a ship that we built in the 16th century and promptly sank on its first voyage as it was too top heavy! It lay in the harbour of Stockholm for over 300 hundred years before its was salvaged in the 1960's. The shop has been fullt restored and now there is a whole museum dedicated too it! It really is amazing to see it so close and to see how almost intact it was! After this we went into the centre of town and just explored the CBD! The weather was great today - cold but fine and more of the same is expected for tomorrow! We are going to explore the old town tomorrow and also visit yet another Castle!

I promise I will try to write more frequently but with our tour starting next week this may be difficult!