I started the day by packing my bag, checking out of the hotel and storing my bags there. I took the public bus to the Botanical Gardens as it was one of the things open early in the morning. From there I took a bus (almost to CInelandia – because I accidentally typed in…
I started the day by taking the metro to Cinelandia and taking the free walking tour. http://riofreewalkingtour.com/?/passeio/11/downtown_and_lapa_historic_tour The tour was excellent and visited many of the places I wanted to go. We started outside the Municipal Theater and saw the aqueduct in Lapa, the Selaron steps and ended at the…
Arrived in Rio de Janeiro early… In fact I passed through customs, immigration, and an ATM, took a taxi and arrived at my hotel at 0800. The hotel room was as described and looked exactly like the picture. To my surprise it wasn’t raining (unlike the weather forecast that called for rain for…
After working in the morning I drove to the Stockholm Arlanda airport. For those who think my day job is glamorous – I didn’t even get to see anything in Stockholm, not even from the car. Halfway to Stockholm from Finspång it started to snow. Luckily I had plenty of time to arrive to the…
The original plan was to drive to Stockholm this evening and relax and explore in the morning…. Original plan…. Luckily I found out that the plan changed before the 4 PM cancellation penalty on the hotel in Stockholm. I returned to the Elite Grand Hotel for the third night.. Driving to Stockholm will hopefully commence…
I wandered around Norrköping for a little while this evening in my free time (sunset was around 4 PM). Here’s one picture I took during my walk.
Arrived in Norrköping with the obligatory stop enroute at the US Embassy…. (McDonald’s). A couple of pictures of my room at the Elite Grand Hotel…
Arrived in Stockholm… Picked up hire car, a brand new (only 10 kilometers on it) Audi A4. Managed to connect Bluetooth which is great because T-Mobile has free 4G service here until the end of the year so I’m streaming music and using my Sat Nav on my phone. Now if I can just adjust…
By some miracle I managed to make my connecting flight to Stockholm. If you ever think it’s a good idea to fly through Frankfurt….it never is. My flight from Houston arrived at gate C16 48 minutes late. Then I had to walk to gate A15, through passport control (luckily no queue there) then security (tremendous…
First class had it’s own queue, so getting on the A380 was quite pleasant… Only 8 seats here, so should be a very enjoyable flight. No overhead bins? That’s because I have my own personal locker….
Current Itinerary: Tomorrow (Dec 6): Fly to Sweden (First flight is in 1st class on an A380 [Lufthansa] to Frankfurt then onto Stockholm, but will be traveling to Finspång. Dec 10th: Fly to Rio de Janeiro (Flight from Frankfurt to Rio de Janeiro is on a new Boeing 747-8 and I have a seat in…
I think this is the first time I’ve ever had my passport stamped entering the US… The global entry kiosks were having serious issues…. Final destination (with flights) was Buffalo, NY. Which of course means a mandatory visit to Duff’s Famous Wings…
It’s been a while since I’ve been lucky enough to fly Qatar Airways. They’ve installed new larger seats on their 777. (I was originally scheduled to fly on British Airways, but they cancelled their flight). No complaints here, Qatar Airways always is excellent and they give you pajamas in business class….
So, to set the record straight. I never encountered any French people being rude to me (despite the rumors). I do tend to blend in – and caught many people attempting to speak to me in French. The areas I visited were much cleaner than Italy. It can be done on a budget….
Departing flight scheduled for 11:00 AM. Left the hotel at around 7:00 to the local metro station. Just a few stops to get to a RER B station. I used the ‘Moovit’ app to know the RER schedule. Once at the RER the first train to CDG was a direct train (no stops between Gare…
Purchased another timed ticket for 9:00 AM and printed it at the hotel the night before. There seemed to be significantly less people this morning (Friday) than on Wednesday. This was a successful attempt to visit the remaining open areas of the museum. The Americas and Oceania section was closed as well as a…
Started the day at Palais Garnier, the opera House. It was quite amazing. Unfortunately the auditorium portion was closed, so I didn’t get to see all of it… Saved 3€ by showing my ticket for Musee d’Orsay. Below is a picture from the Palais Garnier. From there walked across the…
The Louvre… 12 hours of the Louvre and didn’t even see half of it. 1. Visit on Wednesday and Friday for bonus hours (open late) 2. Buy tickets in advance directly from the Louvre’s website. (Must be printed) 3. If you can not buy them from their website then there is a Tabac shop…
Today will sound less productive, but the first stop Musee d’Orsay is quite large. Once again the early bird gets the worm (which isn’t too early because the Musee d’Orsay doesn’t open until 9:30 AM) and I arrived around 8:35 (my app misinformed me of the opening time of 9:00). Was nearly the first…
Started the day at the Notre Dame Cathedral… Got there early enough to avoid any queue. After visiting inside the queue for the bell tower was massive and it had not yet opened so I went to Sainte-Chapelle. Again no queue, but there was a significant one when I left. This was much…