Be back soon

We have been traveling since July 8th and are scheduled to return home in two days. It has been a great trip but, as is usually the case, as we near the end I am more than ready to come home. As my thoughts turn westward through nine time zones, I decided to have a look at the ol' blog, so I read about our preparations for this trip. I wonder how things look! Are any of the tomato plants still alive? Did the potted boojum tree make it through the two periods of 90-plus degree weather?

Though this is a garden, not a travel blog, thought I'd upload a few pictures from some of the places we visited: Saint Petersburg, Russia; Stockholm, Sweden; Bergen and Aurland, Norway; Chamonix, France. I forgot the connector for my Canon point and shoot, so can only upload pictures taken on my cellphone (I didn't bring my Nikon DSLR).

St. Petersburg, Russia



Families enjoying the sunshine in a local park on a beautiful sunny day in Sodermalm (the Brooklyn of Stockholm according to one guide book).



Another park in Stockholm. Every place we visited was lush green  and wet - what a difference from California.



Glaciers above treeline on train ride from Oslo to Bergen.

I'm sure I will have much more to say about our trip once I get home and have a chance to think about it, but a few quick observations follow:

1. St. Petersburg is a grand old city with much beauty. Some buildings are in a state of decay, others have been renovated, and still more are being worked on. People smoke a lot in Russia. 
2. Stockholm is very, very neat. People are polite, there is no yelling, little littering, and there are many bicycles. It is very expensive!
3. Norway is lively and the food is very good. People are very friendly and most that we met speak excellent English. It is very, very expensive!
4. Chamonix, France is a bustling vacation area. It is not nearly as expensive as Scandinavia. The food is okay for a resort area but we have not had anything outstanding. Hiking requires a whole lot of up and down.

I will report on the state of Wild Suburbia in the next post. Cheers to all!