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We just returned from a trip to sunny Scandinavia - a post will follow shortly on our time in Copenhagen, Denmark. I had to write about Stockholm first though, since the weather was perfect, city lovely, and people friendly... it was a city to which I would like to return. We landed at Arlanda and though we took a taxi to our apartment for the week, we could have easily taken the airport bus to the central station, and hopped on a T-bana from there. Once we arrived, we found the nearest grocery / wine shop in a Lindhagen complex -- a store called Maxi, which had everything we needed for the week. Due to Sweden's alcohol monopoly , we had to pick up wine and beer from a store in the same complex. En route, we passed a few playgrounds, one of which we couldn't help but swing by on the way home. The little guy loved it, especially the waterfront playground. On our first full day in Stockholm, we bought 72-hour transit cards and went straight to the Old Town for a tasty warm

Now that we have a small person in tow, we take a lot more day trips rather than longer vacations. Here are a few of our favorites around the Mainz/Wiesbaden area: Koblenz : You can drive along the Romantic Rhine from Mainz to Koblenz, and stop at any of the scenic towns along the way. I like Bingen and St. Goar for their size and charming castles. Don't miss the famed Loreley rock, where many sailors met a tragic end upon distraction by the lovely woman on the cliff. Koblenz is a small town with a big castle that you can either get to by car, or seilbahn . We took the latter, enjoying a beautiful view of the confluence of the Rhine and Main rivers. Up high, we had a perfect view of the Deutsches Eck , marked by a giant statue of the ever-present King Ludwig. We also noted the ice cream shop near the Eck for later... this turned out to be a fruitful observation (important note: it's much cheaper to takeaway your ice cream, rather than eat there). The castle was a little to

Finally, a road trip! Salzburg is about 5 scenic hours from Frankfurt. We left on a Sunday, since there are restrictions for trucks driving on the "Ruhetag" (quiet day), anticipating less traffic. Though we still hit some, and took a not-so-en-route detour to see Dachau, we enjoyed the journey and the trip. It was handy to know beforehand that Rastaettes / Rasthauses / Rasthofs are available throughout highways in Germany, and offer self-service food, snacks, and clean (for 0.70 cents) bathrooms. Signs for these stops always include the distance to the nearest stop, as well as to the next possible stop - really handy for planning purposes (e.g., determining how much longer we could handle the crying baby in the carseat...). Food can be pricey though, so we brought our own and just sat inside. The first day involved a lot of driving, and the stop in  Dachau . Entrance is free, as was the audioguide. Unfortunately, we didn't have time so just walked through the ca