The on the weekend of Feb. 20 - 22 Linda and I planned a trip to Sweden. Now I really lucked out with roommates because not only is Linda fantastic but she was born in Sweden and speaks fluent Swedish! Now really it wouldn't have been a problem without her because like in Denmark, most people in Sweden speak excellent English. Anyway, we had a great weekend and Linda is a really fun person to travel with.
We both have class on Friday's until 2:30 so we booked an evening flight. At the airport we unexpectedly ran into another group of DIS kids also going to Stockholm. That was fun because we all waited together in the terminal and once we landed there were more of us figuring out where to go, where to exchange money (Sweden is on the Swedish krone, which is different from the Danish krone), when to get our luggage, etc. and having more people made the whole process go faster. By the time we landed and got all of out money and luggage it was about 10pm and Linda and I were exhausted. We decided not to go out that night and to just go straight to her cousin's apartment where we were staying. He is 25 and in his last year of medical school and he lives in Stockholm so it was perfect. And even better, it was free :)!
In the morning we got up, had some breakfast and headed out for the day. Linda's cousin let us borrow his car because we were going to Sodertalje to visit her grandparents. It is also Linda's home town so she gave me a tour and we drove past her old house. That was so much fun! Her grandparents we so happy to have us for the morning. They went out and bought us the most amazing pastries, Semla. They are typically eaten on Fat Tuesday which was the following week. They were so delicious! It kind of reminded me of a cream puff but there is almond paste in the whipped cream and they are so much better.
Saturday afternoon we walked around Sodertalja a little more and did a little shopping because compared to Denmark, Sweden is CHEAP!
Then we drove back to Stockholm. The first area we visited was the old town section. The streets are so small and winding here that a car would not even fit! We found a reall great restaurant here for dinner called the Glenfiddich Warehouse. I had my best meal yet at this restaurant. I ate reindeer! It tasted even better than a perfectly cooked steak and it was served on top of a baked "pancake" of scalloped potatoes and surrounded by a lingonberry cream sauce. It was so good!
After dinner we went to a section of the city that Linda's cousin recommended for nightlife and found a pub. As we were sitting there chatting they began to set up a projector and a screen. They were broadcasting the Preliminary Round a European Music Festival. That was really interesting to watch. There were so many different styles of music in one competition. The really interesting thing is that most of the contestants sang in English rather than Swedish. That is because so few people speak swedish around the world. In order to win a European or International Music Festival it is best to perform in a more universal language.
Sunday was our touristy, sight seeing day. We began the day back in the old city and found a cafe for breakfast. We split a piece of quiche and a cinnamon roll. Then we found the Nobel Museum. The Nobel Prize is from Sweden and this museum traces the history of the price and gives detailed biographical information about all the past winners. I think the origin of the prize is so interesting. Nobel was the inventor of TNT, the explosive. When his brother died, the newspapers made a mistake and wrote the obituary about him. When he read it, the only thing it said was that he invented an explosive. He decided that that was not what he wanted to be remembered for, so he founded the Nobel Prize.
After the museum we walked over to the Royal Palace. It really amazes me that in Scandinavia you can walk right up to the Royal Palaces and there seems to be little security, or at least little visible security. In America, you are kept far away from the White House by fences and armed guards.
Walking around the city on Sunday was difficult because it was snowing so hard! But we bundled up and kept going.
After the palace we walked to the Vasa Museum. This museum houses the best preserved viking ship. It was so cool. The ship is so big that it fills a large building and reached up several floors. The masts even stick out the roof! The funny thing about this ship is, it sank! It did not have even one successful voyage. They built it and it sank. It didn't even make it out of the harbor. It was underwater for 333 years and then it was decided that they would bring it up, restore it and make a museum. Now it is one of the most popular attractions in Sweden.
By then we were getting cold and tired from the snow and decided it was time for dinner. We found a nice cozy pub and had a delicious meal and then went back to Linda's cousin's apartment to pack up our things. Then we headed for the train station. We had decided to take an overnight train back to Copenhagen because it worked out to be cheaper. The cars inn the overnight train really remind me of the cars of the Hogwarts Express in the Harry Potter movies. We stayed in a 6 person car. Basically there are two 3 person bench seat facing each other. the seat is the lowest bunk. The back of the seat folds down to the the middle bunk and the top bunk is always unfolded above the seats. It is an interesting experience but I slept pretty well. We arrived in Malmo, Sweden at about 6:30 am and then took the commuter train to Copenhagen. We got home at about 7:30 Monday morning and went straight to bed for a few more hours.
Such a fun weekend!
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