As Claes had to be in Stockholm for work on Wednesday, Kim and I decided to drive up with him on the Tuesday so that we could knock 6 hours off our trip to Falun (where we were headed for midsummer). One of Kim's friends from her trip/exchange to Georgia, USA came with us. Her name is Mette; she is from Denmark and is super cute!
The drive to Stockholm was prety amazing. I couldn't get over how many trees there were!!!
On the drive up the freeway was mostly lined with commercial forestry (which is impressive, but not really pretty enough to warrant a photo).
But on the way back from Falun we drove through more of the country roads where the scenery is just idyllic. You'll be driving along and suddenly there will be a gap in the trees and through it you see the most beautiful lakes or rolling hills or meadows or rustic red and white barns or windmills or ski slopes. It's incredible.
We saw plenty of signs warning us about moose (or älg as they are known in Sweden), but Mette and I were both very disappointed that we didn't get to see any.
We arrived in Stockholm and Mette went to stay with another friend from the Georgia trip (Ebba), while Claes Kim and I went to Kim's uncle's place. It was late, so we went to bed pretty much straight away. The next morning we woke up to beautiful weather, so we went for an explore.
We wandered past the palace ...
where we could hear fanfare and could see a huge crowd of tourists. We went to investigate, and found out it was the changing of the guards ceremony.
I was very amused by the moustache on the third gentleman.
There was lots of marching. The band was playing.
After a moment or two I turned to Kim and asked "Are they playing Abba???"
Ohhhh yes ... your ears do not deceive you. The Swedish royal guard are playing "The Winner Takes It All". I have never been more bemused in my life.
After that had finished we had a wee wander inside.
Not much is open to the public, and only the chapel is open for free.
But even that was very grand and overwhelming.
We walked some more and ended up down at the harbour.
The pictures just don't do the city justice ... it is beautiful! The history, the buildings, the streets, the water everywhere ... it truly is magical.
After a couple of hours of just looking and exploring and absorbing we stopped for lunch at a wee cafe and then we bumped into Mette and Ebba!
Ebba, me and Kim getting our stride on!
Me, Mette and Kim getting our pose on :P
This is the church where Ebba (who is from Stockholm) had her confirmation.
It's HUGE!!!
We then said 'Hej då' to the girls and explored on our own for another couple of hours before heading back to M & M's place. Oh man their apartment is amazing! I was filled with envy and inspiration in equal parts. They had huge bookshelves and weird and wonderful knick knacks and graphic prints on the walls and funky wallpaper and lots of plants and an amazing balcony (and a giant television - which is both of their areas of work, so it's legit).
We had delicious tuna pasta for dinner and watched
and
which has to be one of my favourite movies of all time!
The next morning was raining so we had a cruisy morning in and watched ridiculous television including
We then ventured out to track down the bus we could take to visit Kim's grandma and also to look for a swimsuit for me (naughty earthquake for taking mine!) We went and got goodies so we could "fika" (see below) with her grandma, who we ended up walking to see because the weather improved. We spent about an hour and a half with her, then had a look at various shops on our way home.
Note: Fika is a Swedish word that literally means a social coffee break, but it is so much more than morning or afternoon tea. It is something sweet you would have with coffee or tea or cordial ("saft") with friends or family but you can have it at any time of day. It is wonderful - I am a big fan :D
We stopped at Design Torget to have a look round and to find a Thank You present for M & M for having us to stay. Design Torget is like the physical version of HolyCool. I found the Yellow Submarine tea infuser that I had been coveting for months, and seeing as M & M had a whole drawer full of teas it seemed like a good present to get.
We then stopped to get some yummy tea to go into the infuser as well.
We had Thai for dinner and watched Tucker and Dale vs Evil with M & M.
Looking at the cover both Kim and I were very reluctant to watch it - neither of us are up for scary or bloody or anything remotely gorey. But after much cajoling and promising that it would be funny (it's a slasher film) we eventually agreed. And it was so worth it! It was hilarious and almost sweet in parts and we only had to cover our eyes half a dozen times or so :P
As we had to be up early the next morning to catch the train we went to bed at a reasonable hour, and I promised myself that I would make it back to Stockholm sometime in the near future!
xxox
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