Friday March 11, 2011 to Sunday March 13, 2011
We couldn’t figure how to make Normandy work I was really disappointed however I will be returning there at some point in my life… lets see I will be 54 on June 6, 2044 for the 100th anniversary of D-DAY that could be a cool trip I might tentatively schedule it for then. When I get married I am basically going to have all over our vacations already planned for basically our entire life!
So instead of Normandy I decided to go to Sweden… okay I have started to recognize that my life is a little surreal and crazy right now. Wednesday morning I purchase a ticket to Sweden and Thursday evening I am on my way to the airport. I’ll be home in Oxford shortly when an exciting weekend adventure is to Walmart. I decided to take advantage of this opportunity (being in Europe for 4 months) and I wanted to see a Scandinavian country in my attempt to see as many little different pieces and highlights of Europe.
In order to take advantage of Sweden I decided that I would use my “skip” (1 free miss without having my grade penalized) for my Friday classes so that I would have more time in Sweden. To think when studying in Oxford I usually use my “skip” class when I am tired, don’t feel well, oversleep etc but here I strategically plan so I can skip and go to Sweden!! (Okay Dad I technically know the statistic that if you divide university tuition fees on a per hour in class basis that it is something like $150 per hour in class so skipping my Friday classes was actually very expensive (~$700) but I think that we need to look at it as a “sunk cost” (is that the right cost accounting terminology) and accept that I had an amazing weekend and have an amazing attendance record from the previous 3 years!!
Our flight to Sweden left from Brussels (the same tiny old WWII airport that I flew out of to go to Italy back in January) at 9:30 Friday morning. In order to get to the airport in time we had to take the 5:40 am Flibco bus (the bus that runs from the Luxembourg train station to the airport). The only problem with this plan is that the first train of the morning doesn’t arrive into the Luxembourg train station until 5:45.
Side note: This is my only major complaint that I have about Luxembourg (I am excluding minor things like the fact that there is no hot water/ water pressure, no peanut butter, that it cost 7 USD to do a load of laundry, light switches to WC are always on the outside which results in my closing myself into a tiny room with no windows and no light switch, these are all minor inconveniences/ culture shock things that I was anticipating and have embraced). What I haven’t embraced and dislike about Luxembourg is that the country literally shuts down at 5 pm hardly anything is open past 8 and that the trains and busses stop running at midnight. Literally by 11 pm it sometimes seems like everyone has died and you are literally the last one left. And subsequently depending on public transportation this leaves us really stranded.
Therefore in order to make the bus by 5:45 we had to take the last train of the night which arrived in Lux city a little after midnight. (Taking a taxi wasn’t really an option as it would be about 30 euro a person). We figured that we would just sit in the McDonalds all night buying a couple cups of coffee, fries etc. So a little after 11 (which feels like the middle of the night here as everyone is asleep) I quietly slipped out of Gabby’s house walked to the bakery to meet Caroline and headed to the train station. When we arrived in the city for a fun filled night of sitting somewhere, however when we got to the McDonalds we realized that it even closed at 1:15 am! So we stayed there till it closed (the teenage girl working the counter literally had to shoo us out), we then wandered around the main part of the city for a little while luckily it was a really nice evening outside (and as we were headed to Sweden we were all dressed warmly). Around 1:50 we decided that we were getting on the earlier 2:20 Flibco bus (our tickets were for 5:40) we were coming up with all kinds of crazy stories, ploys deciding whether we should cry or not. We were really nervous as the bus pulled up as the idea of spending another 3 hours and 20 minutes till the next bus seemed unbearable. The bus driver was really nice and let us on (the problem we were anticipating was that we had printed our tickets out online earlier that afternoon, however you are able to change your bus up to four hours before its departure and your account will be credited – even after you print out your ticket because your name is taken off the bus manifest which is how you wouldn’t get on. However as we were getting on an earlier bus that we were never suppose to be on we technically we could have been dishonest and printed our 5:40 ticket gone online and canceled our bus for 5:40 and the 2:20 bus driver would never know). Luckily he was nice, and trusted us and let us on!
I slept the entire bus ride and we arrived to the airport at 4:40 in the morning. As it is a “budget airline airport” there were literally a couple other hundred people doing the same thing we were doing sleeping in the airport as their public transpiration got them there in the middle of the night. The metal seat was unfortunately not very comfortable although I did fall asleep in an upright position with my head on my backpack for at least an hour. I will chock this whole experience up to “an experience” there is a very small period in your life that it is acceptable to sleep in an airport in order to save 30 euro! I slept the entire 2 ½ hour flight to Sweden (I fell asleep while we were taxing and didn’t wake up until we were landing!) We landed in a snowy winter wonderland around 11:30 am!!! We then had to take another 90 minute bus ride from the airport to city of Stockholm. All and all I ended up sleeping nearly 8 hours although I am not sure if sleeping in an upright position on moving transportation counts.
We had some minor difficulties finding the hostel – it was supposedly only 500 m from the train station but it was really complicated not to mention the street names and signs are absolutely ridiculously long. After asking a pizza deliveryman we found our way. The hostel was really nice with a kitchen, a really nice bathroom and a decent room. After dropping off our stuff we headed out to explore the city! As we were starving (I again only had mentos I really need to remember to pack some real food when we travel). However finding lunch was difficult for Caroline and me as it is now lent and vegetarian options are few and far between.
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| A typical word in Swedish ... any guesses on how to pronounce it? |
The main street is a large pedestrian promenade that is absolutely packed with people, shoppers, street performers. We stopped at a café called John Chris, which was right off the main street. It was an incredible little coffee shop with delicious coffees elaborate deserts, amazing salads, pastas and sandwiches (it was comparable to Panera but more elegant). The coolest part of the restaurant was the interior design. It was really warm and cozy with an eclectic yet classy design a mix between very industrial elements (steel doors, unfinished ceilings) and very elegant and elaborate elements.
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| Our favorite cafe in Stockholm, Sweden |
After finishing our delicious late lunch we started to wander around and explore the city. Even though it was only 4:15 the sun was already starting to set and was really low in the sky. One of the coolest (and possibly the highlight of my weekend) was stumbling upon a bay /inlet that was completely frozen over – but it wasn’t frozen over smoothly like an ice skating rink or glass but was rather “chunky” and looked like giant ice cubes frozen together. It was beautiful with the late afternoon sun reflecting off the water with brilliant streaks of orange and yellow. It was something that I have never seen in my lifetime and is definitely a sunset that I will always remember.
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| Late afternoon sun setting over a frozen bay, beautiful Stockholm Sweden |
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| Megan & Me, Stockholm Sweden |
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| Swedish Flags, Setting Sun, beautiful day in Stockholm Sweden |
We then proceeded to wander through the old town, which is really unique and different in comparison to both the other parts of the city and other European cities. Stockholm is a collection of interconnected islands, however for a large time the entire city was contained to one island… which over time grew and expanded so that it was really crowded with narrow winding streets – ally ways that are actually streets etc. The whole section of old town is today filled adorable restaurants and cafes that all looked delicious and were all beautifully and eclectically designed. The most charming element of all the restaurants were that they all had hundreds of candles and lanterns (how the entire old town hasn’t burnt down yet is beyond me) it helps to create a really warm and inviting atmosphere coupled with an enchanting and magical feel as you feel as if you have stepped back into time.
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| Typical narrow crowded street in old town, Stockholm Sweden |
Although the sun started to set much earlier it also took a lot longer to set (what we though was the sun set was more like the late afternoon sun) and we subsequently had at least another hour of brightness. We ended up climbing a hill for a panoramic view of the city and on our way back to the hostel even stopped at the Royal Palace and caught the changing of the guard. From our short time thus far in Sweden we had learned that the Swedish love their royal family – every gift shop was selling post cards of the royal family, plates etc. Sweden also had a royal wedding just last summer when the Princess also married a commoner, which perhaps is an explanation of all the hype (I wonder if Price William and Kate Middleton will be on post cards in British souvenir shops a year from now).
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| View of the harbor and old town, Stockholm Sweden |
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| Changing of the Guard, horrible picture but they were walking REALLY quickly I loved their furry white hats |
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| beautiful evening, Stockholm Sweden |
We started heading back to the hostel as it was now dark, windy and cold and we had been up all night. On our way however we went into the largest shopping mall in Sweden. As a marketing major I always find it fascinating to explore different stores etc. The coolest part about this mall was hat it had a large grocery store in the basement (talk about convince) where we bought some snacks for dinner as we had an extremely late lunch.
Side Note: All the Swedish are completely fluent in English – literally everyone. Which is a good thing because I can’t even remember vaguely how to say thank you let alone attempt to pronounce it. I even observed in the grocery store a Swedish girl (she was talking to her friend in Swedish) ask a tall guy (who was also talking in Swedish to his friend) in English to get a bag of chips of a high shelf that she couldn’t reach. I thought that was pretty cool…. I think she wasn’t sure if he was a local unlike me who was observing everyone and as she wasn’t sure she used English in case he wasn’t a native speaker.
We arrived back to the hostel and decided to head to bed early as we were all exhausted. Before heading to bed we went online to research a couple things for the next day. At the time I couldn’t explain it however I had had a really odd uneasy feeling all day. Perhaps it was simply just the lack of sleep, the stress of prolonged travel. Originally at the time I attributed it to the fact that my entire family was flying to Florida for spring break however while online I learned of the earth quake/tsunami/ impending nuclear crisis in Japan. Which really emphasized how fortunate I am, and how quickly everything can change.
Absolutely exhausted we all went to sleep at 9 pm (class was still going on at Oxford)! Unfortunately Megan and I had to set an alarm and wake up t 12:15 to go pick Annie up at the train station. She had not skipped our Friday class and had to take an evening flight. Nothing like a brisk walk in the middle of the night in Sweden to wake you up!
We woke up nice and early so that we would have plenty of time to explore the city all day. After breakfast we walked through old town again and took the ferry to another island where there is a museum that we were interested in. In 1961 the wreck of a 1628 warship that sank on her maiden voyage in Stockholm harbor (she actually sank in her first coupe hundred meters) was salvaged and restored. Over 95% of the ship was recovered and was able to be put back together. The creepiest part that was because the harbors brackish water entire skeletons of the victims were even recovered and they were even able to complete facial reconstruction so that you could tell what they would have looked like. I really enjoyed the museum especially as it was a different yet interesting way to experience and see the city’s culture and history.
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| On the ferry left to right: Annie, Megan, Me, Liz |
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| View of the 1628 vessel the Vassal (95% of the ship behind me is ORIGINAL) |
We then spent the rest of he afternoon wandering through the amazing city, it was beautiful all frozen over. I will say however that I anticipated a Scandinavian country to have more differences in comparison to other Western European countries. We ended up finding a really good restaurant for dinner (we later learned that it is actually a chain and there is even a location in Lux City so I will probably be going back!) Caroline and Liz then decided that they wanted to go to the ice bar… I decided to pass... partly as I really hate being cold and being in a frozen bar is not really my idea of a great time. Secondly it cost 20 euros to get in so I was definitely not going to pay 20 euros to be cold … I figure that if I really want to experience an ice bar that Kat can build one in our backyard next January! Megan and I ended up just going out and getting a drink and as I was trying to use up the remainder of my Swedish Krone I decided to treat myself to a margarita (yeah I know not the right city / country but it was delicious). We had another early night … I remember previous MUDEC students warning of this point of the semester when the constant travel starts to play a toll on you and in a desperate attempt to still be function and be able to enjoy ourselves during our jam packed days we are having to sleep more and more.
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| Really cool restaurant that we found yes that is a tree in the middle of the table. left to right: Annie, Caroline, Megan & Liz |
***I am writing this blog three weeks later and after two insane and intense weekends Paris and Budapest and looking back my level of exhaustion in Stockholm was nothing! I am currently running on an insane amount of adrenaline, the only way that I can describe it is imagine how tired you are after a day of travel it wears on you, or those vacations when you do so much walking and touring that you are physically exhausted after a week… okay now imagine doing it for 3 months! I wouldn’t trade it for anything but maybe you’ll understand why it takes me forever to get these blog posts up!
Unfortunately when we woke up on Sunday it was significantly colder and really dark and dreary (Saturday was postcard blue skies a perfect crisp clear day. At one point Caroline said, “I can’t get over how amazing all of our weather has been” … I promptly shushed her saying she would jinx us… and well we woke up to this nasty weather!) We decided that we would take the morning before we had to leave for our flight home to go to the world’s LAREGEST IKEA. Which is more like an experience than anything else. I have never been to an actual IKEA store before so I really had not base to compare this store to… however I’ll put it this way the floor had arrows on it so that you wouldn’t get too lost and turned around. All of the little rooms made me excited to decorate my first apartment!!! After exploring for a while we went to the IKEA restaurant, it was set up like a cafeteria but had the quality of a restaurant so that we could try Swedish Meatballs. They were absolutely delicious… maybe I should consider a career as an international food critique I could get accustom to flying around the world and sampling exotic and delicious forms of food.
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| World's Largest IKEA store (this is only a tiny portion of it) Outside Stockholm Sweden |
We then headed back to the city center as we had to catch a 3:30 bus in order to make our Flight. When we were getting on our Flibco bus later that evening at Frankfurt (airport we flew back into) we knew that we were potentially going to run into the same problem as Thursday night/ Friday morning as the bus wasn’t suppose to get into the train station until 11:55 five minutes after the last train leaves for the night. And as I didn’t want to spend another night wandering aimlessly around Lux city Liz had the ingenious idea of alerting the bus driver of our predicament. He said that he would try but wouldn’t make any promises. I woke up 2 ½ hours later as this bus was no joke careening through the deserted streets of Lux City to the train station. It was almost comical… our amazing bus driver got us there with 14 minutes to spare!!! I really meant to write a positive review for Flibco on their website after this weekend but basically they earned my business again (even though they have a complete monopoly on getting from Luxembourg to these two tiny airports but the still made a happy customer.)
This weekend also helped to exemplify how lucky I have been to find an amazing core travel group (Kat, Annie, Caroline, Megan and Amanda) as it is a great mix of an amazing old friend and new MUDEC friends. While we mostly haven’t known each other for that long we travel and have endured some high stress situations extremely well with one another as our personalities, strengths and weaknesses all compliment one another so well. This weekend the addition of another (incredibly nice girl) however helped to show how even just one person can’t put the entire group dynamic off and significantly change it! I am looking forward for our trips to Amsterdam and Budapest as our entire little group will be traveling together again!
Sweden was an incredible experience, a frozen wonderland, ice sparkling in the brilliant winter sunlight crystal blue skies a beautiful city steeped in tradition, culture and history. An absolutely beautiful an eclectic mix of new and old, warm and inviting and yet in a frigid cold environment and definitely another great addition to my European adventure
