Magical Amsterdam

Last weekend a group of 8 of us flew to Amsterdam.  We flew in from Stockholm, Estonia, and Germany.  We all arrived on Friday night and set out to tour the lighted streets of the city.  And what a beautiful city it is.  Canals flow through the streets, making all of the thin and tall homes water front.  The streets are littered with coffee shops - Some offering lattes, pastries, and dutch chatter.  Others offering menus of marijuana, magical shrooms, and lots of laughter.  We strolled through the red light district, which I found to be especially disturbing.  Many aspects of this city are uncomfortable.  However, there is a true beauty in Amsterdam.  On Sunday night after the sun went down, groups of children, each with a handmade lantern, went from door to door singing Dutch songs.  The owner of the home would answer the door with a tray of chocolates - one for each child.  We felt as though we were in a movie set.  And just as we thought the children and lanterns couldn't make this night any more magical, we stumbled upon a cornerside restaurant covered in twinkling white lights.  Once inside we felt as though we were in a nice, cozy, living room.  The waitress brought us a bottle of wine and a wooden board portraying a spread of select cheeses.  We were wrapped up in the aura of the evening and lost all track of time, causing us to barely make our flight back to Stockholm.  But the memories remain of that mystical city.  

Fancy a ferry to Tallinn?

I have yet another visitor in Stockholm - Corinne.  I am so fortunate to have such wonderful family and friends that come to visit!  This weekend a large group of us (7) took a ferry to Tallinn.  We boarded the ferry on Saturday afternoon.  Everyone kept referring to the boat as a ferry, but it was actually a large cruise ship - filled with restaurants, cheesy night clubs, and discotheques.  After we set sail, we bought cheap alcohol (alcohol on the ship is much cheaper than in Stockholm, which isn't saying too much because alcohol is so expensive in Sweden!), cheeses, meats, and breads and had a dinner party in our room.  Afterwards we set out for a night of dancing, hopping from club to club.

The next morning at 10am we arrived in Tallinn.  The ground was covered with snow, but the sky was clear, and the sun was shining.  We spent our 7 hours at port walking the fairytale like streets - sipping hot wine, feasting on mushroom and brie filled pancakes, and dipping in and out of the many shops.  Before getting back on the ship we took an Estonian jellyfish shot, bought some black bread, and boarded yet again.  We were all very tired so we had a proper sit down dinner on the ship.  Then we retreated to our room and my Estonian and Lithuanian friends told stories of their childhood in the Soviet Union - 3 hour lines to buy food, goods such as bananas, sugar, and blue jeans were considered delicacies, communist parades, storing sacks of potatoes in the basement - Helen told a story of her dad going to Finland for business and he brought back a barbie for she and her sister.  They were the only girls in school to have barbies and they were so excited to have this rare toy!

We then retreated to our beds and had a peaceful, very long, night's sleep.

Copenhagen

Powers came to visit Scandinavia!  We took a weekend trip down to Copenhagen while he was here.  The train ride was about 5 1/2 hours and showed us southern Sweden's countryside.  It was a rainy weekend in Copenhagen.  We spent the weekend walking the historic streets along the canals, and learning about Denmark's history.  Whenever the cold and rain became too much to handle, we'd dip into a waterside pub and have a beer... soothes any chill.

Even the bugs and birds are different

There's something very interesting that I've noticed since being here.  There are no screens on any window.  The windows simply open to the outside and allow for the breeze and whatever else to drift in.  In the U.S., homes would quickly become infested with flies, mosquitoes, etc.  However, this situation does not pose a problem here.  The animals prefer to be outside, so while a small gnat may fly indoors, it simply pokes around for a minute or two and then exits back through the window.  Yesterday at work, a bird flew into the office.  No one seemed to mind.  So I watched.  The bird's friend soon followed inside.  They flew around the office, and then flew back outside once they were finished exploring.  Simply intriguing.

Kayaking in the Baltic

It was time to journey out of the city into the country side.  Ten of us boarded a bus, then another bus, and then one more bus, which led us 2 hours north of Stockholm.  Our final destination was a very small town, which almost reminded me of upstate NY.  Except for the fact that all of the signs were in different languages, of course.  We walked to the harbor and rented kayaks.  After gearing up and organizing 10 people, we lowered our kayaks into the water and set out for a journey in the Baltic.  The air was crisp and the sun was warm.  When we began, I was wearing a fleece.  Not even 20 minutes in, I shed down to my t-shirt.  We kayaked through deserted islands, watching birds fly through the sky, and jelly fish float beneath us.  We pulled ashore onto a rocky island where we ate sandwiches and cookies, and bathed in the sun.  After our break, we continued on back to our starting point.  It was a wonderful 4 hour paddle.  Once back at shore, we sat in the sun outside of the Graddo Bryggcafe.  It was yet again time to board the bus(es) back to Stockholm.

  

Island exploring

I've been delinquent in my blogging... what can I say? It's been a busy start to the semester. Outside of school and work, I've still managed to have plenty of fun.  The theme of the past couple of weeks seems to have been 'exploring the Archipelago'. 

Last weekend, Roos and I took a ferry to Vaxholm (an island in the Archipelago).  It was a beautiful, sunny day, and only light jackets were in order.  We met in the city center and hopped the 1.5 hour ferry to Vaxholm.  We spent the entire boat ride outside, watching the gorgeous water side homes and country side go by.  Once we reached the island, we took a very short ferry ride to Vaxholm Fortress.  As Stockholm is a port city, this fortress was built near the entrance to the Archipelago in the 1500's to provide security.  The fort is now open for touring.  There were hardly any other people there, making touring the fort more mystical.

Back on the main Vaxholm island, we walked the streets and then found a Swedish restaurant on the water.  We sat outside and feasted on salmon, shrimp salad, and beer.  Life could not be any better!  After our late lunch, we returned to Stockholm via ferry.  What a great 'Sunday outing'!

 Vaxholm Fortress

View of Vaxholm from the top of the Fort

        

My 1st Swedish cray fish party!

I was fortunate enough to be invited to a cray fish party.  With real Swedes.  In Sweden.  What an experience.

I offered to help prep for the party and was sent to the store to buy cray fish table cloths, cray fish party hats, cray fish napkins, and an assortment of other cray fish decorations.  That is when I realized just how popular cray fish parties are here... when they mass produce these products with cray fish print and sell them in the grocery store.  After prepping, Ewa and I arrived at Andre's apartment and started setting up the table with the goods.  An extremely large bowl over filling with cray fish, cheese, salad, bread, beer, akvavit, akvavit, akvavit, akvavit....

Once everyone arrived we sat down for the meal.  I was told meals last for hours in Sweden, and I was about to find out why.  Next to my plate was a song book filled with traditional Swedish songs.  We began eating the juicy, flavorful cray fish when all of our shot glasses were filled with the first round of akvavit.  It was time for song #1.  We all sang the first song together (it was in Swedish so mostly gibberish was coming out of my mouth) and ended the tune with "Sköl" and a shot of akvavit.  Holidays in Sweden are always filled with food and singing.  I remember this from midsommar.  It allows the families to spend a lot of time at the dinner table together, telling stories and laughing.  The more akvavit that is consumed, the more stories that come about.  Well, many songs, much food, and even more akvavit later it was time for the evening to come to a close.