Sweden - Stockholm

I think the reason I spent so long in Dalarna was because I had arranged a place to stay in Stockholm quite far in advance and was simply hanging out until it was acceptable to go there. Stockholm is known for just having no room for anyone so I was glad to get a response. Which is why for about 6 days I stayed with my new friend from Couch Surfing, Andreas, in his apartment a little bit south of the city.

I read a book that was translated from Swedish about a woman in a small suburban town down south who gets kidnapped then raped/tortured in the basement opposite the house she lived in while watching her family through a tv screen. Anyway all the characters seem to dislike people from Stockholm and in my experiences from Gothenburg and Dalarna it seems people THERE don't particularly like Stockholmians either. I have no qualms though. They're a fashionable and fun bunch. No one seems to say sorry though. Not out of selfish disregard for others but it seems they don't want to have to burden the other person with having to answer with something like "that's ok blah blah".

Must say though, where Stockholm city starts and ends is a little confusing as it's spread out over several islands. Seriously look at the aerial view of the city. Looks awesome doesn't it! Definitely impressive that a city was constructed here at all ... seems like a lot of work. After spending around a week there I like to think I managed to get my head around it. The names and pronunciations were a bit beyond me at times but geographically speaking I was starting to get it.

(Right? Cool!)

(Like for example this is ... umm)

Andreas and I actually had a quite a lot in common, not least of which was our preference in TV shows so after having a few drinks and dinner on the first night we settled in to watch some Netflix. On Wednesday I explored the area/islands of Sodermalm and Gamla Stan. Sodermalm is the cool 'hip' area and Gamla Stan is  the more old-time 'tourist' area. I went to some really cool cafes and I saw some interesting buildings. After a day of aimless walking I met up with Andreas and some of his friends and we went bar hopping until we ended up in some friend of a friend's apartment and ultimately at Tradgarden which apparently is the Swedish summer hotspot for young adults. It's the sort of place that will never play anything you actually know because it's too cool for that. Did hear that one Solange Knowles song though. You know the one.

(I'm cool you guysss)

(pictured: stuff)

Next day I went to the ABBA museum because I simply HAD to! I was never really a massive fan of ABBA because they're not really part of my generation but like everyone else I certainly know their big hits. Which I later downloaded after the museum. You can get an audio guide that has the members of ABBA explaining things to you. The stuff they were saying was pretty much explained on the plaques around the museum but it was nice to hear their voices. I actually kind of enjoyed it all! It covered their rise to fame from Eurovision, explained why they were so popular in Australia (seemingly more than the rest of the world??) and their eventual break up. I thought that they hated each other but no! They catch up every now and then it seems. They're never going to get back together though. Agnetha (blonde one) has released a new album and of course there's the Mamma Mia musical and movie. You know, the one with James Bond. Go and listen to Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! again - it's kind of really funky!

(Agnetha looking fierce)

Friday I went to, and subsequently didn't enter, the museum of modern art. Wasn't in the mood for art. I went to a castle on a rock instead and while gazing out across the water I saw the amusement park and HAD to go. Worth noting: I found a camera memory chip thing sitting on a rock. You'd be amazed how many people I mentioned it too automatically assumed child porn. No I've just checked and they're someone's holiday snaps. I'd really like to return it to them so I'll do some research. Hmmm. Anyway the amusement park was a lot of fun! There's one particular ride that is like a carousel swing but very high up which offered the BEST view of Stockholm I could have asked for.

(That tall one right there)

Friday night was drinking with some more of Andreas' friends and then watching as Andreas ate the spiciest sausage in Stockholm and apparently the world. Like a champ he finished it and then later on the walk home from the station he threw up a bit also like a champ. Then drank yogurt like a champ. Then dealt with the digestive aftermath of the devastatingly spicy sausage like a champ. Saturday we just both recovered until we decided to do something traditionally Swedish in the same way that a traditional Australian activitiy could be going on a Walkabout and hunting with boomerangs. We ate surstromming.

(Stage 1: initial regret)

Surstromming literally means 'sour herring' and is essentially herring that has long since rotted itself into being. It's powerfully offensive to all senses and is not to be taken lightly. After two simple bites I gagged and had to spit it out. I had to gargle with Dr. Pepper to wipe the taste out - my dentist is probably shaking his head. However my dentist doesn't read this blog so next time I see him I'll lie. The amount of flies this dish attracted was astonishing, and a true sign of the fact that this 'food' should not be approaching any human orifice. Ever.

(Even light would prefer to bounce off it)

(terrible)

Finally on Sunday we decided to do something with our lives and we went for a bike ride around the various islands. Bought some cool stuff, had another amazing burger, had a beer, then went to the vasa museum. A museum solely dedicated to the biggest Swedish war ship made (in 1628) that subsequently sank about 500m after setting off. I actually liked that the museum was quite specific; all the facts became unusually relevant. If it had been a general boat museum I would not have been nearly as interested. Afterwards we had some more beers and tried some non-disgusting herring which was absolutely amazing. Possibly the best thing I ate in Sweden. God I'm hungry right now.

(artist's interpretation)

(Andreas and my herring. MINE)

I met some cool people in Sweden. It's a really interesting country so I'm glad I was able to spend about two weeks exploring it. Now however I'm flying back into London and I have no apartment and no work until September. Massive drainer. I'm hoping to visit Sweden again soon to see some of the friends I've made but it would be a lot better if they just came to visit me in London :D. Yeah!

(A statue clearly touching his own nipple. Now immortalised in stone)

Sweden - Dalarna province

Dalarna is a somewhat northern province of Sweden and is the perfect example of Swedish countryside. It's the sort of place you'd see on postcards - red houses, trees, lakes, horses ... it's just a nice area. It's all considered quite ... yeah Swedish. Also in Dalarna, being mostly countryside, you'll find mostly white people. Blonde hair and blue eyes e'rrwhere. Children of the corn. ha. It's nice though! They're like VIKINGS! Minus all the raping and pillaging of course. Swedish people really are quite beautiful, however, I mostly want to put that down to perhaps sexual selection. Blondes choose other blondes to have blonde children. I do want to say it's not like a country of models - they're very much within the realms of the average - but there's some creedence to the stereotype, yeah?

                           

                             (It's how they chose the colours of the flag.... No it's not)

I travelled to the Dalarna area initially to visit my friend Carolina who I met in Miami. That was back in 2007? That's dedication! A friendship with Kris is a friendship that LASTS!

Carolina was staying in her home town of Leksand. I had never heard of it but miraculously there was a direct (and cheap) train from Gothenburg so I jumped on and persevered through the 6 hour journey to meet her. Leksand is a beautiful town by the lake and as luck would have it (luck is the word I'm using) I arrived during the Classic Car Week. Which in layman's terms is when Swedish enthusiasts of American cars converge on the town to cruise about and make each other feel worthwhile for maintaining mobile chunks of metal. There are more than you think friends. It's a 'thing' apparently.

('Thing' certainly seems like the right word)

I met Carolina's boyfriend, Thomas, and we all spent the day catching up and drinking on Thomas' houseboat which - for the record - is the coolest houseboat I've ever been on. Carolina was staying in a big house right by a lake and the view was just incredible. I really mean it. Incredible. By the time we got to the car show I was in a really good mood. There were a lot of cars and a lot of Swedish being thrown about but I didn't really mind. Carolina and Thomas' friends were all lovely and were more than happy to speak in English. That ol' guilt about being raised to speak English came back for a bit but it seems so natural for everyone that I quickly forgot about it.

(Here they are)

(Go nature! YES!)

The next day we just had a coffee, grabbed some lunch and lay on the roof of the houseboat in the sunshine. However, I had just caught Carolina before she was moving down south with Thomas so my stay in Leksand was quite short lived. A brief sojourn if you will. Later in the afternoon I was on the train over to the slightly larger town (in relative terms) of Falun. I had arranged via Couch Surfing to stay with the Lingemyr family who picked me up at the station and took me to their lovely house not far from town.

(Boat-tastic)

Falun is famous for its' massive copper mine. It used to be the second largest city in Sweden and kept it (the country) going back in the day when it was all about conquering. It's also the reason for the all the red houses in Sweden as the remnants of the minerals were used to create the paint. That's why almost every house in Falun/Dalarna is this burnt red colour! Including the Lingemyr families' house it seems.

(Da mine)

Mona and Torbjorn were so lovely and accommodating. They've accepted exchange students and sent their two boys off overseas many times so they've got their head in that international frame of mind. We had a lengthy discussion over dinner about Sweden and as a consequence I now know a lot more about Sweden than could ever possibly be necessary but that can't be bad can it? It's a pretty cool country after all.

The next day was spent with my friend Daniel and he showed me around to the local sights of interest with his two dogs - Gertrude and Sarah. I actually didn't visit the mine as there were no English tours while I was around but I mean ... I saw the hole dug into the earth ... that's something, right? Instead I got to see some really nice places and have a great lunch in the sunshine. I was able to meet Daniel's horses and finally I went back to the Lingemyr's place and we jumped in a nearby lake at dusk to cool off.

(Dan and Gertrude walking around a botanical garden)

(Best friends)

After Falun I didn't really know where to go so I just went on Couch Surfing to see who was around and ended up heading to the small town of Alvkarleby to meet Joao and his girlfriend. It was a really small town that didn't really have a whole lot to do but that's ok. Turns out Joao is really into his indoor beach volleyball so he invited me to play that with him and some locals. I'm pretty sure the last time I played volleyball was in highschool and let's just say I wasn't exactly Olympics material so I was a bit uhh ... 'rusty' for a while. I am pleased to say though that I got a lot better until I was an actual contributing member of the team.

(Obviously not contributing while taking this photo)

The locals were all lovely! I really had a good time meeting them and it was nice staying with Joao. I think he's used to having people stay because he seemed incredibly at ease with it. I decided to make nachos because why not make nachos? I was able to explore the town on the bike but there wasn't really a whole lot to see. It's always nice to ride around though. It's certainly faster than walking. That it is. Stayed two nights then trained off to Stockholm. Next blog.

Sweden - Göteborg

"Why Sweden, Kris?" - WELL... I mean. How do I answer that? Why does anyone travel anywhere? I've been interested in Sweden for a long time and now that I've got the time and sheer proximity it seemed like a good time.

(The birthplace of my name. Not really. *ahem* The shop only sells woman's clothing.)

It's summer holidays in London right now so I have no work with which to worry myself so I booked a cheap(ish) flight and everything seemed good. Then the next day my house mates said they were moving back to their countries meaning I had to find a new place, then I found out that I miss out on a fun festival in Brighton, I miss out on a friend coming to visit London, my Swedish friends are busy or out of the country, and to top it off I kiiiind of met someone a few days before the flight.

Poorly timed to say the least.

Still I got on that RyanAir flight and flew the two hours to Gothenburg city which - for those in the dark - is the second largest city in Sweden. 10 points for naming the capital - I'll get to that later. I didn't buy a return ticket as I wasn't actually sure how long I want to spend in Sweden. Immigration didn't bat an eyelid at that though. Good on them.

(Swede-tastic)

In true Kris fashion I arrived without any knowledge of the city or the language. Fortunately for me the latter was not so much of an issue because Swedish people are mind-bogglingly good at English. Better than people in England. ha. I only say that because of the dreadful English accent that wafts around at some of the schools I've been working at. Confusingly enough though a common greeting in Swedish is 'hey' (hej) exactly as we say it so instead I have to say 'hello' juuuust so they know that I'm an English-speaking moron.

(I'll have the meatballs .... of course I will)

Gothenburg as a city has a lot of parks and nice restaurants but I didn't really feel like there was a whole lot to do, you know? There's an amusement park and a science museum but a lot of the fun just comes from sitting around and not doing a whole lot. Which is what I did! Everyone there was quite nice though and it was quite easy to meet new people - always a pleasure!

 (Game of Thrones - Gothenburg)

  I was staying with a friend, Gustav, from CouchSurfing. He's an ex-chemical engineer who is currently studying to be a doctor. Brains coming out the wazoo that one. Very nice guy though and was very kind to let me stay. We went out the first night and met some nice Swedish ladies and went around drinking. Ordinarily a fun thing to do but due to the damned amazing Swedish economy everything is expensive. Gustav had some Swedish beer he had bought cheaply from a trip to Germany (because Europeans can DO THAT) so we made do

.(Gustav and his boat; somewhat different cider flavours! Heavens!)

So what did I do exactly? I went up to an old Fortress but didn't go in as the people working there were on a lunch break. Wouldn't have gone in anyway. I went to Haga which is like a gentrified industrial area full of cafes and restaurants, I went to a rich-ish area to a bar that only appears in summer by the canals, I hung around Gustav's place and I also went for a ferry trip around the Gothenburg archipelago which was really nice...

(Look at dem ROCKS)

... Actually on that last one, Sweden has a really nice coastline with lots of small islands scattered throughout. The ferry system runs on their regular public transport system (yet another system better than Myki) so it was cheap and fairly frequent, too. I went to the island Branno where I had a strange sandwich from a strange couple in a strange cafe. I walked around the outskirts to a nice lookout point where, in the absense of anyone else around me, I took some selfies. Finally I strolled down back to the ferry to go back.

(What a beautiful ... view)

Turns out I completely the missed the centre of the island where their one restaurant is. How do I know this? I met Leopold who, despite living quite close to Gustav on the mainland, works on the island. He showed me some really cool bars around town and it was nice to see some cool places I might not have ordinarily seen. There's other stuff to mention about Swedish culture but I'll probably be spacing out Sweden over three blogs. I'll reserve some stuff for later - like how Sweden is actually full of beautiful people and ... food or whatever. I'll think of something.