Well after about 18 hours of being in Prague I was back in the airport again to make the journey to SWEDEN!!! To start off all the rumors about Sweden being frigid, not true well at least it was warm in the 5 days I was there. Okay back to the journey. I arrived at the airport and took a bus to Linköping where I met Gabriela, my fourth cousin I would say. I think the relation is our great-grandparents were first cousins, I really should know this but its that far back I know at least. Thursday night we had homemade Swedish meatballs, potatoes, and Julmust, which is a Coca-cola type drink that the Swedes drink at Christmas time and is very good. After dinner we watched Australia which is a good movie with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman and is a story about love and cattle driving in the Outback during World War II. Its long but really good! Friday I was able to sleep a little late and Gabriela went to class until about noon. Once she got back we walked around Linköping a bit. I got to see a bit of the old town(picture to the left), Linköping University (Gabriela's school), a chocolate factory and some of the city center at night. I was also able to see a Protestant Church, yay finally! The Linköping Cathedral was yet again another old and beautiful church. After walking around for the rest of the day we went back to Gabriela's place and she cooked again another wonderful dinner of the student sausage meal and mashed potatoes. The sausage was a very easy dish with just sausage, onions, ketchup, and mustard stuck in the oven for a bit and you have a delicious and easy but not so healthy meal. It was soooo good! That same night Gabriela's friend Anna came over and we watched Swedish Idol and had glögg, candy, gingerbread, and Lussekalter ("Lucia Cat" which are donut type pastries). The glögg is a Scandinavian Christmas drink and is a spiced wine that is served hot and is put it little glasses. We also put raisins and almonds in the glass as part of the tradition. The candy Anna brought was just a variety of candy from the grocery store and there were a lot of different flavors and shapes. It was another early to bed night because we were heading to Stockholm the next day. Saturday we took a 3 hours bus ride to Stockholm. We checked into our hostel and immediately started the tours. We first went to the City Hall and got a tour. The first room we saw was the Blue Hall which was not blue it was brick. The original plan was to paint the room blue but when the architect saw the room he changed his mind to keep the brick but the name stuck. We then saw the council chamber were the members still meet today. After that we went into the Golden Room where millions of golden tiles were used to cover the walls in beautiful murals. The Queen of Sweden is on the front wall and she is holding the city of Stockholm in her lap to protect it. After city hall we walked to the Palace. In here we got a tour of the royal and guest apartments and the crown jewels. After walking for a few hours we found this little cafe called Art cafe down an alleyway. It was a really cute underground little place where we got tea and chicken curry sandwiches. Once done with our snack we headed back to the center from old town to see the lights a night a bit. Around 6pm we walked back to the hostel, showered and found a place to eat dinner. We found this really good Chinese/Thai place where I got a non-Swedish meal but was able to try pear Swedish cider, Rekorderlig. I thought the pear was appropriate hence my last name. Gabriela and I were pretty tired from the day so we decided to head back and just read and hang out in the room and rest up for Sunday. Sunday morning we woke up and headed to a different part of Stockholm to see the Vasamuseet or Vasa Museum. This museum is dedicated to the warship, the Vasa, who sank on her first voyage in 1628. 300 years after she sank in April of 1961 she was pulled up from the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Because of the low amounts of salt and the temperatures of the sea, the Vasa was in great condition for being underwater for 300 years. The ship was restored and made to look as close to the original as possible. About 90% of the ship is original but some things had to be replaced to complete the ship. It was amazing to see the detail and effort that went into this ship. The picture to the left is a skeleton that was found in the bottom floor of the ship. The sailors who were on the bottom floor when water rushed in from the open cannon doors when the ship started to tip were drowned. 32 people died in this disaster. After the museum we went to the Palace again and were able to see the changing of the guards parade. It was a very long and serious program with a lot of guns and salutes. We then headed to a different part of the city to find some lunch. We found this coffee shop over a bridge to the island Södermalm where we got a large hot coffee to warm us from the cold and rain and I got Kladdkaka which is an amazing gooey chocolate cake, heaven in your mouth good, and Gabriela got carrot cake which was also very good. After we finished our tasty and very healthy lunch we walked the main street and went into shops and malls just to look around. Around 4pm we headed to the Swedish Museum of Natural History and saw an IMAX film about the Wild Coast in southern Africa. It was a very interesting film about the sardine migration to the northern warmer waters and the other wildlife it bring along with it. Sharks, dolphins, seals, penguins, and many birds all follow the schools to eat. It was a very cool 3D film. After the film we headed back to the hostel to and got our own pizza to go. The pizza was very good but an interesting thing about Swedish pizza places is they give you a container of cabbage to put on top of the pizza. It was a very strange combination but it was also very good. We ended up shower and just hanging around in the hostel becasue again we were exhausted from walking around all day in the chilly rainy weather. We had to get up early and get Gabriela to the bus station so she could catch her bus back to Linköping in time so she could get to her classes. After dropping her off I pretty much roamed Stockholm for the day again. I bought some souvenirs, hung out in a coffee shop and read, wandered down to the water front and sat for about an hour just to watch the boats come in and out. At around 3 I headed back to the bus station to get a bus to the Skavsta Airport and my hotel which was right next door. I checked into the hotel around 6pm. Took a shower, ate some dinner, packed up, read a little in bed then crashed early for my 4:30am wake up call to catch the 6:30am flight home to Prague. The breakfast in the morning was very good and consisted of a ham, cheese, cucumber, and tomato toast, yogurt and muesli, and coffee. Well worth the money. I finally got back to my dorm at around 10am and was happy to be back and free of traveling stresses. I am so so happy I was able to meet up with Gabriela and see Sweden!! I am hoping I will be able to get back to Sweden someday and have the rest of her family and my family meet, *cough* family vaca!! *cough* Anyway, another great trip but I am happy to be able to be home and sleeping in my bed.
Thursday night we had homemade Swedish meatballs, potatoes, and Julmust, which is a Coca-cola type drink that the Swedes drink at Christmas time and is very good. After dinner we watched Australia which is a good movie with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman and is a story about love and cattle driving in the Outback during World War II. Its long but really good! Friday I was able to sleep a little late and 
Gabriela went to class until about noon. Once she got back we walked around Linköping a bit. I got to see a bit of the old town(picture to the left), Linköping University (Gabriela's school), a chocolate factory and some of the city center at night. I was also able to see a Protestant Church, yay finally! The Linköping Cathedral was yet again another old and beautiful church. After walking around for the rest of the day we went back to Gabriela's place and she cooked again another wonderful dinner of the student sausage meal and mashed potatoes. The sausage was a very easy dish with just sausage, onions, ketchup, and mustard stuck in the oven for a bit and you have a delicious and easy but not so healthy meal. It was soooo good! That same night Gabriela's friend Anna came over and we watched Swedish Idol and had glögg, candy, gingerbread, and Lussekalter ("Lucia Cat" which are donut type pastries). The glögg is a Scandinavian Christmas drink and is a spiced wine that is served hot and is put it little glasses. We also put raisins and almonds in the glass as part of the tradition. The candy Anna brought was just a variety of candy from the grocery store and there were a lot of different flavors and shapes. It was another early to bed night because we were heading to Stockholm the next day. Saturday we took a 3 hours bus ride to Stockholm. We checked into our hostel and immediately started the tours. We first went to the City Hall and got a tour. 
The first room we saw was the Blue Hall which was not blue it was brick. The original plan was to paint the room blue but when the architect saw the room he changed his mind to keep the brick but the name stuck. We then saw the council chamber were the members still meet today. After that we went into the Golden Room where millions of golden tiles were used to cover the walls in beautiful murals. The Queen of Sweden is on the front wall and she is holding the city of Stockholm in her lap to protect it. After city hall we walked to the P
alace. In here we got a tour of the royal and guest apartments and the crown jewels. After walking for a few hours we found this little cafe called Art cafe down an alleyway. It was a really cute underground little place where we got tea and chicken curry sandwiches. Once done with our snack we headed back to the center from old town to see the lights a night a bit. Around 6pm we walked back to the hostel, showered and found a place to eat dinner. We found this really good Chinese/Thai place where I got a non-Swedish meal but was able to try pear Swedish cider, Rekorderlig. I thought the pear was appropriate hence my last name. Gabriela and I were pretty tired from the day so we decided to head back and just read and hang out in the room and rest up for Sunday. Sunday morning we woke up and hea
ded to a different part of Stockholm to see the Vasamuseet or Vasa Museum. This museum is dedicated to the warship, the Vasa, who sank on her first voyage in 1628. 300 years after she sank in April of 1961 she was pulled up from the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Because of the low amou
nts of salt and the temperatures of the sea, the Vasa was in great condition for being underwater for 300 years. The ship was restored and made to look as close to the original as possible. About 90% of the ship is original but some things had to be replaced to complete the ship. It was amazing to see the detail and effort that went into this ship. The picture to the left is a skeleton that was found in the bottom floor of the ship. The sailors who were on the botto
m floor when water rushed in from the open cannon doors when the ship started to tip were drowned. 32 people died in this disaster. After the museum we went to the Palace again and were able to see the changing of the guards parade. It was a very long and serious program with a lot of guns and salutes. We then headed to a different part of the city to find some lunch. We found this coffee shop over a bridge to the island Södermalm where we got a large hot coffee to warm us from the cold and rain and I got Kladdkaka which is an amazing gooey chocolate cake, heaven in your mouth good, and Gabriela got carrot cake which was also very good. After we finished our tasty and very healthy lunch we walked the main street and went into shops and malls just to look around. Around 4pm we headed to the Swedish Museum of Natural History and saw an IMAX film about the Wild Coast in southern Africa. It was a very interesting film about the sardine migration to the northern warmer waters and the other wildlife it bring along with it. Sharks, dolphins, seals, penguins, and many birds all follow the schools to eat. It was a very cool 3D film. After the film we headed back to the hostel to and got our own pizza to go. The pizza was very good but an interesting thing about Swedish pizza places is they give you a container of cabbage to put on top of the pizza. It was a very strange combination but it wa
s also very good. We ended up shower and just hanging around in the hostel becasue again we were exhausted from walking around all day in the chilly rainy weather. We had to get up early and get Gabriela to the bus station so she could catch her bus back to Linköping in time so she could get to her classes. After dropping her off I pretty much roamed St
ockholm for the day again. I bought some souvenirs, hung out in a coffee shop and read, wandered down to the water front and sat for about an hour just to watch the boats come in and out. At around 3 I headed back to the bus station to get a bus to the Skavsta Airport and my hotel which was right next door. I checked into the hotel around 6pm. Took a shower, ate some d
inner, packed up, read a little in bed then crashed early for my 4:30am wake up call to catch the 6:30am flight home to Prague. The breakfast in the morning was very good and consisted of a ham, cheese, cucumber, and tomato toast, yogurt and muesli, and coffee. Well worth the money. I finally got back to my dorm at around 10am and was happy to be back and free of traveling stresses. I am so so happy I was able to meet up with Gabriela and see Sweden!! I am hoping I will be able to get back to Sweden someday and have the rest of her family and my family meet, *cough* family vaca!! *cough* Anyway, another great trip but I am happy to be able to be home and sleeping in my bed.
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