Last day! Stockholm

Realized after getting a text from ma that I miswrote the itinerary.  I put 31 days in April which put the return date as May 2nd instead of May 3rd.  Whoops.  We just got through security and board in 40.  It was a little nervewracking because the only train that came this early was at 4:20am, flight boards at 6 worked out fine though.  The ride over was a high speed line and it looked like it capped out at 208 kph which is about 130 mph.  Sidenote Sarah just bought us some swede water from the airport and it turned out to be sparkling, yuck :P

Yesterday we got to stockholm amd dropped our stuff off at the hotel that we picked because of its immediate proximity to tge train station.  We made a short souvenir detour and then headed to the one event we had planned which was a food tour.  We'd done one before in Greece and it was a highlight of the trip.  Tgis one was run by another Greek, Dmitrius, whos lived in Stockholm a while.  We went to a couple foodhallens and he gave us the history of the city and buildings as we went. 

First foodhall we had some cheeses including a really interesting one with Cumin.  Then we sampled some cured meats: bear, elk heart, and moose.  Though Sarah and i werent sure if it was moose heart and elk or vice versa but we disliked the same one.  I liked bear, it was honestly like a slightly tougher but surprisingly not gamey piece of beef jerky.  Polished off with some 2.2% beer.  Like Minnesota they also have "near beer".  You need a liquor license to sell drinks that arent that, and also only the State can sell bottles of liquor.  So all liquor stores are state run.  Had some meatballs and potatoes with lingonberries, for the 3rd dayin a row :) These ones were inferior to previous ones but Sarah like the actual meatball better.  Everything else from gravy to potatoes the ones we had before were champ.

Next we headed away to a foodhall right by the concert hall they also award various Nobel Prizes in.  In this one we had a really good tomato and white fish soup.  Some small samplings of salmon, a type of cake made from one of the cheeses we tried earlier, langostina/crawfish dill on a cracker, and a cooked herring on rye.  Then we moved upstairs to the candy store where we were going to try.... more licorice.  Went tgrough regular, salted, and smoked which was fish shaped and was both quite salty and smokey.  Then he pulled out the dreaded container that Martin had shown us in Denmark.  What we now know are called "Swedish Bastards" the super salty licorice wed tried before.  We passed this time and to our absolute amazement there was this lady probably in her 60s or 70s who took a bit and was like "hmmmm... " and then went for another bite and ate the whole darn thing and was like "oh thats unusual, I kind of like it".  Then we had one after that tasted similar though maybe a bit sweeter it was still rough and same deal she's like "oh i like that one".  So there ya have it Americans can like these too apparently.  Had some more of the candy coated ones from Denmark that Nana had in their store.

After that was our longest walk.  Went past the palace and parliament and into old town.  We had Fika which is just a Swedish term/practice of taking a break and having coffee/drink with a snack, usually bread or sweet.  Had coffee with a cinnamon roll, which was pretty good.  Asked Dimitri some final questions and then split away.

It was an interesting tour group though.  There were 4 women there for an annual Autism conference in Stockholm.  One of them did genetic research, not sure if she was presenting, but its a multiday event.  Another couple seemed like had a lot of travel similarities and talked to them for a bit.  All from US except one guy from China who spoke perfect english but we didnt strike up a convo with him or another lady there.

Oue hotel had a great view of the water and city hall which is pretty cool looking.  It has a golden top with crowns and statues on it.  We were pretty excited that this was the first hotel with a bathtub.  Sore feet + hot water was wonderful.  We just grabbed a quick dinner at a place across the street set up like anl 50s american diner called Daiseys.  Kebab, burgers, fries, etc.  I got the grand kebab and sarah got a burger.  Interesting thing was they had bernaise sauce in little condiment cups like you'd get ketchup and it was surprisingly good for prepackaged bernaise.  Great fry did idk why its not more of a thing.  The fries, kebab, and burger were all really good.  Sidenote we both really liked Stockholm as a city.  Its pretty and also roomy maybe?  Seems more spread out, wider streets, not very hectic.

So thats it, other than more mundane trying to get train ticket and make sure we were set for today.  Boarding starting soon so one final thank you to all our hosts!  Thanks for anyone following the blog! Probably talk to a lot of you soon

Views from the room

May Day Meatballs

Didnt really do too much today.  Slept in late, napped more in the afternoon.  However the Mayday car parade went past our hotel so we got to watch a bit just by stepping outside.  

There were several epa-traktors.  Karl told us about these.  Its basically a loophole for underage drivers to drive.  Like probably most places farm kids need to be able to drive farm equipment so they make allowances.  In Sweden they do it by making it so lower ages (15) can drive vehicles that cant go over 30kph.  That means if you can reduce the capable speed of any car or truck to 30kph you can drive it and you have to put a red triangle on the back.  So kiddos take a regular car and tune it wayyy down to make it legal and then drive on main roads, slowing all the other traffic down to their miserable speed.  Fucking jävla epa-traktorer alltså!  And then cherry on top for one such clunker was a confederate flag on the bag, just that extra dash of trash :)

But majority of it was just classic cars, pretty interesting though didnt stay for longer than 20 minutes.  I think it was at least 1.5 hours, since we could hear it going outside.

Karl stopped by for the beer and bag of girlscout cookies we brought and said our goodbyes.  Went back to the same pub for more meatballs since Sarah was mad I ate half.  She loves swedish meatballs so this was pretty peak travel food.

After that we packed up to prep for basically pur last day.  As im writing this we're at the station waiting for the train to Stockholm.  So now im getting in these last blogs each morning instead of night.

One of the questions Ocean asked us yesterday was if people normally blog in the US. Noooo...just old people idk if kids even know what blogs are now.  Kind of a developer thing too, but Im not that cool.

Our weird tv remote representing how we watched tv and slept most of the day

House on left is where we slept and is also the old train station as seen in these pics inside

Possible epa-traktor seen in the wild.  Though I dont see the red triangle so maybe its just a clunker

Norrköping and Valborg

As mentioned last time we had another train issue.  We waited at Copenhagen Central until our train was supposed to show on the schedule board annnd nothing.  Checked with info and was told that we'd have to transfer to another one leaving in 5 minutes, so we had to do a little running. 

When he did transfer to the one direct to Norrköping we in our seats which were facing backwards.  Led to a somewhat nauseous ride, it was pretty wavy and we both had to take some dramamines.

After about 3.5 hours we we in Norrköping, Sweden.  Its a former industrial town where the old textile factory in the center of town is now a museum.  We took the tram to our hotel (Borgs Villahotel) which seems closer to a bed and breakfast.  We're in a different house than the main one and its pretty cute.

A little while we met up with Karl and his girlfriend Ocean.  Stopped by a bar for drinks and food.  Had potato pancakes and veal meatballs. The meatballs were definitely better than Ikeas :)  very good.

Went through town to get to another bar before heading up to the park and the Valborg fire.  Last day of April id Valborg which nobody was really sure of the origin in our group, but every yeat theres big bonfires, beer, and hotdogs.  Big party day for students.  It was pretty busy with peiple coming back from the fire, so it seems like a lot left shortly afyer it was lit,but also lots hanging around it, kids on the playground, etc.

After munching a dog (thanks Koarl!) we headed to another bar for a couple more drinks, and Sarah and I headed out after.  Bailed because we're old and tired.  But had a very fun day.

They have government mandated kissing here,we had to kiss.  Be warned Americans this is what happens with an out of control state.

Tivoli

This entries coming a day late.  Honestly just forgot and was pretty tired.  Currently we're on a train in Sweden after a bit of confusion earlier at the station, think were good now.

Yesterday we had breakfast at the hotel, which turned out to be a very large spread, with service for coffee.  Did a few different jams and breads and lattes.  Couple interesting juices too.

The bulk of our day was at Tivoli, which is the worlds 2nd oldest amusement park.  We got there shortly after it opened and got ride + entrance passes.  We mostly wasted tge ride portions as Sarah did one with me, I did one by myself.  The park itself is pretty good sized at the center of Copenhagen, its got lots of flowers, little souvenir shops and restaraunts.  Today was big band day apparently so it seemed like it was all local/high school jazz big bands playing in the bandshell.  We got some cocktails to walk around with. 

First ride was the tower drop.  Its been a long time since ive been on one.  I dont really like heights but I was like hey i can get a view of the city.  I did.  I definitely screamed harder than the kids next to me.  Its the kind that holds you at the top for about 10 seconds maybe then drops you.  I could in fact see to the ocean and over the buildings, and wind turbines in the background.  My scream cut off halfway down and i just started laughing.

Sooo I was like alright theres this ither spinny one tgattakes you up but youre in a cart, minimum height is small so kids are doing it.  Can sit inthe cart with Sarah.  Horrible decision.  Spoiler is we didnt die, but 2 adults in one of these squeaky carts spinning around sideways and it lasted what seemed like forever.  It was at least 2 minutes at the top, which seemed much longer.  We got a lot of laughter out of our shared terror from our stupid antelope shaped cart.  And we were done with rides :)

Got some expensive hotdogs, popcorn, and drinks and looked around more.  Sadly the aquarium was closed until later due to a band show.

After we left we looped around a little.  We had planned on going to Freetown Christiania, an oddball hippy-esque non governed area of the city, but wound up passing on it.  We did go to the Nyhavn neighborhood and walking around.  Its a 17th century canal, house, restaraunt area.  It looks pretty enough but its one of those overcrowded tourist areas.

After that we walked around a bit and grabbed some snacks as well as the hard salty licorice Martin had recommended earlier.  Got back to the hotel and packed up again for the next leg of the trip.

We had a late reservation at an Italian place down the road.  A little fancier fare put us over budget for probably the first time (along with the Tivoli tickets).  We had burrata for a starter which was fantastic. Sarah had Filetto Rossini (beef with fois gras, truffles, madeira sauce)  and I had pistachio and wasabi crusted rack of lamb.  Both very good, first time either of us have had fois gras.  I always think of a quote from Gordon Ramsay where he says "Some people say fois grois is cruel, but I think its delicious".  It can be both Gordon, but also I dont think we'd go out of our way for it again. 
Had a couple deserts and some wine.  Shnazzy honeymoon meal.

We watched Airplane! back in the bedroom and fell asleep to it.  Didnt get to see a ton of Copenhagen but had a good time.

Before

After