Sweden Trip!
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2010
1
6
Trip End
May 28, 2010
Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
Thursday, February 10, 2011
This past weekend Kenzie and I traveled to Stockholm, Sweden. This was my first trip outside of Ireland! I was very excited because growing up my American Girl doll was Kirstin from Sweden and I have always loved the idea of Sweden! We took the early bus to Dublin and walked around the main streets. We then went to the airport. I was not sure what to expect from Ryanair but surprisingly it went really well! We landed in Sweden...in the middle of nowhere...in a blizzard!! Kenzie’s cousin picked us up at the bus station and drove us around Stockholm then we stayed at his house for the night. This was the best nights sleep I've had since I left home! We woke up bright and early to go sightseeing. For breakfast, I had a typical “Swedish breakfast sandwich” of toast, butter, cheese, pickles, and caviar from a tube. It was interesting!
Kenzie’s cousins Greg and Kevin took us on a tour of the city all day. Stockholm is beautiful. I did not know that the whole city was made up of little islands connected by bridges. All the architecture was absolutely beautiful and most of the buildings were red or yellow. I loved all of the streets too that had narrow cobblestone streets.
We went to the Vasa museum which was a really cool spot. The Vasa was a ship that was built it 1628. It took 2 years to complete it. When the first voyage went off, the ship only got 100 meters before sinking. In 1961 the Vasa was found and eventually brought to the surface. There was still 95% of the original timber. After a little reconstruction, they built a museum around the Vasa and opened it to the public.
After the museum we stopped for lunch at Östermalmstorg. It is exactly like the English Market in Cork. We continued to walk around the city and see all the streets. We went into a few art shops and trinket stores. For dinner, we had traditional Swedish meatballs. They were delicious! First time having reindeer meat...
Kevin brought us out with his friends Friday night. It was really fun! It was nice to see what Stockholm's night-life was like.
On Saturday we went to Hellasgården which is a national park. There was a lot of people there cross-country skiing. It reminded me of Maine when my family goes snowmobiling. There was an opening in the lake which people jumped into naked. It was quite interesting to watch this...
We then went to a cute cafe to “Fika”. In Swedish, it means coffee break but you can “Fika” whenever you want, all day. Being the “Fika-ing” kind of person that I am, I LOVED this idea. The cafe was so cute and we had lattes and pastries. I had a Semla which is a creme puff that is traditionally served on Mardi Gra or Fat Tuesday. It was delicious! I will definitely be bringing "Fika" back to the states! :)
After a great couple days in Stockholm we headed back to Ireland. Since we got in late we stayed the night. We went out to Temple Bar which is a street with a lot of nightlife. There was great live music playing in all the pubs!
School is getting really busy and I have a lot of due dates for assignments coming up.
Hope all is well with everyone at home. Talk to you soon!
