Home sweet Sweden
Trip Start
Jan 05, 2011
1
28
61
Trip End
May 18, 2011
Uppsala, Swedish Lakeland, Sweden
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Greetings from Sweden!
Saturday
Today I woke up at 4:30am to do some last minute packing before heading off to the train station to catch my 6:14 train. With a quick train switch in Oslo, by 7:25 I was on my way to eastern Sweden to visit my friend Jenni Jalonen in Uppsala. Luckily I was able to get some sleep on the train; I didn't manage to get to bed till nearly midnight the night before. Though I almost felt bad when I did sleep, as taking the train is a great way to see the Swedish countryside. There's always the trip back, though, so it's not a big deal. That's one thing (of many) that I hate about flying; you don't get to see the scenery!
The train arrived in Stockholm a few minutes prior to the 1:31 estimated arrival time. (Yes, Leah, that sentence was for you.) The Stockholm train station is a lot bigger (and fancier) than Oslo central station, but it didn't take long to find Jenni. After more than six weeks in Europe, it was really nice to see a familiar face! And the face of a good friend on top of that - it was awesome!
On the train back to Uppsala, about 40 minutes from Stockholm, Jenni and I got a chance to catch up since she left North Dakota more than eight months ago. It was nice.
After arriving in Uppsala, we first went to Jenni's house to drop off my luggage, meet the family, and what not. We then took a walking tour of the city, which I thought was really cool, literally and figuratively. Unfortunately, it was like -15-20 C, but the awesomeness of the sights made up for the chilly whether. We saw downtown and all that encompasses, the castle of some important politician, and best of all, the domkyrka (Cathedral). It's such an amazing sight, I really can't even describe it in words. Unfortunately, pictures don't do it justice either, so you'll just hafta come here to see it for yourself! It's such a beautiful place. I could be in there for hours, drooling in awe! OK, maybe not drooling, but you get my point. It was kinda dark inside, so I didn't get very good pictures. You could do a google search for better pictures. Or if you want to learn a bit more - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uppsala_Cathedral.
By the time we left the domkyrka, the sun had set and the temperature had dropped even further. But before calling it a day, we walked to Jenni's school, which was nearby, and we had kebab at the local kebab cafe. It was really good, though I think I may have eaten too much...
But anyhow, after we ate, we made our way back home, we watched O Brother, Where Art Thou?, then went to bed. I was pretty well shot, being up since 4:30.
Sunday
Today we didn't do much, though we did go to IKEA, which was amazing. For those perhaps unfamiliar with IKEA, it's a furniture chain. Yeah, we went to a furniture store on a Sunday afternoon. And it was awesome! I never thought looking at home furnishings could be so cool, but then again, I had never been to an IKEA. You'd have to see the store to understand. They have everything you could ever need for your home. Everything! We spent a couple hours there and didn't actually see everything. We even had lunch there, which was very good, not to mention cheap. For more on IKEA - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikea
Anyhow... other than IKEA, we spent most of the day back at the house. It's funny, I can hardly recall what we did all afternoon, but the day seems to have just flown by. I guess that's what happens when your with friends! I guess we did spend much of the time talking and reminiscing, as well as playing piano and singing. (Jenni has a beautiful singing voice, though she won't admit it!). Oh, and we had Swedish meatballs for supper. That's another thing I can cross off the ol' list of stuff to do before I die - eat Swedish meatballs in Sweden. Check.
Tomorrow we're off to Stockholm for the day with some of Jenni's friends to see the city and visit some museums. It's going to be a lot of fun. I'll have an update for you all probably on Tuesday, so y'all come back, ya hear?
Hope you all have a good week!
Robert
