Terrorising Tourists (and the Changing of the Guard)

I managed to trick a tourist yesterday. It was quite accidental, even though what happened was something that I hoped to do. I was standing at an intersection when someone spoke to me. I didn't understand what they'd said, so I assumed that they were speaking in Swedish. I turned to them and meant to say "I don't speak Swedish" (in Swedish) but managed instead to say "I speak Swedish". The person then garbled some english about how they were just looking for the main train station - so I pointed in the right direction (it was not very far away) without speaking. That night some poor American tourist must have been wondering how they managed to ask directions of one of the few non-english speaking Swedes in Stockholm. Hee hee. I did at least point him in the right direction.

While not misleading tourists, I was watching the Changing of the Royal Swedish Guard at the Palace. There were shiny helmets, there was marching, there were bayonets and there was a band. 

My favourite part was the ceremonial handing over of the walkie-talkie when the guard in the guard house changed over.

My second favourite bit was when the naval band planned the theme form the TV series 'Jag' - sounded very impressive.

It went for quite a long time, and there are at least two different 'changes' as the one Dr M saw was different.  I wonder how many different ones there are. I might go back another time to find out.

Jag vill köpa talk pouder (I want to buy talcum powder).

Yesterday was a triumph for the Svenksa lessons. I left my talcum power at home so the first day I was here I tried to buy some in one of the tiny supermarkets - without the Swedish translation for talcum powder - no luck (and it's quite hard to describe if the word powder is not understood!). I learnt & practiced my pronunciation of 'talk pouder' (t-aaaaa-k p-door) over the weekend and when the big shops reopened yesterday I went looking.  I ended up having to go to a pharmacy (apotek) where I used my Sveksa - and I was understood - hooray! I don't know what the Swedish grandmothers get for Christmas as talc seems like a rare commodity (and not available in florally, grandmother scents). I also managed to refuse coffee at breakfast and buy a tea towel and a chocolate bar (separate transactions) without using any English. (I also bought cycling gloves but I used English for that)

Yesterday was for checking out the big shops - I liked the foodhall/supermarket down in the basement.

This food hall is amazing - every time you think you have explored the whole thing you find another section. The counter to the left - 'ost' means cheese. this is by no means the only cheese display in the shop. To the right - one of those fresh bread & pastry selections.

Left - salmon. See the size of the knife handle? That gives you an idea about how big that piece of salmon is.

Reindeer meat selection to the right (they put out a set of antlers so you don't get confused and think you are buying beef).

When you buy something, they change gets handed to you if it is a note, but the coins come out of a machine. I bought a chocky bar here - but it didn't turn out to be very exotic - it was just like a mars bar.

Apart from the foods hall, there are floors of fashion (full of linen and other light soft materials but mainly in white & beige) and furniture - some of it is right out there) but I'll write about those another time.

After a day of wandering and dinner at the apartment, we went to a jazz club. The roof was hung with all manner of bits and pieces. I tried out aquavit, the Swedish spirit (it was not to my taste) and another variety of local pear cider (which was). It was strange walking out of a pub at 11pm at night and it was still light out!

Cycle Sunday

I tested out my new bike yesterday with a group bike ride. This required a big effort - it was the first real exercise since my teeth came out. The new bike is the cheapest geared bike that Dr M could find - so it is functional, but nowhere near as comfortable as my bike at home (which has mountain bike tires, front shocks and comfort handle grips) - particularly over the cobblestone streets! I did go looking for some cycle gloves over the weekend, but as every shop was shut for midsommar, I was out of luck. (It is weird to have a city shut down completely for 3 days - DJs & Myer can barely cope with being shut for one day at Christmas!)

We rode out of the city and (like the locals) enjoyed the beautiful day with a picnic. I have no idea where we were, but we were on a lawn area between a manor house (built in 1775) and the water.

We ate our picnic on the grass, had a relax, then headed into the manor house for a hot chocolate (wrong weather for it, but it went well with the cake).

The house was beautiful and one of the staff brought us a photo album which showed the house as it used to be - not much had changed!




The ride home was a real struggle! I ran out of puff, my legs gave up and my hands cramped up. All up we did about 33km, so it was a reasonable ride after such a long period of inactivity/convalescence! No bike riding today - I'm going to rest and buy some cycling gloves to make tomorrow's ride more comfortable.

Midsommar Munchies

Breakfast:
A Scandinavian breakfast is very different to what I'm used to. This is what I had yesterday:

Bread
The thing that looks like a slice of chocolate is dark rye bread. This is vastly different to previous rye breads I have tasted. It is soft and slightly sweet and very tasty. The breakfast buffet has about 8 types of breads each day, including hard breads, rolls and sliced bread. My favourite bread looks like a flattened crumpet (it doesn't taste like one though).

Sliced meats
This day I had ham (slinka). I could have had salami, or two other kinds of ham. There might have been turkey available.

Fruits & Vegetables
There's always some fruits - apple, orange, kiwi fruit, melon etc. You can have tomato and capsicum too.

Fish
Salmon is everywhere - there is some Gravad Lax on my plate (cured salmon, not smoked - tastes different)
Pickled fish is popular - this day I tried some tinned sprats (not to my liking). I could also have tried pickled herring, or onion herring.
The stuff that looks like smoosh is seafood mix - my favourite thing. I don't know what is in it apart from prawns & dill, but it is delish.

Cheese
Oh the cheese! At breakfast you get a selection of 4 types - this day I had some brie and some provost (chedder-like). I have never had so much variety of cheeses. (yesterday, across the entire day I would have had 6 types of cheese - the two mentioned above plus gorgonzola, motzerella, fetta & parmesan).

Cookies
yes - those things that look like cookies down the bottom right corner are cookies. It's breakfast dessert.

Drinks
I have had a freshly made berry smoothie each day. If I didn't want this, or the standard tea/coffee/juice, I could have a choice of about 5 different milks and drinking yoghurts (including soured milk - not ready to try this - yet!).

Also on offer - blend your own cereal (different grains with all the trimming to mix together), pickles, mustards, radishes, eggs, pastries, spreads, pate....

Snacks
The Svensk love their hotdogs. There are hotdog stands (grillen) everywhere. It's more about the sausage than the bun as you can see from the picture.

(in the backgound - delicious pear cider, could make you fall off your chair - very easy drinking and reasonably alcoholic)

Cakes and pastries are just as, if not more popular. Self serve is common (even to the point of sometimes you cut your own slice). This is the selection that we picked our Midsommar Eve afternoon tea from:

The cakes are all fabulous. There are a few traditional cakes that you see frequently, but each place always has something a bit new and different to the last. Chocolate, macaroons, berries, meringue, almonds, pistachios and apples all appear in cake displays. It is going to be very hard to return to regular cakeage after this.  Even the supermarkets have displays of fresh pastries - the smell is enough to make me dizzy it all smells so good. I had to send Dr M to get the bread when we were in there today - I couldn't trust myself to get close to the cabinet without selecting a few sticky, warm pastries.

Glad Midsommar (Happy Midsummer)!

Yesterday was Midsommar's Eve - the second biggest event in the Swedish calender (behind Christmas). Businesses, boats, vehicles and of course the Maypoles are decorated with green branches.

We (myself, Dr M, and 3 others here for the same reason we are) joined in with many other local people from Stockholm and visited "Skansen" - an open air museum. Skansen is part zoo, part parklands and part historic site representing a complete picture of Swedish culture, history and nature. We wandered around and saw a few native animals in the zoo:

This here is a moose. He & his wife just had two baby mooses. Most of the animals looked really hot and were lying down panting - the elks, the brown bears, the moose (as illustrated right) - while the wolverine, wolf & otter were hiding out in a cave or similar (and were not visible). In general, early afternoon in midsummer is not the best time to look at arctic animals. On the plus side, just about all of them had recently calved so there were lots of babies to look at.

Tougher animals who were out moving around included the reindeer (that's him on the left), the grey seals (who look quite different to the seals down our way of the world), the European bison and the lynx.

That reindeer is big - those antlers are huge! 

We didn't bother looking at the horses and goats, but I was excited to see a wild red squirrel hopping around - it was tiny, a bit smaller than I would have expected one to be.

We looked through some of the historic buildings (but not all 150 of them) and talked to some of the people dressed up in traditional garb. The locals were all over the park, seated where ever they could put out their picnic blanket. Many people carried their eskies on little carts (which later in the afternoon could be used to transport tired toddlers).

In the early afternoon we watched (and joined in) with the Maypole dancing. I had thought that it would be just a demonstration, but instead everyone joins in - a band plays, there is singing and a few people lead the dance - and whoever wants jumps in and joins the fun. It is literally on for young and old - even young adult/old teenage men/boys join in with the kids, the grandparents, and everyone else. Many people wore wreaths on their heads. The dances are fairly short and tell a simple story.

Dr M & I joined in for a few dances - we think (it was all in Swedish) we danced about sports (kicking balls, waving ice hockey sticks and high jumping), animals (cats, dogs and roosters), and one which we had no idea but had us running in circles, clapping and laughing (actually, we laughed all the time). We then watched other dances about pigs, little frogs, elephants, the days of the week, love dances and one about candy (maybe?). We joined back in for the last dance  which is to 'send' the maypole up and away for good fortune (in the tradition of this kind of thing, we had to do this three times before the dance leader decided that we had done it properly).

After this we headed home and attempted to find somewhere to eat some dinner. This is very difficult in Midsommar - nothing was open! Eventually we found an open restaurant - Japanese. We were presented in Swedish menus, so we had to figure out what was what with a double language barrier. We managed this well and had a delicious dinner - then home to bed. I stayed awake until about 10pm which was not bad for my jetlagged state with a very active day!

Waking up in Stockholm

First morning. Early start due to mild jet lag (5.30am - not so bad, some people get up at that time normally - just not me). I've been out for a stroll around Gamla Stan (Old Town) where our apartment is located. It is the oldest past and the most touristy part of Stockholm - which means lots of tourists, tourist prices, but also lots to look at. This morning it is almost deserted - it is a public holiday for Midsummer - and even tourist places and bakeries don't open today.

Stockholm is part of an archipelago - Gamla Stan is one island. This photo is looking south east towards the island of Sodermalm (at about 6am in the morning). The water is flat here - that's just a little bend put in from panoramicing my photos.

The deserted streets of Gamla Stan. This is the widest street! All street and lane are surfaced in old cobblestones (which you become very aware of when you hear a wheeled suitcase being dragged down the street), the shops are your usual mix of what you would find in any tourist type place - but filled with viking helmets, dala horses, pippi longstocking dolls and traditional Swedish sweets. You could find just about any kind of cuisine here - tapas bars, mexican, thai, chinese, italian... it's all here. We feasted last night at two of Michael's favorite places that he has found so far - a vegetarian buffet place followed by a hot chocolate in one of the chocolate cafes (both very good). Shortly we are going to breakfast in the hotel - it doesn't start until 8am (which seems very late to my stomach as dinner was at 5pm yesterday). This afternoon we are headed out to experience Midsummers Eve.

Hej Sverige (Hello Sweden)!

I have arrived!

The flight from Bangkok went well - I managed a reasonable amount of sleep (due largely to my surprise upgrade to first class which meant that I had a lie flat seat). It was an older plane, so it wasn't very flash first class (ie no entertainment on demand - how old fashioned!) but as I just wanted to sleep having a chair upgrade was fantastic, as was having an empty seat next to me (it felt very private). Don't ask me the trick to getting first class, it just happened - I didn't do or say anything. It's just my lucky week - first the meat tray win and then the upgrade! I should go and see if I can buy a Swedish lottery ticket.

I am very tired now. We have been walking around town a bit with me just trying to stay awake as long as possible. It all feels very unreal - it is unlike anything I have ever seen before. From what I have seen, I think I am going to like it a lot. And not just because you can't go 5m without running into an icecream vendor, chocolate cafe or lolly shop.

I've already seen many amazing sights, but due to being too tired to hold the camera steady I am going to wait for another day before I go crazy with the pictures. One thing worth shooting today was some of these market stalls.



Strawberries for miles. There is a much heavier reliance on seasonal produce here - and right now, strawberries are in season - on these market stalls, a good 1/3 of the display area was taken up with strawberries - very good ones at that.I bought a giant punnet for my afternoon tea.

In Transit

I am almost halfway there. First plane trip was pretty smooth, so smooth that I hadn't even realised that the plane had left the ground. I caught up on romantic comedies ("Valentines Day" & "It's Complicated"), balanced them out with "The Wolfman" (dreadful - could Dennis Hopper ever act? If so he's given up in this one) then tried to get some sleep, but gave up and watched a few TV shows instead.

I am now in Bangkok airport - where the two most noticeable things are the humidity/heat and the security guards riding segue-ways around the corridors. Yes, they look funny but no, you shouldn't laugh (on account of the guns). Bizarrely, the local network has converted bits of webpages to Thai script.

The next flight is about 2 hours longer - the plan is to try and sleep through as much of the flight as possible. Fingers crossed I can!

Flying North for the Winter

The countdown is over - I am sitting at the airport waiting for the flight to be called. I am now hydrating like mad - not only to make the flight & recovery easier, but also because the airport is heated to some ridiculously high temperature. The flight is going to take approximately 1 day - I arrive in Sweden Thursday morning local time.

AAAARRRRRGGGGG!

Pass me the laundry basket.

Can I help it if I think that the best way to prepare for a trip is to spend my time reading my library books so that I can return them read before I leave, and turning the perishable contents of the fridge into cakeage so that it can be shared at work rather than spoiled/thrown out?

(In my defense, beside that empty suitcase is a pile of clothes, shoes, paperwork and gadgetry).

One Week 'til Takeoff

Not long to go now... This time next week I will be flying through the sky northward.

I must say that I done very little trip-associated work this past week. I have thought a lot about packing, but not done anything about it. I am seriously going to have to get my skates on with this - otherwise next Tuesday I'm going to have to just tip the contents of the laundry basket into my suitcase and hope for the best.

What I have managed to do is make arrangements to visit several of my friends who have chosen to make their home in the UK (and when I say make arrangments I mean that I have arranged with my friends to stay at their homes, not that I have done anything about flights!). I also bought a craft project to take over with me, to fill in the times where I am not out exploring the world (and I am missing both my personal and council library). And yes, that is the sum total of this weeks prep!

So, the next week is going to be busy!

Preparation, Investigation & a Weird Translation

2 weeks left on the countdown! I am spending a reasonable (or an unreasonable?) amount of time with this:


Preparations are ongoing for the trip - cabin luggage has been bought and I've finished all the spoken Svenska lessons on my disc (although I need to go back and check the file on Dr M's computer - I only got 9 lessons and it didn't sound as though it was the end). I haven't managed to start my written lessons (I blame housework).

Investigations have resulted in a program for weekend trips and an idea for how to celebrate my birthday. I have been researching online and passing the info to Dr M, who is investigating locally to check and finalise details. There is so much to see and do - hopefully I will find a lot of cheap/free attractions as I have found a lot of things that I'd love to do that aren't!

The first weekend I'm in Stockholm is Midsummer - one of the biggest annual events in Sweden. I've been researching places to go to watch (join?) the celebrations and I ended up on a website which did not have an English version - so I ran it through the google translator - with the following weird result:

Midsummer night is magical and long. The scents of mint, timothy, clover and sweet gale are enchanting. The night is never quite black, but gray and the shadows you can make out the essence of who narrated on for generations. But be careful, watch out for the Siren who beats chlorine in manfolket and not be tempted of the neck lovely tones. Join us on a magical journey to the houses and farms.
Maximum: 25 persons / group
Price: 2600 kr 1 hr. Entrance to the will.

What can you say to that?

Countdown - 3 weeks to go

I hereby announce this blog open.

Littleswedishblog is here so that family & friends are up-to-date with my adventures during my littleswedishtrip. Right now I am on the countdown to departure - I have my ticket, passport and a signed leave form - in three weeks time I will be winging my way to Stockholm via Bangkok.

I have resumed my Svenska lessons (which had been on hold during my broken jaw experience) and am up to lesson 8 of 10. I am not sure of the value of said lessons as the lessons seemed to be written around the idea of a young American man speaking to a young Svesk woman, with him offering drinks and meals - I don't think I will need to know many of the phrases as the only person I am likely to invite back to my place is my husband (and he speaks English). However, it is fun to learn, and hopefully I can learn enough to understand a little of what's said around me. I think the reading component will be more helpful as it will help me know how to read place/street names so that I can ask for directions if required (although if they answer me in Svenska; what I am looking for will either need to be here (har) or over there (dar botta) otherwise I wont be able to understand them).

With 21 days to go, goals for the next week are:

• research what Dr. M & I are going to do with our rare and precious weekends during the trip
• sort out this blogging business (how to get it looking the way I like, learn how to insert photos etc) and load a swedish font so that I can use the extra letters in the Svenska alphabet (those a's with the funny things on them)
• finish the oral component and start the reading component of the Svenska lessons
• pay all the bills and try and figure out if any are going to come in while I am away

Hej da!

(that's goodbye for those of you who haven't finished the first lesson of Pimsleur's Swedish 1)