The Wrap Up - Part Four

Things that I found odd about hotels in Sweden / Scandanavia / Europe

- The beds! All of them were separate single beds pushed together, with 2 single doonas! It is not unheard of that in an Australian hotel you would have a queen bed made up of two singles pushed together - but they'd disguise it pretty thoroughly. Only a couple of the six places I stayed in even looked like a combined bed (on one frame with a mattress protector) and every single one of them had the two doonas. Some of them looked nothing like a double bed as there was a significant gap between the two mattresses. I could see the benefits - having a husband who twitches in his sleep can be very disturbing - and not once in the 4 weeks on this trip was I bothered by the twitch! I guess with the two doonas you remove the fight over them? But then why bother sleeping in the same bed?

- The alarm clocks - or rather, lack thereof! Nowhere we stayed had an alarm clock. I am not used to this - I see it as a standard issue thing in a hotel that I expect to see there. I really struggled without an alarm clock, as you couldn't use the light quality to determine the time of day. This meant that I wasted a bit of time lying in bed as I didn't realise what time it was. If I'd have known, I would have taken one with me - if I go back I will be packing one in the suitcase before anything else.

- No face washers! Anywhere! I was really surprised by this. I though face washers were European type things. I coped though - I had packed one for when I was traveling around and on the trains - but I ended up using it in Stockholm everyday. This is something you can manage without, but I wonder if the people in the hotels wondered how I got all the hand towels so wet....

The Wrap Up - Part Three

Things I didn't like about Sweden.

Toilets!

Toilets cost money to use, even in shops. The cost varied but was usually about $1.50. Paying more for a toilet didn't guarantee cleanliness. I don't as such have a problme with paying for a loo, but if I pay I expect it to be good! A bigger problem that having to pay though, is that they just don't seem to have enough! Finding them was pretty good in Stockholm (in the touristy area) but really hard in Gothenburg. They put the handbasin in the cubicle with the toilet, so the cubicles themselves are large, so not many fit in.

Worst part - men get a free urinal, but no such luxury for the women!

Late Opening Hours

Stuff opened really late - the general opening hour was 10am - which tended to be the time they started opening up, not that they were ready for trade at 10am. Some places didn't bother opening until 11am. If you know me, you know that I am not a morning person, so for me to say that things opened up too late indicates just how late it seemed!

Salted Licorice & Lollies that taste worse than you can possibly imagine

The Swedes love all kinds of lollies. Unfortunately this includes salted licorice. Yuck! You get salt chocolate and even salted licorice ice cream. The food in general isn't salty, so maybe lollies is where the Swedes get their Sodium requirements.

Public Service Announcement.

If in Sweden (or nearby) and you see these lollies - STAY AWAY!

The taste of these defies description.

My theory is that the ghost shape is a warning - eating these could be deathly to your tastebuds! 

These are the kind of things you spit out and drink three glasses of water to try and get rid of the taste (it doesn't work). You will be cringing in remembrance hours after eating.

Hopefully you get the point and don't try one.

The Wrap Up - Part Two

More Questions answered!

Q: Is there IKEA stuff everywhere?

A: Yes! Lots of the cafes, bars and restaurants I went to used IKEA stuff. Commonly spotted - IKEA glasses, cutlery, chair pads and most of all - blankets (provided by each place that had outdoor seating so you could wrap up in the cold). It was strange being in the arctic circle and looking at the candle holder on the table and realising that I had the same design at home. I didn't make it into the local IKEA shop - although I did see an IKEA bus - if I hadn't been on my bike at the time I might have jumped on!

Q: Was it dark at all at night?

A: It may have been dark for a few hours in the middle of the night - but the sun didn't go below the horizon until about 10.30pm ish - and it was certainly back up and shining brightly at 4am. (Of course, when we were in the arctic circle it didn't get dark at all as we were there at the time of year of the famous 'midnight sun' - but we slept through it and didn't get up to check how it looked).

And if your next question would be "how hard was it to sleep?" - my answer would be "with difficulty and in a sleeping mask". The curtains were quite good blockouts and we shut them carefully each night, but I really struggle with light at night time - I occasionally use a sleeping mask even when the sun isn't up around the clock! I think Michael coped a lot better with the light - but then his problem with sleep is noise, which doesn't bother me so much.

The Wrap Up - Part One

Your Questions Answered!

Q: Are all Swedes blonde, blue-eyed, tall, thin & attractive?

A: No. It's like expecting all Australians to look like either "typical bronzed Aussie" or similar stereotyping. I would estimate that about 70% of Swedes are brunettes, and in general they didn't look tall to me. I did see some who would almost fit the stereotype, but even they were not jaw droppingly gorgeous like some would have you believe all Scandinavians are. I am told that all the people who do look like the stereotype are employed at the front of house for the top end hotels and restaurants - but I didn't go to these places. Outside of tourist places I would always be addressed in Swedish, so I wasn't obviously foreign - so physically I could  pass as a Swede (?). I am not blonde, blue-eyed, particularly tall or thin and while Dr M thinks I am the most beautiful woman in the world, I have not yet received any offers to start off my modeling career. In other words, I am an ordinary looking person as are the majority of Swedes.

Q: Wasn't it cold?

A: Nope. Some days were even too warm for comfort with Dr M ditching his bike ride to work in favour of the the cooler option of public transport. To be accurate, it was a bit unseasonable warm and rain free while I was there, but even a few degrees cooler and you wouldn't have been cold. It generally wasn't hot in the evening, but I needed sunscreen until about 7.30pm as the sun still had a lot of bite in it until that point, and with the sun not going below the horizon until about 10pm. It was cool after the sun went down if the wind was blowing - but a light jacket was sufficient for warmth. I had to buy an extra pair of lightweight pants as I thought that I would live in jeans while there and it was far to hot for them (I wore my jeans about three times - in England and the second day in the Arctic Circle and I think out to dinner one night). I was a bit cold the day we went down the mine in the Arctic Circle - the air was 8 degrees underground and about 5 ish degrees about that above ground - but rainy with a breeze, and I didn't help matters by slipping on the grass and ending up with wet pants which then made me very cold.

Q: Isn't Sweden really expensive?
A: Some things were, some things weren't. The Aussie dollar is pretty strong right now so the exchange rate was in our favour. I thought lunches were really good value. Dinner was a little less so (but dinners out tended to be at more expensive type places). Stuff in supermarkets was reasonable. Entry to museums/attractions  was dirt cheap. I don't think that anything material was cheap, but then I don't think anything was cheap in quality. I thought that both Denmark and London were more expensive - I thought London was heaps more expensive (and without the quality).