Busy, Busy, Busy

We've been busy the last few days! On Friday we took a long trek via several types of public transportation (tram to underground to bus) out to the countryside to spend the afternoon and evening with an old colleague of Jeremy's and her family. They live on a beautiful lake that reminded my a lot of Gram and Gramp's place, only you couldn't see any other houses around the edge. We spent all afternoon talking in the shade on their back porch. I'm happy to report that I was able to understand almost everything said in Swedish between Maryanne and her son, but probably because we were all very relaxed... so unlike the typical conversation I hear on the underground in the city, the pace of conversation was much more relaxed as well.

On Saturday Jer and I explored Skansen, which is a cross between an amusement park and an outdoor museum. They have transplanted lots of buildings from across Sweden from various time periods to this one place and restored them to their original condition. They also have interpretive guides in period dress walking around inside the buildings to answer questions. It was very cool, although not in the literal sense, as the temperature has now risen to above 90 degrees F for the last few days. This wouldn't be problem, except no one in Sweden has air conditioning or fans!

That night we also had dinner with friends, and on our way home via the tram, we were told they would be stopping before our typical station and going no further due to "sabotage." After some probing, Jer found out there was someone with a green laser pointer terrorizing the drive every time he ventured past a certain point, so the infamous "they" had decided to shut down all public transportation to our part of the city. Only in Sweden!

Yesterday the same friends from dinner the night before came to get us and we all drove out to Drottningholm, which is the official residence for the current Swedish Royal Family. It was a beautiful palace built in the 1600s, with expansive traditional Baroque and English gardens. We enjoyed ourselves, but it was the hottest day of the year so far in Stockholm... hopefully it will cool off soon!

Below are some of my favorite pics from the last few days. Hope you enjoy!

Skansen...

Drottningholm...

One Week Gone

I can't believe we've officially been here an entire week! We only have three week's left! We took some time this morning to take stock of where we were, and I was excited to find that we've already hit several of the things I wanted to do while here, a few of the no-fun, must-do things that Jer needed to take care of, and stayed within our budget :)

The last few days have been filled with various things including waiting for two and a half hours to get Jer's Swedish passport renewed. We knew it would be a while when we grabbed our que number and it was 130 down the line from the person they were working with at the time. Luckily, we were able to grab some seats and spent our time playing Scrabble on the ITouch and people-watching as what seemed like hundreds of parents with little children (even lots of itty-bitty babies) applied for or renewed their passports. Jer immediately said, "Welcome to socialism," but it was no worse than waiting at the DMV to get my driver's license in Edwardsville during the summer...

We also scheduled and did laundry in the communal laundry room, explored the Historiska Museet, and continued with lots and lots of walking. Last night we also hung out with a few of Jer's old colleagues, and today we even explored the island of Sodermalm, which we hadn't been to at all yet. Here are a few pics from the last few days. Enjoy!

Treasures from the Historiska Museet...





Sodermalm...






Jer eating a kebab!

Saluhall

We went on a long walk today and Jer took me to the great indoor market full of colors and textures from all over the world. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from Saluhall!

Day 4 in Sweden

Today Jer and I met up with an old friend of his and took a boat ride to Birka, which is an old Viking site. It was very cool... both the history and the beautiful scenery! The boat took off from City Hall, took us about 90 minutes away to another island, and dropped us off to explore, before returning us this evening. A lovely way to spend the day!

Days 2 & 3 in Sweden

Wow! I'm still exhausted! The jet lag continues, but I think it's getting better. Yesterday I only took an hour and a half nap and today I'm forgoing it altogether, although I am struggling somewhat. I'm hoping that no nap today will mean better sleep tonight, as well as being able to sleep in tomorrow past 6am.

Today we removed our "tourist hat" and visited some old friends of Jeremy's for an afternoon barbecue in the suburbs of Stockholm. It was great fun and they even tested my Swedish a bit, although they spoke mostly in English for me. However, Jeremy says I impressed them with my language skills, and next time we see them they have promised to not go as easy on me language wise!

Yesterday we took an amazingly long walk around an island called Djurgarden, which is like a little piece of the countryside in the middle of the city! It was beautiful, and I've included some pictures below. My feet are feeling the effects of walking for close to four hours in flip flops, but I think it was worth it. Next time I'll be better prepared with proper footwear and water when Jeremy suggests a long walk!

Kungstradgarden:

Strandvagen... the most expensive real estate in Stockholm:


Djurgarden... and yes they're herding real sheep with real border collies in that last picture!

Sweden

Somewhere around two days ago we began our journey from Denver to Stockholm! I was so excited about the trip I only slept for maybe 20-40 minutes the night before our flight... this didn't appear to be a problem as I was wide awake for all of the first flight (Denver to Chicago) and nearly all of the second long leg (Chicago to Stockholm)!

Once we landed, we took a train to the Central Station and public transit all the way to our apartment... this is new to me, as I've never lived in a place with such an easy system of subways, trains, trolleys, and buses. It was amazing! One 30-day travel card for each of us and we have access to just about anywhere we want to go without even having a car! No gas, oil changes, driving necessary :) I'm sure I'll miss having the freedom of my own personal vehicle before we get back to the states, but right now it's kind of refreshing not to have to worry about it.

Our apartment is small, but has just about everything we need including large windows that open to a great view of the city. So far the only thing we've encountered that it still needs is a broom! This was discovered after a water glass slipped out of Jer's hand early this morning and shattered all over the floor.


We were struggling to stay awake after out first walk yesterday morning, so we laid down for nap. We didn't set an alarm and woke up six hours later! We cleaned up and took a lovely evening walk through old town before returning to catch up on things that still needed done at the apartment.



When we headed to bed at 11ish, neither of us thought we would be wide awake at 4am! This could be due to jet lag, the 6 hour nap, or the fact that the sun was only below the horizon for about 4 hours last night (meaning it never really got that dark). Or maybe it's a combination of all of those!

In any case, it made for a productive morning after failing to force ourselves back to sleep. It's currently 8 am, and I've already completed my Rosetta Stone lessons for the day, done a short core workout, and showered. Now we're off to explore more of the city!

Summer Begins...

We had a great trip to Omaha and loved seeing mom, dad, and Gram Miller! Below are a few pics of our happenings... lots of good food, a geek trip to the Strategic Air Command, and lots of card games :)

Jeremy and I are home for a few days before we head off to Sweden for the month of July. We are so excited about the apartment we rented in Stockholm and can't wait to relax and take in the European atmosphere. I'm hoping to take lots of pictures and update this blog a lot more often than I have been lately. Hope everyone's summer has started off well!

A beautiful sunrise...

Mom's rapidly growing garden which helped supply some of our produce while we were there...

Strategic Air Command...

Jer pretending to be a real pilot while Dad shows him how it's done... note mom and gram through the front window...

Contemplating the engineering that would allow such large landing hear to retract through such a small hole in the bottom of the plane...