“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” - Tim Cahill
“I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” - Mark Twain
June 29, 2008 Reykjavik, Iceland
I am very late in updating my blog, but the last few weeks of my trip have just been too fun and busy to be sitting at a computer!
Stockholm, Sweden - June 9-12
Early on a Monday morning I took a cab from Hostel Elf in Prague to the airport. I arrived in Stockholm and was greeted at the airport by Josephine (see: New Zealand) and her mother, Suzanne. It was fantastic to be met at an airport and driven home- I felt so well taken care of! We picked up Michael, Josephine´s brother, and went out to lunch at a terrific seafood restaurant on the water. The whole time I was in Sweden it was spectacularly sunny . . . that first day was fairly warm despite a breeze. I had some amazing salmon, and the restaurant even served me an individual Swedish meatball when Suzanne told them I had never tried one before. It was delicious as well, served with gravy and some cranberry sauce.
The four of us picked up some pastries on the way to Josephine´s grandfather´s house in Saltsjöbaden. Thus, my introduction to the glorious world of Swedish sweets began . . . chokladbollar, biskvier, kanelbullar . . . it was an absolute delight and everyone stuffed their faces! I also tried some pickled mackerel, but did not find that quite as enjoyable :-)
Josephine and I caught the train back to Stockholm and headed out to the Gondolen . . . a bar/restaurant high above the city with fantastic views. We had cosmos while we enjoyed the view and then headed to Josephine´s father´s pup to catch the end of the Holland euro cup game (her father, being Dutch, was very excited for this initial win!). We finished the evening at Little Persia where we devoured some delicious hummus, tahini, stuffed grape leaves, etc.
On Tuesday Josephine and I took the ferry over to Djurgården and had a walk. I tried a typical Swedish hot dog wrapped in some kind of a strange pita-like bread that also held lettuce, tomatoes, mustard and . . . mashed potatoes!! It was yummy, but strange and a little heavy on the carbs! We ferried back to the mainland and explored the old town a bit . .. saw the castle, cathedral, lovely little cobblestone streets, etc. Some beers by the water proceeded dinner at Herman´s vegetarian restaurant that overlooked the city. The vegan garlic butter absolutely blew my mind! That night we hoped to watch the Sweden-Greece match on the big screen downtown, but it was all full-up by the time we got there. We headed back over the river and found a bar to watch the game - there was much celebration in Stockholm after Sweden won!
On Wednesday we slept in and then went out to lunch with Suzanne (who, by the way, looked exactly like the actress Lena Olin) for typical Swedish meatballs (yum!). Josephine then taught me how to make Havrebollar or Chokladbollar, or Chocolate Balls. Yum!!! So good! We spent some time shopping and sampling various Biskvier (I will miss this pastry forever, and I do not think I can recreate it) and coffees. We had dinner at her father´s pub and met up with Josephine´s friend Jonathan. It was an absolutely amazing few days and I was so sad to leave! I can´t wait to go back and visit!
Early on Thursday morning I headed for Arlanda airport to catch my flight to Bordeaux . . . .
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