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| Stockholm Royal Palace |
Hello all!
Well, it's been just over a month since returning from my trip to the wonderful region of Scandinavia. I realize that I hadn't yet written about our Stockholm visit, so I'd like to take the opportunity to do so, as well as spending a little bit of time wrapping up some of the highlights, things I've learned and some things I really miss...
Our last three days were spent in Stockholm. We stayed in a hotel on the island of Langerholmen that had been converted from a women's prison, and was actually one of the more spacious rooms we had during our entire trip. The location wasn't very central, but wasn't too far from the T-bana. It may have been a blessing in disguise that it rained most of that time, because while we didn't get to see many "tourist sights" or museums, we were still out and about - mostly ducking between shops in the old town of Gamla Stan - which I didn't get to see any of on our last trip. I purchased numerous items as gifts for friends and family - most of which will be Christmas presents. The time we did spend in Normalm (city center) was really fun. The National Museum, which was one of the highlights from my previous trip didn't disappoint, and seeing the Changing of the Royal Guard in front of the King's residence was very interesting - especially considering not one of the soldiers cringed in the rain, which was quite cold. Kate and I both made considerably large purchases at the Kosta Boda Crystal shop, too. She was in a more giving mood than I was here. She purchased a vase for her parents' birthday and another small gift item. Me? I purchased a nice bowl for myself and one small gift. But the nicest shops were definitely to be found in Gamla Stan. We found an English book store with a wide variety of translated Swedish literature, a cafe that we had to duck into when the sky opened up and let loose a torrential downpour. There I had the best carrot cake I've probably ever had in my life, and a shop run by one of the nicest women with the most amazing locally produced goods, from water color paintings to earrings made from rock embedded fossils found on the island of Gotland, which I actually bought for my mother for her birthday. On our last night in Stockholm we also had one of the best meals of the trip at the hotel's restaurant, which served locally produced organic food and drinks. I had venison with lingonberry, mashed potatoes and some sort of root vegetable that seemed like a cross between a water chestnut and asparagus, accompanied by an organic hard apple cider. The meal was to die for and gives "Tight" in Copenhagen a run for its money for third place of the top three dinners. Kate had a reindeer dish that also looked quite good.
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| Göteborg Botanical Garden |
FAVORITE CITIES:
I suppose "favorites" might make it sound like there were places I didn't like while I was there. While there were definitely places I enjoyed more than others, there's not one city I regret spending time in.
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| Göteborg City Theatre |
1. Göteborg: It's amazing how much hotel location can effect one's enjoyment of a particular city. We stayed in the heart of Gothenburg, about a block away from the Poseidon fountain this time around - close to shopping, public transit, and numerous parks - and it made our stay all the better for it. And something I noticed a lot more this time around is how beautiful it was overall.
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| Visby city wall |
2. Visby: I'd actually like to qualify this - Visby was very nice, but I'd say it is the outlying areas beyond the sleepy city that put this near the top of my list. Kate and I drove almost the entire circumference of the island of Gotland, and this will most likely remain in my memory the longest. It helps that I have so many photographs from the journey, that are among my favorite in my Sweden collection. Very peaceful and it was a great stop before the bustling metropolis that is Stockholm.
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| Visby |
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| Gotland coastline as a storm rolled in |
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| Helsingborg |
3. Helsingborg: Right across the water from Helsingor, Denmark on the south-west coast of Sweden, I was really impressed with how well-maintained and clean the city was. Home to Pistachia - an amazing late-night sweet treat stop, the Dunkers Culture Center, and Helsingborg Karnan which offered spectacular views of the city and harbor below. I only wish I'd left another day for more time to explore.
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| Helsingborg Town Square. View from Dunkers Culture Center entrance. |
4. Stockholm: I have a few regrets this time around in Stockholm, the first of which is that I needed another three days to explore, get to know all the neighborhoods and see some of the sights I missed last time I was there. Had there been less rain this time around, we would have accomplished more - and I definitely would have been able to get more pictures taken. While the hotel at Langerholmen was incredibly nice, the location left a lot to be desired. But the shopping in Gamla Stan was incredible, as I've mentioned.
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| St. Nicolai Kyrka, Örebro |
5. Orebro: This was one of my least-favorite stops on my trip in 2004 (partly because most of it was spent sick, in bed), and I'm glad I gave it another shot. I was really impressed with the picturesque nature of the entire city, and how pedestrian friendly the entire town is. It was our first stop between landing and making our way west toward Oslo, and it was a great primer for the trip.
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| Vigeland Sculpture Park, Oslo |
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| Rose Garden at Vigeland Sculpture Park |
6. Oslo, Norway: Cleaner than Copenhagen and Malmö - and has this incredibly charming atmosphere within this bustling city. In a way it reminded me a little bit of Portland, Oregon. I could have definitely spent more time here, despite my thought to skip it altogether as we planned. Vigeland Sculpture park was one of my highlights from the entire trip - beautiful and slightly disturbing at the same time. The city is full of one way streets, which made getting around a lot more interesting, but not too difficult. Being there definitely made me want to get to know Norway better. Maybe someday.
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| Malmö Town Square |
7. Malmö: Malmö was my favorite city in Sweden on my 2004 trip, and I can only attribute the slip in status to how much the city seems to have changed. What was once one of the cleanest parts of the country now seems to have fallen into a state of disrepair. Malmö seems to be experiencing a real bout of growing pains and struggling to find its identity between quaint smaller town and bustling urbanism. I like the fact that there is a new skate park already built, and new pedestrian/bicycle paths under construction, but this construction seems to have made everything quite less quaint, and has distracted the sanitation department from keeping the rest of the city as spotless as I remember it being.
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| Falkenberg Old Town |
8. Falkenberg: Apparently this little town is quite the vacation spot in the summer, and I can see why this sleepy little town becomes so sleepy after August. We stayed right on the beach, and the autumn breeze came fast, and the water was already extremely cold. Little vendors had closed up shop and the rental cabins had all been vacated for the winter season. I really enjoyed Falkenberg, though. It was like having a secret place unknown to the rest of the tourist world all to ourselves. I was able to take some great photographs here, including one of a crosswalk that was done with white and black stone rather than painting the road itself. Strolling along the beach alone one morning was incredibly peaceful with just the sound of the waves coming inland. The downside to coming in the off season was that, even according to the locals: there just isn't that much to do. I'd love to visit during the busy season to really experience what Falkenberg can be.
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| Copenhagen, Denmark |
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| Crosswalk in Falkenberg paved with black and white cobblestone |
9. Copenhagen, Denmark: While I would definitely say getting into Copenhagen was my least favorite experience of the trip (maybe even all-time low travel experience), the city itself was actually really incredibly fun. I got to ride a roller coaster for the first time in about 10 years at Tivoli Gardens - and that coaster was one of the oldest in Europe. I suppose the reason for it being at the bottom of the list, though, is the sheer amount of traffic and construction that was seemingly endless. Apparently they are in the midst of a complete public transportation overhaul, from the subway to electric buses. Not to say that Copenhagen is without its beautiful scenery, but there is definitely a lot of dirt, sand and gravel everywhere - at least for the time being.
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| Stockholm hearts Justin Bieber, too! |
USEFUL LESSONS LEARNED :
1. The United States is definitely NOT the only country with Bieber Fever.
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| Falkenberg |
2. NOT ALL JEANS ARE CREATED EQUAL:
Levi Jeans, which is an American company, makes drastically different, and better-fitting European styles. For those of you who are on my facebook page, you know the "Drama of the Denim", as I like to call it. While in Göteborg I stopped in a Levi store because I was in need of an additional pair of jeans on my trip. Usually my waist size prohibits me from buying Levi's in the store (hello Levi.com), but I thought I'd give it a try. I asked what the biggest waist size they carried was and they informed me that they had a ___ inch waist in styles 501 and 752, but that they only had them in a 34 inch length. I'd thought to myself "I'm never going to squeeze into that waist size, nor am I six feet tall", but decided to live dangerously and give it a shot. I liked the look of the 752s, so I took a pair into the dressing room and "Voila" they fit around my waist(!) - but as suspected, were about 4 inches too long. "No problem" said the salesperson. "We'll measure them, and have them hemmed for you if you can return in about an hour, no extra charge". What?!?! SOLD!!! Stores here in the states could learn a lot about the craft of salesmanship and customer service from these folks! After an hour wandering and sightseeing Göteborg we returned to pick up my jeans and I have to tell you: These are the best fitting, nicest looking jeans I've ever worn. As they should be for the 786 SEK that I paid. I chalked it up to the poor exchange rate, and moved along. After my first outing in the jeans I started to realize just how high quality these things were and thought to myself "I'm going to get more of these when I go back to the states". After about a week home I went to Levi.com and entered "752" into the search field. "No matching results". Hmm. I tried it again. "No matching results". Okay, I must have reversed the numbers. So I went to look at the tag on the jeans, and sure enough - "752". "What the?..." So I Google "Levi 752". Numerous European websites come up, but nothing in the United States. It was then and there that I made the realization that Levi (again - an American company) was not offering American citizens all of their styles - and that I was going to pay $120.00 because of the quality, no matter where I bought them. So I began the process of shopping these European sites and one after another found that either they A) didn't have the color/size I needed, or B) didn't ship to the United States - which was also the case with the Official eu.levi.com site. Queue cousin Karen in London. After getting the go-ahead to have them shipped to her I placed an order for two more pair (10/3). Confirmation email from the e-shop for the order arrived and I began to patiently wait for the shipment confirmation. On 10/5 I received an email stating that "Levi has canceled your order due to the fact that your billing address and shipping address are in two different countries." Drat! So a phone call was made to my bank in order to provide an alternate billing address. Check. Next: place new order. Done. Order confirmation email received. Two days later: "Levi has canceled your order due to the credit card being issued by an American Bank and having items shipped to the EU." Dammit! And here's where things get even harrier, dear readers: eu.levi.com supplies a toll-free telephone number if you're calling from within the EU, but no number for international callers. So I call the USA Levi toll-free number and they act as if they don't even have a European Office (although I know it's located in Belgium). With the help of Google Maps and other internet tools I finally find a phone number for the European Home Office. Office after office, call after call I keep getting voice mail and after 2 days of hunting high and low, I finally get a person on the phone who informs me that the e-shop is located in Germany, and that I would have to contact them directly, and they recommend e-mailing them. I assure them that I've tried e-mailing them to find out how I can remedy this situation and that I would like a phone number. The person on the phone was incredibly helpful and gave me the number for the e-shop in Germany. Within 10 minutes I'm on the phone with the e-shop and explain the situation. The person on the other end, in a cheerful voice says "Is this Mr. McGrath?" I verify and she apologizes and explains that because of the high amount of Credit Card fraud coming from the United States, that their policy is, in general, to not accept payments made via banks within the US, combined with the demand for US denim within the EU, that they do not ship to America. However, because she has now verified that I am who I say I am and that I've gone through the trouble of calling Belgium and Germany that she would make sure, that if I placed another order, it would be processed and that the order would be sent to my cousin in the UK. AMEN!!! My persistence has paid off, I tell myself. I thank her profusely and tell her that I will place my order the following day. So I log in to place what I think will finally be a successful e-shop order. Apparently, though, the two charges from the previously canceled orders had yet to fall off my credit-card, and so this order is therefore canceled by my credit card company due to the fact that the order would send me over my credit limit for the card. Merde! So I call my credit card company and explain to them the situation and they assure me that the if the two previous orders were canceled that my account would be credited, but that it may take 7 to 10 days. Now I know a lot of you would be saying to yourself: "Self - these jeans just ain't worth the hassle", but for those who really know me, know that once I start a mission it must be completed. At this point I was on a quest, a pilgrimage if you will. Come hell or high water I was going to get more of these damn 752s! So I wait a few days. I call the credit card company. The "pending" charges are gone, so I head directly to eu.levi.com and place my order... successfully, I might add. I then send an email to the very kind woman with whom I spoke the previous week and ask her to honor our arrangement as we'd discussed. I receive confirmation, but automated and from the customer service rep that the order will be fulfilled as discussed. And I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. After checking the order this morning, they are set for delivery today. Now I just have to wait until Christmas for cousin Karen to arrive. It will make a nice Christmas gift to myself. Phew! As a side note for those who may be interested: Those smaller jeans fit because I've lost about 15 lbs.
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| Copenhagen |
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| Gotland |
3. ROUNDABOUTS EVERYWHERE!
We took a lot more scenic routes this time around, whether it be by choice or via detours. Let me tell you that I've never driven through more roundabouts than I have in the 14 days I was gone. They seem to do the trick of slowing down traffic and getting people where they need to be in a timely manner.
4. M&M's ARE SWEETER IN SWEDEN!
I know you probably think I'm kidding, but the milk chocolate M&M's are clearly made with a different ingredient than they are here in the states. The candy coating isn't as vivid, the shell not as thick, and the chocolate is slightly sweeter, but somehow less rich. I e-mailed Mars to find out why this might be, and they confirmed that while the core M&M recipe is the same, that ingredients may vary slightly, depending on regional availability. I would love to find out what that variation is, because I'm convinced the US Mars company needs to make the change.
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| Gotland coastline |
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| The Kristina Starck Matchbox Covers |
5. BUY ONE FOR YOURSELF, TOO.
As learned the hard way with the jeans, not everything you find in Sweden will be available here, and you never know when you're going to get to go back. A good example of this is an iron matchbox that I purchased for my friend Erik (see photo) at the Dunkers Culture Center in Helsingborg. It's a really cool piece, based on a classic 1936 Swedish matchbox. I didn't buy one for myself and now I want one of each color for atop my bookcase. Form: cool iron artwork. Function: matches found inside to light candles. I eventually did find a Swedish website that would ship them to me, and they look wonderful on my bookcase...which leads me to my final lesson learned:
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| Public Park in Falkenberg |
6. SHIPPING IS EXPENSIVE!
On those long days when we were only eating breakfast and dinner, Kate and I would snack lightly throughout the day. While in a small grocery/gas station we discovered Estrella's Dill Potato Chips. Now, these aren't the "dill pickle" flavored potato chips that are somewhat common here with the overly sour artificial vinegar flavor. These are simple potato chips dusted with dill weed and lightly salted. They were absolutely delicious, and as Forrest Gump would say about his box of chocolates: "I could eat about a billion and a half of these." Google really is an amazing tool. I found my new favorite website called missingsweden.com (among others) that sells food items only available in Sweden, and will ship them to your door. So I fill my cart with some Dill Chips, some Hot Swedish Mustard and a couple of other items that I think would make good Christmas gifts. My order came to around $40. Fine. I added my zip code and selected "calculate shippping": $66.00! Wow! Okay, so never mind that the 10 oz bag of chips was going to cost me 5 dollars and change... Add the $13.20 average per item it was going to cost to ship to me and the only thing left to do was click "cancel order". I often read about people trying to bring 500 pounds of marijuana into the USA in suitcases and failing miserably. Is it illegal to bring in 500 pounds of Dill Potato chips? Will the drug sniffing dogs mistake dill for pot? I may need to rethink this and just move to Sweden.
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| Somersby Pear Cider: My new favorite drink. Don't bother trying to find it in the states. It's not available here (yet?). |
So thanks for reading, everyone. I'll continue to write and post anytime I have travel thoughts. In the meantime, if you're in Sweden, please pick up some Somersby Pear Cider and Estrella Dill Chips for me. Additionally - I'll send a list of goods I'm looking for, and maybe you can prevent me from having to pay for shipping!
Be well...
