Last Call!

As they say, all good things must come to an end. And unfortunately, this saying is sadly true. I write this from Seattle where I have been back in the States for a few very, very busy weeks. And now that I have returned to the real world, this will be my last blog post, and the focus will be on the Spartan that (was) in Sweden (i Sverige).

My last week or so in Stockholm was action packed as I tried to cram in every last thing I hadn’t yet done in Stockholm, and to see everyone one last time before I left. I didn’t succeed in either aspect, but I came close. First on the list was to finally see Millesgården which is an outdoor museum that highlights the works of Carl Milles in a cool open garden museum. We had gone out the night before and there had been talk all night about how we were all going to go to this, but after waking up the next day the only person we were able to convince was Sara.

It was really cool, in a beautiful location, and we took a tour and so we learned a lot (like how he spent a lot of time in Detroit- what up).

Later that week on Wednesday I ventured with Ida to her cabin on the archipelago. She was having her big 30th birthday party on Saturday (her birthday was in April, but she wanted to celebrate it at her cabin in the summertime- cant say I blame her!), but I wanted to go early to hang out and enjoy the archipelago in the summer. Blake and I visited her cabin in the spring and I completely fell in love with the place (I’m still working on getting into her family will somehow :) ). So I met Ida up for grocery shopping to get supplies (enough for dinner and breakfast for about 30 people and then our own food supplies for 5 days) jumped into the boat, picked up her dad, and then sped on over to their island.

The next day, Ida and I ventured out on a sailing expedition. The original plan was to go overnight, but we had some issues with the motor, so it would have been hard to moor the boat, so we just went out for an afternoon. It threatened to rain for awhile, but it turned out to be a nice afternoon after all, and I learned how to sail!


On Friday, I just tried to be helpful during party preparations, which mostly involved me staying out of the way and relaxing, which was fine by me!

Then Saturday was the big day where almost 30 of Ida’s closest family and friends ascended on the island for some tips promenade (sort of like a walking quiz), some good drinks, and some delicious food. Blake joined me on Saturday for the party since he had to work during the week. (Don’t feel too bad for him- this guy gets 5 weeks of vacation!) The party was a success, and it was great to get out in the archipelago again before I left Sweden.

On Monday, I finally got a chance to see my favorite Swedish soccer/football team play- Hammerby. Stockholm has 3 major football teams, but Hammerby was the obvious choice since a) their colors are green and white, and b) they are Södermalms team, which is the island I lived on. So we went with Erik, Henning and his gal Stacey, who was visiting from California. Hammerby lost, but we had a blast learning some of the cheers.



The next day Blake and I met up with Björn and Ulrika for a little swim near their apartment in Kungsholmen. It was gorgeous and quite warm all day. That is until we made plans to go swimming and then the clouds came out. Everyone else still was brave enough to jump in, but it was too cold for me, so I designated myself as a photog.



On Friday, it was Blake’s birthday, so celebrations were in order. After work (well, after everyone else got off of work) we met up at this cool outdoor café on Djurgården called Josephina’s on a beautiful day:


After a few drinks there, we made our way back to our apartment. That’s when the real fun began. I had made some yummy Jello shots (which are hit or miss with Swedes) and some cupcakes for Blake’s Birthday:

Blake’s biggest birthday surprise was a wii from his mom. His mom, Priscilla, had asked me what he wanted, and I knew right away that he really wanted a wii. I wanted him to get pumped up for his birthday, so I told him his mom got him something. As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew he was going to guess a wii, and so I added, well- you might not like it. So then he not only had no idea what it was, but also he was worried about opening it up in front of everyone. Well to play this up even more, I only wrapped up one of the games in a CD case that his mom had sent it in, which was some girly music. So when he opened it up, he really had no idea. It was great. When he finally figured out that it was a wii though, he was super pumped and loved it.

So we played some drinking games (Henning lost) and then played some wii (this time we kept a better eye on Björn so that he wouldn’t break our tv again).

And we took a lot of pictures:







Since we aren’t just satisfied with one day of celebrations, we had to have another one on Saturday. Björn and Ulrika hosted us, along with Pär and Ylva, Andreas, and Ida. We spent the beautiful afternoon in the park playing some kubb and hanging out:

Then we went to Björn and Ulrika’s apartment with the amazing view for some dinner.


It was a really great evening, and it was ended with a rousing game of Caps that Pär didn’t win for once (Björn did)! The only downside of the evening was that Blake sustained an injury- he sprained his finger while playing dome (American) football. But I am happy to report that the patient has made a complete recovery!

To continue on with the excitement of my last week or so in Stockholm, we met up with Björn and Ulirka on Sunday to do some kayaking. We got a late start, but we somehow made it all the way around Kungsholmen. I didn’t bring my camera, so no pictures, but it was beautiful and quite challenging.

The final evening was spent with a wonderful dinner cooked by Pär and Ylva and we were joined by, you guessed it, Björn and Ulrika. It was a great way to end my time in Stockholm.

To see all of the highlights from the last few weeks, click here.

I want to thank everyone who helped me have the best last couple of weeks in Sweden. I had a great time and I will miss all of you! Come visit me anytime and don’t worry- I will be back! And with that, I am signing off from my very last blog post.

Peace,

Courtney

Days 13-15: London, Baby!!!

In case you missed it:

• Days 1-3: Glasgow- Euro Trip Begins!
• Day 4: Edinburgh and A Lot of Rain
• Days 5-9: Absurdly Beautiful Norway
• Days 10-12: Everyone’s Irish in Dublin

After my (hopefully) last ever Ryanair flight, we arrived in London on Tuesday evening for the last leg of our trip and we made our way to Colleen and Dale’s apartment. We had never met Colleen and Dale, so it was really really amazingly awesome of them to let us stay with them at their cool flat in London (especially since after 2 weeks of traveling, we were running low on money).

Colleen has known Giselle, Blake’s sister, for quite some time when they used to dance together, and Giselle had mentioned that they might be nice enough to let us stay with them. Not only did we have our own room, but they had an adorable French Bulldog- Ozzy.

After a good nights sleep, we woke up on Wednesday ready to see some London. We were only a short walk to the Tower Bridge, so we decided to start there.

I had gone into the Tower of London when I visited London with my parents in 2004, and it was very cool, but since we were pretty much broke at the end of our trip, we just walked around the outside and across the bridge.

It was a beautiful day out though, so we had a good time just meandering along the water and enjoying the city.

In the afternoon, we made our way over to the Tate Modern. Blake took this cool pic of me in the escalator:

And then he did this:

So as we were walking out of the museum we noticed a RSPB booth and some telescopes for a pair of Peregrine Falcons have made the 99 meter (325 feet) high chimney of the Tate Modern their home. I wanted to see the Falcons, so we took a look-see into the telescopes, and sure enough- there was a nesting pair! After we looked they asked if we would sign a petition or something, and we said yes, and as we were signing, I heard someone behind me ask a stupid question. There was a box of stuffed animal falcons that I noticed earlier was clearly labeled 7£, and I heard someone ask, “How much for these stuffed falcons?” I thought to myself, “Idiot.” Then I heard someone else ask, “Can I take a picture with you?” To which the person replied, “Umm, no, I don’t allow pictures.” At this point, I turned around and noticed Leonardo Dicaprio was standing 2 feet behind me waiting for me to finish signing my name. Since I heard no pictures already, I just asked if I could shake his hand and said that I was a big fan (I’m not, but I do think he is a good actor). He said yes, I shook his hand, and then made eye-contact at Blake who looked at him, and then looked at me, and gave me the, “Who the hell is that?” look. Then I handed Leo the pen, and Blake and I walked away. As we were walking away Blake asked casually, “Who was that?” To which I replied, “Umm, Leonardo Dicaprio!!!!” He thought that it was some indie band guy or someone that he could care less about. You see, Leo was all in disguise, and really wasn’t much to look at up close. He was shorter than I thought (probably just barely 6 feet tall), and had nerdy glasses on. But it was cool that he was just hanging out and supporting the falcons and trying not to draw attention to himself. Even though he said no pictures, when we were a safe distance away from him, I whipped out the camera:


As we were walking across the Millennium Bridge, we were laughing about how random it was that he was there, and Blake mentioned that he was curios to see if he actually signed his real name after mine. So we ran back to see if he did sign it, and sure enough, he did! Right after mine- pretty cool, huh?

After that we ran home to update my facebook status to brag about meeting Leo. JK- we wandered around London some more before heading back to the apartment, and after much relaxing, then I posted it on facebook. I mean, give me a little credit here!

The next morning we decided to take another one of the free walking tours, since they had been so good in Berlin and Dublin. This one wasn’t as good, I think mostly since it was all about royalty, which I could honestly care less about. We did see the changing of the guards though (in the rain- surprise, surprise!) and apparently the Queen was at Buckingham Palace:

The tour ended at the Parliament, and the rain had cleared up, which made for some good pictures of the Parliament and Big Ben:


From there, we went to Brick Lane for some pretty good Indian food, and then over to the Natural History Museum. Since we were only in town for 2 days, we only had time for one of London’s many world-class museums. With Blake’s obsession with dinosaurs, the Natural History Museum was a no-brainer. Here is Blake and all the Dinosaurs he could ever want:

Blake took this cool one:

By the end of the exhibit, I think he thought he wanted to be a dinosaur!

From there we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus, which is one of my favorite areas to photograph (during my last visit I took some really cool pictures there. Pre-digital era, unfortunately).

Then we made our way back to Dale and Colleen’s flat to cook them some dinner for being great hosts. We had to catch another early flight back to Stockholm the next morning, so that was that. We were sad to leave London, but after 15 days of living out of a suitcase, we were ready to be back home in Stockholm. And luckily since we flew through Germany, there were no issues about my visa and we were back relaxing at our apartment by Friday afternoon. The end.

To see all of the pics from London, click here!

Days 10-12: Everyone’s Irish in Dublin

In case you missed it:

• Days 1-3: Glasgow- Euro Trip Begins!
• Day 4: Edinburgh and A Lot of Rain
• Days 5-9: Absurdly Beautiful Norway

We woke up very early on Day 10 after a late night hanging out with Johannes to catch a plane to Dublin. The flight was uneventful (always a welcome surprise) and we were tired but happy to be in Dublin. With both Blake and I being part Irish, we were pretty excited to see our “homeland.” Blake felt right at home with all of the gingers and the sun block:


While I was excited to see O'Neill stuff everywhere!

We didn’t have much on our agenda, so we just walked around to get a feel for the city the first day.





Dublin definitely lacks some of the charm of other European cities. I mean, there are some cute parts, but as a city goes, it was rather uninspiring. Except for the Leprachaun on a smoke break that Blake got a picture of, who inspired a lot of laughter:

The next day we took a “free” walking tour. We took one from the same company in Berlin- you take a free 3 hour tour and then tip what you feel like or can afford at the end. It is hard to compete with a city with as much history as Berlin, but we were very happy with the Dublin tour as well. You learn a lot of fun little facts, like how this Justice statue in the Dublin Castle courtyard is terribly wrong. First off, it isn’t blindfolded (so Justice is not blind), second- when it rains, one of the scales tilts, so Justice isn’t equal, and last, the statue has her back turned away from the people.

After the walking tour, we headed over to the Guinness Factory Tour. It doesn’t show any of the factory, but it is in an old Guinness Storehouse, and it is really really cool. It was a little on the spendy side, but definitely my favorite thing in Dublin. I’m not even a huge Guinness fan, but after learning about it for 2 hours- I was craving some Guinness for sure! Here are some of mine and Blake’s inspired photographs:






Later that evening we decided to try one of the “free” bar crawls offered by the same company as the walking tour. This time, by free, they really meant 10 Euros, but it had free beer for 45 minutes, and then a free shot with every purchase at all the bars. It was an excuse to get out and see the town, so we were in. When we first got there a group of rather large 19-20 year old American girls were obnoxiously blocking the bar. After the first 45 minutes of free beer, they were already dancing on the bar. The night did not look good. Blake and I are a little sensitive to the “stupid American” stereotype, and the last thing we wanted to do was have to hang out with a group of them. But we eventually did meet other Americans and Europeans that were slightly older and much cooler, and ended up having a great time.

The next day we only had a half of day before we had to fly to London, and we had already seen most of everything that we wanted to see in Dublin, so we just wandered around the city some more and enjoyed a sunny day. (It only managed to rain a bit off and on the first couple of days, so it wasn’t as bad as Edinburgh or Norway).

We had a great time in Dublin, but I would say that it was a let down in general. After talking to a few other people though, they all said that the countryside in the South of Ireland was absolutely amazing, and that Dublin is nothing like the rest of the country, so now we know that next time we will have to get out of the city. Also, next time I will have to bust out my Irish dancing moves since I didn’t have a chance to do so this time!

To check out Dublin via pictures, click here.

Next up, one last Ryanair flight to London for the last leg of our trip!