I forgot to mention our overnight in Uppsala, a beautiful university town just north of Stockholm. We took a short train ride to get there and stayed at the most expensive Best Western in the world.
We spent a lot of time walking around and just exploring. The Cathedral there is the oldest in Scandanavia, dating from the 13th century, but most of it has been restored over the years due to fires and the change in fashion. Across from it is a great museum with weapons from the 7th century- swords, helmuts. There is also a model of a classroom from a university that was used for disections that the public was also invited to. There was also an "Art Cabinet" given to one of the King Gustav's. This thing is a huge chest with all sorts of doors, shelves and cabinets which were full of objects from all over the world. It was supposed to be like owning the world, with fine art from every corner. There are miniature paintings, jade combs, crosses, amber, you name it.
We also made our way to the university library. This university dates back to the mid 15th century so they have some incredible history and their hands on some incredible objects including a 6th century "Silver Bible" which is the world's best record of the Gothic language. I didn't even know the Goth's had a distinct language.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Ackerblads, a land with no eletricity adapters...
... so this will be short.
We left Uppsala in a car this morning and headed to Gamla Uppsala, where there are Viking buriel grounds. It was raining and grey so we had the place to ourselves. There was a funny little museum full of folk history that sounded a lot like mythology to us, but perhaps, that's what our history sounds like to others. A lot of their history is speculation based on shoddy ruins that were poorly excavated in the 1700s. There also seems to be some mythology about who the vikings were. Some woman told us that it's a myth that they were violent raiders, other sources suggest otherwise.
We took a long drive northwest to Lake Siljian. We are staying in a cute town called Tallsburg at Hotel Ackerblads. It's kind of a weird place and we suspect that it is Sweden's upscale version of the Catskills. No Jews of course.
We left Uppsala in a car this morning and headed to Gamla Uppsala, where there are Viking buriel grounds. It was raining and grey so we had the place to ourselves. There was a funny little museum full of folk history that sounded a lot like mythology to us, but perhaps, that's what our history sounds like to others. A lot of their history is speculation based on shoddy ruins that were poorly excavated in the 1700s. There also seems to be some mythology about who the vikings were. Some woman told us that it's a myth that they were violent raiders, other sources suggest otherwise.
We took a long drive northwest to Lake Siljian. We are staying in a cute town called Tallsburg at Hotel Ackerblads. It's kind of a weird place and we suspect that it is Sweden's upscale version of the Catskills. No Jews of course.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Hej Stockholm!
Today we woke up ridiculously late and made our way over to Hörtorget, a square with an open air fruit and veggie market as well as an indoor gourmet food market. I tried the Swedish Bläbar, a dark blueberry, and ate a raw reindeer meat sandwich. Mmm. Blood.
After spending some quality time at H&M we made our way to the Nordiska Museet, the Swedish culture museum. There was a fascinating exhibit on the Sami, the native peoples of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia, a charming display of wedding clothes, halls of traditional interior home designs (think IKEA, for real) and all of it was within a gigantic castle-mansion in Djurgarden.
From the Museet we headed toward Ostermalm and spent hours just wandering around, looking at the architecture, walking into small stores and people watching.
Yesterday, we spent a ton of time museum-ing, beginning at Junibacken. Junibacken in the children's museum, located on Djurgarden. We quickly checked it out the other day but didn't get to see the main attraction- an "it's a small world" style ride through Swedish children's books. The ride wildly exceeded my expectations and I found myself tearing up as the stories were told to us. In the end, it drops you off at Pipi Longstocking's house. I have plenty of pictures. I know you are concerned.
After Junibacken, we walked in the gorgeous weather to Skansen. Skansen is a living history museum that is GIGANTIC and is supposed to be a miniature Sweden. We spent literally 4.5 hours talking to the people about the history of Sweden and exploring model farmsteads, a furniture factory, a church, a Sami camp, and so much more. I learned so many ridiculous things about Swedish history. For example, they didn't come out of the dark ages until the LATE 1500s. A little late, huh? Basically, they moved from the Medieval era to the Protestant Reformation. So, that means a lot of disease for a really long time and no good art. I also learned that they tried to make their own silk, to no avail, as part of their effort to be economically independent.
Still a great trip. I think I am done eating herring for a while though.
After spending some quality time at H&M we made our way to the Nordiska Museet, the Swedish culture museum. There was a fascinating exhibit on the Sami, the native peoples of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia, a charming display of wedding clothes, halls of traditional interior home designs (think IKEA, for real) and all of it was within a gigantic castle-mansion in Djurgarden.
From the Museet we headed toward Ostermalm and spent hours just wandering around, looking at the architecture, walking into small stores and people watching.
Yesterday, we spent a ton of time museum-ing, beginning at Junibacken. Junibacken in the children's museum, located on Djurgarden. We quickly checked it out the other day but didn't get to see the main attraction- an "it's a small world" style ride through Swedish children's books. The ride wildly exceeded my expectations and I found myself tearing up as the stories were told to us. In the end, it drops you off at Pipi Longstocking's house. I have plenty of pictures. I know you are concerned.
After Junibacken, we walked in the gorgeous weather to Skansen. Skansen is a living history museum that is GIGANTIC and is supposed to be a miniature Sweden. We spent literally 4.5 hours talking to the people about the history of Sweden and exploring model farmsteads, a furniture factory, a church, a Sami camp, and so much more. I learned so many ridiculous things about Swedish history. For example, they didn't come out of the dark ages until the LATE 1500s. A little late, huh? Basically, they moved from the Medieval era to the Protestant Reformation. So, that means a lot of disease for a really long time and no good art. I also learned that they tried to make their own silk, to no avail, as part of their effort to be economically independent.
Still a great trip. I think I am done eating herring for a while though.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Ja, more herring. Takk!
We arrived in Stockholm yesterday morning and took the convenient high-speed train into the city. We checked into the lovely and hip Hotel Rival, located in Södermalm, a trendy and populated area of the city. The morning is a bit of a blur for me because we were so tired but, before our three hour nap, we managed to take a boat tour of the major sites of the city and walk around the Vasa Museum which we explored today. The waterfront everywhere is beautiful and clean. After our nap, we took a walk through Gamla Stan, the old city, through the cobblestone streets. We entered a fascinating cathedral with all sorts of bizarre things to it including a pulpit with Yud Heh Vuv Hey inscribed into the space above where the preacher's head would be. There was also a neat statue of a St. George slaying a dragon for Stockholm, whose residents promised to convert if he saved them. We had a good beer at a busy cafe on the street before dinner at "Five Small Houses," a restaurang designed to look like a castle. We sampled some herring and I ate reindeer, which is like a lean steak. After dinner I decided to entertain mom by eating Swedish licorice, which happens to be great for diabetics because it is absolutely revolting. I think one of the ones I tried was actually herring flavored. We walked a little more after dinner but soon collapsed into our beds.
Today we got a late start and explored the Vasa museum, located on the island Djurgården. It is a museum dedicated to a ship build by King Gustav Adolphus (II?) in 1628 during the war with Poland. He put a ton of resources into building this gigantic beauty of a boat, complete with statues of Roman emperors and gun holes adorned with lion sculptures. The ship is actually covered with silly lion images carved by people whose only experience with lions was looking at old sketches. It turned out that the money sunk (foreshadowing) into this project was a complete waste as the boat ended up at the bottom of the bay a kilometer away from where it began it's journey, with the King waiting impatiently in Poland. It wasn't seaworthy becaust the height of the masts wasn't properly balanced with the weight in the hull so a gust of wind blew it over. To make matters worse, the King had insisted that they keep the lower level of gun holes open to show off and so, when the boat tipped, the holes took in water that began to weigh the boat down. To even further complicate the situation, the builders had put tons of rocks at the bottom of the hull to prevent this very tipping problem but they put round stones in that moved as the boat tipped. It went down pretty quickly. The boat was completely forgotton for a long time until the 1960s when some guy accidentally found it and the current King Gustav, an avid archeologist, decided to salvage the wreck. It was found in relatively fantastic condition and all the pieces were treated to last and put back into place to display it at the museum we went to. They had to add some wood but 95% of the oak is from the original boat.
After the Vasa, we went to the Junibachen children's museum dedicated to the works of the woman who created Pipi Longstocking. We didn't have enough time to see the main attraction (we are going back tomorrow), but we did walk through the fantasy playground and up to Villa Villekulla, Pipi's house. We were surprised by an adorable sing-a-long with little blond children jumping up and down.
After the Junibacken, we went for lunch at Verandan, located in the Grand Hotel for their Smorgasbörd. I am still full despite having finished four hours ago. We ate a tremendous amount of pickled herring and salmon. They gave us a brochure explaining how to eat the 6 course meal.
1) Herring. Herring. More herring. Pickled and with... dill sauce, mustard, egg, sour cream. There was also a ton of bleak roe which I went for with gusto. It's also traditionally eaten with hot potatoes which, when eaten between bites, helps you to distinguish all of the flavors.
2) Swedish swiss cheese on crispy bread. A shot of Swedish aquavit and a Scandanavian beer to chase it. We also tried the cauliflower soup with cured pork.
3) Salmon- elderberry, cured, smoked, cooked
4) Salads and cold cuts. More herring in the salad. Veal sausage. Smoked leg of lamb. Ox carpaccio.
5) Hot dishes- swedish meatballs with lingonberries, char, veggies, potato thingy that wasn't good.
6) Chocolate cake with coconut crust, strawberry rhubarb compote, fresh fruits.
It was amazing, especially the raw fish, and we left feeling beyond satisfied. I should also mention that we sat at a lovely table with a view of the harbor and Gamla Stan.
After lunch, which went from 2-4:30, we had to move around. We took a very long walk through the city center which was covered in H&M stores. We walked along streets with lovely architecture to see churches, parks and squares. It was a very different area than where we had explored so far and felt a lot more like a city than a giant painting. When we were tired we hopped on the T-bana, the subway. The subway seats are fabric and cushioned. Imagine fabric seats on a NYC subway! Ew.
Also, everyone is blond, blue-eyed, tall and on a bike. And they all sound like the Swedish chef.
Today we got a late start and explored the Vasa museum, located on the island Djurgården. It is a museum dedicated to a ship build by King Gustav Adolphus (II?) in 1628 during the war with Poland. He put a ton of resources into building this gigantic beauty of a boat, complete with statues of Roman emperors and gun holes adorned with lion sculptures. The ship is actually covered with silly lion images carved by people whose only experience with lions was looking at old sketches. It turned out that the money sunk (foreshadowing) into this project was a complete waste as the boat ended up at the bottom of the bay a kilometer away from where it began it's journey, with the King waiting impatiently in Poland. It wasn't seaworthy becaust the height of the masts wasn't properly balanced with the weight in the hull so a gust of wind blew it over. To make matters worse, the King had insisted that they keep the lower level of gun holes open to show off and so, when the boat tipped, the holes took in water that began to weigh the boat down. To even further complicate the situation, the builders had put tons of rocks at the bottom of the hull to prevent this very tipping problem but they put round stones in that moved as the boat tipped. It went down pretty quickly. The boat was completely forgotton for a long time until the 1960s when some guy accidentally found it and the current King Gustav, an avid archeologist, decided to salvage the wreck. It was found in relatively fantastic condition and all the pieces were treated to last and put back into place to display it at the museum we went to. They had to add some wood but 95% of the oak is from the original boat.
After the Vasa, we went to the Junibachen children's museum dedicated to the works of the woman who created Pipi Longstocking. We didn't have enough time to see the main attraction (we are going back tomorrow), but we did walk through the fantasy playground and up to Villa Villekulla, Pipi's house. We were surprised by an adorable sing-a-long with little blond children jumping up and down.
After the Junibacken, we went for lunch at Verandan, located in the Grand Hotel for their Smorgasbörd. I am still full despite having finished four hours ago. We ate a tremendous amount of pickled herring and salmon. They gave us a brochure explaining how to eat the 6 course meal.
1) Herring. Herring. More herring. Pickled and with... dill sauce, mustard, egg, sour cream. There was also a ton of bleak roe which I went for with gusto. It's also traditionally eaten with hot potatoes which, when eaten between bites, helps you to distinguish all of the flavors.
2) Swedish swiss cheese on crispy bread. A shot of Swedish aquavit and a Scandanavian beer to chase it. We also tried the cauliflower soup with cured pork.
3) Salmon- elderberry, cured, smoked, cooked
4) Salads and cold cuts. More herring in the salad. Veal sausage. Smoked leg of lamb. Ox carpaccio.
5) Hot dishes- swedish meatballs with lingonberries, char, veggies, potato thingy that wasn't good.
6) Chocolate cake with coconut crust, strawberry rhubarb compote, fresh fruits.
It was amazing, especially the raw fish, and we left feeling beyond satisfied. I should also mention that we sat at a lovely table with a view of the harbor and Gamla Stan.
After lunch, which went from 2-4:30, we had to move around. We took a very long walk through the city center which was covered in H&M stores. We walked along streets with lovely architecture to see churches, parks and squares. It was a very different area than where we had explored so far and felt a lot more like a city than a giant painting. When we were tired we hopped on the T-bana, the subway. The subway seats are fabric and cushioned. Imagine fabric seats on a NYC subway! Ew.
Also, everyone is blond, blue-eyed, tall and on a bike. And they all sound like the Swedish chef.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
What up
I'm keeping this short, as I simply don't feel like writing much. (Nuri here.)
We just had a lovely couple of days in Ko Phi Phi, went on a full-day thing yesterday where I went snorkeling for the first time ever and some beautiful rainbow-colored fish and other great things. We also spent a bit of time at Bamboo Island, one of the most isolated and beautiful beaches ever. Then we went out to this bar run by this American from D.C. who used to work at Ernst and Young doing what sounds like really boring stuff and who told us he can never go back long-term -- "I mean, I haven't worn shoes in 2 years."
We're about to take a boat to Phuket, where we will stay the night before beginning our return -- first a flight to Bangkok Saturday morning, then to Taipei Saturday evening, then to JFK on Sunday, arriving late Sunday. Don't expect too much blogging between now and then. See everybody soon.
Also, ask me to explain "Same same but different" at some point. I have witty things to say about it, but it would take too long to type.
Later!
We just had a lovely couple of days in Ko Phi Phi, went on a full-day thing yesterday where I went snorkeling for the first time ever and some beautiful rainbow-colored fish and other great things. We also spent a bit of time at Bamboo Island, one of the most isolated and beautiful beaches ever. Then we went out to this bar run by this American from D.C. who used to work at Ernst and Young doing what sounds like really boring stuff and who told us he can never go back long-term -- "I mean, I haven't worn shoes in 2 years."
We're about to take a boat to Phuket, where we will stay the night before beginning our return -- first a flight to Bangkok Saturday morning, then to Taipei Saturday evening, then to JFK on Sunday, arriving late Sunday. Don't expect too much blogging between now and then. See everybody soon.
Also, ask me to explain "Same same but different" at some point. I have witty things to say about it, but it would take too long to type.
Later!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Simultaneous Blog
Sorry to be out of touch for so long folks. We are currently in Ko Railay right now and it feels pretty isolated.
The soles of my feet are all blistered right now from clambering up and down hundreds of feet of rock in sandles and a skirt (goodbye, pink skirt). We decided to do what we thought was a little up the rocks to a viewpoint and a lagoon. Well, we made it to the viewpoint but the lagoon was a no go. The lagoon was an extra hike down some frightening, muddy cliffs with a rope and rocks to hold onto. It felt like beginner's rock climbing without the harnesses. When it got to muddy and we were able to see brown lagoon water we decided it was time to skip the swim and head back. We were both covered in red, clay-like mud, which we washed off in the ocean before a refreshing dip in the pool.
I should mention that the view from the top was fantastic. We were able to see both sides of the peninsula's beaches with the staggering cliffs in the background and the palm trees in between.
Also... we stayed at a lovely resort that we would never be able to afford in the US. There were flowers on the bed and the whole shabang. Lovely, lovely, lovely. Now we are waiting for a boat to Krabi and a connection to Phi Phi!
PS- I finished reading Beans of Egypt, Maine. That author is a nut job.
The soles of my feet are all blistered right now from clambering up and down hundreds of feet of rock in sandles and a skirt (goodbye, pink skirt). We decided to do what we thought was a little up the rocks to a viewpoint and a lagoon. Well, we made it to the viewpoint but the lagoon was a no go. The lagoon was an extra hike down some frightening, muddy cliffs with a rope and rocks to hold onto. It felt like beginner's rock climbing without the harnesses. When it got to muddy and we were able to see brown lagoon water we decided it was time to skip the swim and head back. We were both covered in red, clay-like mud, which we washed off in the ocean before a refreshing dip in the pool.
I should mention that the view from the top was fantastic. We were able to see both sides of the peninsula's beaches with the staggering cliffs in the background and the palm trees in between.
Also... we stayed at a lovely resort that we would never be able to afford in the US. There were flowers on the bed and the whole shabang. Lovely, lovely, lovely. Now we are waiting for a boat to Krabi and a connection to Phi Phi!
PS- I finished reading Beans of Egypt, Maine. That author is a nut job.
A really nice place
Hey guys, Nuri here.
This is going to be short because things have slowed down in a good way -- I was getting a little exhausted from all the action.
We got into Krabi in the mid-afternoon 2 days ago, and took some bus to the place where we took a long-tail boat to Ko Railay. A long-tail boat is the type of thing people get off of to get to the island when a new show of Survivor starts. We had to like wade out to it to get on the boat -- a good sign.
The beach here is freaking amazing -- I'm not one for beautiful beaches, but this is ridiculous. Our first evening we just had dinner and some beer by the beach, the next day was just going through this 15 minute walk to this incredible beach, words won't do it so y'all will have to ask for the pictures eventually, and just sat and read all day. The World According to Garp is really good. Then, for the evening, dinner and sleep.
Today we went on a very vertical hike up to a view-point and a lagoon, and then went back to the pool for a little, and now we're getting ready to take a 40-minute longtail boat to Krabi, from which we will take a longer longtail boat ride to Ko Phi Phi. While we're there, we'll probably do some hiking and some snorkelling -- snorkelling is the last thing I really wanted to do here and haven't yet.
Oh, also yesterday by the beautiful beach we saw some monkeys hanging out and taking food offered them by tourists. They're just like little people!
That's really about it. More from Ko Phi Phi.
This is going to be short because things have slowed down in a good way -- I was getting a little exhausted from all the action.
We got into Krabi in the mid-afternoon 2 days ago, and took some bus to the place where we took a long-tail boat to Ko Railay. A long-tail boat is the type of thing people get off of to get to the island when a new show of Survivor starts. We had to like wade out to it to get on the boat -- a good sign.
The beach here is freaking amazing -- I'm not one for beautiful beaches, but this is ridiculous. Our first evening we just had dinner and some beer by the beach, the next day was just going through this 15 minute walk to this incredible beach, words won't do it so y'all will have to ask for the pictures eventually, and just sat and read all day. The World According to Garp is really good. Then, for the evening, dinner and sleep.
Today we went on a very vertical hike up to a view-point and a lagoon, and then went back to the pool for a little, and now we're getting ready to take a 40-minute longtail boat to Krabi, from which we will take a longer longtail boat ride to Ko Phi Phi. While we're there, we'll probably do some hiking and some snorkelling -- snorkelling is the last thing I really wanted to do here and haven't yet.
Oh, also yesterday by the beautiful beach we saw some monkeys hanging out and taking food offered them by tourists. They're just like little people!
That's really about it. More from Ko Phi Phi.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
