I know I can't write about all the little stories that go on through my travels. This section is more like a highlight reel of my experiences, thoughts, and feelings. If you have a keen eye then you may have noticed my travels have been centered around people, then food and then the place. There have been many amazing experiences I've shared with people on this journey so far. I know that these 3 months in Europe have been like a buffet, I can get a taste of each country and decide where I will need to revisit. Sweden was a place where I only saw one City (Stockholm) due to the size of the country and my limited amount of days. It is almost unbelievable to think how much you can fit in to a short amount of time. A good reminder for our daily lives, within our routine, to make sure we are squeezing the most out of each day we have on this planet.
I endured a long bus ride from Denmark to Sweden. Fortunately, the long haul buses provide an excellent time to catch your breath, do life admin, or enjoy a good book. I arrived at my host family's house just before midnight since they lived about an hour away from the city center. I met this family when I kayak guided in New Zealand and really enjoyed their company. I remembered the 3 young kids - Simon, Alma, and Mina - with such fondness and was excited to spend a couple of days with them. It was nice to be in a home and get a sense of family when your's halfway around the world.
The summer holidays resulted in a lazy start to the day in the household. Everyone, including myself, enjoyed a lie in followed by a slow paced breakfast. Not everyone had such a chilled morning as Papa Anders who was already hard at work moving scaffolding for a day of painting. There was only one wall left to paint of the house and my joy for the day was to spend time with the kids while the painting went on. Only the oldest child knew enough English to communicate all the games they wanted to teach me. Play is a universal language which made it easy for the four of us to laugh and have fun. Alma came up with a brilliant idea of blueberry picking at her secret patch in the hopes we would gather enough for a pie! We took the bikes and swiftly made our way in search of the blue gems. This was my first time picking blueberries and it takes a keen eye plus strength to resist itching the mosquito bites that were abundant. I don't know how long we spent strolling around to collect berries but we all came out with blue tongues and purple fingers. Our job was done and we biked proudly home for lunch. The day had gone by without anyone noticing. To make the most of the warm sun we regathered after lunch for a bike ride to the Lake. This lake was huge and wrapped around Stockholm city. We got a great view and adventured through the forest trails until we wound up at the nearby lake 'beach'. It was a chill evening with family time. I felt as though this was the sweetest safe haven to get some refreshment in my trip.
The next day we were up early with an eagerness to adventure the city. We started in Gamla Stan (Old Town) which was my favourite area. There wasn't a lot of time to see the city as we were headed for Djurgarden. As we waited for the ferry we grabbed a coffee and ice cream. A strange but needed combination. We laughed as we watch Alma and Mina take vastly different approaches to eating ice cream. Alma ventured for a more dangerous technique that could have resulted with her ice cream on the floor. All she had to say in response to our nervous eyes was "When it comes to eating ice cream, there are no rules only risks". This kid was wise. We carried on our adventure with a ferry ride and headed straight to Skansen. This was an open air museum to gain a better perspective on Swedish history from animals, buildings, and the lifestyle. It was like a historic mini Sweden that explained various regions. Since I wasn't able to visit all of Sweden this was the next best thing. After a long day of fun, games, and exploring I was satisfied with seeing my first moose, brown bear, and wolf up-close. We went home for a delicious meal and card games. This was my last night with this gorgeous family as I decided to move closer in to the city.
I was up early the next day to go in to Stockholm. It was game day for Sweden who played at 4pm which didn't give me a lot of time for exploring before watching the game with other couchsurfers. I met my couchsurfer host and got a feel of the area which left little time to get out in to the city. I decided to make my way to the stadium where a huge screen was put up for watching the game. Sadly Sweden were not victorious. I went back to my couchsurfer host's house to enjoy dinner and drinks with my host and his friends before going out to town. It was a fantastic night out with a lot of laughs.
The next day another couchsurfer came to stay. She was an awesome girl from Russia. To make the most of the sunny day we went to Langholmen to get some kayaks. It was a busy day for the kayak place which was fine for us, we enjoyed a walk around the islands. When it was our turn for a kayak, we headed straight across the harbour to the city. It was such a different experience to explore with a city backdrop as opposed to pure nature. The company was great and the sun poured down on us. We made it back to the house in time for a homemade dinner of delicious salmon. The evening was spent with a few more drinks and card games.
It was an early start to leave Stockholm the next day. I had gotten accustom with the public transport and was pleased with the ease of travelling on buses, ferries and the metro. My time in Stockholm was short and I don't think I have seen enough of Sweden to feel as though I've really seen it all but I grasped a slight insight in to the life and history of Sweden. I boarded my bus with great excitement as I was headed to see a friend who is the reason I traveled through Scandinavia in the first place. Nina and I had lived together for a semester in New Zealand when she came to study with me. We both loved the outdoors and goofy humour. With an 8 hour bus ride ahead of me, and a small announcement to say there was beer available for purchase on the bus (the time being 9am), I was ready to go to Norway.
Next Stop --> Oslo, Norway
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