This blog is also entitled, My Escape To Stockholm. But I really am going to be "On A Boat" in this blog... as in showing photos of me on a boat, not writing it on a boat, so I felt it to be fitting and kind of cool because it is referencing popular culture and stuff.
To escape the mundaneness which was to be Uppsala for the next few days due to all the students having left for their vacation, I decided that I should go out "on a whim?" and head for Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, where there would SURELY be more people because I felt like I was going insane. Quiet towns apparently do not suit me. Maybe I should learn.... hmmm. Well, either way, even if Stockholm was, for some reason quiet, it is meant to be Europe's most beautiful city so I figured it'd be a good place to get some photos.
I booked myself in at a hostel called Citybackpackers, which has gotten some pretty fair ratings and they were also running a lot of events, of which I signed up for everything that I could, eager to just DO SOMETHING! Included in these events was "The Meatball Experience" - where you learn how to make meatballs the Swedish way and "The Viking Sauna Tour" - where you go on a raft to an island sauna where you get heated up to like 100 degrees and then jump into the ice water. Totally something that I would normally want to do. Not.
The first day in Stockholm was really quite cold and I found that I was really quite out of my depth, being a rubbish map reader, and having no idea of the language and being really kinda cold, I was struggling to get myself around. I was hopelessly lost and the map made no sense to me. In the end, I managed to make my way to one of those tour bus things and hopped on that and then subsequently joined the boat tour afterwards. It gave me a pretty good view of the city... and I totally DID NOT fall asleep on the bus.... the guy talking in the headphones... just had such a soothing voice.
Bus photos never look that crash hot so I don't really wanna post them but here's a bit of a taster...
The boat tour was pretty cool. It was like I said, freezing, so everyone stayed inside the cabin, but I wanted to be outside to take photos so I grabbed a blanket and went to begin my hour and a half of torture.
After the tour, I wandered around, it was dark by then (4pm) and went and found a mexican joint where I had some tacos! TACO TACO TACO
Also found out that SPAM-A-LOT - a musical we saw in Melbourne like 4 years ago or something was on in Sweden! It's following me!
Nevertheless, it was a pretty good first day of exploration. The hostel even had people in it! I haven't uploaded my photos from yesterday quite yet and today I was meant to go on the Sauna Tour but unfortunately woke up to find it had been cancelled! Lame. I did the meatball experience last night though which was pretty cool. Oh and it has finally snowed a bit here so I'll post some photos of that as well later.
OK, I'll post the one I popped on Facebook for you guys...
I'm heading back to Uppsala tonight so here's to hoping that all the students are back!
I booked myself in at a hostel called Citybackpackers, which has gotten some pretty fair ratings and they were also running a lot of events, of which I signed up for everything that I could, eager to just DO SOMETHING! Included in these events was "The Meatball Experience" - where you learn how to make meatballs the Swedish way and "The Viking Sauna Tour" - where you go on a raft to an island sauna where you get heated up to like 100 degrees and then jump into the ice water. Totally something that I would normally want to do. Not.
The first day in Stockholm was really quite cold and I found that I was really quite out of my depth, being a rubbish map reader, and having no idea of the language and being really kinda cold, I was struggling to get myself around. I was hopelessly lost and the map made no sense to me. In the end, I managed to make my way to one of those tour bus things and hopped on that and then subsequently joined the boat tour afterwards. It gave me a pretty good view of the city... and I totally DID NOT fall asleep on the bus.... the guy talking in the headphones... just had such a soothing voice.
Bus photos never look that crash hot so I don't really wanna post them but here's a bit of a taster...
The boat tour was pretty cool. It was like I said, freezing, so everyone stayed inside the cabin, but I wanted to be outside to take photos so I grabbed a blanket and went to begin my hour and a half of torture.
A few people came out to get a few photos. How funny do the blankets look!
Also found out that SPAM-A-LOT - a musical we saw in Melbourne like 4 years ago or something was on in Sweden! It's following me!
Nevertheless, it was a pretty good first day of exploration. The hostel even had people in it! I haven't uploaded my photos from yesterday quite yet and today I was meant to go on the Sauna Tour but unfortunately woke up to find it had been cancelled! Lame. I did the meatball experience last night though which was pretty cool. Oh and it has finally snowed a bit here so I'll post some photos of that as well later.
OK, I'll post the one I popped on Facebook for you guys...
I'm heading back to Uppsala tonight so here's to hoping that all the students are back!
11 comments:
Look at you all brave sitting outside the boat! Totally something I would NOT do :P
BUMMER that sauna tour got cancelled - what happened, too few people? At least you got to make meatballs. Will be expecting them when we come over....
Have you met many people at the hostel yet?
You should totally go watch Spamalot again! You can compare between countries!
Also, that look insanely cold! How are you surviving that? What sort of temperatures was it? Have you seen any hobos? Or would they freeze? Or do they have to live in shelters?
Hi Ang! I AM Brave aren't I? LOL....such a Gryffindor. It was actually kinda refreshing but afterwards.... it took me so long to defrost. It's an interesting feeling, defrosting.
Yes, the sauna tour got cancelled cause not enough people joined. They said it rarely happens but if it does it's on a Wed cause they run Wed and Friday. So the lady was very disappointed not to be able to take the 3 of us who had signed up (they needed 6). I'm sure I will get another chance to do it later though!
I did meet lots of nice people at the hostel in Stockholm. I wish I could have stayed longer. I made some really great friends,... from Australia! hahaha
Erin, I totally would see Spamalot again except that it is in Swedish! And I can't understand it. I feel it could be quite comical in Swedish..but I'll only go if you come with me! haha. Yes it is pretty insanely cold. Even with my warmest outfit I was cold but still it's do-able. I haven't seen a lot of hobos actually. Maybe 2 beggars and they looked actually quite warm and today in a fast food restaurant, a guy came up and asked my friend for the rest of her burger cause she was going to throw it away. But other than that, it seems pretty hobo-less. Sweden is meant to be good though so maybe they do have shelters!
i totally wrote you a letter for when boating! did you opeeeeen it?
looks super cold but insanely awesome.
Oh No! I totally didn't know? ARGH EPIC FAIL. I'm sorry! I did open everything else on time so far.... let me try and find it haha.
Crapppito I also found a swedish meatball one! I'll open that the next time I eat one which should be something I do quite soon!
Eskimo Annie.
You look like Rudolph in one of the pics in the previous post ;).
Sweden looks cool ...
See what I did there ;). I'm such a genius. King of 'Double Entendre'. Hehehe.
Actually on second thoughts you look like an 'Asian Golliwog' in the first photo :P.
Wow your boat trip looks great! Frosty-cold, but great. I do love your earmuffs. Were those brown things on the boat seats real fur??? And teehee at the red blankets.
I'm very glad that you ventured to Stockholm and that you got tacos! We went to pot of gold last week and I had a taco and thought of you.
And can I just say that I correctly identified a picture of a city as being in Amsterdam at the hospital yesterday because it looked like your pictures- I was so proud of myself :D
Azn Golliwog. Yeah, I can live with that! I think the brown things on the seat were real fur, they felt real... they looked almost like kangaroo skin but I assume it was some kind of native animal skin. Good job larry with identifying Amsterdam! I hope Pot of Gold was good. Taco Taco Taco
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