One Last Word on Belgium

In case you still don't believe me about Belgium being very interesting, let me tell you one last thing that they don't advertise: prostitution is legal in Belgium. I didn't find this fact in my guide book!

There's all this hype about Amsterdam's red light district; well, in Belgium, even a small city like Gent has it's own red light district. Koen took me to have a look, so interesting! Apparently Antwerp and Brussels have red light districts as well. I'm not sure about the smaller towns.

The ladies display themselves in the windows: goods on sale in a shop. And you can get all shapes, sizes and colours. Some ladies sit alone, some sit with their coworkers. Some sit chewing gum. Some chat on their cell phones. Some windows just had an empty chair in them, I assume the lady had a customer.

I was so intrigued I wanted to stare at them, it's one thing hearing about it, but it's a totally different story actually seeing it. I really wish I could've taken a picture of the ladies, but the picture above is the best I could do. It shows the alley leading into Gent's red light district. If you can enlarge the picture you'll see that the building in the centre has the silhouette of a naked lady on it, and the building to the right is called "Le Pink Bar."

So, instead of going to Amsterdam for prostitutes and then to France for beautiful ancient architecture, just do it all in Belgium, where you can also drink the world's best beer and eat the world's best chocolate and maybe even dabble a bit in diamond trade if you like.

Who knew you could pack so much into such a little country?!

Sitting at Doha airport now, 02h37 Doha time but I can't sleep. 4 hours to go til I can board the plane home. I have my fingers crossed that I make it in time for Coldplay in JHB! What a way to end an amazing holiday!!!

Belgium Part 2

Belgium has got to be one of the most interesting countries in Europe. It's a little country with a 30km coast line, with The Netherlands on it's north border and France to the south. It's capital, Brussels is home to the UN and the EU headquarters, and it's considered the centre of western Europe. Yet Belgium has no government, they haven't had one for the past 18 months, it's a world record.

The country is divided along the lines of language and money. To the north are the wealthier Flemish speakers, and to the south are the poorer French speakers. The south used to be a bustling mining and industrial area, but around the 1970s most of the mines dried up and now the south rely on the wealthier north for support. So while economical power lies mainly in the hands of the Flemish, the French still want to have equal rights, and as far as I can gather, they often feel marginalized.

Neither Flemish nor French want to compromise, so there's something of a stalemate at present. There have been rumors of Belgium splitting into Flanders (the north) and Wallonia (the south) but the south don't want to lose the economic wealth of the north. And despite all of the bad blood, in a recent poll, most Flemish speakers said they were proudly Belgian before being Flemish and don't wish to separate from the south. Apparently a sort of compromise is imminent, and Belgium hopes to have a new government soon.

All of this aside, being in Belgium you see and feel none of the political tension. Belgium is famous for chocolate, diamonds and beer. Another strange combination.

I didn't spend much time in Brussels, but the central station in Brussels is huge and has local as well as international trains coming in and out constantly. Brussels has a cathedral which is bigger than Notre-Dame. I didn't go in, I just took pictures from the outside. Brussels is also very French speaking, despite being in Flanders (Flemish area) geographically. Brussels is actually considered separate from Flanders or Wallonia and also has a separate government.

There are always festivals, conventions and gatherings in and around Brussels. When I was leaving Brussels via central station, a huge Brazilian party seemed to be going on in front of the station. Men and ladies were dancing around on stilts, singing and banging on drums and other musical instruments.

From Brussels I took a train to Genk, as I mentioned before, and on Thursday Koen took me exploring.

We started off with Antwerp, city of diamonds. We went into the "diamond area" where Jews in traditional dress walk around. (Diamonds & Jews - such a cliche!)

I also saw many other nationalities and heard many other languages. I swear it looked like there was illegal trade going on on those streets. And it wasn't just me who thought so, when we got out of the area, Koen said he didn't like the feeling of being there, it seemed a bit shady.

If you want to buy a diamond or diamonds in Antwerp, you have to go through security checks before even being allowed in the same room with the diamonds. Yet, there was just recently a robbery which took place there and it is also rumored that, somehow, blood diamonds manage to make their way into the trade.

(Notice the guy to the front and right of the above picture. Look shady? You'll see him again soon!)

The above picture shows what used to be the market square of Antwerp. These are still found in all Belgian cities and are called the Groot Markt. According to Koen, Antwerp is the second largest port in the world. I haven't checked his facts yet, but the road to Antwerp was full of heavy duty trucks coming and going from the port.

The legend of Antwerp is that there used to be a giant along the river, who used to demand payment from all passers by. Then along came a hero called Brabo, who cut off the giant's hand and cast it into the river. So on the shield of Antwerp there is a hand, cut at the wrist. And the statue in the market square is of Brabo throwing the hand far into the water.

Antwerp also has a very impressive cathedral (Onze Liewe Vrouwkathedraal) where they had paintings by Reuben's (a very famous Belgian painter from the 16th century) on exhibition in the cathedral. This cathedral miraculously survived the pillage of the renaissance era.

From Antwerp we went to Gent. The background of the picture above is real, I promise! I know it looks like a painted backdrop. The big building you see behind me and the shady guy, is Gent's cathedral, which is from the 14th century.

Gent is a university town, where Koen studied and he has very fond memories of falling from his bike on his way to class after long nights in the favourite students' area: Overpoort. Gent is Belgium's largest university town.

We also did a little tourist boat trip which takes you through the medieval part of Gent, then I ate a hot chocolate covered Belgian waffle, before sampling some Gent Jenevers at the famous Dreupelkot.

To my delight, because of the "We Are Music" festival on in Gent at the moment, the shops were open until later than usual. And there was music on every corner. I'm not sure if Koen was as happy about the shopping hours as I was. I made sure we found a chocolate shop. We tasted a lot of chocolate, and I bought a bit.

Finally we left Gent and arrived back in Genk around 23h00. Poor Koen had to work today and drop me at the station (NOT in the same direction of work) before going to work.

I was on a train back to Leuven by 7h35. It was still dark, as well as cold and rainy.

Now, I need to get ready for the airport and figure out how to fit everything into my bags. I have to make a plan to ensure my check in luggage doesn't weigh more than 23kg. I think my shoulders are going to be very sore by the time I get to SA, from lugging my overstuffed backpack around!!

Belgium

I arrived in Belgium on Monday, but have not said much about Belgium, I just jetted off to Paris as soon as possible.

I stayed first with friends in Leuven, which is 20 minutes outside of Brussels by train, Valerie and Pieter. Leuven is a university town and the two of them work at Leuven University hospital usually. At present, Valerie is pregnant with twins and housebound, cos the little beans keep wanting to come out of her before their time. Their latest ultrasound showed that the one is 1,4kg and the other 1,3kg, so Valerie & Pieter feel a bit relieved now. But she still keeps her feet up for most of the day, everday the beans stay inside her, the better it is!

Yesterday I had a lazy morning with Valerie, eating croissants and chocolate for breakfast. Then I went into Brussels for a bit, before catching a train to Genk, near Hasselt, where my friends Koen & Gloria live, which is to the north east of Belgium, very near to the Dutch border.

Today Koen is my tour guide. We hope to do both Ghent and Antwerp. Hopefully I will be able to post pictures tomorrow and write a bit more about beautiful Belgium.

Paris in a day... impossible!

Paris, Paris! It's been written about in songs, books and movies for ages. None of what's been written can live up to what it actually is. I'll try my best to describe the little bit that I saw of it.

I arrived in Garde du Nord station on the Thalys train from Brussels. I found the ticket station and went to buy an all day pass so that I could ride the train/subway between locations and try to save time, instead of walking too far.

The ticket booth read: tickets and information. So I tried to make the most of getting information out of the guy selling me my ticket. He didn't seem too pleased, maybe because I was speaking in English.

Garde du Nord is a big station connecting Paris to most of the rest of France and also to the rest of Europe. The trains into Paris were so full! And the smell wasn't too good either. You had to push to get onto the train and then stand squashed up against someone else.

My first stop was the cathedral of Notre-Dame, which means "Our Lady" which as Catholics know, refers to Mary the mother of Jesus. The cathedral started being constructed in the 12th century. Some of the stained glass and sculptures are still preserved from then! It is spectacular and no picture can capture it.

Since the cathedral is called "Our Lady" there are obviously many figures and figurines of Mary. It seems that there was a big trend toward the glorification of Mary during the time that the cathedral was built. The adoration of Mary was not always such a big part of the Catholic faith.

All around the cathedral there are little areas where you can light candles and place them in the stand. There are signs suggesting a donation for lighting a candle, but the signs also say that it is up to you if you want to donate or not. You can also buy a candle if you like. Most of my pictures inside the cathedral are a bit unclear, because camera flashes are not allowed inside the cathedral.

The cathedral is not only a tourist spot, they have mass four times a day. I was surprised to hear a mass starting as I was walking around. Mass just carries on and those who want to join the mass do, those who want to continue taking pictures do too.

Around the sides of the cathedral are little chapels and small areas used to display art and objects made for the cathedral hundreds of years ago. The left hand side has little alcoves containing paintings in the style of the one above.

These were works painted by famous artists of the time. They are called "Mays" because they were put into the cathedral in the month of May, which is the month of Mary.

Some of the works have been removed and are on display in museums, all of the works still in the cathedral depict scenes from the book of Acts in the Bible. Apparently being commissioned to paint one of these was a big point in an artist's career back then.

After Notre-Dame, I had decided to go to Musee d'Orsay which contains works by Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Matisse and many more. It is housed in a turn-of-the-century train station across the river (Seine) from the Louvre. I had decided not to go to the Louvre, because of time constraints.

When I arrived at the museum, there was a queue to go in. I stood in the line for a while, and then decided that since I had only one day in Paris, I should spend it outside seeing Paris.

As I walked away from Musee d'Orsay, I came across what I thought was a very typically French scene on the steps of the museum, which is in the picture above: people eating lunch on the steps listening to live music.

Since I had opted to wear a little "Paris" dress and carry a little bag to match, I had had to leave my very big "Western Europe" guide book behind. I collected some maps and information booklets at an information stand on the street. Looking at the little booklets, I then had to guess what I was seeing from its location in relation to unmistakable points.

The bridge above, I hope is Pont Alexandre III, which is a celebration of Franco-Russian friendship.

From here I did a lot of walking, finally finding Champs-Elysees, in quite a roundabout manner. Along Champs-Elysees there are many shops, I didn't get too distracted, only stopping in one or two, my eye on the goal of Arc de Triomphe. This was erected by Napoleon to celebrate the victories of the Great Army. It was commissioned in 1806 and completed in 1836.

There is also a tomb of an unknown French soldier, buried there in 1921, where a flame burns and an inscription says: Here lies a French soldier, who died for his country.

From there I walked toward the Eiffel tower. It is visible from the area around Pont Alexandre III, and from many other parts of the city, so I had an idea of the general direction, and consulted my map to make sure I didn't go down the wrong road.

I didn't even attempt to go to the top of the Eiffel tower. I'm sure the view would be amazing, but the wait in the line at the bottom is time I did not have! It is an iconic part of Paris, and it was good to get to see it.

By this time I still had not had anything to eat. I didn't feel hungry at all. I did feel a bit thirsty, but I kept thinking that I needed to see more. By the time I was walking away from the Eiffel tower it was around 17h00. I decided to look for a little cafe and wondered into a neighbourhood nearby. There weren't many tourists, lots of little cafes and restaurants. But most of them were closed at that time. Cafes and restaurants usually close between 15h00 and 19h00 in preparation for dinner.

Eventually I found a little cafe on Rue de Charles Michel. The waiter was really friendly and even had a menu in English for me, even though it didn't seem like many tourists frequented the cafe. I had some wine, lots of water and a baguette with camembert cheese. The cheese was probably the best camembert I've tasted.

After asking the waiter for some directions, I had an idea of how to head back to the centre of town. Somehow, I still headed in the wrong direction, and found a little pattisier: Le Bon Panneton, where I bought some macaroons and fondant au chocolat.

By the time I got back to the centre of Paris, I arrived in time to see the sun setting just behind the Eiffel tower. It was almost 19h00, so by this time the tourists were mostly gone and the Parisian were out of work: jogging, walking their dogs, sitting on benches along the river and on bridges. It was much quieter and more peaceful.

I tried to get to the Louvre just to take a picture of the front area. I walked through the park: Jardin des Tuileries and could see the glass cube at the front, but then a security guard came along and told me the park was closing and the gate to the Louvre was locked already. I turned back and sat on the foot bridge which links Musee d'Orsay to Tuileries, contemplating my day.

I think next time round: I will make sure I have more time. I will wear more comfortable clothing. I will carry a bigger bag.

Parisians do dress smartly, but no one really cares what you're wearing. One of the shop attendants was quite taken with my dress, he followed me around a bit, asking where I was from, talking to me about rugby and complimenting me on my dress. (He guessed I was from New York, the rugby conversation started when I said I was from South Africa.)

Personally, I still think practicality takes precedence over appearance when it comes to spending a day walking around a city. Next time I want to stay over in Paris, so a pretty dress for the night out will be in order, but jeans can look good and are quite alright for sightseeing.

I suppose I'm just not enough of a fashionista. Practicality is not part of a fashionista's vocabulary!!

My advice: go and see Paris for yourself! Nothing can describe it adequately.

Don't go in summer. Judging from the crowds at tourist spots yesterday, which was off peak, the summer months must be crazily busy. Yesterday was a bit cloudy, but the temperature was 21 degrees celsius and warm enough even for a Durbanite and sometimes the sun even came out from behind the clouds.

And never, never, try to do Paris in one day!

Paree...

Paris is everything you could imagine and more! Pictures will never do it justice. I walked and walked and walked. And when I realized I was hungry and thirsty, I decided to carry on walking a bit more. One day is barely enough to even scrape the surface of what Paris has to offer, and that's just what's in the guide books.

It's after 23h00 and I just got back to Leuven, many train rides later. I need sleep. I'll try to describe Paris tomorrow morning, before I go exploring Brussels.

If only time (and money) were limitless...

Stockholm-Brussels-Leuven

A traveling day today. No real pictures of Belgium yet, the one I did take refuses to be rotated to a normal view, didn't want to strain my poor readers' necks and eyes, will load proper pictures soon.

Stockholm had turned cold and wet when I left this morning. Landed in Belgium: sunny, 25 degrees celcius! I was sweating because I'd put thermal underwear on this morning in Stockholm!

Unfortunately, I don't think Europe's weather's going to hold up much longer, prepared for the worst this week.

Have a train ticket to Paris in my bag... I'm quite giddy with excitement, not sure how well I'll sleep tonight! Early morning tomorrow morning.

Swedish Food & Culture

As I mentioned before, Swedish food is so different from anything I've eaten before, so I saved a whole blog post just for that. Since food and culture are so closely related, I'll throw in a little extra on what I've noticed of Swedish culture.

Interestingly, there are similarities between South African and Swedish food and culture! Swedes drink something called filmjölk, it's basically maas, with fewer lumps. They eat it with their cereal at breakfast. The above pic shows a breakfast bowl: filmjölk, Kellog's Special K, topped with äppelmös, which is basically apples boiled and mashed. Any sort of sweet fruit topping can be used: berry jam, strawberries prepared in the same way as the apples.

This is standard breakfast fare, and is usually followed by bread of some sort.

Because Swedish summers are so short and intense, with very long days, Swedes love to make the most of being outdoors, and don't even want to have to go inside to gym, so you find these little gyms set up in parks. Not a moment need be wasted indoors!

Sweden has the highest number of summer cottages per capita in the world! (But the among the lowest number of hospital beds per capita in Europe.) A summer cottage doesn't have to be anything fancy and is usually on an island out of the city. Going through the Stockholm Archipelago, I noticed red and white cottages were the most common. The red and white is how Swedish houses were painted traditionally.

Understandably, fish and seafood are eaten often in Sweden. The food is often quite rich and the flavours strong. Because the winters are as intense as the summers and longer, the fish or meat had to be preserved to last through times when fresh food was not obtainable. So even today, food is often cooked with strong flavours and spices which were used to preserve food in the old days. The above is a salmon soup we had for lunch when we went to Grinda.

Yesterday we had a crayfish party. This is very traditional. It usually happens toward the end of summer when the evenings are still warm. It is always held outside. Lanterns and balloons are strung up and everyone wears bibs and hats. There is crayfish, of course, and snaps is integral to it all!

Last night, for my benefit, we had a bit of a nontraditional crayfish party. We started off with midsummer food. On the plate above there is potato, two types of salmon: cold smoked and warm baked, pickled herring, boiled egg with caviar paste, sour cream and knäckebröd (crispy bread). Normally all of this is not eaten at a crayfish party. (Note the small bottle and cup.)

After all the midsummer food, we got to the real stuff. Swedish crayfish are fresh water crayfish and are quite small, so it's not difficult to polish off a large amount, expecially between 6 people.

And of course, the snaps. I was deceived by the small size of the bottles. That stuff is potent! The little bottle on the left can be shared between two people. (It's poured into the small cup seen in the midsummer food picture.)

Before drinking the snaps, everyone sings a snaps song while holding up their glasses. All snaps songs have the same theme. One goes something like this: I am a bird, I am a bird. My owners feed me fish, but all I want is snaps, give me snaps!

Then everyone shouts 'skål' and raises their glasses higher before drinking it in one gulp.

We started the party a bit early yesterday, so it could end early and everyone would be alright to drive back to Stockholm today and be ready for work tomorrow.

After the usual big breakfast, everyone helped to tidy up, and now just Anna and I are left at the cottage, sitting on the couch. It seems very quiet.

We'll leave a little later and stop at her brother's house on the way back to Stockholm. Tonight will be my last night in Stockholm. Tomorrow, Belgium, I hope...

The Country Life

A walk down to the sea, the Baltic sea is so calm!

Lying on the docks.

Picking blueberries in the forest. Organic blueberries of course, fertilized by moose droppings.

Picking mushrooms in the forest and in the back garden, wild mushrooms. Taste so good!!

Candle light dinner on the porch, wrapped in blankets to keep warm.

Early morning cycle along a road by the sea.

Tried to spot some moose in the forest, but only spotted families of swans. Then back home for a big breakfast. Now maybe a nap in the sun....

Life is goooood!

Catch up

Yesterday we shopped. To a woman, shopping does not mean buying. So, we did lots of shopping and not so much buying. The range of choice on one street in Stockholm is mind boggling to me!

Later we went to see Robert Mapplethorpe's exhibition at the Photographic Museum. He trained as a sculptor, but became famous photographing New York's S and M scene in the 70s. He died with AIDS in 1989.

He said he simply photographed what he wished he could sculpt, nothing less and nothing more. He did not understand why his photos of flowers and fruit should be seen in one way and his less conservative photos in another. He said he did not like the word shocking.

I can't say I quite agree. The view of Stockholm at dusk as we left the museum was breath taking. While a picture of a dead animal maybe be beautiful too, I don't think it can be viewed in the same way as a picture of a beautiful city!

We then went for supper at a Vietnamese restaurant. A Vietnamese menu in Swedish is rather challenging for an English speaker. It was also challenging for a Swede trying to translate it into English!

Later some of Anna's friends met us and we had drinks at Stockholm's sky bar, which meant more amazing views.

Today we drove to the island of Vätö where Anna and her brother own a little cottage in the woods.

When you arrive, the most striking thing is the quiet. We had a big lunch on the porch and then all I wanted to do was fall asleep in the sun. But Anna is like an Energizer bunny. While I lazed around, she prepared the pickling for the herring which we plan to eat tomorrow. She also made us espressos and warmed up some cinammon and blue berry buns she had baked.

After coffee, the couch in the lounge looked very inviting to me, the most activity I felt capable of was typing. But Anna was outside calling: Amanda, come outside and enjoy the beautiful weather!

I was thinking: I'll have plenty beautiful weather when I get back to SA!

Eventually I got my butt off the couch and came to sit outside on the porch. I thought it would be alright to watch Anna, she had decided to rake leaves.

She then began to tell me that raking leaves was good for the soul. I remember being made to rake leaves as part of my chores as a child. I don't remember it doing anything for my soul. I told Anna that I thought that the cheap labour we have in South Africa is good enough for my soul.

She decided to try a different tactic and said it was good physical activity, good exercise for the arms. Eventually I agreed to try it.

She had me raking leaves and even pushing wheel barrows!!! I think it may have been part of her plan all along, getting me to fly out in autumn when they have the most leaves to rake up!

And here I thought I had a good deal with my accommodation: an apartment within walking distance of central Stockholm, with a weekend away in the countryside included in the package!

After all that I have to say my initial judgement was correct. Blogging does more for my soul than raking leaves!

Later Anna's friends will join us at the cottage, I hope they're impressed by how few leaves are on the lawn.

Tomorrow we're having a crayfish party, which is a big Swedish tradition, with lots of snaps (pronounced schnapps) to drink. At a crayfish party you also have to wear party hats and bibs. I cannot wait! Will try to take pictures before drinking too much snaps.

Museum Day

As mentioned, yesterday (Wednesday) was a grey day, aka Museum Day. Anna and I both felt that we didn't want to bite off more than we could chew, so we settled on doing only the Modern Museum (where we'd had lunch the day I arrived) so as not to cause exhaustion from information overload.

Now, while I appreciate art as much as the next person, some of it is just plain ridiculous in my opinion. I understand that artists are intense, but to make a lot of drama out of nothing actually turns you into a joke. Can you take this seriously?

There are variations of the display, the version in the Modern Museum was seven hollow boxes of galvanized iron attached to a wall by. It's called Untitled, by Donald Judd. I do agree with him that not all art has to be on canvas or paper, but I have to laugh if I'm told that he's exploring the direct influence of galvanized iron on the soul!

Das Arbeitbild by Kurt Schwitters was described like this: Imagine an artist who sniffs around in the rubbish like a dog and discovers a whole new world...

While I appreciate that he used what is considered junk to create his picture, I don't think he literally sniffed around in the dirt like a dog, and describing the process in that way to me is melodramatic and makes me want to laugh!

The most striking painting was Salvador Dali's The Enigma of William Tell. It was large in size and somewhat disturbing. Salvador is considered one of the greatest surrealist painters. (I think he considered himself the greatest!) Apparently he was attempting to photograph the unconscious. In an interview on Swedish television he said (regarding the painting) that he hoped that everything was perfectly clear and that if it wasn't, please call him so that he could make it more obscure...

Besides the museum shop, my favourite place in the Modern Museum, was a little room with only Pablo Picasso on the walls.

We left the Modern Museum and went to the National Museum for lunch in the beautiful atrium. I didn't feel that I could handle Rembrandt and Cezanne after lunch, so it's enough to say I've been into the National Museum in Stockholm, even if I haven't actually seen any of the exhibited art.

We decided to leave high culture behind and headed to another institution of Swedish culture: IKEA! The biggest Ikea in the world is just 15 minutes drive from Anna's place. Think Mr Price Home on injectable steroids, pumping iron all day long. You can literally walk out of there with an entire house, except for the bricks. And since many homes in Sweden are built with wood, a Swede may be able to walk out of there with an ENTIRE house!

By the time we left Ikea (it's not possible to go in and out quickly) we were running late for our fancy dinner out.

We had decided to eat at Småk, which means taste. The tables are mini boxes of spices with a glass covering over the top. You choose a flavour and they serve you a dish with that particular flavour. Since the dishes are so small, it's more like a taste, you have to choose 3, 5 or 7 flavours.

The experience was certainly interesting and there were a few dishes that were absolutely extraordinary, but it reminded me a little of an experience I'd had at a place called Ginger in Cape Town... I think the thing is, that I'm the kind of person who, if I enjoy something, I like to have a bit more of it. And if I can only have a very small bite of it, I feel somewhat dissatisfied.

However, I have to admit, that despite my mental block to restaurants like this, I did leave feeling full and didn't need to stop at Mc Donald's on the way home.

Smart Cyclists

As promised, some pictures of smartly dressed Swedes on bikes. I managed to snap a few riding home from work yesterday afternoon. If you look closely the woman above is wearing wedge shoes. I imagine it takes some practice being able to ride a bike in those.

The guy on the bike above is dressed quite averagely: grey suit pants, black trench coat, black smart shoes.

These two ladies may not have actually been ON their bikes, but they were by far the most impressively dressed cyclist I saw yesterday. Unfortunately they realized I was trying to take their picture and weren't too happy with me. Ooooppss!!

Technological Meltdown!

I've had to resort to using a PC! (horror of horrors!!) While Sweden is a very forward thinking country, the people seem to keep their wireless internet networks locked. Since Anna uses a portable modem for her internet access, I searched for and found one wireless network which was not locked. I used it easily for the first few days, but I think the owner is on to me and has now banned me. So my Mac sits uselessly on the kitchen counter.

Now once you go Mac you can never go back, but desperate times call for desperate measures. So of course I chose PC over nothing. However, communicating with a PC is not very easy, especially a Swedish one like Anna's. And throwing it against a wall would not help matters at all! So last night I sat for hours trying to get it right, but unfortunately I still ended up with a blog post full of grammatical errors.

So in short I'm saying: if my previous post is not up to scratch, it's not actually my fault. This PC won't allow me to edit a post once it's published. In fact, and I know this is probably useless info to you, it won't even allow me to publish a post directly! I first have to save the post as a draft, then go to "saved drafts" and select "publish this post" !!

I'm also quite aware that the previous post is not too funny, so if you're looking for a laugh, try translating the page to Swedish.

Today I have my first day of grey skies in Stockholm, I think it's a museum day.

The Stockholm Archipelago

Today we took an early boat out of Stockholm city, to Stockholm Archipelago. Since Anna is the kind of person who plans a holiday without checking when her passport expires and gets stuck in Eastern Europe with an expired passport, of course we were running through town from the bus stop to the ferry stop and jumped on the ferry just before it took off.

Since the morning air was quite cold, running was not a bad thing to get us warmed up. But we still needed plenty of insulation to protect us from the wind, especially on the boat ride, don't let the perfectly blue sky and bright sun fool you into thinking it was warm!

We jumped off the ferry on the island of Grinda, which used to be used mainly for farming before it was bought by the Stockholm Archipelago Foundation as a recreational island for the people of Stockholm. It still has a feeling of a farm.

We were meant to go to the sauna, but as you can see from the above picture, that wasn't possible. Apparently the sauna burnt down last week! No injuries. Saunas are a big part of Swedish culture, you toast yourself in the sauna and then jump into cold water to cool down before getting back into the sauna. Maybe we'll find one that's still standing before the week's up.

So instead we decided to do a little hike around the island. It's quite a small island, so the hike was not too long. There are lots of helpful signposts, but I think it'd be quite difficult to get lost.

The trees in this area seemed to be quite green for this time of year. There are so many different types of mushrooms in the forest. One particular type of mushroom which is known to be poisonous and cause renal failure and hallucinations, was apparently eaten by the Vikings before they went into battle. It made them go "crazy" and become more aggressive and they thought it made them fight better.

At this time of year, these islands are almost uninhabited. Any cafes or restaurants which may be on the island are usually closed. We were lucky enough that the hotel on the island had a conference taking place there. So the kitchen was open and they had made lunch for the conferencees. Feeding two more was not a problem, luckily for us. Since we were hungry after our hike and we had eaten our sandwiches which we'd carried with, and the ferry back to the mainland was only coming by after 16h00 and would take 2 hours to arrive in the city. After lunch we fell asleep on these couches/beds in the hotel reception in front of the fireplace. Swedes are very polite. The hotel staff may have liked to have kicked us out of their reception area, but they didn't say a word. Rather, they pretended it was an everyday occurrence that people snored on the couches in the reception area.

After the nap we had a little bit more energy and walked down to the docks where people usually park their boats in the summer. They were empty today. After enjoying the sun and imagining that we were actually the only two people on the island (it was so quiet down at the docks) we had just enough time to walk back to the south side of the island where the ferry would pick us up.

We made it back into Stockholm just as the sun was setting and headed home on the subway.