Sweden and an improptu Baltic Sea cruise to Finland.

While D is processing his pictures from Tuscany, I thought I could skip around a bit and talk about our visit to beautiful, cold, dark, cold, fun, cold Sweden.  

The Ytterjarna Fjord

D and I went to Sweden to visit his sister Kathleen who is helping out with an amazing organisation here called The International Youth Initiative Program .  It is based in Ytterjarna, Sweden, south of Stockholm.  We flew into Arlanda and had to take a bus to a train to a different train to a bus to get to Ytterjarna and cost us about 500 krona (or 50 Euro).  It took us a bit more than 3 hours - usually it only takes an hour and a half and only costs about 10 krona!  It was a fun journey though - we don't know Swedish so it was fun trying to pronounce the stops.  We took the bus and kept getting deeper into the Swedish countryside and finally pulled up to our stop in the middle of a field.  Kathleen (thankfully) met us at the stop, since otherwise we would be wandering the countryside knocking on doors and asking (in English) if anyone knew Kathleen.  

The first thing we did was have fika - a coffee break but so much more.  It was amazing to see Kathleen again, sit by a warm fire, drink hot coffee - or cocoa, and eat delish Swedish food.  The buildings in Ytterjarna are beautiful and designed to mimic the land.  Sweden (especially the area around Ytterjarna) is very good at waste management.  They compost, and have a new technology that consists of burning waste to get energy, and their sewage system is basically all natural.  I'm not really sure on the details but I all the soaps etc. have to be biodegradable because there is little chemical filtration. 

Fika is also a great reason to come in from the cold - we had fika at least twice a day!

For the first time in my life I had nothing planned for the trip.  I did a bit of research reading about Stockholm but didn't even have any sights or anything picked out.  Shocking.  It ended up being a great thing because on the day we arrived we decided to take an impromptu Baltic Sea cruise to Finland the next day.  It is called "The Booze Cruise to Finland" because during the summer you don't need to get a cabin for the overnight ride, you can just sit at the top of the ship and drink. The three of us went into Stockholm and purchased tickets for the ferry which left a mere 4 hours later.

Snowy Stockholm

Two of the 10 tourists visiting Stockholm in November

The colors were beautiful

The street names were unpronounceable.

 Stockholm is situated on many different islands.  We walked around the old town area of Stockholm called Gamla Stan and saw amazing architecture, the royal palace, Stockholm's narrowest street (and where they filmed a Moby music video apparently), and explored.  We then took the bus to the ferry (where they have signs on the road pointing to 'Finland').  I was expecting a large ferry but it was actually a small cruise ship!  We took Viking Cruise Line and it cost us a mere 30 Euros for a round trip ticket with a cabin for 3 from Stockholm to Helsinki.  We stood at the top deck as we pulled away from Stockholm, it was cold, snowy, and gorgeous.  

Kathleen and Dave in the narrowest street of Stockholm, which only got smaller!

Braving the cold - that plastic bag is full of reindeer sausage!

Impromptu Baltic Sea cruise.

We also chose to do a Julbord - a traditional Christmas dinner in Scandinavia.  The Julbord had cheeses, caviar, different types of bread, salad, Swedish meatballs (way better than Ikea), and  we had so much cold smoked salmon.  It was amazing.  They also laid out a wonderful dessert buffet - we had something called a Cone Cake which was shaped like a pine cone, and apple cinnamon charlotte, and a lot of other delish desserts.

So much Salmon!

After dinner we explored the ship and it had a karaoke bar, pub, a nightclub, and just like a normal cruise ship, a hot tub and sauna.   We decided to digest and sit in the sauna, where we met Sum 41, a band that I used to love in high school.  Very random.  We ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the night.

Helsinki was gorgeous, and we met two of Kathleen's friends and had a wonderful talk with them.  One of her friends, Matt is involved with a group called Homeboy Industries.  If you haven't heard of the group check it out, it is doing some amazing things.  It was started by a priest who wanted to give LA gang members a second chance, if they want it.  Homeboys gives at-risk youth counseling, tattoo removal, and employment.    He runs a poetry workshop.  This summer, Kathleen let me borrow a book Fr. Boyle wrote a book entitled Tattoos on the Heart and it was very inspiring.  It was great to hear Matt's stories about his own experiences working with Homeboys.

No fika is complete with something to eat.  Here - a kannelbulle.

We walked around Helsinki and visited the Russian Orthodox church which towers over the city.  Their main shopping concourse has heated streets so the snow doesn't collect.   We also had some delicious Nepalese food (according to Kathleen's Finnish friend, Finnish food is not so good).  We visited the Market Hall in Helsinki and went back to the ship a bit early because it was SO COLD. 

More Salmon!

We have maybe 5 pictures of us without jackets on.

The next day we hung out in Stockholm and went to the Vasa Museum where a beautiful ship form 1628 was restored after it sank on its maiden voyage.  We visited Ostermalm Saluhall and ate more lox.  Finally, we figured we had to go to H & M since it is a Swedish store.  We went to the H & M flagship store, and when we exited we realized we could see at least 5 different H & Ms.  They have different stores like H & M children, young and trendy, home, men, women, etc.  Crazy.  We took the train to the bus home and were a bit lost when the bus driver dropped us off in the middle of a field in the middle of the night in rural Sweden.  Luckily, he also pointed us in the right direction. 

The beautifully restored ship

Julmust - a traditional Christmas drink.  In Sweden Coke sales fall 50 % in December.  Not all that delish.

GIANT TURKEY, surrounded by normal (European) sized turkeys.

Thanksgiving was wonderful, we were able to bring Thanksgiving to Sweden and show about 50 non-Americans what Thanksgiving is all about.  We cooked 3 turkeys, peeled and mashed a garbage bag full of potatoes, made a vat of Bernaise sauce, and a LOT of stuffing.  We also had apple, pumpkin, and pecan pie, and amazing Swedish bread.  Thanksgiving was wonderful.  At the end of it, everyone looked uncomfortably full and we told them they did it right. 

Dave mashing vats of potatoes.

The rest of the days were very relaxing, and we explored rural and not so rural Sweden.  We had lots of fika, hung out with Kathleen, discovered an amazing Swedish dessert, and enjoyed the beautiful light cast by the sun.  It basically looks like dawn all the time, and the sun sets at 3:30.  YIP put on an open mic and were fortunate to hear Kathleen's poetry, Ani's singing, and lots of talented yip-ees.  

We were lucky to be in Ytterjarna for the Light Festival.  They light thousands of candles all along the nature paths by the fjord, and it is a beautiful experience.  The candlelight on the snow and a clear sky made it magical.  They also put on a fire show, with flaming poi balls.  It was gorgeous!  It made a beautiful end to a very fun week!