God Jul from Stockholm

After 11 days straight in the lab (and only 9 working out – Tyler and I compromised and quit at 9 thank goodness - considering that on day 10 I showed up at work with my pygama top still on and inside out no less I think it was definitely time to stop!), I made it to Stockholm safe and sound on time on the 23rd.  Wish I could say the same for Vickie!  As I was happily riding on the bus – equipped with wifi no less! –(I had to giggle when the bus driver thought I was a forest PSYCHOLOGIST ;) - into Stockholm from Arlanda airport, Vickie was still in Dublin.  And there she remained until 26.5 hours after her original intended departure.  With tales of the pilot getting out on the wing of the plane to sweep the snow with – yes  a BROOM, stranded Swedes just wanted to get home in time for Christmas Eve (which is when Swedes traditionally celebrate Christmas here)!  She had a great attitude throughout it all – and I was delighted when she finally made it and we have gotten to spend Christmas together – us and our travel adventures!!  We’ve had our fill of drama thank-you very much!  No more!



Thank-you to the determined staff of SAS for getting Vickie to Stockholm through snow and Ryan Air bumping them!



So with Vickie not coming anytime soon I made the most of a solo Christmas Eve and ventured out into the streets of Stockholm.  Stockholm, as you likely know, is surrounded by water – well this time of year it’s a mix of ice and water!  So I ventured on to some of the other islands – including going to Djurgården where I visited Skansen – which is an open-air museum that has brought in buildings from around Sweden and is meant to be a miniature version of Sweden.  It was SO cold – I was thinking that an outdoor museum perhaps was not the wisest choice for a -15C day!  But I did enjoy seeing some of the wildlife they had – and enjoying the views.  But I think next time I will go back when it is WARM out – as I felt like I was going to freeze to death and a place to get a varm choklad to drink was hard to come by!

Getting near Skansa and already feeling COLD!



Map of Skansen



Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree!



Swedish Christmas Decorations For Sale



Come and get your marsipan pigs - I prefer bacon myself!



Gray Wolf hunkering down - I don't blame him!



A very cool (cold?) lynx



Cutest Fox!

I did a bit of shopping and made sure to get the last of the groceries – all the shops were closing for 2 pm.  I was on the hunt for princesstorta to share with Vickie for Christmas dinner and was so happy to spot just a block from our home a bakery Annika – that had lovely princess cake (with red marzipan for Xmas in lieu of the traditional green) and yummy pepparkakor (gingerbread) cookies.

I love Swedish bakeries! 

I made sure to be back at our lovely rental apt (I found it online through www.airbnb.com) by 3:00 so I could watch Kalle Anka – that is Swedish for Donald Duck.  Indeed for whatever reason, the Swedes love to watch cartoons on Christmas Eve – it’s all about Donald Duck – which is dubbed into Swedish (my tv also offered up subtitles).   You can read more about the typical Swedish Christmas in the English newspaper for Sweden HERE. 

Kalle Anka! ?translation = I'm going to get you for that?

Vickie finally arrived on Christmas Eve at 8 pm and we stayed up catching up until the wee hours of the morning – and then I woke up again at 5 am and couldn’t fall back to asleep for a while.  I’m convinced that Santa and his reindeer were in the neighbourhood ;)  This is after all the land of domestic ated reindeer!  Santa did in fact stop by and leave gifts by the fireplace for me - thanks to Santa's elve Vickie :)

Thanks Santa's little helper Vickie!

This morning I made Christmas crepes with Swedish berries and of course grädde (whipping cream) – breakfast was brunch at 11 am – we slept in!!  Then today while Vickie followed her vow to stay in her pygamas all day until Christmas supper, I decided that with the sun shining and the temperatures closer to zero (-5C),  I would venture outside and play tourist some more.  So I wandered down to the shopping district – including the Macy’s type Christmas windows of NK and then went to yet another island which houses Gamla Stan (the old town of Stockholm).   Such a beautiful city for wandering around – and all the better when you don’t feelearly onset of hypothermia!!!

Streets of Gamla Stan - Many people out on Christmas Day and some shops open

NK Christmas Window

The sun was out!!!



The ice breaking up in the harbour





Surrounded by water water everywhere!

Tonight we enjoyed a lovely Christmas dinner that Vickie cooked up for us – including turkey breast roast that she muled over from Ireland!  Delicious J  And I liked that we decided to reverse order and have our dessert first.  Gotta love being a grown up and doing what you want eh!

Master Cully & Sully Chef Vickie in our super cool apt



Course 1 = pink Christmas princess torta!



Course 2 = turkey with the trimmings :)

Was happy to skype with family and friends over the holidays – thank goodness for technology eh – helps with missing of home this time year – as I am definitely missing home right now!  But LIFE IS GOOD!  Wishing you and yours a happy healthy holiday season and 2011!  Talk to you from Tallinn, Estonia – where we’re off to tomorrow.  Vickie was joking that they better not need an ice breaker for our ferry – you know, with our luck and all ;)

Skyping with Tyler and family back home :)

You know me and pictures -so you can find all the more that I took of Stockholm HERE!