scandanavia is a cool word

and an even cooler place! this post will have a much sunnier disposition than did my last, and for good reason: i spent 5 days in Stockholm and it was sunny and warm half the time! hooray!

ari, ivy, jessie, cait and i set off early...well like 9-10am thursday morning. unfortunately, paul and patricia were unable to join us :-(
also unfortunately, we made it halfway to the airport when jessie realized she'd forgotten her passport :-(
also unfortunately, ryanair staff are bitches and wouldn't let her rush to get on the flight even though it was delayed at the gate and she was at the airport in time to make it, but it was after check in closed so they weren't havin' any of it.

because we are cheap college kids, we fly ryanair. because we fly ryanair, we fly into and out of bullshit airports. our airport was a "20-30 minute drive" from the city center, according to our friendly bus ticket seller.
an hour and a half later we arrived safely in the stockholm city center. we made our way to our hostel, which used to be a prison. but it was awesome! ari and i switched into a swanky room so he could stay with us, and the old cell block shape was easily discernible in the hostel lay out. eventually jessie arrived and we all rejoiced, and opened the duty-free wine we'd brought.

we awoke to find something shocking, something i haven't seen in London for months nor expected to see again for many moons: a cloudless, beautiful day. we had gorgeous to 'pretty damn good by London standards' weather the whole time. it was fantastic. i was so enamoured of the warm weather that i threw caution and self-image to the wind and donned jessie's wife-beater. it was hot. (literally!)

okay, i'm lame. moving on. we saw skansen, which is an awesome out-door museum where they transplant historical buildings to 'preserve swedish culture'...or something like that. they move old, 18/19/20th century buildings like farmhouses and mansions and windmills to this touristy island. also they have a nordic animal zoo with mooses (meese?), brown bears, elk, reindeer and the like. it actually reminded me a lot of a few outdoor museums we went to with my elementary school back in wisconsin where they show you old log cabins and let/make you churn better so you can say "wow, living on a farm sure is hardwork" and go back home to play N64 and eat doritos.

aside: one of the things i've come to love about traveling in europe is noticing all the little idiosyncrasies that you don't really hear about in guidebooks. example: in London, what are known as "Cool Ranch Doritos" are called "Cool Original" and in Stockholm they are "Cool American" also, in Amsterdam, "Argentinian Grills" are a big deal, there are a ton of them, and in Stockholm, you can't walk 4 city blocks without finding a 7-Eleven. also, (listen up hannah, we know you read this thanks to our super stalker capabilities) what is known in Vienna as "ein Melange" is coffee with a little bit of frothed milk, like a latte but with coffee instead of espresso and not as much milk (although some places just make them with espresso i think), but in Amsterdam, a "Wiener Melange" is just coffee and whipped cream. okay, aside finished.

in addition to the skansen museum we went to see the Vasamuseet, which was awesome. its the oldest and most complete warship in the world. its a 17th century warship that the Swedish king was rushing production on to send out to the Baltic fleet during the 30 years war, but it wasn't designed well so when they launched it it floated for about a mile, then it sank like a rock. fortunately the low salt content of the water preserved it really well, and they were able to recover 95% of the ship and its now been rebuilt to 100% using the 95% original materials! friggin' sweet!

in other 'i'm a huge history geek' news, we went to the Historika Museet and they had an awesome exhibit on vikings and another one on high/late medieval religion in Sweden. it was sweet. lots of st. olaf and st. bridget stuff, along with some really cool reliquaries, baptismal fonts, church doors, altars, pews, etc. i loved it. fun fact: st olaf is always depicted standing on his killer, and sometimes his killer is a semi-human dragon thinger. neato!

...well the fact that i said 'neato' is probably a sign that i should end this post before i incriminate myself even further. so, the remainder of the trip in shorthand: go to 7-11 to buy froyo and candy. yummy swedish meatballs, yummy and purty lattes, not so yummy salty licorice and (unintentionally) saltylattes. go to 7-11 to buy froyo and candy. cait sings 90's pop songs in public, scares small swedish children. museums are fun, but art museums are closed. go to 7-11 to buy froyo and candy. weather still beautiful. drottingholm palace is pretty. the royal palace is prettier. we see changing of the guard, the swedish army drum corps plays dancing queen. meet nice girl named 'keta' who is from neenah, near appleton! picnics with salami, bread & cheese. i say "konditori!", cait gets mad. go to 7-11 to buy froyo and candy. godMORgon brand OJ + 'little water' + boxed wine = fun, meeting friends we don't remember who work at subway, meeting strangers wearing NYC shirts who argue about futball and religion, and, last but not least, mom friending on facebook.
....go to 7-11 to buy froyo and candy. bus, plane, bus, bus, home.

end scene.