Helan Går!!

Last week after our cup game in Helsinki, Jackie and I headed to the airport.  We were off to Sweden for our week off!  The trip was amazing and we got to see a lot. Jackie has a lot of Swedish friends that she went to college with so we were lucky enough to have them take such great care of us!  We started the trip in Stockholm.  Although the weather for the first few days weren’t great we were able to make the best of it. We walked around the city for the first few days just taking in everything around us.  Stockholm is a beautiful city and has a lot for tourists (like us) to see!

The Vasa Ship

Helena and Martina took us to the Vasa Museum.  The museum has the 17^th century ship displayed that divers found in Stockholm.  The ship is huge and the display is very unique.  There were different exhibitions around the museum to explain the conditions on board.

One of the best sights to see in Stockholm was the old city.  Our tour guide Martina took us to walk around the old city and the Royale Palace.  There were cobblestone streets, alleyways and old architecture to see. Although the Prince and Princess weren’t there, the guards were still in position.

We went to this TV and radio tower that you could go to the top to see all of Stockholm from.  The view was incredible.

One of the nights we went on an all you can eat shrimp boat with all of the Swedes.  I was a little nervous because I don’t really eat too much shrimp but it was awesome! The weather was really nice and although the shrimp were a little intimidating at first they were very good! The shrimp came head and tail intact! You had to rip the head, tail and body off before you ate them. This was very new to me but I think I did OK.  It was a lot of fun.  Everyone on the boat was singing different Swedish drinking songs.  After we got off the boat it turned into an eventful run across Stockholm.  I decided to try and catch up with some of the girls walking and when I couldn’t find them I was alone with no directions, phone or money! After about 30 minutes of running around like a chicken with their head cut off I finally found the apt! Thank gosh I have somewhat of a sense of direction; I was starting to get a little nervous!

One afternoon we took a trip to the Icebar in Stockholm. It was the world's first ice bar.  Everything inside was made of ice, even the cups you drank from.  When you go inside they give you these big coats with gloves attached.  The temperature inside is -5c so about 23 f. It was a bit smaller then I expected but it was neat experience.

We got to venture outside of Stockholm a bit to meet some of the girls’ families and see where they live.   One night we had dinner just outside Stockholm at Therese’s house.  The dinner was delicious.  Her family was really nice and spoiled us with all of the great food! We took the train to Uppsala for Midsummer.  The day was a lot of fun as we played a lot of different games and ate so much food! Dancing around the maypole, wearing wildflower crowns, and eating new potatoes, herring, sour cream & chive, strawberry’s and drinking schnapps are all traditions.  While we didn’t get a chance to dance around the pole we did go and check it out.  Lastly, we had a bbq in Vasteras at Linda’s house along the water.  The view was awesome and once again the food was really good.

We flew back to Finland on Sunday.  It was an amazing experience and a lot of fun.  A special thanks to all the Swedes who made me feel comfortable and took such good care of us!

Hejdå för nu!

Jamie