Third time in Vienna!

This is the third time that I have been to Vienna, though the first time on business travel. Thankfully M and N got to come along for the week. I still have to work during the day, but it is nice to come back to the hotel and meet them in the room. Ironically, every time I have come to Vienna, it has been with one objective in mind- to go to the National Treasury (Schatzkammer in German).

The first time I came was in 1998. I spent the day in Salzburg and then caught the night train to Vienna. I roamed the city in the morning and then in the afternoon I went to my museum. At the time, I was using the Lonely Planet “Europe on a Shoestring” guidebook and the currency for Austria was the schilling. It is important to note that after Vienna, I was leaving the country with plans in the near future to return. When I arrived at the museum, it was to my surprise that the price that was quoted in the guidebook was incorrect. Of course the price had been raised and I did not save enough money to cover the entry fee. The museum did not take credit cards (they still do not), so I ran over to the American Express to exchange $1, since that is all that I needed. They said no way. The only option would be to cash in a travelers check, which the smallest denomination I had at that point was $50. So, the museum had to wait for another day.

For my 30th birthday, several years later, we traveled through Eastern Europe. We started in Estonia and traveled down to Croatia. The one excursion outside of Eastern Europe was into Vienna. The sole purpose was to go to the National Treasury. My 30th was on a Monday and since we know that museums are always closed on Monday, we decided not to go into Vienna on the Monday, but to wait and go into Vienna on the Tuesday. The Monday was spent roaming the streets of Bratislava. When we came into town on the Tuesday, the hardest part was to find a parking spot and to fill up with fuel. Now, it had been 7 years since I was last in Vienna and I was not 100% sure what museum it was nor where it was located. It took a few minutes to orientate myself and finally we found the museum. The problem was that it was closed on Tuesdays. What museum is closed on Tuesdays? I have studied Museum Studies at the university and I can say, no museum is closed on Tuesdays. Well, no museum should be closed on Tuesdays (ironically I thought that the ethnographic museum sounded cool as well, but it was closed until summer ’07).

So now it is winter ’06- 1.5 yrs after the last attempt. In the evening we have been enjoying the Christmas market and having chestnuts and glühwein. M and N met up with one of M’s friends that she worked with in Germany and I worked. On Saturday I did not have to work, so we attempted to go to the museum. We started the day going to some non-touristy markets. One was a Christmas market that was more for the local hippies and the other was a food market where you could buy live eels (we contained ourselves). After lunch we went to the museum- thankfully it was open.

One might have to ask, what is so special about this museum? Well, for starters, I have been trying to go to it for years. The other part is that it holds “magical” things. Let me explain, the museum hosts the spear that the Roman Soldier used to kill Christ (that is what actually killed him and not the cross). It is said, he who has possession of the spear, will have the power to control destiny. This was one of the first things that Hitler stole and took to Berlin when he gained control of Austria (let us not forget that Austria was not invaded, they went to the Nazis on their own accord). It is suppose to have magical powers. One could imagine that Indiana Jones would search for it as well. Also in the museum was the tooth of John the Baptist, the nail that was used on Christ’s right hand, a piece of the manger and even a piece of the table clothe used at the last supper. Of course there were some non-religious stuff as well. Several pieces of clothing from the former Austria-Hungarian Empire and some knights tunics as well. Also, I learned something that I did not know. The Austrian-Hungarian Empire had strength in Mexico as well.

So was it worth it (as it was pretty expensive at €9 per person)? I have to actually say that it was. Even without the spear, it would have been worth it, but since I have been waiting for years to see this spear, it was well worth it. Any person coming to Vienna should go to it, just make sure you have enough cash and it is not a Tuesday!

Sweden Road Trip 2006- Day 13

It is good to be on road, but it is great to be home. We made it home safely and soundly late at night. We said that we would not unpack the car, but of course we do (though we left some things in the car). Overall I have to say that it has been a surprisingly nice trip. It is not surprising because of M and N. I knew that we were going to enjoy our time together. It was the country/landscape that was a bit surprising.

I believe it was Francis Mayes that said that a sign of a good place was that you would want to move there. I think that the sign of a great/amazing place is that you would like to live there and the sign of a good place is that you want to come back. Not too many places on the trip would I like to live actually, but several of the places I would like to go back to. The four things that pop into my head are:

1) The glass factory area- in the summer they have a special dinner on the floor f the different factories that is cooked in the ovens.
2) Kivik- in the summer though, this is one of the places I could imagine having a place.
3) Söderåsen National Park- another weekend next fall would be perfect! (http://www.internat.naturvardsverket.se/index.php3?main=/documents/nature/engpark/enpstart.htm)
4) A trip around Vättern- a week long trip seeing and doing things around the lake that we missed or did not have the opportunity to do.

I am sure that there are more places that I would like to visit again from the trip. If we went back, even to places that we did not care for, the experience would be new and different. Some experiences might be better and some might be worse. No one ever really knows for sure. That is why we travel after all- to have good and bad experiences. If everything was always perfect, then travel would be boring. People will recall the bad experiences faster then they will recall the good experiences.

So what is next for us? I really do not know. I have some travel planned with work, but I am not looking forward to it. Then we are free the week after Christmas, but no plans yet. Then it is next year already. The one thing that I will take from this trip is that we need to slow it down even more on our next big road trip. When/if we take the Australia adventure next year, we will need to slow it down a bunch, especially since we will have two kids traveling with us. Maybe we need a test trip before we leave for Australia, Hmm, time to start thinking about that trip.

Sweden Road Trip 2006- Day 12

Today was supposed to be our day in the national park, but weather put a little change in the plans. So instead of that, we are taking a rest day in Örebro at M’s parent’s house. Not an ideal choice, since we have a second rest day tomorrow, but still the logical thing to do with N.

For the most part, it feels as though we have done everything there is to be done in Örebro. So we did not play tourist/traveler today. That does not mean that you don’t get to hear what there is here to do though. First of all, if you ask any person from Örebro what there is to do and see here, they will all mention the water tower. When M first told me that several years ago, I had to laugh, but it is true. That is the one thing they are most proud of. There is a café located at the top of it and it does offer nice views of the lake. They also have the “most photogenic” castle in all of Sweden. Even in my critical self must admit it is a pretty storybook castle. The third item of fame is an old wooden village that is now craft stores and a nice café (we did spend a little time there today). That is about it for the tourist things here, but there is more to see and do.

Three additional things is what I would recommend in fact. The first, when the weather is bad, is Gustavsvik. This is a indoor water park that is actually impressive. It has been given the title as Sweden’s best water park for a number of years. The slides are not for the little kids, probably not for the old either. Upstairs they have a little spa area for those who are not interested in the rides, slides and the wave pool. The second thing is a nice place to have fika. It is about 2km outside of town, past the hospital. It is called Naturam. It is very new, only opening this year, and well worth a visit. The area use to be an industrial area that was polluted. They cleaned it up and now you can walk through the restored nature. They have done a great job with it. The last one is actually not in Örebro, but all around it. They have one of the best hiking trails in Sweden called Bergslaladen. It goes from the south of the landscape up to the far north of the landscape.

Sweden Road Trip 2006- Day 11

Well, we did not get a blizzard as we were told to expect, but the weather is far from perfect. It sounds as though some parts of Sweden were hit harder then others. We just had ice and a lot of wind. Stockholm and Uppsala had lots of snow. They were talking on the Radio of the night trains that got stopped in Gävle. They were told before they went to bed that they would be delayed for a couple of hours, and then when they woke up 8 hours later, they had not moved an inch. Plus they did not move for several more hours.

This has put us in a dilemma which we need to consider carefully what we will be doing. We really have three options. The first option is to continue as we have planned. We head up to tonight’s hostel and hike the national park. This is the option that we want to do, but we do not really have the cold weather gear (with the exception of M) and we have no idea what the roads are like to the national park. Option two is that we can find an alternative place to stay tonight on the way. Maybe something that we had not planned on at first, but that will be a nice alternative. This is a good option, but there is not much on the way that we want to see and do. The last option is to go directly to Örebro today and just take a couple of relax days rather then just one. The problem with this one is that it is boring and it is kind of cutting our holidays a little short, which is sad.

We go with option number three. It is the most logical of the three options, and we are logical people for the most part (most people would argue that it is not logical to take the trip that we have taken during this time of year, but that is not the point). It is only 224 km to Örebro from Tröllhatten, so we have plenty of time and zero stress to get there. It is not like anyone there is expecting up at a certain time or anything. We decided to start the day by exploring Tröllhatten a little. We go by the hydropower plant first. This was the first one that was built in Sweden and it is still in use. M had studied it at the university, so she really wanted to see it. They had an activity centre and some nice walks around. We did not do them through, way too cold. Next stop was the Saab car factory. They have a little museum there that has the very first Saab and the most recent (with several in between). The other museum of interest was the canal museum. Sadly, this museum is only open in the summers. So instead of going to the museum, we went to the canals and had a look. They are very impressive. M got to watch a boat go through one of them, I was too cold to stick around. We also drove by the movie studios. I was not overly impressed with the ones in Hollywood, Trollywood is not going to impress me much either.

Sadly, we had lunch at McDonalds. As much as it is possible, we try to avoid McDonalds. Today it did not seam as though we had much of a choice. N needed to eat and it was the only thing around. They did have a great climbing wall for kids. The grips were soft and in the shape of fish. I could see doing it in N’s room (she has an underwater theme in her room and she is a climber).

The roads were not great, so it took a little longer then one would expect. We only took two more stops before we reached Örebro. The first was in Linköping. They had a Höganas factory store there. They basically had the same stuff that the other Höganas shops had. Of course we did buy stuff as well. The other stop was just along the road on the Göta Canal. I have no idea what the name of the town was, but it was a beautiful little stop; this being especially true with the ice and the snow. At about 5:30 we arrived at the In-Laws house.

For the most part, the trip is over. At least the exciting part of the trip is over. I think that the next Sweden road trip that we do will be around Vättern. That is the largest lake in Sweden and the one that we have been traveling on the last couple of days. A 10 day trip around it sounds about perfect. Though when we do that trip, it will need to be in the summer or maybe late spring.

Sweden Road Trip 2006- Day 10

If my description of the hostel last night seemed a little harsh, today I am going to stand by it. The bedroom was clean, but the rest of the house was gross dirty. M cleaned this morning again for about 30 minutes extra cleaning other people’s mess. I am totally in favor of leaving a place better then when you arrived, but there is a limit to the madness. So once again, if you are ever in Åsa Sweden, do not stay at the Åsa Youth Hostel.

Today was our most different day of the trip. Pretty much the entire trip has been planned for outdoor activities. With the only exception to that rule is today. Today was our Gothenburg day. Since one of our first visits to Gothenburg, I have wanted to go to the Universeum. It is a kind of science center/zoo/aquarium all indoors. It is located next door to the World Heritage Museum (talk about that in a minute) and next to Liseberg (a Swedish amusement park).

It has five floors. The top floor is the Swedish nature area. It has what is in the Swedish lakes and rivers. So they have pikes and perch, along with a couple of birds and amphibians. I was hoping that N would be interested in the fish in the aquariums, but she was more interested in the people walking by. She is such a people person. After the lakes and rivers, you walk to the Swedish west coast. It has the fish that are in the Swedish west coast (the west coast is every Swede’s dream summer house. I must admit that I can understand the appeal of it. I do not see us ever having one, but all the same). One type of fish that they had was the flat fish and that actually swims horizontal. I had seen them being sold by the fish mongrels, but had never seen one swim. That lead perfectly to the ocean section- namely the sharks. Sharks are just amazing to look at. One of them looked so mean, all three rows of teeth. My favorite was the saw fish. He was way cool. I am like a little kid when it comes to animals. Once we were out of the sea, you walk into the rainforest. You get hit by the difference in temperature. They have set it up where you walk the rainforest out. They have lots of birds just flying around, but also lizards, snakes, monkeys and crocodiles (some in cages and others roaming freely). The final little bit had parrots, tortoises and a large anaconda.

The other section of Universeum was the hands on activity centre for kids. M and I did some one them on the first floor. It was how the human body worked and physics. For example, they had a (fake) human intestine stretched out that you could run a ping pong ball through. It also did a measurement of height using radar. The other floor looked like the more fun floor, but it also had way too many kids on it (imagine that, kids at a place like that). It was the sports floor, where one did running, virtual soccer, rock climbing and even kayaking. I have to mention the shop, where amazingly enough we did not buy a single thing. Lots of cool stuff in there that I wanted, I am sure that kids would have really wanted. N liked the stuffed animals, like she usually does.

One last thing about Universeum, and it has to do with pee. When we first arrived, I went to the restroom. They had the interesting toilets where the toilet was divided into two sections- the back section for poop and the front section for just liquids. The signs for this type of toilet always make me laugh. Anyway, they recycle the pee in the different toilets and use it for the water in the rainforest. In fact, you can actually see the process at the very start of the rainforest. One is a little torn when you hear it, but also when you see the process. It is cool, but also a little gross.

We mentioned the World Heritage Museum earlier. M and I have been there before and today we took our fika there. This is a new museum in Sweden, it opened in 2005. It is supposed to capture the spirit and the individuality of different cultures. It is very modern and I love the way some of the items are displayed, especially the items in the Africa display. The one thing that they have done, which is a big no no in museums, is to use some stereotypes of African women and South American Amazonian women. Both of them are shown as bare breasted. This is a very bad stereotype which should be avoided, but they seem to play on it in different sections. Otherwise this is an excellent museum that has a great program for kids and a nice café.

The hostel tonight is in Trollhättan. It is fine, nothing spectacular; we knew it would be when we booked it. We are just using it as a resting stop. We may be here a little longer though. We just got a call to advise us that a blizzard is going to hit tonight. What luck we have; first the hurricane and now a blizzard. Maybe we will have an earthquake before we get back to Uppsala. I guess if we got stuck here, we can find something to do. The Göta Canal runs through the town and it is known as the Hollywood of Sweden. If Nicole Kidman can stay here for three months, we can an extra night.

Sweden Road Trip 2006- Day 9

The Jontorp Youth Hostel was amazingly clean. This is an important factor that will come up the a little later. The beds were very comfortable to sleep one, but not the most comfy ones that I have every felt as we were told they would be. I know that we talked about it yesterday, but the hostel was pretty amazingly decorated. The more I looked around, the more I found high quality antiques. At some point, I would like to come back for a visit.

We were planning on walking from the parking lot in Kullagården, mainly because they were charging yesterday 40:- to drive to the light house (let us not forgot the fact that we are cheap). The weather was a little cool this morning, so we decided to suck it up and pay it. To our luck, they only charge on the weekends, who says there is no such thing as karma! The lighthouse was cool. We walked from the parking lot to the lighthouse. The wind was blowing and it was cold. N was miserable, so we did not stick around like we had planned to eat at the café for fika.

We headed back towards Hoganäs with a stop along the way still in the Nature Reserve. Somewhere in the reserve is an art sculpture made from nothing but drift wood called Nimis. The powers to be did not like it and thus no signs excist as to where it is. It is just one of those things that you have to know about and have an idea where it will be. We did not have a clue. If N was not with us, then we would have searched for it. With N, it is a little more difficult. So we never found it, maybe next time.

We made it into Hoganäs. Just for the hell of it, we determined we should look again at the factory store. Neither of us thought that we were get anything or find anything. Which of course means that we did find something- coffee cups in the sienna color at an amazing price. It was one of those things that we really did not want to do, but almost had to do. We ended up getting 12 of them along with 6 saucers. The Punto is starting to get pretty full, which means we should stop shopping, which means we shopped more. When N was born, my mother bought us a really cool pot in the shape of a giraffe. So this time we got us a glass sculpture of a giraffe. I did not think about it until after we bought it of the connection, but pretty cool.

We ate lunch at Sibylla. M has been craving it all week. They have a hotdog, mashed potatoes and salad all wrapped in thin bread (kind of like a tortilla). I had a hamburger. After lunch we went into Hamstad. Of course, we did some more shopping (poor, poor Punto). The town is actually famous for a Swedish Band from the 70’s and the 80’s- Gylder Tyder. The lead singer is probably better known around the world as the male voice in the duo Roxette. Gylder Tyder is actually a good fun band. Every Swede knows all the songs. Their concert a couple of years ago sold out instantly. We went to one of the shows and the age of the crowds were from 3 to 65. It is just a fun band to listen to. Anyway, they come from this town and so now it is a hot summer destination. The beach here is always packed in the summer. Both of my brother-in-laws have spent a week or two down here. I had told M that I was going to take a swim in the sea, that was yesterday when it was sunny and “warm”.

Most countries love UNESCO World Heritage sites, Sweden is no different (the only one that I know that does not like them is the United States). A couple of years ago M and I said that we were going to visit every one of them. The was before we realized that there are 500 something different ones. Not to mention the fact that the list is growing every year. So that plan is no longer going to happen. With that being said, when we see one, we are going to stop. Today was one of those stops, we passed by the Grimeton Radio Station which has became a site recently. Apparently this radio station was the first one to broadcast across the Atlantic using six radio towers. It was closed for the season, big shock there. I took a picture. The last one of the trip actually.

The hostel tonight is the worse thus far on the trip. To start off with, it was suppose to be 300:- per night, but they charged us 420:- a night, making it our most expensive one of the trip. The beds are as thin as cardboard and as hard as plywood. The kitchen is beyond gross. M had to do the dishes before she was even able to start to cook dinner. The saddest part is that they do not have any trash bags. I would say that a nice after dinner drink may help with everything, but this hostel is owned by the anti-alcohol people, so drinking is not allowed. So here is the first true WARNING of the trip: If you find yourself is Åsa Sweden, do not stay at the youth hostel. Spend a little more and go to a hotel. It will be worth it!

Sweden Road Trip 2006- Day 8

To start the day off, we went for a walk in the national park. This is for sure my favorite park thus far in Sweden. The trails are well marked and it is beautiful with all the colors. Today we walked up to the copper point. The view was even better today over the valley. For sure I would come back here. The only negative, and it was not a large negative was the number of people. It was low season and it was crowded. On the trail this morning, we had to wait to pass a group because it was so large. That is one of the benefits to traveling in the low season. If it is busy now, I can not imagine what it is like in the summer. The only place that was empty, was the café at the end of the hike. That should have been a good sign to avoid it, but we did not. M’s apple pie was average and I got sick from the hotdog that I had.

One of the interesting things about the national parks here is that the majority of them, you are not allowed to camp in. I am sure that there are some in the states that one can not camp in, but I have no idea which ones they would be. When I think of national parks, I think of camping, not a hostel next door to the park. Part of it is that most of them are fairly small, but they do not even have a designated camping spot. Most of them have a commercial camping spot next to it.

In the afternoon we went to Höganas. When M and I got married, we had to pick out our “china”. We decided that we did not want the traditional china, we were more interested in a fun type china, so we went with Höganas. For the most part, we have all that we will ever need, but one is never for sure. The factory is still in this town. We had hoped that we would be able to do a factory tour, like one can do in the glass factories, but that is not possible. They only have a store. Considering our record, you would think that we found something there, but we did not, which is a little surprising. We did go next door to the Kosta Boda store. There we did find something, from a factory that we have visited a number of times and have never liked anything- Sea.

There is a second factory in Höganas as well. This one, unlike the other one, is all hand done. The pieces are somewhat similar, the point that both use as a symbol, but no two are alike here. I liked more of the things here, because they were unique. They are also much more expensive. A couple of he pieces I would love to have. They even had a kitchen sink which was way cool. This will just have to be another thing that is added to my Swedish want list.

Since we did the ceramic factories, we headed to Kullagården. This is the lighthouse area. I could not believe that they were charging 40:- just to drive the road. We had not planned to go today, so we drove on. It is better to only pay once when you have to. We also stopped by this little village along the way. It is a café that is famous in the area for their vanilla hearts. The view from the café is suppose to be great. The only problem, it is only open in the summer. We had an idea that this was so, but we were hoping that it was not so.

After the bad hotdog experience from this morning, we determined to get to the hostel early. The check-in time was 4 till 7, we got there at 3:30. The lady that checked us in was early and friendly. The hostel itself was pretty amazing. The art on the walls was tasteful and some of it was very beautiful. The place if full of great pieces of furniture which is blended together perfectly with items from Ikea. The kitchen was beyond well stocked, consisting of even cookbooks. The Jonstorp Hostel was actually one of the ones which were recommended to us; mainly because they were suppose to be the most comfortable beds ever. They were nice, but not spectacular. Last night’s youth hostel had down duvets and equally cozy beds, so they actually win the prize for the best beds. Like most nights, we have the place all to ourselves- the advantage of traveling in the off season.

Sweden Road Trip 2006- Day 7

This morning was a slow morning. That is one of the best things about this trip- the slow mornings. We actually did not manage to get out of there until after 10. It was more my fault really. I forgot the keys to the hostel, so I was stuck outside for about 15 minutes. I could see M doing the dishes in the kitchen, but she never looked out the window. The Kivik youth hostel has been one of the best ones thus far on the trip. I could see coming back in the summer for a week in this area, or at the very least a very long weekend.

We headed south along the coast for a little while. The sea was actually there today, since the wind had finally died down. This whole area seems to be really nice, which is pretty surprising. I do not know anyone who has lived in or even travels to and around Skåne. So I was not sure what to expect. Part of me thought that it would be beautiful, after all we are traveling along the coast. The other part of me thought that it would be ugly, since that is all I have heard (not from M). Parts of today was not the prettiest on the trip, very flat and boring, but other parts have been some of the prettiest I have seen in Sweden.

One of the towns that we passed through was the town of Sjöbo. It is interesting what different towns are famous for. This town is famous for the fact that the Swedish Democrats are popular. I am not sure how popular they are in a percentage, but I would say about 20%. The Swedish Democrats are known as the fascist political party here in Sweden. They are more popular in Skåne then any other part of Sweden, not sure why that is.

Sweden, as most countries, has a true dialect for different areas. I am no expert in it and neither is M. I can usually guess an area- north, south, east or west. Skåne has to be the easiest though. They speak normal Swedish with a potato in their mouth. By far the most difficult to understand for an immigrant. The other dialect which is very distinct, but until this summer I had never really heard a true one is the Dalarna dialect. We listened to a radio program this summer with a Swedish explorer from Falun. One of the first things that I asked M was if he was an immigrant. She was quick to point out that it was in fact a Dalarna dialect that he was speaking with and not a immigrant one.

Other then spending quality alone time with M and N, the national park today is my favorite. It has been called the “Grand Canyon of Sweden” in our Swedish travel magazine. The canyon was very cool, but it is no Grand Canyon. So far this trip, we really have not seen any color in the trees. Today that changed. The forest was a blend of yellow, green, brown and red. The park felt as though it would be perfect in the fall. I am sure that it would be nice anytime of the year, but I am guessing that it is the prettiest during this time of year. I could totally imagine coming back here every fall for a long weekend if it was not so far. The national park was actually crowded. It is the first place that we have been to thus far on the trip that we were not the only people there. Kind of nice, but at the same point it has been nice being the only ones there.

Tonight’s hostel is really nice. We are alone, of course. The house is used as a nature school in the summer. It is well decorated and seems to be very nice. The convenience to the park does not get any better. All one has to do is cross over a little stream and you are there. Also, it has a TV in the room. Not the best thing, but it is still kind of nice (M hated it).

Sweden Road Trip 2006- Day 6

Well, the hurricane that the mother-in-law promised never happened. We did get some really strong winds in the morning and the coast was emptied of water (the Baltic does not really have a high and low tide, but the strong wind was blowing out to the sea. The water on the beach was pushed away from the beach out to the sea by about 100 feet). We used it as an excuse to stay in bed and take a super lazy morning, not that we needed much of an excuse. This is the only hostel that we have planned on staying two nights at and I have to say that it is a wonderful idea!

This trip is a bit of an experiment. M and I have never taken a trip where we were not really always on the go. Plus we have not traveled (other then to my parents’ house in Texas) with N before, which is a huge factor. We have talked about taking a long road trip with N next year to Australia and this is a little test to see how it will be. So far it has been very educational. What we have learned is that we can not do everything we want to do. Travel time is about 10 am until 5 pm, with at least 2 breaks in that time period. Car poops are the worst poops of all. And perhaps the most important lesson of all is that no matter how tired each of us are, it is important to remember not to take the tiredness out on the other parent.

Even though the wind continued this afternoon, we went for a hike anyway. I know I just said that we were going to take it easy, but there is a limit to the madness. We went ahead with our plans for the day and went to the National Park Stenshuvud. This is not a very large national park, but it is cozy. We walked to the top of the little hill where it actually has three different peaks. The wind was blowing so hard that we determined only to hike to one of the peaks. Then down to the nature centre. We returned to the car along the trail that followed the coastline. The hike in total was about 5km long. By the time we got back to the car, N was sound asleep.

Sweden has a total of 28 national parks. It was the first nation in Europe to create a national park. They range in size and accessibility. An example of the differences is the park in Lapland (northern Sweden) called Muddus is 493 sq km, whereas the national park in Dalarna called Hamra is only 800m by 400m and can only be accessed by foot by knowledgeable outdoorsmen. They are talking about establishing the nation’s first underwater national park off the west coast. It is currently being negotiated and is supposed to be established in 2009.

We had a nice little fika at the hostel this afternoon. M was boring and had the same thing again. I was a little more daring and had basically the same thing again, only with apple filling. I think that we have determined that we want to have at least one additional 2 nights in the same spot. The problem is trying to figure out how we can do this. We would like to do it in one of the more cozy hostels, but then it makes the national park at the end a little more difficult. Plus, the one that we would like to stay two nights in only has horrible phone time during the week and no phone time during the weekend. So we will not know until Sunday if it is possible to stay for a second night at the hostel.

We talked about having fika at the restaurant at the Kivik apple cider factory, but we did not. Not because we did not want to, but because we decided to go out for dinner tonight. This town has a restaurant that is well known called Buhres (www.buhresfisk.se). It started as a place to buy smoked fish, then into a deli and finally into a restaurant. It has won all kinds of awards for its food and for the building that the restaurant is in. We had planned on eating out one nice meal on the trip. Experiencing new foods and restaurants is one of the many fun aspects of traveling. The place was a little expensive, but price worthy. For us, at this point in our lives, it is more of the question of how will N behave.

So we took a chance and decided to go. We were expecting the place to be packed, far from it. We were the only people in there for the first hour. After 1.5 hrs, two other groups arrived. One of the benefits of coming in low season is that you don’t have to book a table. Yesterday we talked about how Kivik is famous for its apples. It is also famous for its smoked eel. So that is what I had for an appetizer. It is a little intimidating eating eel for the first time. It was really good, as I have been told by M. For the main course M had baked salmon with an apple topping and an artichoke sauce. She said that it was fabulous and the best meal she had eaten in, she can not remember since when. My main course was good, but I went with something a little more daring. I had grilled herring, nothing that I would normally get. It was good and I was glad that I had tried it. The waitress was really good with N. She talked to her and brought her little things to play with and color. The food, the service and the atmosphere were wonderful. I would recommend it to anyone wanting a good meal in the area to try it. It would be worth a little trip to try it. Make sure to check to make sure they are open. In the low season they are only open Thursday through Sunday.

I do one/two warnings about the restaurant. First, they charge 10:- for tap water. I do not think that it is bad to charge for water, but it should be published that you are going to charge (I can not complain too much, since we really did not look for it, it may have been there). The other thing is to double check your bill. We were overcharged for M’s meal. It was not enough to go back and complain, but it is just the principle of the matter. It was a wonderful meal, but the first thing that M will think about this place is getting overcharged rather then the wonderful sauce.

Sweden Road Trip 2006- Day 5

N woke us up at 7:30 this morning. One of the nice things about this trip is that we have nothing that we need to hurry up to. Well, one day on the trip we do, but that is it. The hostel lady last night said that it was suppose to be storming in the morning. The sky was actually blue when we departed in the morning. Shocking as it is, it is true. We got on the road just before 10am. The lady was much nicer this morning then she was last night.

The driving part of the day was not to be too long. In fact, it was only like 100km or something. We took the small roads for the most part, so it took a little longer, but not much longer. First we stopped at Åhus. The town itself means probably nothing to you, but its product you will more then likely recognize, Absolut Vodka. The factory does not actually give tours at all during the off season, so we just drove by it. That is basically the town. Sad as it was, we did not even get out of the car. The centre was cute, but nothing that screamed out at us and N just fell asleep. Thus the reason why we headed on down the road. On a side note, the hostel there looked very cool. We looked it up in our hostel book and it did not sound nearly as cool. If we ever make it back down this way, we will have to try it out.

It was not long until we made it to our destination for the night, Kivik. This is the town that we will be spending two nights at. Our break in the trip, nothing but relaxing for two nights. Just knowing that we will not have to pack up all of our stuff in the morning sends warm feelings through my spine. Check in for the hostel is not until 5 and we arrived at noon. Five hours to kill in a town of about 4,000 people. As a side note on this trip, this is not high season. In fact, it is far from high season. During the summer, all the hostels that we are staying at would be full and we would be lucky to get a room. As it is, everything is closed and the weather has very little to be desired.

With that much time to kill, what else is there to do but go to a café. Kivik is famous for two food things. The first is smoked eel, which I hope to try tomorrow (not sure if I can force myself to eat eel), and the second is apples. Before we walked into the café, I said to M that I wanted to have something made from apples. Then we read on the sign outside the café that they specialized in items with apples. Of course, they did not have a single thing that had apples in it. The girl acted like we were yesterday’s garbage, but N needed to be fed, so we stayed. They did not have a high chair and the lady that served us did not offer one to us. So we did without. Right before we left, M went to the toilet and sitting in the toilet were two high chairs stacked up. Hmm…so much for service.

We then went to the Kivik Apple Cider plant. In the summer you can go on a tour of the factory, but it is not summer. We went into the store and bought some Glögg for Christmas. It has a cranberry and cayenne pepper taste to it. Sounds good, or at the very least interesting. N tried apple cider for the first time and she loved it. She was a little skeptical at first, but was then mad when she finished it.

There are two reasons why we have come to Kivik. One of Sweden’s National Parks is located here and the second is a nature reserve called Haväng which is located just north of the town. Today we went to the nature reserve. We did a little hike, about 4.5km long along the coast and up through the rolling hills. The area is beautiful and I am thankful that it is low season. In high season, this place would be packed. As it is, we were the only people there. At the end of the hike was a youth hostel that looked really cool. The architecture is the traditional Skåne style: white walls and the timber painted brown. The roof was a thatch roof, which I am always impressed by. Though I would hate to be here during the high season, that hostel would be an option to stay at.

We arrived at 4 to the youth hostel. We were hoping to get to check in a little early. Lucky for us, the lady that runs the hostel had to be somewhere at 5, so she left the key in the mail box for us. We were able to get in at 4- YEA!!! The hostel seems nice. For a change, we are not the only ones here. A girl from England is here as well. Tomorrow night we are supposed to have the place alone.

During dinner tonight, we got a call from M’s mother. Apparently the storm that was supposed to hit last night is going to hit tonight. According to her, it is supposed to be as strong as a hurricane. If that is the case, we are just going to have a lazy day at the hostel, which does not sound too bad. Otherwise we are going to go to the National Park. The winds are starting to pick up outside, so we will have to wait and see.

Sweden Road Trip 2006- Day 4

The mannequin in the youth hostel was a bit creepy, in fact it was very creepy. Otherwise I really liked this hostel. The bed was cozy and the shower hot, well ice cold, but all the same.

Today we went to two different glass factories. Like I said yesterday, I think that it is sad that all the factories are combining to make one factory. Today’s factories are still independently owned and operated. The first one was Skruf, which used to be one of my favorites. In the past they made cartoon type animals. I always wanted one, but when they were produced, we were in our poverty time. Now they make mainly glasses and vases, so I never got one (time to check ebay). The other factory we went to was Johansfors. Unlike most of the glass factories, we were not allowed to go onto the production floor. We did end up getting some stuff, ironically it was M who suggested. I did not argue or comment, I learned that lesson years ago.

From there we headed to Karlskrona. This city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. M had never been there before, and until recently never had much of a desire to go there either. It was really nice. We parked in the very center of town and went into the tourist office and then walked around. First down to the Swedish Naval base (they have 1 boat!) and to Rosenbom. Rosenbom was a real guy at one time. He collected money for the poor, so the legend goes. M learned about him is school and was excited when we went to the statue of him. My theory is that he is a little like Johny Appleseed. We also went to the Maritime Museum. The museum is well displayed and they did a good job at the descriptions, but it is not very captivating. Nothing, other then when we went under water, just screamed out at me. The museum needs more interaction with the visitor to truly work. If you ever get a chance to come here, take a walk around the west side of the town. The houses are worth a look at.

From here we hit the road again. We made two little stops. The first one was in Karlshamn. Here we looked at a statue depicting the two main characters from Moberg’s novel “The Immigrants”. Then we went to Mörrum to look at the house that Salmon (the fish” built. I was hoping to see the fish with hammer and nails working away, or at the very least some pictures of them working. I was sadly disappointed to learn that the house was not built by salmon, but in reality was a house dedicated to the fish. To make matters worse, they wanted to charge 60:- per person to look in this house. I would not have a problem paying the 60:- to see the salmon building it, but just a house dedicated to them- HA!

The hostel was a bit of a rude awakening. First they had left the hostel organization which we are a member of to join one that cost less money. Then the lady was rude. She accused us of not telling her about N. I made the reservations and I know that I said that N was going to be with, so I was a bit offended. It worked out fine. We had a house all to ourselves and the shower water was hot. What more could one ask for?

Sweden Road Trip 2006- Day 3

It has been a long time since I slept in a bed that was as miserable as the one last night. Add to the fact that N had a horrible night, it made for a very long night. We survived though and just made it out of there by 10 in the morning. When we first got up, it was not raining, but by the time I started to pack the car, it was raining- typical!

Our first stop on the today’s journey was Eksjö. We had been there once before, though the last time we were there it was pouring rain, cold and before 8 in the morning. The only difference between last time and this time is that it was around 11 in the morning. Just like the last time, this time it is pouring rain and cold. So we did what every good Swede does when it is raining, we had fika at a café.

Just outside of Eksjö, there is a nature reserve called Skurugata. Basically it is a gorge 800 meters long and 56 meters at its height. The lady at the tourist office suggested that we not walk down into the gorge because it would be too slick on the way back up. So we of course walked down into the gorge and had no problems getting back up. The one problem that we did experience was that it had rained so much recently that the gorge had filled up with water, thus covering the trail. We worked our way around it for a short bit, but then turned around.

From Eksjö, we went down to the glass factories. We have done the glass factories several times before. In fact, we had an opportunity to do them this summer, but turned it down because we had done them so many times. So I am not sure how we ended up here again. We decided to go to two different ones. The first was Kosta Boda in Kosta. This is a big one, which we have been to multiple times. Not surprising, we found several things that we liked and wanted (me more then M, it is a rare day when M wants to buy something). I could have easily bought several things had we had space and if M would allow it (for the record, we are not looking for anything. I learned a long time ago that when you are looking for something to buy, you are not going to find anything). The second one that we went to, we had never been to before, Åfors. The pictures in the brochure were of pieces that we recognized and liked, so we were looking forward to it. Sadly, none of those pieces were there. It was an exact copy of the Kosta store. They had been bought out by Kosta Boda.

This brings up a sad point. In this area, there are perhaps 20 different glass factories, or I should say their use to be 20 different glass factories. Today there are maybe 10 in the area, the others have been closed. That is supply and demand, I know that. Of the other 10 that are still open, about 4 or 5 of them are owned by Kosta Boda. The factories are just there, not really artist spots at all. One of the things that Sweden is known for, and one of the things I really like about Sweden is the glass design/art. When only one or two companies remain, then it is only the commercial favorites that are left. An art form will be lost to capitalism (don’t get me wrong, I am all in favor of capitalism, but I am allowed to complain about the negatives of it as well!).

We arrived at the hostel at 5, as we were told that we needed to do. The lady did not arrive until about 5.20. I know that 20 minutes is not a lot, but when one is told to be there at a specific time and N needed to be fed. So we did not get the best first impression of the hostel. The rooms and the kitchen are super clean and nice. I am sure if it was not low season, it would have never happened. From what we have been told, the forest which is located next to the hostel is great for picking mushrooms.

Sweden Road Trip 2006- Day Two

If we thought that we had crap weather yesterday, we were mistaken. Today we have beyond crap weather. We woke up to the rain and it continued to rain through out the day. The worse part is the packing of the car in the rain. Just going back and forth from the car to the room made me pretty wet. Yes I did bring waterproofs and yes I am too lazy to put them on. So I got wet, plus the car was under a tree that dropped brown water drops on me. So my shirt is now beige with brown spots.

In the end, the youth hostel was a good choice. The staff were friendly and it had everything that we needed. M and I were thinking that perhaps we should run a youth hostel when we retire (at age 53 and 50 respectively). Have one of the ones that are only open for the high season and the rest of the year we can travel or do what ever. That way we have an income coming in, but we also have a long holiday season. A friend of mine owns a hotel in Kandersteg, Switzerland. She works 18 to 20 hours per day in the summer. She always tells me that she works so hard in the summer so that she does not have to the rest of the year, makes sense.

Back to the trip, we went from the hostel through Motala to Gränna. Gränna is famous for three things. First is the peppermint sticks which every second building is making them. The second thing is a polar explorer. He died. The third thing that it is famous for is bears, no wait…pears. Our purpose of the visit is because of the, oh wait, we did not come for any of those reasons. We came for a hiking map for the John Bauer Trail. We tried to download it from the internet, but failed. So this was a required stop. The guy in the tourist office was very helpful. He even gave us the hiking map for free. N and I collect brochures, which I am sure we will never really look at.

John Bauer is a famous Swedish artist. He was born in 1882 in Jönköping and died in November 1918. He was an artist, painter and an illustrator. He is perhaps best known for his nature/troll paintings. His use of light is fabulous. I would highly recommend looking him up. He has his own museum in Jönköping that is worth a visit.

The guy in the tourist office said the trail was very well marked and that it would not be a problem at all. Well, it was a problem. We found the trail markers to the section that we wanted to start in. We followed it around in Röttle. It went by several water mills and very cool buildings. After we went for about 20 minutes, in a very slow pace, we were back to the exact space that we started at. Now M and I are pretty experienced hikers and do not usually get lost, but we just could not find our way, well away. So we then went to a different section of the trail. N had fallen asleep and the rain had started to come down hard again, so we drove the small country roads next to the trail. The trail will be there another day.

We could not check into our hostel until 5, so we did a little exploring of Jönköping. It is the home of two museums. The first is of John Bauer, which we had been to before. The second was the world’s only match museum. You see, the match is actually a Swedish invention. The major match making industry was based out of Jönköping. In fact, at one time, every match in the world was produced in this town. Of course not today, but one can still go to the museum and learn about the good old days. Only problem for us was, it is Monday. So the museum is closed on Mondays. So instead we took a look at the weather, still raining, and decided to do something super Swedish in this weather. We went to Ikea.

The hostel seems to be alright. The rooms are clean, and they even have cable TV. The lady working hates her job, no question about it. She just radiates that point. Compared to the hostel yesterday, this one is packed. It looks as though this is a “commuter” youth hostel. What I mean is that people who are just in town on business or students stay here. Not the coziest one we have ever stayed at, but it serves our purpose.

Sweden Road Trip 2006- Day One

We are finally on the road. Though this is not going to be the most exciting trip we have ever taken, it is going to be a good choice…I hope. The first time I came to Sweden, it was at the end of October and I swore that I would never come back to this country. I was traveling Europe for four months. I had every piece of clothing I had in my pack on and was still freezing my butt off. Love changed all that, but to be traveling Sweden in the late fall, is that really a good idea?

The one benefit to a trip like this, compared to the planned trip to Cuba, is that if anything goes wrong, we are not too far to back home. Of the 14 days we are going to be on the road, at the longest point away, it would take only 7 hours. Let’s be honest, that is nothing. So we are playing it safe. With N, that is always a good thing.

Our goal was to leave the house by 9 am. We knew that was not going to happen before we went to bed the night before, so we changed it till 10. At 10 after we were pulling out of the parking lot. Considering the fact it is pissing down with rain, I am happy with the result. We filled up with petrol and checked the tires (two separate petrol stations of course) and got on the road, only to realize that we left our hostel cards at home. Now most of the things that we packed I would argue we did not need (the stroller being the one thing that pops into my mind, though my only argument to not bringing it was that it is a pain in the butt to pack), but since we are staying in youth hostels almost every single night, we probably need it. So back to the apartment we went!

We take our first stop less then an hour away from the house in Västerås at the Ikea. Not that we needed anything there, but they have good place to heat up food and sit down. We did not even bring in any money, in case we did find something. My first question to M was, “Do you think that Ikea will become our new Wal-Mart?” When we traveled the states for three months in a pickup truck, we stayed the overwhelming majority of nights in the back of the pickup while parked in a Wal-Mart parking lot. For the record, I hate/hated Wal-Mart at that time. After our short little break, back on the road we went. M and I ate while driving, no rest for the wicked.

We got the Göta Canal Hiking Centre youth hostel at about 3 pm. They wanted us there before noon- yea right. So they hid the key out for us. We were to be the only guests tonight. The hostel sits on what seems like in island, but it is not. You drive onto the island and continue to drive until you reach the end of the road- the youth hostel. The buildings are old, but done nicely. The keys they left us went to everything. It is amazing how trusting people are. We had access to everything, thank goodness for them we are honest people. We have a double bed.

The hostel is located on the Göta Canal foot path. We followed the path, in a light rain, for about 3.5 kilometers and then turned around and returned to the hostel. We passed some beautiful houses, a water power plant, several bridges and an apple farm. No locks though. We also crossed over an aqueduct. When M went to school, she learned that Sweden only had one aqueduct, which is up north (we plan on stopping at that one on one of the last days). This one was built in 1993, not too strange that she did not learn about it in 1983 then.

The Göta Canal was opened on September 26th, 1832. The canal is 190.5km long. If one includes the other canals that are connected to it, then the canal system in Sweden is 390km long. If one was to travel the entire length of the canel, one would go through 58 different locks. 58,000 solders from 16 different regiments worked 7,000,000 working days building it. Today, it is one of Sweden’s most popular tourist attractions. You can take a small cruise boat the entire length of the canal.

Where to go on holiday?

The question that is going through this household this week is, “Where should we go on holiday this year?” That question is easier said then answered, let me walk you through the history…

We have a little over three weeks, basically four weeks, for holidays. We had decided that we would go to Cuba for our holidays. An important thing to note is that we are not beach people. We would rather prefer to go in the mountains or at the very least the forest, but Cuba has its appeal. So the plan was to fly into Mexico and enjoy a short holiday in Cancun. My parents talked about flying in for the weekend to see the granddaughter. Then we would fly into Cuba for about 10 days. Finally flying back into either Mexico or into Belize for the final couple of days. It sounded like a great holiday. We found tickets that we could live with, though not trilled with. All we had to do was buy them. The problem is, the day before we were buy them, Castro handed power over to his brother. This is the first time that Castro has released power the whole time that he has been the leader of the country. So we decided to wait and see what happens. If it was just M and I, we would have probably just gone, but we have N to think about. As we now know, nothing changed what so ever. So when we did look at getting tickets, the cost of them were 25,000:-, or $3,400 a person. We could buy around the world tickets for that price. So, as much as I would love to go to Cuba, it is not happening.

So on to Plan B. The thought was to go to Italy and tour around the country. Skipping the major cities and just going to the smaller towns that are visited less often by tourists. This trip would involve a lot of eating and drinking. We had plenty of time, so we decided to drive down and stop in Switzerland on the way (that is where M and I met). It was looking as a nice plan for a holiday. The problem came when my holidays look like they will be shortened, thus making it impossible to drive down there and not worth flying down and renting a car for a trip that neither of us were jumping up and down excited about.

So then it came to a time of indecision. What to do, what to do? Not an easy question. Both M and I are fairly well traveled. Plus, if we are not able to take an exciting, new adventure, then we do not want to lay out the cash for it. Not that we wouldn’t if something “spoke” to us, the problem was that nothing spoke to us. We went through all of our travel magazines- National Geographic Traveler, När and Fjärran, Turist, and we searched the web. Nothing screamed out at us. So we had nothing.

Which brings us to Plan C. This is not the most exciting trip in the world, nor is it one of our dream trips, but it is a solid plan. We are going to take a road trip around southern Sweden. We have 14 days to play with. The thought is that we will start in Uppsala and work our way south stopping at several national parks along the way. One of the national parks that we plan to visit is known as the Grand Canyon of Sweden. Also, we have found a trail along Vättern that is dedicated to John Bauer (very cool Swedish author and artist). We have found a couple cool hotels and youth hostels to stay in. Then we will finish our holidays with All Saints Day in Örebro.

If you think that this does not sound overly exciting, it is because it isn’t really. That does not mean that we are not looking forward to the trip. The opposite is probably true. Several years ago we took two trips in less then a year. We drove around the states in a truck for three months and then we traveled South America for over 4 months. The States trip was a “just because” and South America was the big trip. Ironically, looking back on those trips today, it is usually the “just because” trip that we reminisce on more often. Does that mean that the same will be with our trip around southern Sweden? I don’t know, but I could imagine that that will be the case.

We will let you know how it goes!

Was that Indiana Jones I just saw?

Every year, or a couple times a year, M has to go over to England for work. Some times this can be a week, or other times it can be a month or several months. More specifically it is a small town outside of Oxford called Abington. It is the home of Morland beer and just about the most exciting thing that happens there is the fact that it has a Tesco. It is located on the Thames and is only a couple hour walk or a 10 minute bs ride into Oxford.

Now Oxford is a nice town. If you are looking for a pub with some great food, you could go to the Turf (go through the Bridge of Sighs and turn left in a small little alley). On High Street, there is a very cool shop selling old maps anywhere from 100 years old to several hundred years old. Plenty of 2nd hand stores and major department stores to keep one busy.

Oxford is also the home of the world’s first modern museum, the Ashmolean. When it first opened, it was impossible to get tickets to kids. Those who were lucky enough to get a ticket, were given 15 minutes to walk on a guided tour. There was no looking around on your own in those days. Of course it was only the upper society that was granted entrance into the museum. Once a year they would open it to the public. The lines would wrap around the block and folk only got a 10 minute look around the museum, guided of course.

It was one of these visits that I found a true gem of a place. It is called The Pitt Rivers Museum. I actually found it on chance one day. I was walking through the University Natural History Museum, looking at all the dinosaurs and stuff, when I noticed a doorway in the rear of the building. The door itself was not ornate, just a wooden door with the name of the museum carved into the stone frame. M was not going to be done for another 4 hours, so I had some time to spare and so I walked through the door.

For the next three weeks, every single day they were open, I went there. I am sure that I could have become friends with the employees, but I was too busy. The Pitt Rivers Museum has over 1 million items. It is about 95% of those items are on display. To put this in perspective, the Smithsonian Institute only shows about .1% of their collection, while the Field Museum in Chicago shows about 2% of their collection. While both of those museum’s collections are larger, their actual buildings are also equally larger. What this means is that the Pitt Rivers is full. Not only that, but it is overflowing with stuff. It is a true Victorian museum.

Quick history lesson, Pitt Rivers was a General in Her Majesty’s Navy. As he traveled the world, he started to see similarities between cultures. So he started to collect things. Not just weaponry, which he did collect a lot of that, but he was one of the first to collect everyday ordinary stuff. His theory is that societies progress towards the same goal and as they progress, they will create the same items as a different society half way around the world using local supplies. When he returned to the UK, he created his museum. What made it different at the time, and still makes it different, is that the displays are not according to societies, but according to the particular items. So all combs will be together and all money will be together through all time. So you may see a silver dollar next to dolphin teeth which were used as money in Fiji.

Every time I walked through the door, I knew that I was going to find something new and did. The music from Indiana Jones would start to play in my head. Allow me to try to visualize the room. The museum itself is three floors. The top two floors open up to the bottom floor. Hanging from the ceiling is several rafts and a totem pole which goes up to the third floor is at the far end. I took N there this year, but we were not very successful with it because there are so many cabinets that the stroller did not really fit. The cabinets are packed solid and do not seem to have any order to them. The cabinet with model boats sits next to the cabinet with musical instruments. The cabinet with the firearms (from the very first to a modern Colt) is next to the cabinet with the shrunken heads (real ones, the first ones I have actually seen). The actual building is Victorian in design, so there is lots of rod iron and very pretty. The museum itself is dark, very dark. This is do to the fact that several of the exhibits are light sensitive and since they are all together, very little light is used. You can borrow flashlights from the gift shop.

The top 10 things at the Pitt Rivers museum

10. Fish scale armor
9. Shrunken heads
8. Item from Captain Cooks journey
7. African masks
6. Hawaiian regalia
5. Coca Cola purse
4. A witch’s spirit trapped in a bottle
3. Harpoons
2. Netsuke
1. Buffalo skin blanket

This place is for sure worth a visit for anyone that is traveling in or around London. Oxford is a simple bus ride away. The city itself is worth a visit, but make sure to save time for a visit to the Pitt Rivers, you will not regret it. Just one thing, do not forget your Indiana Jones hat, you might need it.

For more information concerning the Pitt Rivers Museum, such as opening times and special events, take a look at their website at: www.prm.ox.ac.uk

Smoking a Fish in Finland!

The whole family went for a short little vacation to Finland this past week. A friend of ours named Daniel is dating a Finnish girl named Elina. They have actually been dating for several years (they spent more time at my parents’ house then I do), but we have never managed to go see them in Finland, they have come over to Sweden a couple of times. So it was finally time to make the trip over.

Elina actually grew up on the Finnish side of the Russian border, but has been living in Turku (Åbo in Swedish) for several years. Turku, from what we saw of it, is a nice town. It felt a lot like Uppsala in the sense that it is a student town. Apparently it is also one of the world’s largest producers of cruise ships. It is a good sized town at 175,000 people. It has a pretty lively center with a market that you can find coffee cheese, mushrooms, berries, and fresh fish (among other things).

It is the fish that is the important thing here. Daniel got the crazy idea that he wanted to smoke a fish for our last night in Finland. Now, this gave us two different options- a fire in the parking lot or one of the bags for the oven. Of course we picked the fire in the parking lot. Was there ever another choice to be made? No, of course not!

One has to understand what all is involved in smoking a fish. First you have an open fire. Not a big one, just one large enough to warm the smoke box. If the fire is too big, the fish will end up being dry. If the fire is too small, there is a chance the fish will not be fully cooked (thus it will have worms).

Before we actually started to smoke the fish, we called the fire department to make sure that we would not be breaking any laws. The way I saw it, it was no different from grilling. The fire department assured us that we were in fact breaking no laws as long as we were there- which of course we were.

So we started our fire and just sat there drinking beer waiting for the fish to finish. It took about 55 minutes to complete and when it was done, it was beautiful fish. I was always under the impression that smoking a fish was difficult. It was pretty darn easy to be honest with you.

Though the neighbors were not impressed with the idea at all, to say the very least. One of them came out right as we were starting and said that he thought that it was a very bad idea. We ignored him (well, that was actually when we called the fire department to make sure we would not be arrested). Then a lady, right as we were finished and had started to clean up, came out and said that we had to stop right that minute. Of course we were already done, so that was not a problem. Part of me wanted to continue just so we did not give the lady the satisfaction of thinking that she was the one that convinced us to stop, but it was raining. So we did not. It felt as though the Finnish people were a bit anal, even more then the Swedish.
The final result: The fish was wonderful. Not to mention that it was super easy to do. Daniel and Elina did a great job hosting us. A nice little adventure for the family!

Traveling with Children!

As time passes, travel is going to become more and more 2nd nature. My niece and nephew live in California with my sister while my folks live in Texas. The thing is, they already not comprehend what it is to fly or to travel. My niece will call my Mother and ask, “Grandma I want to visit you, can I come on Thursday?”, and if it is possible, it will happen. These days taking a flight across the country is no different then taking a long car journey.

That was not the case for me, far from it. I can remember the first time I flew. It was between Minnesota and Illinois. The idea that I was flying was exciting- and I was older then they are. Maybe it is just showing my age, probably.

M and I are parents now. We know that we have responsibilities as parents, but we do not have any interest in stopping traveling. That has been a major part of our childhood/adult life. So N will be traveling with us, and in fact she has already started to travel with us. Just to give a rough idea of what type of traveling she has experienced. N turned 8 months last month. She has already seen a decent amount of Sweden. In my humble opinion, that is impressive, but that is not all. She has already traveled to 9 different countries (future blog will be how we count countries, but one actually has to sleep in the country, not just travel through it). She has two different passports (a Swedish one and an American one). I did not leave the US until I was 16 years old- going into Mexico across the border does not count. Plus she has traveled a decent amount in the US while we were there. By the time her first birthday comes around, she will have traveled to 12 countries. I know, it is hard to believe!

The point of saying this is not for you to go “Wow, that is freaking amazing!” Though, lets be honest it is pretty freaking amazing. The point of it is to address the question, “What does a parent have to do to unsure that travel does not just become a second thought for the child?”

I really do not have the answer to the question. M and I have already planned on several large and several small trips which will absolutely include N. We will be going to Mexico and Cuba, Australia and New Zealand, trips through out Sweden, and I am sure other trips within the next two to three years.

With that in mind, there are two different sides to look at. The first is that as a traveler from my generation, if they will encourage travel in their children, will not succeed in assisting the child in understanding the actual act of travel. For the child, traveling throughout the world will become what traveling across the US is for my niece and nephew- nothing more then getting in the plane rather then getting into a car.

The other option is to make each trip special. Now this is a whole lot harder then the other option. This option requires the parent to plan things for the child. On a travel forum that I am a member of, it has been recommended that the parent find children books about the country that the family will be traveling too.

Another recommendation was to have a map in the child’s room of the world so the child can mark what countries they have traveled through. This gives the child a perspective on where they have traveled to and how far they have traveled.

If you have any other ideas, make a comment. I will make another post later on with all the different ideas that people have given!

A Cuban in Prague

Traveling is always more fun when you get to do it with someone that you care about. That is especially true with me and M. Before we met, we both had done a fair bit of traveling. I had traveled Europe for about 4 months on my own and M had of course traveled Europe as well. Even from the very first trip we did together, we got along perfect (the only minor difference was/is that I am perhaps more willing to spend a little money).

So when I travel with work, it can be exciting and all, but it is not necessarily fun. Make sense? This past week I had to travel to Prague for a couple of days. Now we had traveled to Prague together a couple of times. So it was not like it was a new place. In fact, work had sent me there a couple of months ago and M and N got to come with (it was N’s first country that she traveled to). While we were there, a guy that I was working with suggested a couple of different restaurants. Because of the hours that I was working, we only got to eat out once during the entire week.

This time I was there only 2 nights and once again I only got to eat out once. It was one of the other restaurants that my work mate suggested. Sounds kind of weird to suggest this placed to anyone who might be traveling to Prague because it is not Czech, it is Cuban. The name of the place is La Bodeguita del Medio. It is located in the center of town, thus fairly easy to find.
Since I was by myself and I knew that I would not really get the opportunity to eat the next day (which was a reality, since I started work at 5.30 and finished up at 20.30 without much of a break the entire day), I decided to take advantage of the opportunity given and get the works.

I start with a goat cheese appetizer. The large piece of goat cheese was lightly breaded with a flaky crust. Then it was fried till the cheese was warm. Served with a baby spinach salad topped with thick homemade bacon bits, pine nuts (which surprisingly has been a new discovery in my food life and I do not understand how I missed them) and a balsamic vinegar dressing. The combination was fantastic, but then again, goat cheese is one of my favorite dishes.

For the main course I had the filet mignon, a 400gram filet mignon (which is about three quarters of a pound). I ordered it, somewhat skeptical, medium rare. I like my steaks medium rare, but I think that is a very difficult way to cook it. Either it is too rare or it is over cooked. Neither of which is a good thing. Plus, the outside of the steak is usually hard, which has the ability to ruin a steak (sadly, this is usually how my steaks end up when I grill). This steak though was none of that. It was grilled to perfection. It was the perfect pink, without being bloody. The outer edge of the steak was tender and not black at all. All of that palled to the taste of the steak. It was by far the best steak I have ever had. The flavor was amazing, it melted in my mouth. The steak was so tender that it could be cut with a fork. My mouth is starting to water just thinking about it. I considered going back there the second night just to have the same meal again. In reality, I should have, but I contained myself.

Since it is a Cuban restaurant, rum had to be served for the drink. Not just rum, but Havana Club rum. Even though I am not the biggest rum drinker in the world, I had two rum drinks with my dinner. The first was the house specialty, a Mint Julep with rum instead of the whiskey. Pretty much every single person in the restaurant was drinking this. It was ok, nothing spectacular. The other drink that I had was a Bloody Mary, just with rum instead of vodka. Had they put in a little Tabasco, then I would almost say that it was a better Bloody Mary than with vodka.

The atmosphere of the place was almost as good as the food. After I was done eating, I sat around and watched the people come in and go while I sipped my Espresso- of which I have become addicted to. They had a live band playing salsa music. The whole place was happening. An amazing amount of trendy people walked in and out of the restaurant. If you like people watching, then this is your type of place. To give it an authentic Cuban feel, they had an older Cuban lady walking around selling cigars. Not just cigars, but the good stuff. If you bought it, she would cut it for you and then light a match for you. Just watching it made me want to go to Cuba.

When M and I travel, we usually do not stay at the nicest places in the world. Far from it actually, we usually stay at the cheap dumps (I should say that we look for a good value, but they really are dumps). Though when work pays for it, that is a different story. Our Prague office has a deal set up with a hotel called Hotel Josef (http://www.hoteljosef.com/). This is one of the nicest hotels I have stayed at before. The room itself has all the amenities, but it is the staff that make the place. They were friendly and very helpful, but not overly. I could whole heartily recommend the Hotel Josef to anyone (the sister hotel- Hotel Maximilian is not near as nice and is not worth the money).

If you go to Prague, a couple of things that you should do. The Charles Bridge, the top tourist destination, is stunning at night. Also, you should catch a show. Point to note, none of the theatres have air conditioning and it gets miserably hot in there. The Opera House, which is less expensive, is air conditioned and has fewer tourists. If you want to buy one of the puppets that Prague is famous for and quality is important, then you should get your puppet at the store located by Charles Bridge on the castle side. The prices are much higher, but the difference in the craftsmanship is astounding. Lastly, the same coworker who suggested La Bodeguita del Medio also game me a name of a true Czech restaurant which the locals eat at. It is called Peklo. I was unable to try it this time, but it is on my list to eat at the next time I am in Prague. He says that a reservation is a must.

Grythyttans Gästgivaregård

M and I finally did it. We dropped N off at the babysitters (the grandparents) for her first over the night visit. More importantly though was the fact that it was the first night/evening/pretty much minute we have had alone in the past 7 months. So the evening had both an exciting edge to it along with being a little frightening. Leaving N was actually a small part of it. So I will just go ahead and say that she was fine, as to be expected. She actually had 4 babysitters, M’s brother and girlfriend stayed home to help.

For our anniversary in June (the 7th, if you are wondering), I had given M a weekend away. It was actually my 2nd choice. I won’t mention what the first choice was going to be, since Christmas is just around the corner. For my birthday (31st, yes I am getting old) she gave me a weekend away as well. Since N was born, we have decided that it is important to do things together, not just sit around. So this was a perfect opportunity. When we started to talk about it, we learned that the two of us had given each other the exact same thing. I know what you are thinking, “Duh, a weekend away!” The thing is, it was the exact same weekend. Same hotel, same restaurant, same everything- like they say, great minds think alike!

The premise to the gifts were a night away in a nice hotel and restaurant, the location was Grythyttans Gästgivaregård (or we will just call it GG for short). GG is part of the Countryside Hotels in Sweden (http://www.countrysidehotels.se/) which include old estates and palaces. GG is more famous for its restaurant then anything else. Though the hotel part has been around for a very long time, the oldest sections are from the 1600’s.

We arrive and check into our room. The hotel is not just one building, it is actually several different buildings dating back to the 1600´s. Each room is decorated differently and no two rooms are supposed to be alike. Normally I might find this hard to believe, but considering we had an original Anders Zorn in our room, I choose to believe it. The room itself was ok, nothing spectacular. It was clean and good sized, but it did not have the “wow” factor. Originally we talked about bringing N with us, so the 2 of us were in this building all by ourselves. So perhaps the other rooms have the “wow” factor. The fact that it did not just stop me in my tracks is ok. We were not there for the hotel per say, we were there for the food.

I had been saving myself all day. I had a very small breakfast and lunch. So by the time we checked in, my stomach was already growling. Good thing we started with a little fika (fika is a Swedish tradition. It is mainly just coffee/tea with something sweet). It was two different types of cakes. The first was a chocolate one and the other was a lemon pound cake. Not sure what the deal was, but I really liked the chocolate one and M liked the lemon one. By all normal accounts, the opposite should be true. This was at 3ish. Our dinner reservations were not until 7.15.

You could decide if you wanted to go with the 4 course dinner or the 7 course dinner. We went for the 7 course meal. Even though it was a lot more expensive, we determined that the experience would be worth it. Besides, at this point we were starving! In the end it would actually be a 9 course meal, since they always bring a couple of extras.

The meals went as followed:

Pre course sampler- A small crab pie thing (M and I disagree a little on this. I say that it was cold, she says hot)

Course #1- White asparagus soup with a small rolled up piece of Swedish pancake (think thin) and served with a brochette topped with freshly diced tomatoes

Course #2- Cold duck breast served with two different types of sauces, a pea sauce which was excellent with the duck and a goat cheese sauce which was just fabulous. The duck was accompanied with a warm red beat salad topped with a homemade balsam vinegar

Course #3- This was the first of the main courses, the seafood plate. Catfish (which I had only ever had served deep fried), a sea crawfish, a crawfish sauce along with potatoes

Mid-course course- Another little extra. This was a white wine pineapple slush

Course #4- Veal wrapped in Italian ham, wild sausage, lamb sausage and potatoes

Course #5- The cheese plate. Four cheeses, three of which were French and the 4th was Swedish. The idea was to start at the far left with a brie and work your way over to the far right which was a Bredsjöost (which they say is the most expensive cheese in Sweden). This would allow the person to taste the different strengths of the cheeses. It was also served with walnuts covered with honey and balsam vinegar and apricots

Course #6- The first dessert. A lemon tart with marinated strawberries on top. The strawberries have been marinated in the same fashion as they are for the royal family

Course #7- The final course! This was the second dessert, a chocolate muffin (no it was not actually a muffin, but it looked like one in shape) filled with fresh strawberries and raspberries on one side of the plate. On the other side was homemade chocolate ice-cream. Then all of it was covered in a curry sauce (yes, that is correct, it was a curry sauce which actually complimented the chocolate and fruits amazingly well I think)

Two wines were served. A Riesling, which was not sweet at all, but rather dry (a nice change to the normal Rieslings I have had) and a French red wine which complimented the veal and cheeses.

I have to say that nothing we had at dinner was anything but excellent. When we left the restaurant, we had to go for a walk because I was so full, I thought that I was going to explode! Needless to say, I did not, though I did have dreams about me trying to sell curry milkshakes to a couple of little kids.

In the morning, we took a walk before breakfast. I was still too full to think about eating anything. My thought was that I would just have a piece of dry bread and a little coffee. The breakfast spread was amazing. In fact, I went on to stuff myself even more (I ended up not eating much lunch, birthday cake or dinner later in the day). My father would have loved the selection of different sausages, as did I. We walked over to the chef school (which also has activities if you are interested) and to an art gallery which focused on art which was created with the local slate.

Overall, I would give GG a rating of 5 out of 5. It is located about 2.5 hrs out of Stockholm/Uppsala and about 30 minutes out of Örebro. So in other words it is in the middle of nowhere. That is about the only negative. Though perhaps it is only one of the positives, if it was in Stockholm then we probably could not get a table to it or it would not be as special.

Hi Out There,

Well, here it is. This is the blog for DnM Adventures. DnMAdventures.com is our little play toy which is dedicated to travel, adventure and the "finer things in life". That can be anything from a great place to eat, a fine wine or something that our family has shared together.

With that being said, what can be expected. Right now, I am not really sure. It might turn into almost anything. Though I hope that it will stay focused on the items that are mentioned above. Of course we will be talking a lot about the family and about Nova. What this will not turn into is one of those Blogs which is a day by day diary. Only when something significant happens, will it be added into the blog.

Well, I hope that you enjoy it.

DnM Adventures