(40) Days of Stockholm

Hey everyyonnnneee

It’s been a long time since I have updated you on my whereabouts and such and whatnot, so this may be a long one.Or it might be short because (although I took notes) I probably forgot a lot of the details of what the heck I did… we’ll have to see how it pans out :-) Don’t you love the mystery of not knowing what you’re getting yourself into??

Also, my instantaneous self-editing is not so much in place right now, so it’s about to get very rambly and informal. Enjoy!

I believe when we left our story last I was just returning to Stockholm after my AMAZING weekend in Sicily!

So that work week was May 2- May 4. It was nice having a short week, and I kept busy at work. I don’t believe anything too notable happened there. In the evenings there were 4 of us there that week, so we obviously had dinner together Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Two of the Jacobs group were leaving Saturday morning, so we did a nice Friday evening out. We went into Old Town and stopped in a few stores before finding an italian joint in the same square as the Nobel museum to sit and have a drink. One drink led to a second… and I think a third.. And that’s when we decided we needed to stay and have dinner there because we were in no shape to relocate haha. We sat outside, and although it was a little chilly, it was such a lovely evening talking and telling stories for a few hours. All of the restaurants and cafes keep blankets at their outdoor seating for when it is warm enough that the SWEDES will want to sit outside even if it might not ACTUALLY be warm enough to sit outside. It’s gross if you think about how many strangers have used the blanket, but it’s charming if you ignore that thought.

So as of Saturday morning, it was just going to be me and the older, male project manager that inspired a number of my tips for traveling with coworkers (last post)….

And unfortunately, earlier in the week I had already said something to the effect of,

“Oh that castle that you and your wife went to sounds neat, maybe I’ll go this weekend!” in response to him telling me about “the paintings… there are so many paintings.. Every room… and they all have lights on the faces… each painting has its own little light shining on the face” for the 5th time.

So Friday night was coming to a close and he OBVIOUSLY said, “Ok so I’ll take you to the castle tomorrow, meet at 9am for breakfast?”

WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO SAY TO THAT?!?! Matt keeps telling me I can say ‘No’ to people, but come on.. In the moment, a proposition like that is sprung on you that you are not interested in by someone you essentially work for… you panic and agree, that’s what you do!

So. Saturday morning. We met for breakfast, and he took a freaking hour to eat and drink his coffee and then go back upstairs to brush his teeth and such. And THEN, the castle was almost AN HOUR AWAY. Yes. I had agreed to sit in an awkward car ride for an hour, EACH WAY, as well as spending my afternoon with a coworker. Here goes nothing, right?

So, we work through some small talk, we get the radio on for noise, and we make it through. Then the castle, Gripsholm Castle, and the town it was in, Mariefred, was actually really pretty haha. There were indeed a lot of paintings, but I have never seen anyone so amazed by spotlights…

So we toured the castle which was nice.

Hope that has been cleaned....

This may be one of my favorite ceilings I have seen yet...

Then we went into Mariefred to grab lunch and ended up at a little burger joint. Thennnn we walked around town a little, stopped in a couple of stores (including the grocery store)

then stopped so he could get some ice cream and I got a coffee. We sat by the pier for awhile watching a couple of boats come in and some of the people walking by. It was nice. A little drawn out, but nice.

We got back to the hotel around 4pm maybe? We decided to meet at 7pm for dinner… because of course… so I took the opportunity to go sit at the park across the street in the sun for a few hours. I took a little nap, I wrote, I people watched, and I generally decompressed.

That night we went to a chinese place for dinner. I had been feeling better after a little time apart, but the awkward silence was PALPABLE. The food couldn’t come fast enough. There was also a strange, drunk, Swedish couple sitting behind us fighting... loudly.. So that was odd. After dinner I just went back to the hotel room and called it an early night.

We didn’t pick a specific time for breakfast Sunday, so I was shamefully hoping I could time my breakfast to miss him, but unfortunately he slept in just a bit, and I think he came down right as I was finishing my food. So then I had to sit for another 45 minutes while he ate and had his coffee, because I CAN’T SAY NO TO PEOPLE, OK?? Don't judge.

Luckily I was able to play it off as though I was just going to go hang in a park or at a coffeeshop and read all day so he felt no obligation or interest to chaperone me. As soon as I heard, “Ok so I’ll see you for dinner....” I practically jumped out of my chair and ran out the door. I know I sound like a child. But seriously people, picture being in my situation. You are in a cool foreign city, that you want to explore in young people ways at a young person pace… and not only do you have a mild obligation to hang out with a coworker, but that coworker is twice your age and acts like it. I feel confident that you would do the same.

Anyway. So I headed off to the last museum that was on my “had to see” list- the Swedish History Museum. It was really only on my list because from what I read, it was one of the few places in general, and definitely one of the few right in Stockholm, that had a decent Viking exhibit. It was on the other side of town so I took a LOVELY hour+ long walk over there. The weather was gorgeous, and when I got there, surprise! Free admission. I knew then that it was going to be good day.

So I go in, and the viking exhibit is pretty much right in front of me, so I walk in that first. There is an old rune stone right inside the entrance, and then the first part of the exhibit basically shows how Viking history has been exploited over the ages. Basically, “In X time, this group wanted to show that the Vikings were gentle farmers, so that is the part of history that was told, and in Y time this other group wanted to show that the Vikings were tough pillagers and were not to be messed with, so that’s the part of history that they told, and in this other time this other group wanted to highlight that the viking women actually had a strong role in society, so THAT’s the history that was told.” Immediately I knew this museum would be different and was going to offer more than some information.

One of the most prominent examples...

Then from there, the rest of the museum had artifacts and gave historical context of Swedish history basically from prehistoric times through today. It was really cool. And the WHOLE museum had commentary on the signs that essentially called out museums for their own bull$h!t. They want you to not only look at the ‘stuff’, but then THINK about it… think about what that meant to their culture and how and why items impacted a society.. How the stories could be told incorrectly or incompletely...And how it all relates to today and your own life. Every single exhibit encouraged introspection, and I loved it.

By the time I left the Historiska Museet, I was so content. I had nothing else major I wanted to go see that day, so I just wandered back towards the water and enjoyed the sunshine. I stopped at a little stand next to the pier to get a cup of ice cream, and saw they also sold an item of the highest culinary regard and I just had to try it- a french hot dog.

Not going to lie, it was delicious and brilliant because it doesn’t make a mess. Basically they take a french roll, and instead of cutting it in half, they essentially core it so it makes a little pocket that is perfectly hot dog sized, they squeeze mustard and ketchup in, then shove a hot dog in and call it food.

Eventually I made it back to the hotel and met the old man for dinner haha. We went to a little pub kind of place next to the water. It was more awkward silence only interrupted by chewing, but the view was nice :-)

The next work week was another essentially short week because all Swedish people were off on Thursday and Friday for another holiday. It was nice having the site be quiet for once. Then I also had some more Michelin Star-deserving meals (see post like...6 if you don’t know what that is) such as teppanyaki in the Mall of Scandinavia and McDonalds.

This is me giving a virtual blank stare

Anyway….

So now we are at the weekend of May 11th where I actually DID SOCIAL THINGS! Woot! On Friday the coworker and I took the other American that is on site full time to dinner at another italian restaurant in Old town (there are a lot of those). We first stopped at a little stand and shared an order of herring! It was cooked and apparently the traditional food in this area (including Denmark and Holland etc.) is actually raw pickled herring) but we were still interested to try it. And it was good!

We then went to a bar called the Liffey for a drink which was fine, then headed to dinner. Food was good, and it is just so much easier to converse when there are 3 people instead of 2. After dinner we all went BACK to the Liffey in hopes of finding Irish music! There was a singer, but he started late and did not play Irish music. Regardless I was in a happy place because I hadn’t seen live music (outside of the street performers) since coming here. Made me feel like Matt was with me :-)

After that our project manager went back to the hotel and us youngins went out for one more drink at a cool rooftop bar called Tak. Neat place and had a good view of the city lights!

Saturday morning I got a few things done for my Beachbody fam and biz (I’m in a word shortening mood right now, don’t judge), got a workout in, grabbed breakfast etc., then met up with American young coworker for an afternoon of bar hopping before heading to his friend’s cookout!

Stops in order:

a place called Bull and Bear that was suppeerrr cool looking. One beer there
moved to this outdoor bar that is under a bridge called Trädgården hahaha. It was really, really neat. They were having a little pop up market when we got there, and apparently at night it gets really busy. We decided to really start day drinking, so we did a shot of a liquor in Sweden called Fisherman’s (do we have that in the states?). It tasted like listerine hahah. Anyway. Sat and had a beer and talked about work and living in another country and the girl he was currently struggling with. The sun was shining and it was beautiful.
walked a bit down the road and caught a ferry across the water to a brewery called Nya Carnegiebryggeriet. One beer there plus a late lunch.
Ended at Josephine’s boyfriend’s parent’s house for a cookout haha. I met his friend Josephine, her boyfriend Mattias… I think was his name… and her two good girl friends Evelina and ...crap...I can’t remember the other girl’s name even though I talked to her the most...hm. Anyway, we all had plans of going out downtown later in the night, but we ended up just sitting on their porch until about 2am talking. They told stories and asked me questions and I asked them questions. They were all SO NICE. I had such a great time

Suunnddaayyy. I took it easy again in the morning- workout, stuff online, grabbed breakfast etc. then met American young coworker again to take a boat to an island called Sandhamn. It is one of the furthest islands out into the Baltic sea and apparently has an adorable little town and such. Unfortunately, by the time I got there, the next boat didn’t leave for awhile, and I would have had all of 5 minutes on the island before having to get back on the last boat back to Stockholm for the night. So we nixed that and caught a boat to Vaxholm instead. It ended up that most stores were closed on Sunday, so we just wandered a bit, got some ice cream, talked more about work, and caught a boat back. It was such a low key day, but the weather was perfect and it was so nice to finally see the archipelago of Stockholm a bit from the water.

Relaxing but joyful last weekend in Stockholm.

Then that brings us to last week which was my final week in Stockholm! Meals were a bit easier because two other colleagues had come back so I never had to be alone with the PM. I also actually got to go to the grocery store to get SALADS for lunch… man… you never know how much you miss veggies until their gone… We also went back to the Mall of Scandinavia for dinner Monday… at the same teppanyaki place. Sigh. At least the food was decent there. Tuesday we ended up at a nice place near the site called Barolo where I got another SALAD and a sundae :-) Really feeding my ice cream love over here haha

Went to yet another Italian restaurant on Wednesday (I didn’t realize how many Italian places I had been to in Stockholm until having to write about it haha). After we got back to the hotel, it was still SO light out for 8pm or whatever time it was, so I went back to that bar on the dock called Malarpaviljongen. So beautiful being out on the water having a glass of wine.

Then Thursday was my last day on site and my time for goodbyes. Most everyone I said goodbye to gave me a hug and a number of them told me to keep in touch or told me they would miss me. I know I had been itching to leave, but it was really sweet and flattering that anyone would say that after just 6 weeks. That evening I was picked up by a car full of the young folks to head out for my last night in Stockholm. We started at a place called Retro bar where we had dinner and a couple of beers, then quick stop at some other bar for one round, then ended at the infamous… “Pub Anchor.” I had been hearing about this bar since the day I arrived in Stockholm. It was apparently one of the favored stomping grounds of one of my favorite pipers in Jacobs that was out here for 6 months and was described to me as a biker bar that has karaoke on Wednesdays hahah. We get there though, and it had no such biker bar feel, though it was a neat place. We had a few too many rounds there and then as the metal band got on stage and started playing, the guys danced like idiots for about one minute and one of us decided it was time to go haha. For sure the correct decision.

I was home before 1am I believe, and absolutely woke up with a HORRIBLE hangover. I blame the mixing of alcohols at the end of the night, but it was absolutely worth it. I had a blast with the gang and truly will miss the folks in Sweden.

After spending the day nursing my hangover and packing up, I hopped on a plane headed to….. AMSTERDAM! More on that to come.

So there it is. The quick description of my last few weeks in Stockholm of my total ~40 days there. Though I am so excited to be back in Milan now and working as I had originally intended, I think it was overall a really positive twist to my time in Europe that I truly am glad happened. (and to everyone that I complained to on an almost daily basis… I’m really telling the truth...I had a great time and do not regret it.. Again… super glad to be back, but really did enjoy myself while there haha).

See you soon!