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The day of extreme travel to Sweden began with a lay-in. To 9am to be precise. I say extreme travel, not because it involved jumping off a plane or diving under the sea but because we had to get to Stanstead Airport - the opposite side of London. And all those who know London transport would describe it as extreme.
Cedric and I (mostly Cedric and his uncanny knack with London transport) worked it out and we figured we would need to walk to a train station, take the train for one hour, take the tube to another train station and take the train for another hour. That's just to get to the airport. This wasn't including the hour and half flight and two hour car journey to get to Stina's country house. This was going to be a long day.
The 'extreme' journey was surprisingly uneventful other than the nasty surprise we had discovering the hefty charge for the airport express train (22.50 one way for those wishing to do a similar trip). We got to Stanstead airport in good time, lucky since we were both famished. I decided I like Stanstead as far as airports go. It's all on the same level, in what seemed like an enormous glass shed. Most airports I've been to have different levels and windy corridors to get to different sections of the airport but not Stanstead. It seemed to me like they'd tried to cram in as many shops as possible into a rectangular space, putting up thin temporary walls to section off different shops. The result was a maze between restaurants, currency exchanges and loos. If you search long and hard enough you eventually find the security check in to the departure lounge.
We had a bite to eat and met Paul and Sophie. As we sat there chatting away it seemed only yesterday that we were in Cedrics French country house enjoying the sunshine. How time flies. Talking of flying, we were travelling with Ryanair and I don't class myself as snob but there was a really good reason why these flights were 40quid. As we were herded on like cattle and greeted with an unpleasant grunt from the staff, I was surprised I didn't see the wing being glued on by prittstick. We landed early in Gothenburg with a rough landing (we were assured it was often like that), so we wiped the nervous sweat from our brows and went to meet Rachel.
Unlike Stanstead, Gothenburg City airport is the size of an actual shed. Rachel later told us that before Ryanair landed there, it was only ever used by helicopters, so you can grasp the miniature size of the airfield. Rachel greeted us with her usual cheerfulness and I note that the woman will probably never change for as long as she lives. She could be 100 years old and still look like the girl with the mass of black hair from the day we met her.
We met Stina and Nicole in Maccys and set off for her familys country house, a 2 hour drive from the airport. Being late and pitch black I couldn't get a good look at the area, but I do know that the famous big yellow 'M' made plenty of appearances on our trip. Our journey took us through plenty of dark forest with small Swedish villages, service stations or even the odd patch of melting snow. Eventually we drove up to the house and unloaded the car. The country house was in the middle of a small village called Dals-långed, which was a beautiful family home in the middle of the lake district.
The weather wasn't as cold or snowy as the Swedes anticipated but I was armed with a sleeping bag, fleecy PJs and extra quilt for good measure. None of these were needed as the house was pretty well equipped. The first thing we unpacked, naturally, was the alcohol so we gathered around the dinner table with our cans of Kronenburg, crisps and Swedish chocolate and reminisced about our travels and our ideas about what we want to do in the future. An amazingly simple and brilliant evening. I missed these guys and as I watched everyone drinking and having laughing I got this warm funny feeling in my stomach, the type you only get from being very happy from simple things.
After a sleep that would defy most sleeps I was up. We spent the morning munching on Swedish bread, cheese and coffee for breakfast, waiting for Nicole to rise. The sky was perfectly clear, allowing the sun to beat down and show us what Swedish country-side really had to offer. So we put on our seventeen layers, popped on the sunnies and went for a walk. Stina and Rachel gave us a mini tour of the area along the river. A stones throw away on the riverside was a horse-shoe factory, the only one in Sweden apparently and I have to admit that I never thought they could make a whole factory making such a specific thing. You learn something new every day I suppose.
The river was wide and fast flowing with forest extending up the sharp bank on the other side of the river. Stina explained that the rivers basically just link up all the lakes in the area as there are so many of them, and canal locks has been built between them all so one could easily just chug along from one lake to the next. The lakes extend so far that by travelling from one lake to another you could eventually end up back in Gothenburg!
The path we took led us around a big loop around some typical houses in the area and we were able to see that Swedish were just a bunch of perfectionists! They were all beautiful and perfectly built, with white picket fences on the lawn, hanging baskets full of flowers and painted bright cheerful colours like red, yellow and blue. What amazed me was there were very few walls or fences put up to separate one property from the next. It just seemed like everyone was one big happy family - cheesy I know but that's honestly what you felt on the place.
We decided to walk over to the one grocery shop in the village to stock up on some supplies. Before we took one step in, Rachel grabbed my hand and led me straight to the pick'a'mix sweet section. I thought I'd died and gone to sweetie heaven. It basically took up a whole wall. I dove in at the speed of light with my scoop and proceeded to fill up my bag but limited myself to some of the best looking ones. Rachel, on the other hand, filled up two huge bags full in record time. I was impressed. I had met my sweetie soul mate.
We got back to Stinas house and unpacked. Obviously the sweets went straight into the bowl and we were like flies around cowpat. Stina and Rachel had even organised a quiz about New Zealand and movie charades which, I have to say, was an awesome idea. I teamed up with Cedric for the quiz and we came second which wasn't too bad and I have to say I learnt a lot about New Zealand which I didn't know before! Rachel and Sophie were in my charades team and we kicked butt. After the excitement of games I had a momentary sugar rush and suggested we carry on the game theme and play some hide and seek (apparently we are all working, professional adults).
Sophie was the first to 'seek' so I hid upstairs in a god awful hiding place. Thankfully, Paul was an even worse hider than me so he was next to count and hunt for us. Unfortunately, despite Pauls hunting skills being as poor as his hiding skills, he found me first squeezed under the bed fighting the urge to sneeze. I hate finding people. It always makes me feel isolated and jumpy but I managed to find everyone pretty easily with Nicole making me poop myself when she leapt out of the wardrobe. I love hide and seek.
Swedish tacos for dinner (basically fajitas) cooked by everyone it seems but Sophie and I, who decided chilling on the bed after our sugar crash was a much better idea. To be honest, I was still so full from the sweets that the prospect of eating a full meal made my stomach turn. But then once a started I couldn't stop. Three and Sophie's uneaten half taco later and I was defeated and I looked upon Cedric in awe as he polished off his fifth. Our mountain of food left us like zombies so we slumped in front of the TV with the left over sweets and decided to watch whatever scary film we laid our hands on first. This trip was turning out to be more of a teenage sleep over but I loved every second. The film of choice was 'The Bogyman' and yes, it was as bad as it sounds. We then spent an hour and a half of our lives picking apart and mocking every scene of that film, which was a little like therapy for me considering I am so crap with horror films. What amazed me were all the American programs and films were subtitled. There was no dubbing in Sweden unlike France (ahem) which explained why most could speak English so well. The ridiculously over-the-top Bond film Die Another Day was on to complete our night of film-piss-taking before we hit the hay. We were bushed.
Another cheese, bread, coffee combo for brekkie and we loaded up the car to head back to Gothenburg. Another bright day gave us the opportunity to really see the Swedish country with rolling hills covered in thick fir trees shrouding the glimmering lakes. And guess what...I even saw a moose on a hill! Several mooses in fact...or is it several moose?? I don't care, because either way it made my day. Rachel explained that they were actually in a moose farm but it has been known that a couple of wild moose have been spotted in the area.
Stopped off at Stina's pad (nicer and tidier than ours) and we were off into the city centre. The first thing I spotted as we parked up was an English shop called errr...the English Shop. Original. Just goes to show that every country needs to have a bit of England to function. Ha! The temptation to go in and route around for Marmite was thwarted by the dozen or so smokers hanging around the front door. They tainted it. As we walked towards the shopping area I looked around at the beautiful buildings homing boutique shops and family-run restaurants. One thing I did notice above anything else was the fact that the streets were clean. Very clean. Seriously, it gave Singapore a run for its money and that is one clean city. No vandalism, no litter on the streets, not even piles of fallen leaves considering the fact that it's winter.
Rachel sneakily suggested we hop on the tram without paying as it was only a couple of stops and they don't check tickets. If someone does decide to check we'll just get Cedric to talk very fast in French in a confused-like manner and plead ignorance. It wouldn't work for us English since it was their second language anyway. On the tram Paul and I noticed something very peculiar - where were all the blonde people?! Swedish were known for their good looks and blonde hair but looking around and we didn't see one!! But as Paul kept his beady eye open for the blondes, mostly female, we saw that there were a handful around but not nearly enough to support the fair-haired reputation.
The first thing we did was pop into a popular cafe to try out a traditional dessert sold on Shrove Tuesday, their version of our pancake day. This was called a Semla and was basically a round bun with the insides scooped out and in it is a layer of almond paste topped with whipped cream. Heart-stopping, I know, especially after the mountain of sweets we had in the country house. It was delicious and what a bloody good idea for a dessert!! After our replenish we hit the shops with Sophie buying a Swedish-inspired cheese peeler and Stina treating herself to a new scarf. The huge malls were surprisingly filled with shops I could have found down the road at home, like Topshop, the Body Shop and H&M. Parts of the centre even reminded me of parts of England, as crazy as that sounds but Sophie hastily disagreed. We said goodbye to Nicole who was flying back to Stockholm and it sunk in that we were soon going back ourselves. Trying to forget this fact we walked up the long main road to the massive Poseidon fountain looking down protectively onto Gothenburg towards the harbour. He was naked and he did not seem to mind that his dangly bits were on show and they were unusually small for his great size. To give him he due though, it was cold.
A walk through the widey narrow alley ways and we visited a restaurant Rachel had booked for us to celebrate our last night. The restaurant was already crowded so we waited to be seated as our coats were hung up in the cloak room by the waiter that greeted us - this was common in Sweden. We got a lovely seat by the window and as all food was two-for-one (explained the popularity) Cedric and I treated ourselves to a wild boar stew with cheesy mash and loganberry sauce. Twas bliss. I then proceeded to eat a part of Sophies steak and chunk of Stinas huge burger. I was like a girl possessed but the food was so good! Waste not, want not! The meal was brilliant, a lovely end to an incredible weekend. A sad goodbye hug from Stina and I got all emotionally again and hurried myself into the car.
We drove through the night to the shed known as Gothenburg City Airport and made our final farewell to Rachel. I was going to miss Sweden despite our short trip. It had a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, yet it seemed futuristic. A combination that doesn't usually work but for Sweden it really did. After going through the simplest security check know to airport history (Sophie even got her cheese graters through security clearance), we ended up in the 'departure lounge' consisting of a small perfume shop, a bar and a cafe. It was cosy to say the least. Cedric and I went straight to the bar to celebrate Sweden with a goodbye drink (paid for in English sterling which I didn't realise you could do) and somehow befriended a very camp Londoner who claimed he had a girlfriend waiting for him even though he was as gay as the day is long. When it came to getting on the plane we couldn't shake off this weirdo with verbal diarrhoea but we soon realised that he clung onto anyone he started a conversation with so we soon managed to shake him off.
The flight was long and tedious, especially as dehydration set in due the earlier alcohol consumption, and we had the second worse type of passengers behind us after a screaming baby. There were two very loud and cocky guys who believed the Sunday evening on a plane was the best time to drink as much alcohol as their wallets would allow them and laugh with booming barks at lame jokes that weren't funny. All the over-accentuating tutting and dirty looks between the gaps in the chair were just not working. The hour and a half could not have gone slower but eventually with another bumpy Ryanair landing (the previous pilot had lied!!!) we were trudging through the airport to head for the loooooooooong journey back to our welcoming flat in Sutton. One word sprang to mind. Detox.
- comments
Wili - The first image is just buaetiful. What a buaetiful spot, and lovely composure. I love the exchange of glances in the last shot as well. It looks like the bride has buaetiful style too- I love her dress and necklace- gorgeous!I'm half Swedish and I have quite a bit of family back there, although I have never been. (My cousins have been though.) I plan to go someday. Hopefully on the next trip out I will! I each of my backpacking trips I have eased my way through the language barriers- first trip, English speaking countries, second trip, countries where I had learned the languages, next time totally blind! Ahh! :)