5 posts tagged “stockholm”
yay! it actually took me less time than i thought. maybe because i'm getting sloppy with photoshop or something.
*shrug*
but here they are! even though they say pictures paint a thousand words, there's no way these photos can even begin to describe the exhilaration i felt so often during this trip. that whole "being one with nature" thing really has something going for it! not just once at vaxholm (stockholm), but again in suomenlinna (helsinki). and stumbling across (well, i knew GENERALLY where they were, but not even how to get there, really) the discarded communism statues in tallinn...it makes my heart flutter just thinking about it.
well, i'm definitely glad to be back to a place where the weather is decidedly above freezing. (and you don't track melted dirty snow everywhere you go indoors). it'll take me a bit to post pictures since i took over 500, i think, so that's a lot of work to do.
some things (mostly random thoughts that are popping into my head) that i've learned on this trip (again, to stockholm, helsinki, and tallinn):
- going for walks really isn't that bad. especially if it's just you and nature. and especially-especially if this nature is like nothing you've ever seen before.
- you CAN wear clothing twice (including underwear and socks). especially if it's so cold you didn't sweat a drop. and especially-especially if it would have cost you €10 to do one load of laundry.
- estonian and finnish are related (finno-ugric), but latvian and lithuanian are from a completely different family (baltic, which is indo-european). and estonian has some cool phoneme action going on. (the things you learn late at night surfing wikipedia on your psp.)
- the wifi antenna on a psp is weaksauce.
- tourist information desks are quite helpful. (this was the trip i'd done the least amount of pre-planning for.)
- you don't need to be at the ferry terminal (specifically eckerö line's) an hour in advance; a half hour will suffice.
- don't exchange money on board; there are 2 ATMs at the tallinn ferry terminal building where i'm sure you can get better exchange rates.
- there is a free map on the ferry that shows you where the tourist information office is, where you can get an even better free map of the city, so don't buy a map on board.
- in tallinn, the 24-hour public transportation pass can only be stamped in the newer stamping machines; they won't fit into the older ones.
- in tallinn (and helsinki? i'm not 100% sure), tourist attractions are open on sundays, but are closed mondays (and sometimes tuesdays).
- tip is not included in restaurants in estonia.
- don't even bother pronouncing anything in finnish; it will come out wrong. (except "kiitos")
- long underwear and a hat that also covers your ears are your friends.
turns out they have a (faster!) computer here you can hook up a camera to, so here are some sample pictures from today, unretouched (=probably kind of crappy).
hahaha every time i see "archipelago" i think of kristen (kristin?) kobayashi's project in 6th grade on the philippines where mr. gordon was all impressed that she used "archipelago" in her introduction. hrmph! anyways. (i gave her chicken pox junior year :P)
in any case, i just wanted to say that i went to vaxholm today and walked around the entire island, mostly on a trail on the south shore of the island, through SNOW (powder, even), following a trail of footprints left in the snow by previous walkers (and their dogs). (sadly, i had to take the bus there. while cheaper and quicker, it's definitely not as scenic. but no boats on wednesdays in the winter, i guess.)
and let me say it was fabulous. there's nothing like walking through a completely idyllic setting with just the crunch-crunch sound of powdered snow under your feet to keep you company (and the occasional hiker passing by with a "hej!"). the trail took me alongside the water, which was frozen on top, with gorgeous crisp views to other islands across the way. i can't upload pictures here, but it was just magnificent. no one there to disturb you becoming one with nature. i didn't even MIND walking through the snow because it was clean and fresh and i knew that my pants wouldn't get dirty ;) (and luckily my shoes kept my toesy-woesies dry!)
ok, i guess it'll have to wait until i get the pictures up since there really is no way i can describe what it looked like. cute little red cabins along the water, white snow or translucent ice as far as the eye could see...
anyways, i just saw a sign that says there's a 20-minute time limit on these computers and i think i've used all my time up. it goes by quick when you have a computer as slow as molasses!
i walked all around the eastern side of the island (where the arrow is) and then across the southern side along the waterfront to the vertical road about 1/3 of the way across (right to the right of the things that look like ( ) ).
so it's 14 degrees (F) outside and just too damn cold to be out-of-doors, so luckily the hostel i'm staying at offers free internet access so i can update my vox :P hahaha so nerdy. anyways.
stockholm (dare i generalize to all of sweden) may give switzerland (again, a sweeping generalization) a good run for its money as a place where "everything is better"(tm). i was quite enamored with most places i've been in switzerland, but i'm telling you, things may be even better here in stockholm! (and slightly, ever-so-slightly, cheaper!).
the mcdonald's looks like it's been designed by an ikea designer with long white tables and red leather(?) stools that look like oversized marshmallows, wall-sized pictures of fruit and vegetables close-up. the architecture here takes my breath away--you can tell that there is this scandinavian tradition of design dating back centuries. and there's so much water around! normally i don't dig that at all since well, water usually means muck and smell. but there's no muck, no smell. i don't think i'd take a dip in there, natch, but i dunno, there's something about it. you know, i think there's less salt content--maybe that's it? (a fact i learned today at the vasa museum! it's why the ship didn't get eaten by worms--they can't survive in the less-salty waters of the baltic.)
anyways, there's also a constant supply of odd store names to keep me entertained as well. take, for example, the asian restaurant "chinese wang" or the clothing store "skank". i've also surmised that the swedish word for discount or something is "rea", so in store windows you'll see sale posters reading "rea 50% or rea 70%". and when it's a drastic reduction (or so i think) it's "slut rea" *snort* (i know, i know, immature).
you definitely can't go wrong in the land of h&m, ikea, volvo, and abba. (and a place where everyone speaks english fluently, it seems!)
if the weather holds tomorrow i think i'm going to vaxholm; if not, i'll hit the museums. then it's off to helsinki the day after that for a couple days, then a couple days in tallinn, then back to reality. *sigh*
