In September, what's not to love about Sweden? It's friendly, the weather is perfect and the country is manicured, and probably years ahead of its time. Oh and the people are very helpful...but I will get to that later.
As you may recall, I was invited here by folks I met whilst surfing in Portugal. Though a crayfish/end of summer party was the official reason, it was just an excuse to come to a place I've always wanted to visit and to see people I'd had so much fun with. So on Wednesday, I met two surf friends in the central station and off went went to Alvik- an area on the outskirts of town. After a dinner of Swedish meatballs with lingonberries (oh yes I did) and herring and other perfectly delicious fishy things, we called it a night. The next morning began with a visit to the Vasa museum. The Vasa is a 17th century warship (the Black Pearl from the Pirates of the Caribbean is modeled after it). The Vasa was to be the pride of king Gustavs fleet- it had everything one would expect from a top of the line warship...except apparently the ability to sail. The ship went down twenty minutes into its maiden voyage. And this is what kills me about the Swedes-this should be a source of embarrassment, and maybe it was-300 years ago, but when they raised the ship in the 60s and created a museum around it, people said- aren't we lucky we get to experience something so ancient and beautiful up close?
With no plan after the Vasa, my partner in crime, a Portuguese guy who decided his Viking name would be Knut, and I decided to wander the island we were on- I decided my Viking name was Freyja (goddess of love and war).
Oh, this would be a good time to mention the fact that Stockholm is made up of tons of islands. On a 30 minute walk you can literally cross four bridges. So if you see something in the distance, there's no way to know what island it's on.
Anyway, in the distance we saw something that looked like a roller coaster- Gröna Lund is a theme part right in the middle of town and was just the thing to do on a sunny Thursday afternoon. So like two small children we shrieked with glee and every twist, turn, and drop of the 7-plus roller coasters and other rides the park had to offer. And since it was mid week in September there were few kids in sight, within 1.5 hours we had ridden every ride in sight. Drinks and dinner followed, making our first full day in Stockholm totally random, and ridiculously fun.
Here's a view of the amusement park.The next days were filled with sight seeing and laughs. We managed to see a bunch of tourist attractions, but on our own, very relaxed terms- we probably learned more about the town than most locals.
Finally on Saturday we made our Crayfish
Party happen. Ironically there were only three swedes in attendance. The rest of the group was made up of two French folks, a German, two Americans, a Brit, a Ugandan, and 5 or so Portugese folks. But we did it right- we sang songs about frogs and drinking the whole shot (Helan går is the song) and ate our faces off. Here's a before and after:
After eating and drinking too much, we decided to rest up a while in Alvik- which meant that we just sat around indoors drinking instead of in the park. I was exhausted, so naturally one of the Swedish guys decided that I had to wake up...by doing acroyoga.
Yeah. In a sleepy haze I did acroyoga, which basically consists of two people doing weird acrobatics:
The next day, we decided to take a boat and go to the archipelago-which should have been pretty and uneventful... however in a moment of ill conceived timing and poor communication, I went to the bathroom while the rest of my group exited our boat. They only realized I wasn't there after the boat had left the dock. In the meantime, I wasn't worried, as I thought my friends had pulled a prank...until I got an apology text. So I went up to the front of the boat and spoke with one of its employees- he radioed in what had happened, dropped me off on a random island, where another boat picked me up. I waited less than one minute on shore. While entering the new boat, I asked if they were heading to Vaxholm- the island I was supposed to go to- they said yes and that they had come just for me. Embarrassed laughs went all around and I was finally dropped ashore at Vaxholm- I was met with giggles and a slightly embarrassed group. We wandered around then headed back. We said goodbye to most of the group and headed off. I spent the last two days sight seeing on my own and since I'm a bad Jew and it is Rosh Hashana, I even went to to Stockholm synagogue for services- all I did was send an email, they sent tickets. For the shortest service I've ever attended, I had do to the usual airport style security- passport check, basic questions about Judaism, etc. I was told by my Swedish friend that nothing bad had ever happened, but the fact that guards with guns are necessary still didn't put me at ease. But I'm glad I experienced Jewish prayers in Swedish- it's lovely and utterly weird.
Here are a few things I've learned:
1. There's a song for every occasion...and also Aquavit
2. Everyone speaks English. Everyone. I'm even having breakfast in a place where every employee is Australian and no one is attempting to speak Swedish
3. If you read words aloud, Swedish is kind of easy to understand
4. There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing- or so the saying goes- though I have yet to meet anyone who is looking forward to winter
5. All goods and services are taxed 25% so everyone can have a living wage- so a pizza might cost $20, but you get paid to go to college...so there's that
6. The Swedes hate the Danes...but not really
7. The term going berserk comes from a Viking word- and it basically meant getting drunk, eating shrooms and going ape shit on your enemies
8. There are 10 million fewer people in Sweden than in New York State (9.6 million)- but there's always an IKEA near you and you're probably using spotify- that's serious influence
9. You cannot buy refrigerated beer anywhere
10. Need a vaccine? There's a clinic for that. I went and now I'm ready for my next trip...
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