Børk! Børk! Børk!

We finally see what the Swedish Chef was babbling about all those years. Sweden is awesome!

Thanks to another cheap flight deal on TUIfly, Andy and I were able to hop on a plane to the Land of Vikings for a weekend trip to see our long-lost friend Therese. Let me tell you, it was a super fun to have a Swedish friend as a tour guide. She totally hooked us up and introduced us to all the best Swedish stuff....from Viking Museums to cheeses to the ever classic Swedish meatballs (which she made for us herself!).

The trip started with a yummy dinner at a very nice Swedish restaurant. I had some delicious, super-fresh fish, and Andy and Therese both got a kind of giant veal meatball served with berry sauce. Sooooo good. I still can't decide though if dinner or dessert was better....but maybe that's my sweet tooth talking.

The amazing dessert. Oh, and some crazy tourists that jumped into the picture...

The next day we let Therese catch up on sleep (she's a wild-and-crazy world traveling consultant) while we headed to see The Vasa. It's a super cool ship, all made out of beautifully carved black walnut and, with its size and grandeur, dwarfing all the tiny humans there to gaze upon it. Too bad The Vasa had a tragic fate; it sunk after just 20 minutes at sea. As our guide said, "In fact, this tour will last longer than The Vasa's maiden voyage." Indeed. After resting at sea for 333 years, the Vasa was resurfaced in the 60s, masterfully restored for the next 25 years or so, and then made into a museum. Apparently, the reason it sunk was simply that it didn't have a sufficient ballast (the rocks in the bottom of the ship used as a counterweight). So, it was top heavy and when a gust of wind caught its sails, it tipped over enough that the gun ports filled with water and....well....that was that.

Ships along the canal near Therese's place

Huge sunken treasure: The Vasa

After getting our fill of the giant war ship, we met up with Therese for a stroll through the city center and Stockholm's old town. Very nice. The city's buildings are really very pretty.

We decided to forego another restaurant meal for dinner, and instead opted to have a feast at Therese's place. Good choice! She picked out all sorts of wonderful things for us to sample...cheeses, meats, cured salmon with dill honey mustard, fruits, it was heaven. She even shared with us a very nice bottle of champagne that had been a birthday gift from her mom. It was seriously delicious.

Awesome Swedish feast at Therese's place

And the goodies continued, as the next morning Therese made us some Swedish waffles (yum!) and let us sample some cloudberry jam. Fat and happy, we headed over to the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit, followed by a visit that afternoon to the History Museum. I tell you what, those vikings knew how to pillage. There is a huge gold collection there! We even got to see the 9,000-year-old skeleton of a 40-year-old woman who had given birth to 12 children! If that doesn't give insight into the strength of the vikings, I don't know what does.

Cool window at the Viking Museum....kind of looks like a Viking muppet

We're eager to have a chance to visit Sweden again, to explore the countryside, enjoy some more delicious foods, and sail along the coast in the bright sunshine, but until then, we'll just have to cook homemade meatballs as a memento. Børk! Børk! Børk!

Hidden in Plain Sight: Amsterdam's Daily Life

Amsterdam.

The word alone elicits a varying collection of ideologies (and, ahem, memories), be it clean or cloudy. Before I left I talked to at least 5 people about my upcoming adventure, and every single one of them had a different perspective. After returning I realized what one omitted was highlighted by the next person, which ended up rounding out my own experience. Not to say that Amsterdam is any one thing, let alone five, but, well, it is what it is - and that's what makes it so damn unique. Even their tagline is "I AMsterdam". Pretty much sums it up.

Our initial plans were to tour the city and lands, visiting cheese manufacturers, sniffing out the iconic windmills, and crawling via boats through their many canals. Ended up traveling by foot or tram most of the time, and didn't get out of the city for any of our previously planned activities. Instead we pedded around with friends of ours who we hadn't seen for a while. The weekend was slow-paced and very enjoyable compared to our action-packed adventures which I recently decided to move away from. I do wish the weather had been nicer to warrant bike rentals, though, as it's a great way to experience a new place - especially in a town that has more bikes and boats compared to cars. You can't throw a stone in that town without either hitting a watery canal or a bicycle (and probably a bicyclist to boot).

This, like all other spaces of available earthen
property, was completely consumed by bicycles.

Top activities: The Dutch Resistance Museum, an awesome Brewery next to the token Windmill, improv Comedy at BoomChicago, the Church in the Attic, the Van Gogh Museum, and visiting the House of Anne Frank. I'd like to note that it was nothing like the house I envisioned Anne Frank and her family living in. In fact, I didn't see any of your typical free-standing "houses" in Amsterdam. They're all what you'd recognize as Town Houses or Row Houses. Apparently the Amsterdam gov't imposed a tax on each house depending on its width. The skinnier the house, the lower the taxes. You'd be amazed how long these houses are from front to back, but also how skinny some of them are. The stairwells of many houses visited were freakishly steep, and I imagined plenty of scenes how my life would play out should I go a'rolling down just one flight. freaky steep.

A tiny example of Amsterdam property fronts.
Packed tightly together and along the water-
front, these houses are unique and interesting.

This trip also rejuvinated my fascination with house boats. Seriously, house boats are cool. So cool, in fact, you suddenly have to worry about pirates mucking about your watery property. Unfortunately I didn't see any of them equipped with canons, which would have been the ultimate accessory, but I did see one with a WWII USSR water mine atop it's cabin. Some were plain-Jane while other boaters had their gardens atop their living quarters. That's a pretty efficient use of space, thought I. Aarrgh.

Click to see more detail of the houseboats. This
photo captures all: Bikes, Boats, and Moats. Sorry,
supposed to rhyme. Of course I meant canals.

Apart from these sights we of course saw Amsterdam's infamous Red Light District and Pot/Shroom shops galore. I recall an article (the Economist?) about Amsterdam's "working" population achieving health care benefits for their profession. They are, after all, a business and I believe somewhat regulated by gov't taxes / standards. This profession is not without its group of slackers. I can't count how many windows I walked by observing a majority attached to their mobile phones, texting or chatting their time away to friends or family while they stood (or sat) around in lingerie. Couldn't believe it. Talk about a lack of motivation! I guess Amsterdam proprietors haven't implemented a rewarding Employee of the Month award program just yet.

In the end we didn't get to a cheesehouse in the country, something that appealed to us both. We managed to sneak away with a nice wheel of fresh Gouda and dill, as well as a local cheese recommended to us by our host Barry. We did, however, finally take our first train ride to a vacation destination. An agreeable time of 5 hours to get to Amsterdam, and spent the entire time reading and watching scenery whip past at 100-200 km/h. I look forward to taking more trips this way, as it worked out best for both of us considering the low-to-zero stress when compared to preparing and taking a flight. And whereas you encounter a formidable security checkpoint including chemical sensors, frustrated passengers / workers, and seventeen ID checks, our experience was much easier: one passport check and one ticket check per direction, and one friendly dog visit on the way home. Don't worry, he didn't want our cheese anyway. He was looking for something much more interesting... :)