A Swedish Christmas

So, I was lucky to make it. The fog in london effectively shut down heathrow for about two days and luckily lifted just enought to let us fly to amterdam, where i got my connecting flihgt to Sweden. Even amsterdam proved tricky with our flight being delayed by an hour due to fog and late connections. In a scence reminicent of a similar flight from miami to san jose. I was late to board the flight because i was eating pizza. You'd think I learn, but I do like to hear my name over the airport PA system.



And here is Uppsala. Malin's home town, the 4th largest in Sweden and the old capital. You can see the cathedral, where we went o mass at idnight on Christmas Day. Which was interesing, considering it was all in Swedish. They dont seem to do that bit in 'oh come all ye faithful' where you whisper either. Unfotunetly I didnt manage to catch up with all the cranbrook boys at st marks this year, but I managed to ind some old lady I decided was Sweden's Jesse Fawcet.




As for Christmas, hmmm. Interesting traditions to say the least. Everything is done on Christmas Eve and Santa actually comes and visits you and hands over the present. Present opening is pretty much the same world over, but i have never seen such a massive pile as what was under the Hellman family tree. It took about 4 hours (litterally, no exaggeration) to open them all. You also must rhyme on the card and give a hint to what it is. I gave chris a green knit. My rhyme went something along these lines....
"Im done with wearing mine,
I hope the size is fine,
this rhyming stuff is shit,
What the hell, its a green knit."
Poetic, i know.





We ate lots of pickled herring, gloog (spiced warm wine) and ham which looked like lamb and lamb which looked like ham. We also drank. The beer was kept in the freezer. Here is me going into the freezer...



And here is me in the freezer getting beer. It is so cold outside that they just keep food and drink out there. Notice how they do actually shop at ikea.



Oh my gosh! After the mildest christmas in 75 years, it started to snow. So cool. I think they thought we were freaks dancing (more like prancing) around in the snow.



I didnt manage to get photos, but we went to swedish aerobics. It was surreal. 100+ middle-aged swedes dancing around to pop music with this crazy lady screaming at them for not being good enough. Uber-weird. I am still sore 4 days later. It hurts to breathe, or move, or type. Argh. We did have a sauna after, the one in Malin's bathroom. Now that, is Swedish.



On Boxing day we went to Stockholm, which is about an hour and a half away. Its a nice city, on the water. We saw some sights including a very funny changing of the guards, lots of russian tourists, urban outfitters was closed and we missed the train. Here is stockholm.






Here is a man fishing in their national dress, the range jumpsuit. At first I thought John Fischer had came to visit me in stockholm, but did not say hello. Freak.



You are foced to enter the world of winter clothing this high up in the world. Here is how we entertained ourselves on the train back to Uppsala. Along with talking to Malin's 16 year old sister about hair and boys (separate issues), this kept us amused for about 1hr30min. Malin was not impressed.





What would a trip to Sweden be without a few drinks. What would any trip of mine be without a few drinks?
Here is us drinking. These photos come from a night we had out at a uni-bar type place. You never get what you order, but its ok, because it is so cheap. It is in this massive old house so the place contains rooms as if it were still a manor. With a giant winding staircase at the enterance and balconies and the like. Lots of fun, the walk home however not so fun, rather cold and even-more slippery/icy than usual.




So that's sweden. Thanks to Malin's family for letting me invade. Was great.