*DISCLAIMER: This blog is the longest blog in the history of all blogs! I apologize and give you full permission to take eating breaks, nap breaks, potty breaks, work breaks, etc. whilst reading this...just come back and finish it! I am horrible at blogging. I really, really am. It makes no sense either, because I LOVE to blog. (In case you couldn't tell with my ridiculously long posts) But they are ridiculously long because I don't write them as often. If I wrote them more often, they wouldn't be as long, you readers wouldn't get as bored halfway through and quit reading or want to gouge your eyes out, man it is a chain of events. I need to take a less from Ashley, who updates all the time and is very good at managing her blog (shameless plug - she is one of my followers Ashley I. you can read her adventures too!!)
Anyway, before I get to my fantabulously amazing weekend in Sweden, I will describe the boring details of my week leading up to Sweden. Monday was L'Art et L'Architecture where we learned more about famous churches around France. I also had my first experience with a French doctor because I thought I had bronchitis, but apparently I had a severe upper respiratory infection eek! They gave me, count it, FIVE medications. They French give out medicine like candy here, no joke. But hey! They helped! Tuesday I had Romantisme (meh) and after I had Cinema where we watched a horrible, horrible French film that I wish he would have warned us about because it was quite graphic. I am not liking these French films so far, they are completely different than American films, and often just end *poof* when you least expect it. Oh, and they are usually really sad or disturbing. I don't get it. This is my friends cinema course ever...maybe I should have taken one in English before attempting this class because symbolism and such goes right over my head. Wednesday was Theatre, and I came home to pack for SWEDEN, which I had to take my lovely carry on bag to Victor Hugo's house the next morning for Romantisme. He had quite a large estate situated near/in my favorite part of Paris - Le Marais! I actually was quite interested in visiting his house and they still have everything he used while living there including his stand-up desk where he wrote EVERYTHING. He could only write standing up. Fun fact: Victor Hugo slept with over 1000 woman - woah there Hugo. He was the Benjamin Franklin of France! Another fun fact: He wrote at least 12 letters a day - A DAY. If you know Victor Hugo (well not personally, duh, but his style) he is not one to keep things quick and short. he is like J.R.R. Tolkien and will spend 25 pages describing something - literally. That is a lot of writing in one day. Also he almost always wrote a love letter to his wife. I want my husband to write me love letters everyday, but he does not get to sleep with over 1000 woman. Sorry. Sad fact: His poor daughter drowned after falling out of a boat shortly after her marriage. I think Hugo might have been nearby to see it? (not sure) but she was his prized possession, and his writing became much darker and sadder after this point in his life. So sad. Ok, sorry I found this to be very interesting but you readers may not - but HEY MOM AND DAD see I am learning something! After Romantisme was the class that shall not be named (Contemporary Literature *shudder*) I dislike this class with a passion, but I got to leave halfway to catch the metro/bus to
SWEDEN!!!!!! Okay the metro/bus didn't go to Sweden, obviously, but the metro took me to the bus station, which would take me to Beauvais Airport, which would take me to SWEDEN! There were definitely some hitches though...I arrived 45 minutes before everyone else...so I walked outside and sat at a bus-stop for 40 minutes until heading back to the metro station to meet the others. I was greeted my Kirsten, and Alla 5 minutes later. The time is 5:00. The bus to Beauvais leaves at 5:35. We were still waiting for Maya and Mari. We get a call from Mari...she forgot her boarding pass. Oh. God. Miraculously, Maya prints it off and is here by 5:20, but where is Mari? We can't reach her! 5:26 she gets off the metro and we BOOK it to the bus station to buy our ticket. We get the last 5 seats on the bus (omg!) The bus ride to Beauvais is 1hour 20 minutes, aka awful. We get to Beauvais, they lie to me about buying water to get my money so I have to chug it at security, and finally we just have to wait to board the plane. While queing to enter the plane celebrity style (we walked up stairs to enter the plane, and walked down stairs to exit the plane) we 
asked this cute couple to take a picture of the 5 of us (Maya, Alla, Mari, Kristen, and I.) They ended up actually being from Stockholm and had been travelling for the past 3 months and were our ages exactly! We took Ryan Air, which I am never taking again - it is soooo not worth it, so we get to choose our own seating, so the cute couple, Kristofer and Maja, sat across the isle from Alla and I and made a list of things for us to do in Sweden! We finally land in Sweden (MOTHERLAND!) but there is catch, we have to take another 80 minute bus to Stockholm. No worries, we talked with Kristofer & Maja the entire way, about anything and everything and Kristofer invites us to see the Sweden hockey game on Saturday. Sooo nice! We exchanged numbers, emails, and facebooks and then parted our ways. We were all extermely exhausted and don't have a map of Sweden, so we just take a cab to our hotel.
asked this cute couple to take a picture of the 5 of us (Maya, Alla, Mari, Kristen, and I.) They ended up actually being from Stockholm and had been travelling for the past 3 months and were our ages exactly! We took Ryan Air, which I am never taking again - it is soooo not worth it, so we get to choose our own seating, so the cute couple, Kristofer and Maja, sat across the isle from Alla and I and made a list of things for us to do in Sweden! We finally land in Sweden (MOTHERLAND!) but there is catch, we have to take another 80 minute bus to Stockholm. No worries, we talked with Kristofer & Maja the entire way, about anything and everything and Kristofer invites us to see the Sweden hockey game on Saturday. Sooo nice! We exchanged numbers, emails, and facebooks and then parted our ways. We were all extermely exhausted and don't have a map of Sweden, so we just take a cab to our hotel.
Our hotel is NOT a hotel...it is more like a dorm... the beds were tiny and we were sneaking 5 people into a 3 person bedroom. Yeah... the floors were ice cold tile, so people couldnt even sleep on the floor. Alla and I became close friends that night haha because we had to share a bed. We both didn't get much sleep, but Sweden is an adventure! The next morning, Friday, we got up early to make breakfast (hey we at least got breakfast!) and then headed out for a verrrrry long day. We decided to walk to Old Town, which is literally the Old Town of Stockholm, in the heart of the city. Stockholm is a very pretty city, it has a European feel, but almost a Eastern European feel (from what I have seen in pictures of Eastern Europe, or how I perceive Eastern Europe considering I have never been there) the colors are much different than western Europe, and there are some major architectural differences. I loved it! Paris is very clean cut, lots of whites, greys, baiges, marble, stone, with black accents. In Sweden, buildings were red, yellow, orange, yellow, (as you can see in the picture) it was very cool. After visiting old town, we walked to the the greatest view of Stockholm...supposedly. We got a little lost and didn't know exactly how we were supposed to get up to this "great view." We did lots of backtracking, and climbing of stairs, but we found our own "great view" and it was beautiful, despite being a dreary day. After walking around some more, we grabbed lunch at this building, which I still do not know, and we all had some MEAT! The French, don't eat 
a lot of meat, certainly not every meal, and not everyday. We all ordered this steak thing, with cheese in the middle (no joke!) and smothered in gravy with potatoes on the side. OH AND SALAD WITH RANCH DRESSING! I miss ranch dressing. It was soooo good and a nice step up from a sandwich! After getting our fill, we take a hike around the city, we literally walked around the entire city because the Baltic Sea, gets in the way of a straight path to where we are going and they don't have a bridge, to visit the open air museum. Fun fact: (I am just full of them today!) Stockholm had the first open air museum in the world! It is also one of the largest! It was called "Skansen" I joked that if you put a "W" and an "I' ("Wi") in front of it, it was just like being home! Get it...WiSkansen..Wisconsin...Ok I will stop. It was actually really neat. They took really old things from all around Sweden, like farms, shops, mills, ruins, etc. and placed them on display in this museum. Sweden is known for their glass blowing, and I had never seen that before, so we walked into a shop and BAM they were sitting there blowing glass! It was really neat. We then walked to a shop that had a pretzel hanging above it - YES A BAKERY! They were selling traditional pastries, using an old stove from the early something-100's. After, we 
passed a traditional little kids park...and of course we could not help but play in it for a little while. I mean come on, who passes that up! Up next: THE ANIMALS! Why yes they have animals at Skansen too! They have Bison, and Lynx', and BEARS oh my! And Elk, aka MOOSE! Moose are important, please keep note of this. They also have the furriest little ponies/horse ever. Like shaggier than a Clydesdale...I have never seen anything like it. They also have wolves, which I absolutely adore, but they were not into us that day. We howled at them...they just stared and laid back down. Sad day. Sweden also apparently has WOLVERINES! None of us have EVER seen a wolverine so we were soooo excited to see one (hello Logan?! X-Men reference, just laugh). We looked, and nothing was there. Where was it! Then this toy/food comes flying out of a cave followed by asquirrel? Wait that is the wolverine? It was tiny! Ok, not as tiny as a squirrel, but still smaller than I expected! It was about the size of a lynx I think, but I still got to see a wolverine so that was cool. After the animals, 
the park was getting ready to shut down, so we ran to the gift shop and I got myself a traditional horse that they hand paint and create right there at Skansen! Sweden is very famous for these horses as well. The picture to the right is what they look like, but don't worry I am not lugging THAT thing home, I got a small miniature horse! It was just a really cool experience to know this is where part of my ancestry comes from and I got to learn a little bit more about our history (not my family's per se) but general Swedish history. I never thought I would have the chance to come to Sweden, and I am so glad I did!
the park was getting ready to shut down, so we ran to the gift shop and I got myself a traditional horse that they hand paint and create right there at Skansen! Sweden is very famous for these horses as well. The picture to the right is what they look like, but don't worry I am not lugging THAT thing home, I got a small miniature horse! It was just a really cool experience to know this is where part of my ancestry comes from and I got to learn a little bit more about our history (not my family's per se) but general Swedish history. I never thought I would have the chance to come to Sweden, and I am so glad I did!After Skansen, we weren't finished yet! (like I said longest day ever!) we walked around some more and went to get dinner...and a Greek place no less, and after 
we went to ICE BAR STOCKHOLM! It is a bar...made entirely out of ice...from Stockholm. How. Cool. Literally and figuratively! We had to wear these ridiculous, giant parkas and mittens before we were allowed inside, because it is always kept at around 28 degrees Fahrenheit. It was actually a really neat experience! Most people are like why the heck would you want to go to an ice bar?! For the experience! Everyone is dressed up in ridiculous, blue parkas, dancing around trying to keep warm, and drinking from ice cups. Who wouldn't want to do that?! We lasted the full 40 minutes, because you are given a 40 minute slot, and last 5 more minutes before we decided we had to go. We walked, yes more walking, to our hotel and passed out for the night. I got my own this night woo! We literally walked around the entire city of Stockholm, possibly more than once. Easily 7 miles? give or take? No wonder why my pants were falling down at the end of the day - woo!
we went to ICE BAR STOCKHOLM! It is a bar...made entirely out of ice...from Stockholm. How. Cool. Literally and figuratively! We had to wear these ridiculous, giant parkas and mittens before we were allowed inside, because it is always kept at around 28 degrees Fahrenheit. It was actually a really neat experience! Most people are like why the heck would you want to go to an ice bar?! For the experience! Everyone is dressed up in ridiculous, blue parkas, dancing around trying to keep warm, and drinking from ice cups. Who wouldn't want to do that?! We lasted the full 40 minutes, because you are given a 40 minute slot, and last 5 more minutes before we decided we had to go. We walked, yes more walking, to our hotel and passed out for the night. I got my own this night woo! We literally walked around the entire city of Stockholm, possibly more than once. Easily 7 miles? give or take? No wonder why my pants were falling down at the end of the day - woo!The next morning (omg this blog continues!?) we got up for breakfast again, and headed to Old Town to go to the Royal Palace to see the changing of the guard. The weather was MUCH better this day. It was sunny and gorgeous...although the wind was quite chilly. So we lined up, we were one of the first ones, and waited 45 minutes to see the changing of the guards. It suddenly got a lotttt colder in those 45 minutes, and the changing of the guard was about 20 minutes. After the changing of the guard we ran into the palace for warmth, and to do a tour. We started in the Treasury and got an English tour (woo!) They have crowns, swords, and thrones dating back to the 1100's! And everything in the treasury is still used today! It is the only monarchy that still uses these things. The monarchy has no real power, just like in England, but it is still a very important part of Swedish society. The crowns were absolutely beautiful. One had over 600 diamonds in it. YES SIX HUNDRED. Crazy! After the treasury tour, we ran to the "Royal Chambers" and did a tour through the portion of the palace that tourists are allowed to see. It is called the "Versailles of the North" because the architect absolutely adored Versailles, but he made it his own way. The marbles are all Swedish marble, so it is darker inside than Versailles. I learned a lot, but I won't bore you with the details (this blog is WAYYY to long as it is) but it was really fascinating! Throughout the tour, Kristofer & Maja (remember them?) tried to reach us, but Alla's phone was on silent, so we contacted him and met up at this restaurant. Unfortunately it was 3:30, and the hockey game was at 4, so he decided to watch it at a bar, and we decided to eat some traditional Swedish food because we were starving, so we went our separate ways...for the time being. We went to this cute little restaurant in Old Town, and got ourselves some SWEDISH MEATBALLS.
We had to, we were in Sweden! They were sooooo good. And lingenberries in Sweden are 10 times better than lingenberries in the U.S. I LOVED THEM. They are also super good if you mix them with potatoes. I do not eat potatoes unless fried or mashed, but with the lingenberries I gobbled them up. Delicious! If only there was Swedish sausage...but apparently that is considered a "cheap meal" in Sweden. Whodathunk Dad? We literally had a 3 hour lunch and then decided to walk the streets of Old Town for some souvenirs, because obviously I hadn't bought enough already (I had 1 horse, 2 gifts, 1 shot gloss, and 3 post cards at this point) Kirsten and I had been searching for a true Swedish flag all weekend. Most of the stores sold this cheap looking blue & yellow flag, that wasn't the true blue of Sweden. We finally found a store that had a real flag. I couldn't pass it up! It is going up on my wall in my apartment next year - so excited! After, we decided to start heading towards our hotel, and possibly stop at a pub along the way. While we were crossing the bridge one last time from Old Town we all looked up and saw the most breath-taking view of Sweden. I attempted to capture it (located in the first picture at the top) but this picture does not do it justice. This was the moment we all fell in love with Sweden. A man was playing beautiful music on his guitar nearby, the weather was wonderful, everything was peaceful and serene. It was amazing. After 15 minutes of taking it all in and taking a gazillion pictures we start to head back when Kristofer texted us! He wanted to meet us at a pub and hang out with us for a little bit, and the night was young so why not! We hopped on the metro - SO NICE! 100x better than Paris' metro - and went to his district of Stockholm and went to a "cheap pub" for a drink. After the drink, we went back to Kristofer's apartment to meet his family - soooo nice! We hung out there and he showed us some awesome Swedish music and we hung out for awhile until heading to his friend Harry's apartment to hang out. In hindsight it probably sounds like a bad idea but there were 5 of us and we had never felt safer. He introduced us to his parents for goodness sake! Swedish people are also the safest people in the world - you think I am joking but I am not. There are no guns, and the only "crime" in Sweden is from immigrants who move to Sweden and have problems with other immigrants. Crazy isn't it?! So yes, we went to Harry's, or as we called him Harry Potter because he loves 
Harry Potter and started whipping out spells. It was amazing. He even let us draw a scar on him - which I am not too sure if you can see on him, he is on my left, and Kristofer is on my right. Anyways, the night progresses on and we realize there is no point going back to the hotel and sleeping since our bus left for the airport at 5:00 so we decided to hang out with Kristofer, Harry, and Harry's friend Rubin for the rest of the night (Maja couldn't come because her friends took her out because they hadn't seen her in 3 months, sad but understandable) and we just started taking pictures galore. Hence, how moose came out. We would take 3 to 5 pics on a timer and on the last one Alla would shout "MOOSE!" and we would all put our hands on our heads line antlers. Funfact: Moose figurines and stuffed animals are EVERYWHERE around Sweden. She was fascinated by this fact, hence always calling moose. It became the joke and phrase of the trip, and by the end of the night even all the guys were 
yelling moose when we took a picture. It was ridiculous, fun, and one of the best nights I have had in Europe so far. At 3:30am we thought it probably would be a good idea if we get going back to the hotel to get our stuff, so the boys walk us to the bus stop and take us to our stop, then Rubin walked us back to the hotel and waited until we got our stuff, then snuck us onto the metro (oops I did something illegal in Sweden - I jumped a turnstyle...with a suitcase. Gotta live a little! Sorry mom & dad) And got us safely to the spot where we had to catch the bus. We actually were quite early and caught the 4:30 bus...that left at 4:50am and got to Skavsta airport in no time. We were allll exhausted and drained, and just ready to go home to our beds at this point, but we all agreed this was the best weekend ever. I will have memories that last me a lifetime. We are so lucky to have meet such nice Swedes, Kristofer and Maja, who were so willing to help us and wanted us to have a good representation of their city and country. Most Parisian's are not like that. I don't think we would ever get such an experience in Paris, but hey maybe I am wrong. All I know is I definitely want to go back to Sweden.
We had to, we were in Sweden! They were sooooo good. And lingenberries in Sweden are 10 times better than lingenberries in the U.S. I LOVED THEM. They are also super good if you mix them with potatoes. I do not eat potatoes unless fried or mashed, but with the lingenberries I gobbled them up. Delicious! If only there was Swedish sausage...but apparently that is considered a "cheap meal" in Sweden. Whodathunk Dad? We literally had a 3 hour lunch and then decided to walk the streets of Old Town for some souvenirs, because obviously I hadn't bought enough already (I had 1 horse, 2 gifts, 1 shot gloss, and 3 post cards at this point) Kirsten and I had been searching for a true Swedish flag all weekend. Most of the stores sold this cheap looking blue & yellow flag, that wasn't the true blue of Sweden. We finally found a store that had a real flag. I couldn't pass it up! It is going up on my wall in my apartment next year - so excited! After, we decided to start heading towards our hotel, and possibly stop at a pub along the way. While we were crossing the bridge one last time from Old Town we all looked up and saw the most breath-taking view of Sweden. I attempted to capture it (located in the first picture at the top) but this picture does not do it justice. This was the moment we all fell in love with Sweden. A man was playing beautiful music on his guitar nearby, the weather was wonderful, everything was peaceful and serene. It was amazing. After 15 minutes of taking it all in and taking a gazillion pictures we start to head back when Kristofer texted us! He wanted to meet us at a pub and hang out with us for a little bit, and the night was young so why not! We hopped on the metro - SO NICE! 100x better than Paris' metro - and went to his district of Stockholm and went to a "cheap pub" for a drink. After the drink, we went back to Kristofer's apartment to meet his family - soooo nice! We hung out there and he showed us some awesome Swedish music and we hung out for awhile until heading to his friend Harry's apartment to hang out. In hindsight it probably sounds like a bad idea but there were 5 of us and we had never felt safer. He introduced us to his parents for goodness sake! Swedish people are also the safest people in the world - you think I am joking but I am not. There are no guns, and the only "crime" in Sweden is from immigrants who move to Sweden and have problems with other immigrants. Crazy isn't it?! So yes, we went to Harry's, or as we called him Harry Potter because he loves 
Harry Potter and started whipping out spells. It was amazing. He even let us draw a scar on him - which I am not too sure if you can see on him, he is on my left, and Kristofer is on my right. Anyways, the night progresses on and we realize there is no point going back to the hotel and sleeping since our bus left for the airport at 5:00 so we decided to hang out with Kristofer, Harry, and Harry's friend Rubin for the rest of the night (Maja couldn't come because her friends took her out because they hadn't seen her in 3 months, sad but understandable) and we just started taking pictures galore. Hence, how moose came out. We would take 3 to 5 pics on a timer and on the last one Alla would shout "MOOSE!" and we would all put our hands on our heads line antlers. Funfact: Moose figurines and stuffed animals are EVERYWHERE around Sweden. She was fascinated by this fact, hence always calling moose. It became the joke and phrase of the trip, and by the end of the night even all the guys were 
yelling moose when we took a picture. It was ridiculous, fun, and one of the best nights I have had in Europe so far. At 3:30am we thought it probably would be a good idea if we get going back to the hotel to get our stuff, so the boys walk us to the bus stop and take us to our stop, then Rubin walked us back to the hotel and waited until we got our stuff, then snuck us onto the metro (oops I did something illegal in Sweden - I jumped a turnstyle...with a suitcase. Gotta live a little! Sorry mom & dad) And got us safely to the spot where we had to catch the bus. We actually were quite early and caught the 4:30 bus...that left at 4:50am and got to Skavsta airport in no time. We were allll exhausted and drained, and just ready to go home to our beds at this point, but we all agreed this was the best weekend ever. I will have memories that last me a lifetime. We are so lucky to have meet such nice Swedes, Kristofer and Maja, who were so willing to help us and wanted us to have a good representation of their city and country. Most Parisian's are not like that. I don't think we would ever get such an experience in Paris, but hey maybe I am wrong. All I know is I definitely want to go back to Sweden.Ok this blog is wayyyy to long so I will stop. Next blog is about Fontainebleau & Vaux-le-Vicomte! Still gotta wait for Barcelona, sorry. Until then AU REVOIR!!!
