Tandem bicycling around Ven!

August 19, 2015August 19, 2015 / Caitlin / Leave a comment

Last month, Christopher’s parents invited us as well as Christopher’s sister and her boyfriend to join them on Ven. Ven is a tiny Swedish island in the Öresund strait between Sweden and Denmark and it is absolutely beautiful.

We started the day by taking a ferry from Landskrona to the island. During the summer, ferries also depart from Råå and Copenhagen. We’ve had a pretty cold summer this year and the trip on the ferry was chilly, but we were lucky enough to have a warm, sunny day once we arrived. Then, we rented tandem bikes and took a relaxing tour around the island. It’s so cute and quaint! I think anyone that’s visiting the Southern Sweden/Copenhagen area should spend a day here.

Gusten and Johanna looking like pros!

Tony and Marika on our leisurely ride

Tandem bike selfie!

This was my first time riding a tandem bike and it was so fun! I thought it was really easy and since Christopher was driving, I could look at all the scenery. Turns out, it was so easy because I apparently wasn’t pedaling hard enough. As we were headed up one of the hills, Christopher asked if could pedal a little harder. I was just kind of going with the flow and didn’t realize I was supposed to put effort into my pedaling… oops! I was wondering why it was so easy! The poor guy was basically biking us both around for the first 20 minutes.

Working on our tans

One of Tycho Brahe’s observatories

We took a break near some of the island’s museums and one of it’s two observatories built by Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe in the late 1500s. Next, we stopped by St. Ibbs’s Church, which is the oldest church on the island and was built in the 1200s. It’s located on top of a hill with beautiful panoramic views of the cliffs along the coastline and the little village below. The gravestones in the church yard were several hundred years old and even included the person’s occupation. We also came across an alpaca farm and had a great time trying to feed and pet them. Finally, had a nice lunch right next to the water.

View from St. Ibb’s Church towards Denmark

St. Ibb’s Church

There’s also a whiskey distillery that we didn’t get a chance to visit. It’s called the Spirit of Hven (the Danish spelling of Ven) and they have guided tours, whiskey tastings, a restaurant, hotel and spa. Despite being a domestic alcohol, it’s actually quite expensive in the liquor stores here- so be prepared to pay a lot to experience the distillery.

Ven is a little paradise to get away from it all. I can’t wait to visit again and spend a night or a weekend in one of the rental cabins. It’s someplace that I want to bring my family to when we’re all in Helsingborg! Thanks for a wonderful day Marika and Tony!

Our new friend!

Family Eurotrip Part 3- Helsingborg

April 26, 2015 / Caitlin / Leave a comment

After a 7 month hiatus, I think it’s about time I started writing blog posts again. Of course, I conveniently took a long break between what was meant to be a ‘series’ of posts about our Eurotrip from last summer. Here’s the final post and hopefully I’ll remember what in the heck we did.

After Erin and John went back to Boston, Mom came to Helsingborg with us for a few days. There was so much that we wanted to do with her, but we only actually did a couple things. First things first, we took my mom on her first trip to Ikea (priorities, am I right?!). She loved it! How can you not? Those little decorated rooms and kitchens are the best! For the record, I’m not being sarcastic. I try to convince Christopher to go to Ikea at any opportunity. Anyways, we bought a pie tin so my mom and I could make a practice pumpkin pie for our Thanksgiving dinner. We ended our trip with an Ikea cinnamon bun and a coffee; it was perfect!

On our one sunny day that Mom was in town, we took her to Sofiero. It’s a beautiful castle just north of downtown Helsingborg where the royal family used to vacation in the summer. The royals don’t hang out here anymore, but the castle grounds are home to one of the largest, most beautiful collections of flowers I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, we missed all of the rhododendrons, but there were plenty of other flowers blooming.

We also had a lovely dinner at Christopher’s parents house. Christopher’s mom made some kind of stew that I can still remember exactly how good it tasted to this day. It was delicious! We ate my practice Thanksgiving pumpkin pie for dessert and everyone seemed to really enjoy it! For those of you wondering, pumpkin pie is hardly eaten anywhere in the world outside of North America. After dinner, we played some Wii bowling and with no prior experience, my mom crushed us all. The same thing happened to me the first time I played with Christopher’s family, I somehow won twice! Anyone who remembers my CM bowling days knows I certainly wasn’t the MVP. I remember it was practically a miracle if I bowled over 100.

I’m pretty sure my pie looked like this Martha Stewart one. Just kidding, mine looked better.

The visit was short but sweet and soon it was time for my mom to head home. I’m so glad she was able to meet Christopher’s family and see where we live!

Family Eurotrip Part 2- Deutschland, ja!

September 26, 2014 / Caitlin / Leave a comment

First stop in Munich: the world famous Hofbräuhaus. Not only is it home to one of Munich’s oldest breweries, this is seriously the largest restaurant I’ve ever been to. We walked into the massive dining hall on the first floor and were greeted by wait staff in lederhosen and a full German band. I was in heaven! We enjoyed lots of really amazing food and beer and of course, made a trip to the gift shop for a one liter stein for Christopher.

On our first full day in Munich, we went to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. Of course, it was an incredibly somber and sad experience, but I think everyone should visit a concentration camp if given the opportunity. It’s so important to remember what happened during the Holocaust and make sure it never happens again. We learned that Dachau was one of the first concentration camps and unlike the majority of later camps, the public knew it existed. It was advertised in the paper as a labor camp that rehabilitated people who didn’t agree with the government. Although people didn’t know specifically what was happening at Dachau, they knew they didn’t want to end up there. The site included specific memorials for Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and Russian Orthodox prisoners. In addition to Jewish prisoners, Dachau had many Germans who were communist or socialist, Roman Catholic priests from Poland, and an unknown number of captured Russian POWs. Walking around the grounds and remembering what happened there, it’s impossible to not be moved and saddened by all the lives that were lost and families that were affected by the Holocaust.

Our second day in Munich (and the last day of the vacation), John and Erin went to the BMW Museum in the morning while Christopher, mom and I walked around Munich on our own. We went to a farmer’s market and checked out a few churches. Christopher went up the 303 steps to the top of St. Peter’s Church to get some awesome photos of the city while mom and I waited to meet our tour guide below (plus our legs were going to fall off by this point in the trip). The five of us met up again and went on an awesome walking tour of the city. Our tour guide took us to specific sites around the city that were significant to the rise of the Nazi party and the beginning of WWII. We learned that Hitler gave many speeches at Hofbräuhaus and it was a big Nazi hang out. I thought back to our awesome table in the second floor bay window our first night and was hoping that wasn’t Hitler’s usual spot, and luckily it wasn’t. We saw the SS headquarters and a large town square where a lot of Nazi rallies were held. Each person was required to do the Nazi salute when they were walking by this building; guards were stationed nearby to make sure everyone was doing this. But the people of Munich discovered a back alley, aptly nicknamed Dodger’s Alley, and chose to walk this way to avoid saluting. Our guide said that Munichers don’t like to talk about their city’s dark history, but they are really proud of Dodger’s Alley (photo with the gold line on the street) and their small acts of defiance. We wrapped up the trip with a walk to the English Gardens and dinner at Ratskeller in Marienplatz…. and a selfie photo shoot.

The next day, Erin and John flew back to Boston 😦 But the trip wasn’t done yet for Mom; she joined Christopher and I in Helsingborg!

Family Eurotrip Part 1- hashtagwheninrome

September 19, 2014September 26, 2014 / Caitlin / Leave a comment

On August 30th, Christopher and I flew to Rome to meet up with my mom, sister Erin, and her boyfriend John. They had spent the previous few days in Paris and then we joined them for the next two cities: Rome and Munich!

Rome was huge, beautiful and full of really amazing food. My only regret was that we had gelato 3 times- we should have gotten it much more but there was no room left in any one’s stomachs.

For our first day, we took a train about 30 minutes outside of Rome to Ostia Antica. The archaeological ruins date back to the 4th century B.C. and most of the remains that we saw were from the 3rd century B.C. I was astonished at the complexity of their society; there were bars, shops, a 3 story apartment complex, a coliseum, a town Forum along with a lot of houses and bathhouses with really intricate mosaic tile floors. Also, I didn’t even know this while we were touring the site, but the oldest known synagogue in Europe was unearthed in the 1950s. The town’s population peaked in the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. at about 100,000 people. Despite is seeming huge when we were walking around, that would be a lot of people for a city its size. Afterwards, we headed to the Mediterranean to have some lunch on the water and relax.

The next day was pretty rainy so we had a lazy morning and then went to check out the Trevi Fountain and do the Ponte Sisto stroll. It was actually pretty unfortunate because a lot of the sites were under construction while we were there, including the Trevi Fountain. I guess we’ll just have to go back and see them all again! All of the piazzas were so beautiful and it seemed there was something ancient and amazing around every corner! Once we finished the Ponte Sisto stroll and crossed the bridge, we did some more exploring and stopped for some drinks. On our way back, we stumbled upon this magnificent white building, which we later found out was Altare della Patria. Every day kind of runs together in terms of food, but I believe this is the day I had black truffle risotto for dinner. It was by far the greatest meal of the trip.

Saving the best for last!

On day 3, we went to Vatican City to tour the Vatican Museum (3rd largest museum in the world!), the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. We took a guided tour, which was excellent, since this museum would take weeks to go through otherwise. There was just room upon room of sculptures, paintings, tapestries and anything else you can imagine. I’ve never seen so much marble in my life! We learned that all of the pieces of art included backgrounds of the cities they were made in. For example, the Roman art included the Pantheon in the background, which was never in Jerusalem. Meanwhile. the tapestries that were made in Brussels featured Gothic architecture. Next up was the Sistine Chapel… I can’t even describe it to you but if you ever get the chance to go to Rome, you need to see it. It’s incredible! Finally, we ended the tour in St. Peter’s Basilica. It is MASSIVE!! It’s home to Pietà, Michelangelo’s most famous sculpture. There were little chapels in every corner of the place! Some had tombs of royalty who were persecuted for their religion, some had mummified popes (which you could see through glass and that was actually pretty creepy). There were no paintings in the buildings, only very large mosaics, so you could photograph everything!

During our metro ride home, a couple of very small kids (probably between 7 and 12) abruptly got on the train and pushed a lot of us around. My initial thought was, wow, that was rude but I had no idea what was going on. At the next stop, the kids got off the train and a young man kicked something off the train as he was getting off. He picked it up and turned back to the train asking many times, “Is this anyone’s wallet?” At first I thought it was Christopher’s, but his wallet was in my mom’s purse. At the last second before the doors closed, a man finally recognized it and took it back. He looked baffled and an Italian woman kept saying, “control it, control it” (still don’t know what that means) and the man opened his wallet to find all of the cash stolen. When we got off the train, we were all discussing what had happened. Apparently, one of the kids put their hand on Christopher’s arm and starting moving their hand down towards his pocket. Luckily, his had was holding onto his phone and when he gave them the evil eye, they moved on. I had heard about the gypsies and pick pockets in Rome, (that’s why you’ll see me sporting my “Just try and rob me” pose in every picture with my bag in front of me and my hand securely on it) but it was crazy to actually witness it.

On our final day in Rome, we toured the Roman Forum, Palantine Hill and the Colosseum. Our guide explained that modern Rome was built up around these ruins and we had to go to deeper “layers, like a lasagna” to see what archaeologists had discovered. Once Christianity took hold and the Roman Empire fell, basically anything pagan related was destroyed and the parts were reused by ordinary people to build their homes or sell to rich families. The only Roman Empire era buildings to survive were later designated as churches and could therefore not be harmed (this is why the Pantheon is still standing today). Next we went to Palantine Hill, where the emperors built their palaces. Each new emperor would either add on to the previous one’s palace or built an entirely new one. One emperor in particular built himself a huge palace with three swimming pools and his own private stadium where he would watch gladiators fight. Our last major landmark was the Colosseum. The building is an architectural feat and the it’s size just takes your breath away. We learned that people had their favorite gladiators and would bet on them, so often times gladiators would be taken from the arena so they wouldn’t die in front of the audience. There was a complex network of rooms and corridors underneath the stage (which is now exposed) which is where animals and gladiators were kept, taken care of by doctors, and generally died from infections from their injuries. Crazy!

We had such an awesome time in Rome! I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss the sites, the food, and most of all, the company. Next stop- Munich!

Adventures in SFI

July 29, 2014 / Caitlin / 2 Comments

After a couple months of arranging all the necessary administrative tasks when moving to a new country (residency card, person number, ID card), I was able to register for SFI or Swedish for Immigrants. SFI is a free language class provided by the Swedish government to aid in the integration process. I currently go to class for three hours every morning, Monday through Friday.

Even though I couldn’t wait to start taking classes, I was really nervous for my first day. From everything that I read, classes would be conducted entirely in Swedish. This isn’t my first time learning a foreign language, but it would be the first time that things wouldn’t be explained in English if the class was struggling to understand. Also, Swedes have the highest proficiency in English as a second language in all of Europe so this would truly be the first time that I would not be able to communicate with people. At all.

The first thing the teacher had me do on my first day was introduce myself to the class, in Swedish of course. I also said where I came from (which seemed to shock a couple of my classmates) and how long I’d been in Sweden. One by one, my classmates introduced themselves; they were from Serbia, Morocco, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Chechnya. I was the only one from an English speaking country and probably the only one whose native tongue uses the same letters as Swedish. I can’t imagine how much more difficult that would make learning a new language.

Several of my classmates were still confused about my native country after my introduction. I can’t blame them, I was speaking so softly I’m pretty sure only the people sitting next to me could hear what I said. I was asked almost every day by a different student where I was from and I would always say USA with the Swedish pronunciation of the letters. One day, several students came up to me and asked if I was from Russia (or I think that’s what they were asking). I showed them the map of the world in our classroom and pointed out the US and they said yes, Russia. I suppose they are both big countries in the Northern Hemisphere, but I finally just said United States. Then everyone understood: Oh! United States! Obama! You speak English? And now half the class has nicknamed me United Nations….

The young woman from Iraq, who sits across from me in class, was very kind to me during my first week and we’ve become friends. She would explain the worksheets and ask to check my work when I finished. We discovered that we live on the same street when we were practicing writing our addresses! Sometimes after class, we talk for a little bit. Mostly it’s her speaking Swedish and me understanding, but not knowing enough Swedish to respond. So then I write my responses into Google translate and she reads them. Unfortunately, Google translate betrays me frequently; I once asked her how long she’s lived in Sweden and she responded by telling me that the winters are very cold. A lot gets lost in translation during our conversations, but friendship is a universal language.

A lot of times in class, students work on assignments together. Generally, students with similar first languages will work together so everyone completes their assignments. I’m on my own in that respect, but I’ve been able to handle the worksheets without outside help. Last week, I had just finished a practice test when a couple of students said “Titta! Titta!” to me, which meant they wanted to look at my paper. I handed over my test thinking they were going to compare their answers to mine to make sure they were on the right track. Instead, one student took out her phone and took pictures of each page of my practice test and started copying my answers. Umm, what exactly is going on here?? My blood was boiling and my face was hot! I need to illustrate this further:

This wasn’t the first time in my life someone tried copying my work, but I’ve never seen someone be so brazen about it! And since the beginning of time, I’ve HATED people cheating on schoolwork, especially if they’re trying to cheat off of me. They handed my test back and said “Jättebra!” meaning great! I couldn’t say a word. This unfortunately began a new trend among some students. They would just reach across the table, say “titta” and try to take my worksheets. It took me about a week, but I finally refused enough and instead tried to explain in my broken Swedish what to do. Now, the one who photographed my test has started to do the worksheets on her own and then show me when she’s done. I try to go over any mistakes with her, but it’s mostly me underlining certain words and trying to explain why that affects the spelling of other words later in the sentence. Of course, I’m explaining in English so who knows how helpful I actually am.

I really enjoy being in school again and having somewhere to be every day. Swedish isn’t an easy language to learn, mostly because it sounds very different from English. You’d be surprised how difficult it is to say some words when you’ve never used those particular sounds or tones before. Hopefully the frequency and length of the classes will make me a pro in no time, otherwise I’ll just resort to writing notes in Swedish like a middle schooler 😉

A Birthday Abroad

July 18, 2014 / Caitlin / Leave a comment

I really love birthdays, especially my own. I’m the person who counts down every month until the next year’s big day (for example, “It’s my 27 and 7 month birthday!” I’m sure some old co-workers are chuckling because I’ve actually said these things). I generally plan some outrageously themed party (Michael Jackson, Vegas, Bastille Day) and have as much fun as possible. I knew this year would be different because I wouldn’t be planning anything and I’m in Sweden; the majority of my friends are on another continent. But I knew Christopher was up to something and it was going to be awesome.

Christopher planned my birthday weekend for what seemed like forever. He even emailed my mom 4 ideas to get her input and then conveniently told her on a Skype call that he chose idea #1. He might have enjoyed torturing me with no details as much as the actual weekend. I tried to fish for information, but his lips were sealed. He only jokingly said that we were going to have ABBA and Ace of Base over for a fika (coffee break). Seriously though, could someone make that happen??

It was finally Friday night of my birthday weekend. The only thing I had been told was that I needed to pack a bag before Christopher got home from work and “who knows if we’ll be at the apartment tonight.” Were we catching a late flight somewhere? Were we taking a night train to Stockholm or something? I needed to know! But I got nothin’. I just had to be ready the next morning by 7:30 a.m.

View from the train

We arrived at Helsingborg Central Station early Saturday morning and I was still clueless. Christopher didn’t even let me see which tickets he was buying! I figured it out when we got to the train platform. We were going to Gothenburg!! I jokingly said, “So we ARE meeting Ace of Base!” Christopher then told me we were going to spend the day at Liseberg (like Cedar Point or Valley Fair) with VIP tickets and Express Passes for 3 of the most popular rides!

Lisebergsbanan

View of the park from the Ferris wheel

Gothenburg!

View of our hotel from the Ferris wheel

After the two and half hour train ride, we checked into the hotel and headed to the park. The weather was perfect for us! We skipped all the lines to get into the park with our VIP tickets and started riding roller coasters right away. We had a blast! We rode a ton of rides, dominated the Terminator game in the arcade (we didn’t dominate at Dance Dance Revolution, though), drove bumper cars, rode the giant ferris wheel, and tried to win those unwinnable carnival games. And there were waffles.

My favorite ride of the day was Balder. It’s a big wooden coaster with a couple of really steep drops and lots of smaller, quick hills where you feel like your heart is in your throat. A close second was Helix, the brand new steel coaster that is absolutely insane. We must have spent at least half of the time upside down and I really think they were trying to get me to puke. With our Express Passes for those two rides, we waited a combined 8 minutes. It was awesome!

Balder!

Ferris wheel selfie 🙂

After many hours at the park, we headed back to the hotel. When we arrived at our room, there was a bottle of champagne on ice. Clearly, I won the best boyfriend lottery. We enjoyed our champagne and some pretzel sticks while watching the World Cup Bronze Match. It was a perfect, relaxing evening after a busy, fun-filled day!

But wait, there’s more! We had a special VIP brunch on the 23rd floor of the hotel before heading out to see Gothenburg. Since the weather wasn’t so nice, we headed to the mall to do some shopping and have a coffee before going to the bus station. I fell asleep almost immediately on the bus ride back to Helsingborg. It was such a fun, perfect weekend! I’m so grateful for Christopher and his family making my birthday here the best yet. And thank you to all my friends and family back home for the Skype calls and messages- you all know how to make a girl feel special!

I Survived… my first Swedish Midsommar

July 9, 2014 / Caitlin / Leave a comment

I’ve been putting off writing this post for awhile because the age old adage “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” comes to mind. Only my version is “What happens at a Midsommar party stays at a Midsommar party because I’ll never be able to accurately capture it in a blog post.” Basically you all need to come to Sweden one summer and experience it for yourselves.

Midsommar is kind of a big deal and Sweden’s YouTube channel put together a hilarious little tutorial for all of us newbies:

While we didn’t dance like frogs around a Maypole, we did play a game called the Pregnant Snake, in which you try to beat another team in a race with tennis balls wedged between each of your fellow teammates. It wouldn’t be Midsommar if we only played one game, so we put cardboard duck bills on our faces to give ourselves tunnel vision and tried to pick colored disks off the ground. I was the butler in a game called the King and the Butler, where I moved pieces of paper for the king to step on. Our team made the mistake of having me, the short person, moving the paper for the tall person. Finally, we also played the Swedish version baseball (shout out to the CM Rays softball team!)

The King and the Butler

All that playing really works up an appetite, so then we ate everything: potatoes, sandwich cake, herring, meatballs, some sort of cheese quiche, and my ultimate fave- prinskorv (prince sausage). During dinner, everyone sang songs and then took shots of Jäger, aquavit, vodka, etc. I took what I like to call “baby shots” which are essentially the tiniest sip known to man because I’m not the young gal I used to be and hangovers that start at 10 p.m. while you’re still out are real. My college friends reading this are probably shaking their heads in disbelief thinking, “Who are you and what have you done with C. Rose??” Anyways, these songs happened approximately every two minutes and were outrageously hilarious. I have a tendency to be a little gullible so when Christopher told me one song included the lyric “It’s hard to take a shot with a cock in your mouth” I thought, man, he really thinks he’s pulling a fast one on me. Alas, those were the actual lyrics.

We all had a great time eating, drinking and hanging out the rest of the night. I’d been looking forward to this party for so long and I had the best time! When asked by a friend if the U.S. had a holiday similar to Midsommar, I could only think of the Fourth of July, except when we get drunk we also blow stuff up. We decided it was a pretty American way to celebrate. It was weird seeing everyone celebrate the Fourth but if I have to miss that holiday, I will gladly replace it with an awesome Midsommar celebration!

As if this post wasn’t already interesting enough, I’ll leave you with this video of some Swedes from Caffeine Creations trying to make a midsommar cake whilst hooked up to an electrotherapy machine:

Our Trip to Turkey

June 17, 2014 / Caitlin / 2 Comments

As we were boarding the plane to Turkey, I was thinking to myself that only a three and a half hour flight and an hour bus ride could get us from a city with the same latitude as Ketchikan, Alaska to the coastal town of Side on the Mediterranean Sea. The ease of travel within Europe will never cease to amaze me. Upon our arrival in Side, we were greeted by Christopher’s parents who were waiting in our hotel lobby. They were leaving for Sweden the next morning so we had a very quick visit which included us getting lots of food, sunscreen and other goodies from them!

View from our hotel room

Side Beachwalk

We woke up to the 4:30a.m. call to prayer at the nearby mosque and a beautiful sea view from our room. After breakfast on the balcony, we headed to the beach. In a lot of the beach cities in Turkey (and perhaps elsewhere), if you agree to have lunch at a particular restaurant, you can use the sun beds on that part of the beach all day. And so the relaxing and eating commenced.

Nothing’s more relaxing than a beer on the beach

Our spot on the beach every day

Christopher’s family suggested we go to nearby restaurant called Golden Star. When they had visited Side more than a decade before, they had become friends with a server named James and they had run into him again on this trip. After all that time, they still recognized each other! On one of these trips, they had given James a CD and he still had the CD, 13 years later. When we went to Golden Star, Christopher spotted James right away. James showed me the CD and some pictures of Christopher and his family when he was about 15 years old. My first thought was, Wow, 15 year old Christopher was HOT (he still is)! Fifteen year old me would have totally told my girlfriends that I thought he was cute in hopes that they would tell his friends and then his friends would tell him 😉 Of course, my second thought was, how cool is it that James still has this CD? It’s really pretty amazing.

Not a bad view

Amazing sand sea turtle!

The next day, we left the beach early to check out downtown Side. This is what I had been waiting for- some ancient ruins! We saw the Temple of Apollo, the remains of an amphitheater and what appeared to be another nearby ancient structure. Downtown was also full of restaurants and stores where you could by almost anything. This was a great opportunity to see Christopher’s haggling skills. He found some white Converse All-Stars and I found a pair of turquoise sandals. Apparently, the salesman thought these Converses were worth 95 Turkish lira ($47.50USD). Well, that just wasn’t going to happen. After about 5 minutes, we ended up paying 80 Turkish lira ($40USD) for both pairs of shoes. Success!

The Temple of Apollo

Outside of the amphitheater

Some ancient ruins

This looks like an ancient ruins graveyard

One really old door…

We aren’t sure what this is, but it counts as ancient ruins

Downtown Side

I don’t want to bore you with all the details of our days (lay out, take a swim, read, play cards, repeat) so I’ll relay all of the really important information; everything we ate. Before almost every meal, we had delicious Turkish bread with tzatziki sauce and a Mediterranean tomato salsa. Seriously, this bread is what dreams are made of. Christopher, not surprisingly, had steak almost every night and it was always very delicious. I had a little bit of everything; lamb skewers, doner kebab, a burrito, meatballs, tortellini in a gorgonzola cream sauce. One night, after having a large burrito, I spotted the first dessert menu I had seen the entire trip. On it? Baklava. It didn’t matter that I was in pain I was so full. What kind of dessert loving woman would I be if I didn’t try the Turkish baklava?? Needless to say, I was extra full that night, but it was a great decision.

Turkish bread

One of our many food fests

Downtown Side in the distance

Gotta represent Ohio!!

Turkish baklava! nomnomnom

During our trip, I was constantly in awe of Turkey’s beauty. Not only was the Mediterranean breathtaking, as expected, there was a beautiful mountain range to the east of the city. I won’t pretend I had a clue about Turkey’s geography before I arrived, but I wasn’t expecting mountains. We also came across some of the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen. The colors were so rich, the petals were bursting with tropical pigments. I was also impressed that all these flowers survive in such a hot climate. I may have been a little jealous since I have a 50% success rate of keeping flowers alive in our apartment.

This photo probably doesn’t do these flowers justice

Gorgeous sunset!

I could get used to this…

Beautiful mountains in the distance

These flowers were my favorite of the trip

Before we knew it, Friday night had rolled around. It was our last night in Side and Turkish night at the Golden Star. In addition to our amazing dinner, we also had some amazing entertainment. There was a great belly dancer and Jimmy, one of James’ coworkers, who juggled bottles lit on fire. Things got a little PG-13 with Christopher and a couple of the other guys sitting in the audience when she pulled them up on stage. I have video proof, but they’ll never make it on this blog.

Jimmy juggling on Turkish night!

On our last day, we went to the mosque near our hotel. It was surrounded by a beautiful garden and a gazebo and had marble steps leading up to the entrance. The entire building was so intricately and and colorfully designed. We weren’t dressed appropriately, so we couldn’t take a look inside but I imagine it was also very beautiful.

As we took the bus ride back to the airport, I watched the mountains pass by and reflected on our amazing week. This will certainly be a trip I won’t soon forget!

Danish sausages, Swedish beer and Turkish vacations

May 22, 2014May 22, 2014 / Caitlin / 1 Comment

Not too long ago, most of my Minneapolis friends, Christopher and I were at Dangerous Man Brewing Co. (someone drink a chocolate milk stout for me!) and the topic of how expensive Sweden is came up. Some of my friends were shocked when Christopher said it was $30 to get a burger in a restaurant. I can assure you, he was not joking. Sweden is expensive!! Although, you’re all getting seriously ripped off on your cell phone plans.

On the weekends, we’re always looking for fun stuff to do that won’t break the bank. Last week, I did some research and found out that Helsingborgs Bryggeri (Helsingborg’s Brewery) was celebrating their 3rd anniversary with an open house! Success!! Something fun and free! I thought I was pretty sweet with my google skills, until I walked into the kitchen and realized there was a full page ad for the open house on the front cover of a weekly newspaper we get. Oh well, the ad was in Swedish so I needed my google search anyway.

We started the day in Denmark for one of Christopher’s friend’s birthday. It was so nice to meet some of Christopher’s friends and walk around Helsingør in the sunshine (we had several rainy days before the weekend). We couldn’t resist getting Danish sausages on the ferry ride back. I can’t describe how amazing they are other than I could eat them everyday.

Danish sausages

Next we went to the brewery! I was pretty pumped to check out where Helsingborg’s award winning beer is brewed. Plus, it kind of reminded me of being in Minneapolis. Some of you may be surprised to know that before I moved to Minneapolis I would have probably answered the question ‘What’s your favorite beer?’ with “Uhhhh, Bud Light I guess?’ I know, I’m semi-embarrassed just typing the words. Minneapolis is basically micro-brewery paradise. Who needs watered down mass produced crap when you have literally dozens of delicious micro-brews at your fingertips?

Slaughterhouse turned micro-brewery

We didn’t spend a lot of time at the brewery, but it was great! They had a food market, local artists displaying their work, live bands, and of course, tons of beer. It was such a lively atmosphere and I’m glad we went. I think a tour of the brewery might be in our future.

Perfect day for an open house

Nothing like a live band and a brew

Now, for some even more exciting stuff. Christopher and I leave on Saturday for Side, Turkey! I’m so excited I can hardly contain myself! This will be my first trip to Turkey and Christopher’s fifth. Despite how expensive Sweden is, the round-trip flight and a week at the hotel is costing me less than I paid to fly home for Thanksgiving last year… so that’s awesome! Christopher’s parents have been in Turkey the last two weeks and have sent us some spectacular pictures- thanks for sending these!

Hotel where we’ll be staying

Not only am I looking forward to soaking up the sun on a Southern Mediterranean beach, I’m just as excited to explore the ancient Greek city that dates back to 700 B.C. I mean, Alexander the Great used to occupy Side and the great ruins are among the most notable in Asia Minor. I’m counting down the minutes until I’m there!

Looks like paradise to me!

View from the Top

May 8, 2014 / Caitlin / 2 Comments

Last Saturday, Christopher and I went downtown to check out a festival near the harbor and do a little site-seeing. There are so many cool things to do and see in Helsingborg! It’s really fun to see everything together; I’m enjoying everything for the first time and Christopher has been lucky enough to live here his whole life. I just hope the Pro Football Hall of Fame can compare!

Downtown Helsingborg

I’ve been wanting to see Kärnan, a medieval tower, since I arrived. Kärnan is the only remaining part of a larger castle of Helsingborg and was built around 1310. Upon entering the tower, there was a long, spiral staircase that seemed to never end. When we encountered other people on the stairs, we had to use the impossibly narrow part near the center of the staircase, which kind of freaked me out. Once we got to the top, the views were breathtaking!

Kärnan

View of Helsingborg and the harbor

Checking out one of the interior rooms

A view looking to the south, where we live

Helsingborg’s football stadium!

❤ Helsingborg

Christopher always looks so chic

View looking to the north

Vilken underbar dag!

After we took a million pictures at the top of Kärnan, we went down and took a million more. Just kidding, but we did take more and here they are. It’s just too beautiful a city to not share.

Christopher is such a great photographer!

Rådhuset (City Hall)

View from the base of the tower

My favorite picture of the day

Next, we headed to the festival which was right by the water. It reminded me of the midway at the Minnesota State Fair in terms of rides and games, but there wasn’t any fried food on a stick. However, there was an ‘American donuts’ vendor and I wanted so badly to ask what made them American. We came for one thing: Hungarian langos. Christopher had been talking these things up all week so we were hoping we would be able to get them. We were in luck! We got the deluxe version: a thicker version of elephant ear type dough covered in sour cream, onions, shrimp, crayfish tails and black caviar. It was SO good! The dough was warm and soft and the toppings were so deliciously salty. It was the perfect lunch after a day downtown!

Hungarian langos!

	Tim O'Hearn on Adventures in SFI
	Marika on Adventures in SFI
	Caitlin on Our Trip to Turkey
	Aunt Colleen on Our Trip to Turkey
	rachelnauen on Danish sausages, Swedish beer…

How swede it is

Life in the Land of the Midnight Sun