Day 57: Gamla Stan

27 octobre 2009 (Day 57)

This morning after amazing museli and yogurt that comes in a liter box we took the train to the Parliament of Sweden. Afterwards we took a gander at the lovely royal guards at the Stockholm Royal Palace (Slottet). It is in the old city, Gamla Stan and is built in an Italian Baroque style, so it doesn’t look too exciting from the outside. The Royal Family (who has no political power, but the Swedes keep to look pretty) doesn’t live there (although it is their “official residence”), but they do work there. We actually got to see a little changing of the guards while there before we took a tour of the Royal Palace. Inside was big and beautiful of course. We went downstairs to the Treasury to see all the super old crowns, swords, and a silver throne and learn about Swedish kings.

We then went on a guided tour of the Royal Apartments, including the banquet room where they have a dinner for the Nobel Prize winners. The Royal Family is actually French. Long story short, they needed an heir so they picked a French commander to be the heir to the throne.

We went to Stor Kyrkan as well today and saw the famous St. George and the Dragon Statue in this gorgeous church. There is actually a twin statue in another part of the city that we found while walking around the old city (Gamla Stan). This was the fun part of the city because all the buildings are tall and close together, old and painted bright colors and Gamla Stan has a fun history. It actually dates back to the 1200s! I bought some white hot chocolate from some cute boys at a restaurant by the Nobel Museum and that kept me warm until we were home to some amazing authentic Swedish food which included boiled eggs, boiled potatoes, cucumbers, fish, fish in something weird, squeezy caviar on crackers. We had salmon and rice for dinner and watched another movie of Miss Marple while we let our Kanel Bullar rise. Kanel bullar is the amazingly smelling cinnamon rolls that they have everywhere in Sweden. They are so amazing, just like Miss Marple!

Day 56: Vasa Museum

26 octobre 2009 (Day 56)

Well, here is a little about Sweden. The language is a mélange of German and Danish among some other languages. It is easy to speak once you know how to pronounce the different letters.

The Bjornbergs are an adorable family. Both parents work. Gabriella is 17 and Axel is 14. They are a really polite and proper family although Gabriella is quite sassy to her parents when she is speaking in Swedish, but in English she is a complete angel. Axel has quite the personality in English. They are all so kind and make an effort to make us feel comfortable. I love their house. It is an adorable yellow house from 1904. There is lots of wood and the house has such a character. There house is right across the street from a small supermarket. They have a tree house and a boat in the front yard and a rabbit and a little sledding hill in the back.

We (by we I mean myself, Brooke, and Gabriella) woke up and had breakfast, and then headed off to the train stop to go to Stockholm. We went and took pictures at St. Johannes Forsamling. We saw where the prime minister of Sweden was shot dead in the street one day and headed off to the Vasa Museum.

The Vasa Museum (vasamuseet) displays the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged [95%!], and by this way cool dude in 1961, we watched a film about it. Why was it salvaged? On the 10^th of August, 1628 after sailing for 20 minutes the Vasa sunk. This 69 meter long ship was built in two years for Gustav the 2^nd because he wanted a giant ship to control the Baltic Sea and show that he was the Swedish King, the Lion of the North. (You see, Poland was fighting because they had the same king and Sweden wanted a protestant (non Catholic king) or something like that).This ship was too narrow and had 2 gun decks, which was unheard of and 64 cannons. Another ship like it was built, only 1 meter wider and it sailed for 30 years. It was really neat to take a tour and learn about the ship and the history of good old Gustav (there were many). We had fun taking pictures and spying on the French people that were on the tour.

We went home afterwards and have some delicious lasagna. There was traditional lasagna and a white sauce spinach and mushroom lasagna for vegetarian Brooke. Afterwards we watched Miss Marple and had Swedish cheesecake, which is quite good.

Day 55: Sweden!

25 octobre 2009 (Day 55)

We woke up early and got through security still terribly drowsy. The time changed while we were sleeping (I forgot) so we had a lot of time before our Easy Jet flight. Security was really easy. No one even checked my id. They played some pretty stellar music at the airport like N’Sync “Bye Bye Bye” and “I Believe I Can Fly.”

We had a peaceful flight (Brooke slept through it and I read and slept a little). Even from the plan Sweden was beautiful! I cannot articulate how lovely it is there. Gabriella and her dad came and picked us up. It was a least an hour’s drive to their house in Vallentuna, Sweden. It is a gorgeous yellow house built in 1904.

We had a scrumptious late lunch of tea and sandiwiches. I actually had some tea- it was strawberry flavored so it was quite good. They had lots of different kinds of artisian bread, peanut butter, and a yummy sweet/nutty spread. Afterwards Gabriella, Brooke, and I went on a walk around the town, seeing the old church of Vallentuna and the lake. The leaves were different colors and you could hear them crinkling underfoot. We took a little nap after our walk.

We then had lasagna to celebrate Axel’s birthday. He is the Bjornberg’s son who turned fourteen. The lasagna was really delicious and there was normal meat lasagna and spinach and mushroom lasagna as well.

Axel’s birthday cakes we amazing! First we sang to him in English, Swedish, French, and German. It was pretty neat. He had a gorgeous lemon cake and this yummy giant cookie one. It was an almond cookie with yummy chocolate mousse-like filling and a chocolate shell. It was really really really good. Both of them were actually.

Afterwards we the children went with Axel to play racketball. He got a new racket for his birthday (he recently started playing) and it was family night so we could go play. I am pretty bad at racketball, but I improved as the night progressed. We played for a really long time even though we were exhausted. “No, you are not tired. You must play.” Axel the Ax, oh man, he is a cute kid. He is so funny when he speaks English.

I got to do some family research with Catherine before heading into a deep sleep in my warm bed with a feather blanket.

Day 54: Geneve

24 octobre 2009 (Day 54)

In Lyon I caught another train and enjoyed the early morning scenery on my way to Geneva, the second largest city in Switzerland. It was gorgeous! Geneva the city wasn’t as pretty as the things I saw on the way there. I roamed around for about two hours before Brooke’s train came in. Before she arrived, I saw a lot of parks, bought breakfast (orange juice and a German donut) and some Swiss chocolate. I happened to meander right into the United Nations and PriceWaterhouseCoopers (the company my brother works for)! Geneva is the worldwide center for diplomacy. The United Nations Headquarters, the Red Cross, and many financial centers can be found in Geneva. Currently, there is a really cool giant chair without a fourth leg by the UN as a memorial for those who have lost limbs in Afghanistan. I picked up Brooke from the gare (train station) and we went around town. We had a goose try to attack us while going to see the Jet d’Eau, saw a neat tomb, and some churches. We tried to catch a bus to Annecy. We had got lost trying to re-find the UN and ended up running half way across Geneva to catch a bus that wasn’t there! We looked at the weekday and not weekend schedule, so sadly we couldn’t go to Annecy.

Instead we bought some vache de tomme cheese, bread, and cottage cheese for lunch and enjoyed a skinny dipping show. We went to the pier with our delicious food (the cottage cheese was to die for!) and sat on some rocks overlooking the lake, Mont Blanc, and the colorful colonial-esque village. And the skinny dippers. Ho la la! We were tranquilly eating our food when the man of the couple next to us (not that close) stood up and began to unzip his pants. I thought he was going to relieve himself in the lake, but he continued to take off his pants. He then took off his shirt and I thought he was going to go bathing like that. But no! Off came his underwear, his girlfriend’s clothes as well and they both hopped on it. Bless their hearts and naked bums.

Apart from the skinny dipping show, we walked around and the city, played at the parks, and found the United Nations while Brooke was telling me about her first summer fling, her first boyfriend, her first kiss, and her first French boyfriend (all consequently the same person). We ate dinner by Lac Lemand. There were no skinny dippers this time as we ate our bread and cheese.

We walked to the older part of Geneva and I got some hot cocoa ancienne…hot milk and a packet of mix. It was still really good. Afterwards we talked a lot about France, French, and “not arriving” (In France you say “Je n’arrive pas” to say I don’t get it, etc.). You see, I used to kick Brooke’s butt at French but for the most part while Brooke and I were speaking French she was correcting my French. She is a LOT better at French. She says that you need to get over the 3 month hump and then you magically understand during month four. We came to the conclusion that we should be in each other’s French programs. She wants to pass the DELF/DALF and I want the basics!

We (illegally- gasp! Brooke is a rebel) took the bus to the airport and slept in the corner after getting ready for bed. It was freezing! At 1 am I finally went and put on my running tights, did some yoga in between Brooke and our little friend (some girl) who came and slept by us) to warm up and then went back to sleep.

So in Geneva: most of the people have dogs which they like to walk, they aren’t fashionable like in France, they use francs (weirdos!), have amazing chocolate, and there is no one there in the mornings. While I was walking around by myself, there really wasn’t anyone there!

Day 53: On My Way

23 octobre 2009 (Day 53)
Today was the day to leave! I got all ready last night so I didn’t have much to do. In orale we discussed smoking. Pretty much everyone (except the three smokers in the class) we very much against smoking. Our teacher smokes and I think we might have offended her. In theatre we went over the last of the scenes. I had yummy jambalaya for lunch (that wasn’t at all like jambalaya, but good anyway.) History was amazing as usual. We ended up talking about the current scandalous news in France concerning Nicolas and Jean Sarkozy. Long story short, France is worried that because Jean Sarkozy, the President’s son was being nominated for a huge position and he is only 23. Many people thought this was because he’s Sarkozy’s son and that it was nepotism and a return to the Ancient Regime. (Jean ended up complying to complaints and stepping down from this nomination although he received it legally). I learned that Henri III was homosexual so he didn’t have any children. Thus France had to go back to the blood lines and found Henri de Navarre, who became Henri IV who had a little problem, for he was assassinated in 1614 by Ravaillac, not to mention that he had to change religions to become the King of France. We had a little “test” in History today but it wasn’t too bad.
I scurried home, finished packing, hastily finished my paper for writing and left two hours and twenty minutes early (in retrospect I left the lights on!). I was just really worried and not sure how it was going to work and if there was a manifestation in the city…There was no manifestation, but there was a creepster on the tram (possibly dementia) who started talking to me when I had in my ear buds and wasn’t listening. Even without my ear buds in I couldn’t understand what he was saying until he in English he said, “I love you so much mmmmmmmm!” Eek! I promptly got off that tram and I ran away quickly.
I found a kebab shop and had a kebab and frites (fries) for dinner. I went to FNAC (the big music/book/video store aka Borders in the US of A) and checked out the music. I found a 4-cd pack of “essential French”music for 10 euros so I bought it before the store closed. I went to Commerce and then walked to the gare (train station) to see how long it would take. I’ll catch the last tram if the train comes in on time. If not, I’ll be running. It felt like Christmas outside as I was walking to the gare. I stopped to watch fencing on tv for a second. While waiting for the train I listened to our theatre piece.
The train ride was alright. My legs didn’t love it. The older gentleman I sat next to snored. Rather loudly. I was finally smart and pulled out my ear plugs and used them. Next time I’m taking a blanket. They turned off the heat when they turned off the lights…brr! At 1 am the train stopped for a long time. I was so worried that I was on the wrong train because no one had checked our tickets and I knew that we should still be moving. Luckily we did start moving and I was on the right train.

Day 52: Make My Day

22 octobre 2009 (Day 52) Make My Day
I woke up dark (it was not light) and early this morning to do my laundry. Before that time, I woke up in the middle of the night all hot and sweaty (curse that weird food) recalling the strangest dream that included some of my classmates and being force-fed popsicles. But back to laundry…the lovely lady at the reception desk told me that I couldn’t do my laundry because the machine broke. I replied, “Well no one told me before.” She tartly replied, “I’m telling you now.” Luckily I don’t have class until 1pm and luckily there was a spot open at 8:30 so I still got to do my laundry otherwise going to Sweden would have been interesting with 3 pairs of clean underwear. I can’t believe I fit that much laundry in the machine, I’m not sure it got clean, but it was so fantastically warm when it came out of the dryer. I think we should all appreciate warm out of the dryer wonderfulness. It is one of those little things that makes your day. Another thing that made my day was putting warm out of the dryer jeans on. They’re warm.
We had a test in writing which didn’t make my day, but I did do better than I think I would because I spent time to read through the essays twice before even starting to answer questions. I am amazed at how much more I get after reading it twice and translating it in my head on purpose as I read to make sure I am understanding and not just seeing words. I got my carte de sejour without problem which made my day, I can go to Switzerland and Sweden now! I also found 10 batteries at IKEA for 2 euros which made my wallet have a happy hayday. It was so happy, in fact, that it took Elder Walter and Elder Riley out on a date. Yes, I had a date with the missionaries (not really, but I enjoy saying it). Elder Walter is transferring soon, so I took them out for ice cream at Amorino, my favorite Italian Gelato joint. Today I tried vanilla, dark chocolate, nutella, amorino cherry, and chocolate chip. We talked about mission companions and other fun things like that. That made my day as well as the letter I got from Elder J-Lo. He told a hilarious story about his companion talking to him (and answering math problems correctly) while being asleep.
My yellow back pack is sitting contently on the ground now, practically ready to get on the TGV and go to Geneva, Switzerland and then to Sweden for a week. I am really excited to see Sweden, I never even thought of going there before. I hope I will get to learn a little of the language, about my ancestors, and maybe how to cook a thing or two.