Bastubåten

Father's Day in the U.S. Is the same day as Father's Day in the UK. Our British friend Tom planned a secret outing for his father who was visiting that day and invited us along. We went out on a bastubåten, a sauna boat. It's probably been the best new-to-me activity I've done since coming here.

 

There were 10 of us in all. We climbed aboard the boat and it headed out into the lake. We rode around a bit then dropped anchor.

The front of the boat has a little patio area. The middle room has hooks and benches for storing stuff. The back room is a sauna. There was a digital display showing the temperature in the water, 61, in the air, 63, and in the sauna, 150. We took a minute, settled in, and enjoyed the boat ride. Then we went in the sauna and got warmed up.

 

After sitting in the sauna and getting super sweaty hot, it was time to run out and jump in the water!

I thought I would never do anything like this ever. I hate being cold and it sounded like about the coldest thing you could do. But it wasn't like that at all. Sure, there was a shock to your body when you jumped in, and sure you couldn't stay in long at all, but once you got out of the water, your whole body went tingly. It was the best sensation. It was warming and massaging and made you want to do it over and over!

We had lunch on the boat, boated around the lake some, and, of course, kept making use of the sauna.

We were out on the water for 3 hours. After the boat trip, we drove to Per and Marriane's house. They have retired to the south of France, but they still have a house here in Sweden. Marriane is all about unique design and hosting guests. They have the cutest little farm house and every corner, shelf, and wall is decorated. Her style is very shabby chic, with exactly what you would expect from a quaint European house. The backyard is beautifully organized with tables in the garden area, as well as a large grassy open surrounded by trees for privacy.

 

No detail is too small. There were flowers of all shapes and sizes everywhere. In one corner there was a pile of old terra cotta pots, which placed by most people would look like a pile of trash, but in this cute garden added style.

The house inside was quite small, but super cozy. She useS open shelving in the kitchen, so the dishes serve as decoration. When it was time for cheese, she served it in an old trunk, how clever.

 

 

The food was much like midsummer food, pickled herring, meatballs, boiled eggs, all the usual.

The sun made a showing at dinner and we enjoyed our time in the garden.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Midsommar

This year for midsummer we joined a group of friends who were camping at a nearby lake, Höör. The campground was called Jagersbo. There were about 20 of us. There was a small cabin for home base and three tent sites for the rest. The week leading up was not promising good weather and we were worried how it would go. Sure enough, it was cold, in the 50's, and rainy, but hey, we do live in Sweden after all. If you wait to do things till the weather is ideal, then you'll never do anything, so might as well get on with it!

Johan and Emma drove and offered to give us a ride, Charlie included. He was very eager and very patient while we packed the car.

 

It was about a 45 minute drive, and by the time we got there, it was pouring.

As all good Swedes know, you must be prepared for the weather. These little guys did not let the rain ruin their day.

 

Luckily we had brought to Sweden with us a canopy that Toby bought for us. It was a true lifesaver! We set up food tables and chairs in the yard in front of the cabin. The cabin slept 6, but it was super tiny, and no way even 6 people could hang out comfortably, much less 20.

 

 

Eric organized the food. We had all the usual suspects, pickled herring (sill), potatoes, caviar topped boiled eggs, bread and cheese, and ham pie, homemade by Eric's mom.

Spring, or summer in this case, really is a mind set here rather than a temperature. We couldn't help but notice the difference between what Maddi from Spain was wearing and what Eric from Sweden was wearing.

We were lucky enough to get a small break in the rain and get the tent set up. The spot was beautiful. It was too bad this wasn't where home base was. The view of the lake was really nice. Charlie certainly was appreciative.

 

 

About 7:00 we saw a break in the rain and even the sun came out! We ladies went out to make wreaths from birch trees and flowers we found in the woods. It's a very Swedish thing to do on midsommar.

 

 

It was time for BBQ after wreath making. We had sausages and chicken and veggies. Chris had made homemade pulled pork BBQ and chili for chili dogs. They were a huge hit. It didn't start raining again till about 1:00 in the morning. By then we were tucked in our tents, dry and warmish. The next morning was dry till noon. That's when we called it quits and headed home. All in all, it turned out to be ok in spite of the rain.

 

 

Even Charlie was dressed for the weather

 

Posted with Blogsy

Amsterdam: the sites

Amsterdam Is the busiest city I've been in. I've been to a number of big cities in the world and I've never felt as cramped as I did here. This is Dam Square.

There is also the largest Anglican Church in The Netherlands.

 

The home of Anne Frank can be found in Amsterdam.

 

It has a beautiful train station.

 

We took a canal tour and my favorite part was when we learned that all the buildings has hooks for hoists outside to get furniture upstairs. They have been in these buildings since they were built. Due to the nature of building on small plots of land, straight up, they made the stair cases very compact. You can see them in the top most part of these buildings.

There were a lot of bikes and cats.

 

And of course we saw tulips!

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Amsterdam: the food

When we visit new cities, we Google the best restaurants, make a list, and head out. I'm not exactly sure what typical Dutch food is suppose to be, but we found food we liked, whether or not it was Dutch, meh.
After we landed we grabbed a quick burger in the airport to share, not exactly anything to write about, but it was only a snack because we knew we wanted to drop our bags and walk around as soon as we got there. We walked around, found a coffee shop, had a tea and coffee, walked some more, and headed for the first place on our list, Eetcafe "Harlem Soul Food". They had nachos on the menu and we couldn't resist. We really miss our Mexican/TexMex food fix.

They were super delicious. So delicious in fact that we went back there again on Day 3! Sometimes you just need some snack food.

A common drink in the coffee shops is fresh mint tea. It is as simple as it sounds and really good. A stalk of mint is crammed in some hot water and served with honey.

Across the street from the hotel there was a cafe called "Bagels and Beans" as in coffee beans. We went there the first day and continued to go. They had a good selection of bagels and lots of ways to eat them. We tried something different everyday. There was goat cheese and walnuts, hummus and sun dried tomatoes, and black bean patty, those were my choices anyway.

We had a not so great croque monsieur, but it was sunny enough to sit outside and right in front of the location was a crepe street cart. The Nutella and banana crepe made up for the hard and dry sandwich

Another place on the go to list was Getto. It was listed for its burgers, and I have to say, they were pretty good. What was better though, were the fried balls of gravy, mmmmm. They were served with a Dijon type mustard. Sadly I missed a picture of those. We liked them so much, that we got them for lunch again the next day.
One of the places on the list was pretty hard to get into the night we tried, so we made a reservation for later in the stay. It turned out to be our favorite! Yam Yam pizza, which means yum yum, and it was! There were a lot of truffles on the menu, truffle oil, truffle sauce, and we both like truffles.

I also had macaroons for the first time. Where have these been all my life?? They are amazing! There were a lot of macaroon shops. All in all we found a lot of food that we enjoyed.

Posted with Blogsy

Amsterdam: the city

May 1st is International Labor Day and a Bank holiday in Europe. A red day as they say. I had taken a trip for work on KLM and something apparently went wrong, I can't say what, but they certainly thought so. As I disembarked the plane they were giving out €50 vouchers for flights. These two things together made Chris and I decide to take a trip. It was our first trip to Dutch land.

The train from the airport to the city center was extremely easy to figure out. Once we were at the central station we used trusty ole Google maps and found our way to the hotel. It was located on the harbor.

 

We were early for check in, so we dropped our bags and headed out for a walk. The temperature wasn't any warmer, but we did start to see some sun, which we hadn't seen for a while back home.

As I'm sure you know, there are a lot of canals. When the city was first built, the canals came in sections, and more and more were built. The houses and warehouses were built as the canals were. The whole city is still in the same layout and the same buildings are still in use. Because of how old and tall and skinny the buildings are, they've started to lean. Some building lean into the street, some lean into the neighbor and some sag in the middle. It's pretty amazing to see the structural damage and imagine that they are still used.

 

 

 

 

The canals make the traffic situation a bit tricky. Each road has a canal for a median. One side is one way car traffic, while the other is the opposite direction. The streets And sidewalks are small and super crowded. Copenhagen is known for being a city with a lot of bikes. I'm certain that Amsterdam has it beat. Not only bicycles but also motor bikes. The pedestrians and the bikes (both kinds) are then fighting for space between the canals and the buildings. It's chaos! I have gotten very used to looking for bikes before I walk, but this made me super nervous. At one point Chris had to arm bar me because I was about to step in front of a speeding moped. We were eating at a table on a road side and I caught these pics. Notice one guy just missed being smashed and the other one is about to be.

 

The canals also give the city a lot of character and make it one of the prettiest if not the prettiest city I've seen yet. When the sun came out it was beautiful. There were so many cafes, shops, bridges and house boats that added to the uniqueness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy