Let me just say these last 2 weeks have been CRAZY. Partially crazy in a good way because we have been traveling and winding now our European adventure. But other part crazy because our travel plans have changed, out of our control. Initially, Stephen and I were supposed to fly back to Atlanta tomorrow, Sept. 26 on the same flight. Lucky me, because he was going to share his business class seat with me 😉 Well, now it’s lucky for him because we are on different flights and he gets that big comfy chair all to himself haha. When Stephen went in to work the first day after returning from our cruise, the boss-man says that he is going to Gniew, Poland for a 3-day business trip the following week. Great, no problem. It has to be nice to get out of the office and see a new town! That same week/weekend of the business trip, we are supposed to go to Stockholm, Sweden and meet up with my best friend. I was going a few days earlier than Stephen, but the business trip was not affecting the Sweden trip so all is good. BUT then he gets an email that he is to attend a week of training, for his role in Canada, in the UK Monday-Friday of the next week. Problem. We are supposed to fly home on Thursday. Long story made shorter, after many emails, phone calls, changing flights and frantically beginning to organize and pack this is what our last 2 weeks has ended up: Monday night Stephen leaves for Gniew. Wednesday night Megan leaves for Stockholm. Thursday night Stephen gets back to Krakow and spends the weekend packing and organizing (and watching football of course!) Sunday night Megan gets back to Krakow and Stephen leaves for the UK. We were in the airport at the same time but could not see each other 😦 Thursday morning Megan leaves for ATLANTA! Saturday morning Stephen returns to Krakow. Sunday morning Stephen leaves for Atlanta. Whew! Got all that? Yeah, me either. I had to write out a schedule. This whole “being apart for 2 weeks” things was not supposed to happen. I hope Sunday gets here fast!
Now to the FUN part! I went to Stockholm, Sweden to visit my best friend Beth and celebrate her birthday! If you don’t know Beth, she is spending this semester of her graduate program in Tartun, Estonia, and will study spring semester in Warsaw, Poland. We knew we were going to both be in Europe for about 4 weeks, and just HAD to make something happen! Poland and Estonia aren’t that far apart…….I will pause so you can go look it up on a map (I had to)……..especially considering that Europe is small, so finding a place to meet shouldn’t be too difficult, right? Wrong. Beth and I are both traveling out of small airports, and also wanted cheap/affordable plane tickets. That’s not a great combination. One night, we Skyped for an hour and a half trying to figure out where to go. The destination did not matter at all, just that we could get there! This is how it went:
Megan: “How about (insert city name here)? Ryan Air tickets are cheap! Oh wait, I would arrive Thursday morning and you would arrive Friday night. Never mind….”
Beth: “How about I come to Krakow? Oh wait, it would take me 23 hours of travel time…..”
Repeat over and over. Until FINALLY….
Megan: “Stockholm! Round-trip tickets are $47 and we will arrive 10 minutes apart from each other!” *cue praise music*
Beth: “Stockholm! Perfect! Let’s do it! I’m so excited! What’s in Stockholm?”
Megan: “I have no idea.”
I have done that quite a few times since arriving to Europe. I find a city that is cheap to travel to, and then find out what is there after! It’s been pretty effective 🙂 For the rest of this post, I am tempted to say “I will post a link when Beth has written her Stockholm post and you can read that instead” because she is a much better writer than I am. So if you would like to stop now and go read Beth’s instead, feel free. I won’t be offended 🙂 Anyway, we both arrived on Wednesday night, literally walking into baggage claim at the exact same time. The airport was 1 1/2 hours from the city center, and we arrive at 11:00pm, so we stayed at a hotel within walking distance of the airport. We had a “Quick Sleep” room which literally consisted of a table, chair and set of bunk beds that we had to put sheets on ourselves haha. But it was clean, cheap, and included breakfast so no complaints! Thursday morning, after singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the now 24-year-old Beth, we walked back to the airport and took the shuttle bus into Stockholm. Seriously, Europe has the public transportation thing down. Why does the US not do this? It really is wonderful.
We arrived in the city, purchased the Stockholm City card (this is the BEST city card I have found. Really.), got on the subway without having to figure out the ticket machine (thank you, city card!) and found our way to the hostel. After dropping off our bags, we went out to explore. It was a little drizzly/misty when we were walking to our hostel, and by the time we came out, the sun was shining! The weather forecast had seriously said 70% + chance of rain, and cold, every day we were there, so the sun was wonderful! And Beth did not have sunglasses haha. We walked around for quite a while, just trying to read the map and navigate the streets. Stockholm is a little bit confusing. It is very big, and is spread out over a number of different islands. But we made our way to the palace and visited the Royal Armory that held armor and swords and clothes etc. Beth will tell you that my “Game of Thrones” nerd-self was geeking out. I was, no shame. Then we wen to the SkyView, which is a ride to the top of a spherical building where you can get a great view over the city. (These attractions were included in our city card. All we had to do was hand over the card to be scanned. Magical! And literally EVERY single attraction in the city, including the freak amusement park! and all public transportation, except ferry boats, is included. So great.) We ate dinner at a local Vietnamese restaurant recommended by the guy who worked at our hostel. There was only a Swedish menu, and the waitress spoke a little English, so I literally pointed to the table next to us and said “I want that!” Beth said “Me too! But chicken, not beef.” It was so good, I thought Beth might lick her plate clean 😉 After dinner we of course had to find birthday dessert! There was a super cute bakery (Sweden has SO MANY BAKERIES AND PASTRIES oh my gosh) that was perfect. We split 5 different things? Yes, I think 5. They were small though 🙂 Sort of….
The hostel we stayed in ended up being great! (If you travel to Stockholm sometime, I recommend it and will give you the name!) All the parents/adults are probably shuddering right now, picturing a dirty hole-in-the-wall with bugs and stained sheets. As we were trying to choose a place to stay, I have to admit that Beth and I were picturing that hole-in-the-wall too. The ratings for Stockholm hostels were just NOT up there. But we found this one on TripAdvisor, rated 92% and I have found them to legit, so we each booked a bed in an 8-bed room. Yes, we were going to be sleeping with strangers. But the hostel was very clean, and decently quiet, with a nice big kitchen, a locker for your valuables, and the beds were super sturdy wood, not cheap metal ones that squeak. We also got SUPER lucky with our roommates. Each night, there was 1 solo-traveler, and a group of 5 French students who were there all 3 nights with us. They were really nice and considerate and we enjoyed talking to them a lot! And for your laughing pleasure, this actually happened:
“We are sharing a room in the hostel with some very nice French university students. They asked me where I went to school. I told them about West Virginia University. Later on in the conversation, one of the guys asked me how I liked “West Vagina.” I said “Excuse me?!” only to hear him repeat it again. And thus began the funniest lesson in English pronunciation I have yet to experience…” (copied from Beth’s FB status)
Friday was a BUSY busy day! We visited the Stockholm, Cathedral, called Storkyrkan. It had one of my favorite statues I have ever seen, called St. George and the Dragon. Just look at that face….
Then we went on a boat tour (yay city card!) toured through the Royal Treasury, the Royal apartments, and saw the Changing of the Guard. We ate really delicious chicken paninis at a cafe, and followed up with a mixed-berry pie. I am so thankful that Beth is as big of a dessert freak as I am because, unfortunately, Stephen is not, and it makes me sad sometimes. I should mention that the day before, besides the after-dinner birthday desserts, we also shared a giant homemade dark-chocolate covered marshmallow. And shared some kind of cinnamon pastry at breakfast. Now moving on….
We walked off some of our dessert on a Free Walking Tour of the Old Town! 🙂 Free walking tours are one of the BEST things about traveling in Europe! They are in almost every city, and in English. You tip the guide as you see fit at the end of the tour, so they are always super friendly and knowledgable because they are working for your money! The Old Town is so cute with it’s tiny alley-ways, cobblestone streets, and cafes on the square. But then other parts of the city are very modern with shopping malls and high-rise buildings. But you are never more than a couple of minutes walk from the water wherever you are and it is just beautiful.
Beth, the super-runner, has a half-marathon coming up in just a few weeks, so she needed to get some miles under her feet that afternoon. My knee has been acting up, but I was going to go for a walk. But luck was on my side, because the girl at reception told Beth about a nice jogging trail down by the water (only 5 minute walk from our hostel) and said there was a free outdoor gym! It had all these machines made out of wood, with different sized logs for different weights and I got a full lower-body and abs circuit workout completed in the sunshine 🙂
Saturday morning began with another run/work-out and then on to the Vasa Museum, one of the most popular attractions in Stockholm. Vasa is a ship with a tragic history. It was built in the 1600’s, and literally sank in the harbor on it’s maiden voyage. It was pulled out of the water 333 years later, and is now a museum! The ship has been incredibly preserved because of the type of water it sank it. Very cool! Of course, our trip had been running so smoothly that SOMETHING had to go wrong. I accidentally broke my city card! Literally in 2 pieces haha. It would still be fine to get on the subway because you just show the person your card with the date on it. But we had one more museum to visit, and I didn’t know if it would still be able to scan! When I handed it to the man at the Skansen museum, he gawked at me haha. But he held the card together before sticking it in the machine and luckily it worked! Skansen is an open-air museum with live actors in period-clothings, and nordic animals, and buildings taken from all over Sweden. Walking through history! 🙂 It was a beautiful day and lots of fun!
Beth and I were super sad to say goodbye on Sunday but so so blessed that we got to take this trip together! We really could not have asked for a better time! She has already asked how we are going to top her birthday next year, though. Any ideas? 🙂
And now…..I GO HOME TOMORROW!!!!! Europe has truly been the experience of a lifetime. It has been a little crazy at times, to be sure. But Stephen and I are so incredibly blessed that we were able to go on this adventure together. (And without the added responsibilities of pets or kids! haha.) Over the past 6 months, we have visited a combined total of 9 countries and13 cities (plus a few extra on business trips!), seen amazing landmarks, eaten delicious food, cruised on the Mediterranean, and met up with friends and family. And I could probably become a successful personal travel agent or Krakow tour guide. I’ve gotten really good 😉 We are really looking forward to seeing our family and friends this next week. OH YES! And meeting our nephew!!! His name is Liam, and he was born to Stephen’s sister, Caroline, on Sept. 15. We have met him on Skype, and he is the most perfect, precious baby boy 🙂 And of course we will be gearing-up for Canada. Wish us luck 🙂
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