Picture Post: snowy mountains

A weekend skiing in Åre:

Our home for 4 days

Stu, about to bana up the berg.

That is a frozen lake with TWO tractors on it.

Proof I was in snow gear

Stu was all over the slopes, like a frickin' puppy. I did NOT ski (too chicken) but I had a great time. Petter even played a DJ set while we were in town. Åre is a cute little ski town, and so convenient to Stockholm! People have been winter-sporting here for 100 years...I wonder if my grandparents skied here?

My mormor & morfar, though probably not Åre
(thanks to my photogy cousin for making these digital!)

So Swedish

Just a quick one...my French friend Anabelle has been staying with us for the week (finding housing in this city is HARD!)  For my birthday this week, she bought me a small box of lovely French macarons. I love those things, they are just amazing. Light green pistachio is my favorite. But she didn't buy them in France before she left, she bought them here in Stockholm. Can you guess which flavor the black one is?

Mmmm hmmm, salty liquorice. Swedes think it is okay to make a salty liquorice flavored macaron. It's an abomination, if you ask me.
But I'll let you know how it tastes...I'm not usually one to let baked goods go to waste, even ones that could have been concocted by Bertie Bott's Every Flavour ;)

To Åre, to Åre

Heading half-way up Sweden! Taking the night train! We're going skiing for the weekend, in Åre with a group of friends. I have never, ever been skiing. I'm not sure I am going to pop that cherry this weekend, either. I fell flat on my face IN MY APARTMENT on my birthday, nearly smashing my laptop (thank god, it is fine and only only have bruises.) But in general, I lack both balance and coordination, which are both major requirements for successfully speeding down a hill of ice on two skinny flat boards with only dagger-tipped sticks to guide you. I can't even answer my cell phone without hurting myself, and I'm thinking it is too early for Stu to get to claim that life insurance policy. I have been told there is dog-sledding, however, and I am very excited about that possibility!

A few things I learned about Åre today from a group of very excited Swedes:
The most famous Swedish rapper, Petter, calls it home.
It is it's own republic.
There was a bid for the 2014 Olympics to be held around here
It is quite close to Östersund, which has been plagued by a terrible water-borne parasite, which apparently spread to Åre just in the last few weeks. We'll be drinking only bottled water, thank you.
There is also a Japanese restaurant not far from Åre, in the middle of nowhere, that has a few Michelin stars. Super random.

I can't verify most of those facts, but it should be a fun weekend anyway. Wish me/us luck.

Yum

It's Princess Torta Day!

I must have jinxed the city yesterday, blogging about all the sun and "warm" weather in Stockholm. Today it's back to that stupid gray color we suffered through all last winter. It's hovering right around freezing, but is still snowing, making the sidewalks a nasty, slushy, squishy, dirty mess.

But I didn't start this post to complain (I just happen to be good at complaining.) The last week or so, I haven't left my computer much, between writing essays for school and for the Absolut art collection and trying to start writing my thesis. And Stu has started school and work full-time, so it's unusually quite here. (I even started reading Gawker as a distraction.) I was feeling a little stir-crazy, so despite how gray and mushy it is out there, I had to at least get out of the apartment for a bit. I ended up at a second-hand shop. So strange...when I don't have a destination, I *always* end up at the second-hand shops! I guess it's the random assortment of distractions to look at and the fact that it's no big deal if I have a weak moment, because it's cheaper than any other possible shopping destination in Sweden. Anyway, I scored the coolest little Turkish coffee pot.

I had wanted to buy one in Egypt since I had stocked up on their cardamom-infused version of the coffee, but couldn't find anything ornate enough or the right price (one souk guy wanted to sell my a one-cupper plain pot for 60 egp, or $12. He chased me down the street, halving the price in the process, but still, it was too boring for the price.) However, this little guy was a whole 15sek (about $2). And yes, I am going to fika with it this afternoon! Stu is going to think I am an idiot for getting so excited about a copper pot that I blogged about it.

But that's not all! I ALSO scored the LAST bottle of glögg at the Systembolaget near our place. I am just not ready to give it up for the season! The people in line all chuckled when I explain how excited I was about buying it. Obviously, I haven't been getting out much. 

And to top off those good things, I also spotted my first semlor of the year today! The Lent/Fat Tuesday buns have become my favorite part of February (celebrating Stu's birthday is a close second, though.) I frickin' love cardamom. Oooooh, brilliant idea...a semla and a Egyptian-style Turkish coffee might be *the* combination this year. 

It says "Semlor, good people!" but I prefer to think of it as "Get your semlor, bitches!"

 

Okay, so I should go back to work now...I have to prepare a powerpoint presentation for school Monday (which also happens to be my birthday. Ugg.) But I will leave you on another good-thing note--we are gaining nearly a half hour of daylight every week now. It just keeps getting better and better...

Unusual winter weather

The Stockholm sky is clear and it is sunny. And (relatively) warm! It's a good week (my mood is admittedly sun-dependent.)

We are going skiing next week in Åre, a big ski resort town for a not-so-big mountain from what I'm told (what do I care, I'm just going to be sipping hot cocoa in the lodge anyway.) But the snow seems to be melting, and fast! It got up to a whole 37F degrees (maybe warmer) and I can see sidewalks and roofs for the first time since November. In Åre, they are warning about the risk for avalanches.
Fabulous.
Some poor guy last week was knocked unconscious by a falling icicles on a Stockholm street. The weather report says it will get down to 20F/-7C later this week, so of course that means the slick sidewalks will be treacherous. Thankfully I don't have to leave the house much ;)

But I'm looking at the bright side right now! Sun!

Egypt, condensed

Just one more Egypt post, I promise. Well, from me, anyway. Stu kept a written journal of his thoughts on our trip to Egypt, which seemed like such a great way to keep the ideas and feelings fresh. I didn't, but I think the pictures we took helped a little with that. We took nearly 1000, but there were so many things we didn't capture! I didn't get a single photo of any of the souks (bazaars) we went to, despite that they were overwhelming, colorful and fun. No pictures of our ridiculous donkey ride...too nervous to take my hands from my crappy reins. No pictures on New Years. No pictures at Valley of the Kings or the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (due to site regulations, but still!) We had an AWESOME tour group and tour leader for our trip (company link here), so I'm hoping a few of them will have pictures to share of those things we missed.

We would have been happy with simply the sun, blue sky, sand, and warmth. But wow, Egypt has so many beautiful parts. Just the history, not to mention the temples and monuments and mosques and sea. Horus became my favorite Egyptian god, and we visited several temples dedicated to his falcon-y awesomeness. I didn't buy nearly enough stuff, but the spices and scarves and jewelry were all so beautiful and cheap (it was just too exhausting to bargain at every corner.) And the food! Such good food in Egypt. And no one got food/water poisoning, as far as I know. We ate so well the entire trip, even on our 4 day bare-bones felucca cruise down the Nile, where we were treated to amazing food from a boat captain wielding a single gas burner and a few old pots. And I ate a pigeon.

And Egypt has some not-so-great parts. I fully recommend a trip there, but when you are a pampered westerner (even one without a job, like me!) you get a little humbled. The average Egyptian annual salary is not much more than $1,500; the average annual American makes at least $32,000. We were SO sick of everyone asking for baksheesh, but then you have to remember that those few coins they get from offering you and your other rich vacationers toilet paper might be what allows them to feed their children. Even little, tiny kids were begging (or trying to sell us touristy junk in perfect English.) And the housing is unbelieveable (in some areas, made up of only palm fronds and mudbrick, since it never rains.) The water is not good. We drank only bottled for nearly 3 weeks and racked up a small mountain of plastic refuse, which I can only imagine was dumped on the banks of the Nile. There is no such thing as recycling. The motor-powered Nile cruises would speed by us on our sail-powered felucca, leaving trails of oil that found its way onto the sand in black globs. Our toilet on our train was just a seat on a hole to the speeding track below. It was also my first time in a Muslim country. What was the appropriate behavior for us as tourists during the warbled call to prayer? And we were in the country during a terrorist attack, which is a little scary. Although I didn't experience anything too unpleasant aside from the challenge of finding a restaurant that served beer, our new friend Jess was refused service at a cafe because she is female (her brother could order, though.)

So, good with the bad, we could easily go back, since we missed several big sites, Alexandria, Sinai. I'd even take kids there (just with a slightly amended itinerary.) It was a great way to spend Christmas and New Years! Though if we are still in Sweden next winter, we owe the family a trip back State-side.