Stockholm Weekend!

So because the French are lazy and it would be way to difficult to work 35 hour work weeks until age 62 they are striking, rioting, and running out of gas.  Which makes trains and all other public transportation impossible to predict.  Meaning we had to cancel our 3 day weekend trip to Paris!  Boooo!  I never liked the French anyway!  Maybe we should have let the Germans take over afterall, they probably would have been a much more productive society, just kidding!!!

Anyway, so I think I'm going to hang out in Schweinfurt this weekend and catch up on sleep and my ridiculously stupid/pointless project my preceptor doctor is making us do.  I've already done my Grand Rounds presentation, why do I have to do another one just so you can prove to the other Army doctors that your externs do work??  Seriously, it's pointless and not required by my school or any other externship sites by my school.  I'm not a fan!  Anyway, off the soap box....  (P.S. I don't care if he reads this, but we aren't friends, so he won't.).

So since I'm not galavanting around Europe I have some time to blog. 

I'm going to go backwards in time from my most recent trip.  So last weekend I went to Stockholm, Sweden to visit the 3 other UHCO girls who are doing their externship up there.  It was such a great weekend!

UHCO girls in Stockholm!!!

I flew in Friday evening, and Michelle and her boyfriend Phillip were nice enough to meet me at the airport and take me into the city.  We got all situated and headed out to a bar to meet Leigha, Carla, and Chad (all people I knew in Houston).  Fun night at the bar hanging out with some people from home! 

Michelle was nice enough to be my hostess/tour guide for the whole weekend!  Everyone was also really great with meeting up and hanging out with me too!!!


Big fish at the market!



We got up late Saturday morning and headed out to a local indoor market for what they told me were the best Swedish meatballs and lindenberry (maybe that's the wrong name) sauce!  It's one place that only makes them on Saturdays.  They were not lying!  That may have been the best lunch I've had in Europe!!! Delicious!  The market was also pretty cool, saw lots of freshley killed game and of course GIANT fresh fish!

Really cool market!  I always love a market!

It was a beautiful day...brisk (about 38-40 degrees)...but clear blue sky!  So we proceded to walk around the old town and around the water front.  Since Stockholm is something like 13 islands, there is a lot of water, and boats!  It was a great day for walking, so we did A LOT of it!  After a little coffee break (the Swedes like those), Michelle and I did a boat tour around the city.  This was a really cool way to see Stockholm, and I'm really greatful she did it with me!!!

Leigha and I outside the palace!

Michelle and I on the boat tour!

Sign with my name on it!!!

That night the whole group (Me, Michelle, Phillip, Leigha, Carla, and Chad) went out to dinner at a really good Italian restaurant!  Once again, had another wonderful meal in Stockholm!  I was not disappointed with the food at this place! 

The whole crew at dinner Saturday night!

After dinner we went to Phillip's apartment where he ordered ESPN so we could watch American football!  Michelle is from Nebraska, and since Nebraska was playing Texas, we had to watch it!  It was really great just to relax and be normal watching American football (even though it was at a German's apartment in Stockholm Sweden, it felt very American!).  If you notice I now refer to it as "American football", because here if you just say "football" they will of course think soccer, since that is everyone's obsession!

Vasa Ship

Michelle firing the canon!

On Sunday morning, Michelle, Phillip and I went to the Vasa Museum.  The Vasa was a big warship built in the 1600s which capsized and sank 20 minutes into it's maiden voyage in the waters around Stockholm.  It apparently was forgotten about until the 1960s when they found it again and pulled it up in 1 piece (engineering marvel!).  Since the Baltic sea has a lower salt content than other oceans and is cooler, the bugs that normally eat the wood don't live their, so the ship was amazingly preserved.  They built an entire museum around it, which was actually quite cool!  I wasn't sure how interesting it would be, but it really really was!!!



View from boat!





At Noon outside the market!  Noon!  Notice where the sun!



After the museum it was time for me to head back to the airport to catch my flight to Frankfurt to go home.  Stockholm was an amazing city!  Very clean and beautiful.  I mean, they're as socialist as they come, but for a weekend, it was a wonderful place to visit!!!  My friends, especially Michelle and Phillip, went above and beyond showing me around the city, and I know they are all what made it a great weekend!!!