Vaxholm is gorgeous!

We got up early this morning to get to the docks at 9 am to catch a ferry to Vaxholm, one of the islands in the archipelago. The view on the ride there was gorgeous from the upper deck of the ferry, as expected. It took us about 45 minutes to get out to the island.

On board! Tickets cost less for 19 and under!

View from the deck

Nice houses on islands we pass

Um. Pilot's licence please?

  Vaxholm is much less crowded than Stockholm proper. The town is on the small side, but it definitely is set up to receive a number of tourists throughout the year. A woman at the tourist office helped us set up our visit and pointed out some excellent hiking trails for us to check out. We spent all day walking around and taking pictures every 10 feet.

inlet at vaxholm 

houses 

Old military fort which costs 50 SEK to get to and 50 SEK to go in. Yeah… not going there.

Pretty!

Hiking trail

Can't take a bad picture here.

After a while we crossed the bridge to the next island to do some more hiking. We found it very funny that the blue spots marking the trail had several variations. We decided some of the spots must be for Twister: Forest edition.

Twister: Forest Edition (see fb for my photo)

Kristina is cheating!

Look out behind you!

Last day in Stockholm tomorrow! Wrapping up everything we want to do & making the most of it!

War, Medieval History, and Weddings

The Army Museum

Hannah, Kristina, and I set off at 9 am this morning to explore the museums of Stockholm (at least, those we hadn’t been to yet). Our first stop was the Army Museum, where Sweden’s history of war (up until 200 years ago and then featuring Sweden’s history of not engaging in war) is available for free to those under 19 years old. Score! I love museums attempting to instill culture in young adults. It usually means I pay less for things I already want to do.

The first few exhibits were a bit disturbing, simply because they were so good at brining up images and examples the true horror of war, but it was fun to wander around and get another taste of Scandinavian history. Our favorite part by far was the special exhibit on uniforms throughout the ages. They had very dramatic uniforms available for the public to try on, so we spent a few minutes running around in military coats and feeling silly.

My camera battery died halfway through the museum, so I’ll post some pictures of this later.

War

Armor armor everywhere!

Run for your life!

We also managed to spend 2+ hours in the Medieval Museum, which also involved bloody history. This was free as well, but unfortunately, they asked that we not take pictures. Of course, by this time, I had gone back to the hostel and recharged my camera. It figures. The museum was a great place to check out (especially because it is free), but it is hard to find for those who don’t already know where it is! It is oddly situated under the road and the grass in front of Parliament. In order to access it, you need to go down a set of stairs next to the sidewalk and then go into a bunker-like building that is embedded in the wall under the street. I’m not sure why they decided to put a museum there.

Where the Sidewalk Ends

The Medieval Museet

Anyways- we were sitting in the common area of the hostel again tonight, on our computers, waiting for our laundry to finish, when suddenly a group people starts coming into the room. One of them was a young guy in a suit looking very nervous and constantly checking his phone and computer. From what I hear from the conversation, I figured out that he is getting married, so his state was understandable, if quite amusing. He continued to be anxious as the bride showed up (she was in a similar state), and neither of them could sit still at all. I couldn’t quite tell if he was getting married right then or if the group was having a rehearsal, but I left to give them more space (it’s a small room!). According to Kristina, who stayed, they actually did get married right then, and it appeared to be put together quite quickly. Apparently the couple met yesterday.

Awesome chalk drawing in the middle of the plaza. Public chalk day.

So…yeah. Quite random. We are highly amused. 

Hostels are Very Cool.

Bridge from Längholmen to Kungsholmen

This morning, Jannette, Hannah, Kristina, and I took a long walk around some of the islands. Stockholm's parks are amazing and Kungsholmen is one of my new favorite islands. The skating parks, playgrounds, and beach walks around the area are very well planned and wonderful parts of the city.

The top of the bridge.

Lovers in Stockholm put these locks on the bridge at its highest point and throw the keys into the water. Some of the locks look really old. We wondered how visible the keys below might be to scuba divers. 

Old-looking padlock.

Hannah had an unfortunate encounter with a pogo stick while on the bridge.

Skate park built under the overpass.

I think that more cities in the US should have skate parks set up like this. I know Dave would really have liked it. 

Beautiful amphitheater in the park. I want one!

Beach

The word for beach in Swedish is strand. The beautiful walk along the beach is called the strandpromenaden.

Setting up in the hostel. Bed dressings are different in Europe!

After walking for a few hours around Södermalm, Längholmen, Kungsholmen, and Riddarholmen, Hannah, Kristina, and I drug our luggage across Gamla Stan to our new hostel, which I have decided is Very Cool.
We are staying in a 28 person room organized into three adjoining sections with four bunk beds each. This means that we are surrounded by a whole bunch of other people from different parts of the world, speaking different languages, and doing about the same things we are doing. At the moment, most of the people around us seem to be French, so Hannah is having a field day trying to keep up with what they are saying to improve her french.

The 28 person room.

However, this might be found in many hostels. What is spectacular about ours is the fact that it is in the middle of Gamla Stan, it has kitchens, it as free pasta, and it has free laundry facilities with free soap. I am very excited about this. Laundry, as you know, has been difficult this trip.

More hostel

The kitchen!! A relief after not having one for the past few weeks.

Pasta!

Dinner! Mozzarella and veggies and free pasta!

The pasta is awesome. We've had lunch and dinner (6 meals between the three of us) for about $2 a meal, complete with pasta sauce or veggies and cheese. I'd say Hannah picked a good hostel. We'll see how the showers are in the morning. 

Extra Wanderings

Visiting a part of the palace.

Chapel inside the palace.

Finishing the program

The entrance to the Institute of Art, where we studied.

So we're done! Finito! Complete!
After studying all day on Thursday and taking the final exam on Friday morning, we are finished with our schoolwork for the program! Thats it! We did it!
I think the final went fairly well; we had a good idea of what would be on it and we all studied the right things. Not saying too much yet though, because we haven't gotten our grades back. Dr. Kimbrell congratulated the class on having the highest average of all her classes, ever, so somehow I think we'll be ok.

Um. Art. At the institute. 

Sweets shop. Wandering around is dangerous.

Farewell dinner

Friday night we had a farewell dinner at the hostel. It was soup. We had spent the past two weeks trying to get the right soup and I was foiled at every turn, but Friday not only did I manage to get it for lunch, I was also surprised with it at dinner. Figures. Cannot complain, however, because it really is good soup and I had been questing after it for quite a while.

Yummy soup with bread and cream cheese.

We all hung around for a bit, taking silly pictures, but eventually people started drifting off to their separate pursuits. For most people, Friday night was their last in Stockholm, and they were leaving fairly early the next morning. Our room turned into Grand Central Station (or T-Central for here in Stockholm) as people came to attempt to get us to go out with them (no, Dad, I wasn't into going out, and yes, I can hear you prodding me to go. lol) and to say goodbye.
I'm glad that I'm staying for a while. I really do not want to get up to leave at 4:45 am to go get on a plane the morning after staying up until 2 or 3 am to pack and say goodbye to everybody. I enjoyed sleeping in this morning. I do have to say, however, that I'm starting to want to go home. Just a bit. ;) I've been going hard for a month.

Silly Pictures

EnD oF ProGrAm

We've finished the program! Thursday was all about studying (we didn't even leave the boat-sorrysorrysorry), so there wasn't a lot to tell you about. Yesterday was the final exam and the farewell dinner, which was very cool. We're done! I'm being dragged out the door right now, but I'll update you later today because I feel very guilty that I wasn't able to update yesterday (Internet connection!!! -shake fist-). Here are some pictures to stave off the boredom of the wait.

The art on the wall of the institute we studied in

A warthog outside the front

We finally get soup!

Want to ride a moose?

A guard at the palace

The view outside our porthole. Water was sloshing onto it.

Hot air balloons!

Sailboat zipping around

Blind photo out the window of the boat. Can't take an ugly sunset picture.

Hannah and Jannette

This place is really, really pretty at sunset.

I'll explain everything later!