Day 9: Taking it Easy in Stockholm

On Sunday we just wanted an easy day with little or no driving. We were sick of being in the car, ready for some more alone time and wanted to explore a nature reserve in Segeltorp (the suburb where we were staying).

We slept in, Bertil made (Swedish) pancakes for breakfast and we went for a walk.

The nature reserve is very large and is filled with trails for x-country skiing (Sweden is a country that LOVES their x-country skiing - wow)/hiking and horses. It was extremely reminiscent of Minnesota, don't you think?





We didn't have a good trail map and we sort of didn't know where we were for a while and we came out at a place that was sort of in the direction we thought we were going in but not really...and after 3 hours I was pooped and ready to call it a day. Oh and of course it rained on us, again.

We found the "city center" and called Bertil & Maud and told them we'd be heading over to....

THE LARGEST IKEA IN THE WORLD.



What can I say? It was awesome and I was only saddened by the fact that we couldn't really BUY anything. Bertil & Maud met us there and we had lunch in the cafe (btw, they serve beer & wine in their cafeteria. rock on). We walked through all the wonderfully designed & appointed rooms, we drooled (okay, I drooled) over the immense stock of fabrics they have for sale (the Bloomington fabric section does not even COMPARE to this one), and for the first time I started actually paying attention to the children's bedding, furniture and toys (eeek). It took us a long time to get through everything but it was like visiting the Motherland. They have EVERYTHING there. Not just *some* of the items, EVERYTHING. They also have more cafes & coffee shops sprinkled throughout in addition to the large restaurant. Because, you know, the Swedes MUST have their coffee!!!!

That evening we headed into Stockholm to check out the tall ships. The 2007-2008 Tall Ship Race (an international competition apparently) was "in town" that weekend and planning on saling out on Monday morning. They were very cool. The most impressive ones were the ones with the very tall wooden masts. I think my favorite ship was the Mexican ship. Very impressive (the American ship we saw quite literally paled in comparison. pfffft). The Mexican ship had lively music blasting out of it and was hosting some sort of fancy pants party on board. It was fun to watch. And of course, it rained on us.






Not daunted by the rains we pushed through the crowds and checked out all the ships. We had fresh, hot roasted toffee almonds (oh my god - sooooo good) and stopped to hear some Swedish pop music (apparently some 'star' - I have no clue who it was) and eventually found ourselves briefly in the old city. We saw the royal palace (from behind) and strolled through the streets of downtown Stockholm.

We also heard lots of horns honking & commotion in the main roundabout....what could it be? HUNDREDS of Iraqi's celebrating Iraq's victory in the Asia Cup.
There was singing and shouting and horns blaring and drumming and throngs of people. Lots of flags being waved and if they didn't have flags they were waving their children's blankets and one guy even had a toy stick-pony (that you might ride as a child) waving out his car window! Ah, creativity! The main square earlier in the day held 20,000 revelers!! I had no idea there was such a large Iraqi population in Stockholm. Apparently there is!

After that excitement we found a pub and had some dinner and returned to the lovely quietness of Segeltorp. Only two days left on our trip. *sigh*