STOCKHOLM
martijn surprised me with a trip to stockholm as a graduation/christmas present. the best gift i have ever received :). we stayed with our friends michael and monika who had recently moved there. it was really great to see them again as i had spent quite a bit of time with them during my exchange.

the lead up to the surprise consisted of many false hints by martijn and his friends (particularly michael and joris). i was already wracking my brain to find out where we were going so it was incredibly stressful to then have hints like "it includes animals" thrown in. i actually didn't know exactly where we were going until the airport announced it. in fact, it was until we got to the bus taking us to the airport that i actually knew we were flying somewhere!! but fly somewhere we did and what a great surprise it ended up being.stockholm was a great city!! we spent our time walking around ducking into museums and such to experience some of the history of the city. we stopped by the nobel prize museum as well as the vasa museum (housing a recovered sunken ship which sunk into the harbour on its maiden voyage, still no one knows the reason why) and an outdoor museum called "skansen" which showed how people lived through various time periods in swedish history. we also stopped by the city hall for one of the most interesting tours i've ever had. they have some intense symbolism and history inside those walls.one day we took the train up to uppsala. once we got there, we found there wasn't much to do, but we enjoyed it anyway. they had a gorgeous cathedral, university and castle there.

we stopped by the absolut ice bar one evening. it was incredibly expensive to get in as well as for a drink (i believe it was 9 euro for one cocktail). but very cool once inside!! we were each given a parka and as we walked in, everything was literally made of ice. the walls, the chairs, the bar, the glasses. very cool (if you know what i mean ;)). the temperature is held at -5 degrees and you are allowed in for approximately one hour.

i found a new favourite desert in stockholm. kladdakaka. monika made it and was it ever good!! warm, gooey chocolate cake served with ice cream and jam...so good!!stockholm was an incredible surprise/trip. i have a lot to live up to if i'm ever going to surprise him ;).