NEW YEAR, NEW TRIP

First of all, I should wish all dear friends and fellow bloggers HAPPY 2010! Lots of luck, love and such nice things. And for the bloggers only - lots of interesting posts! I might not be writing that regularly, but, believe me, I have become a constant and devoted reader of your writings.

A moose resting in Skansen - especially for Alcessa ;)

Again I spent Christmas here in Jyväskylä and it was really nice as we had so much snow. It is just perfect white winter, regardless -20 degrees Celsius; and it just keeps snowing. However, for the rest of the Christmas/New Year's holidays I got another chance to visit Sweden - the capital Stockholm, to be precise. My Slovenian friends had got some very cheap tickets from Klagenfurt, I had booked a ship from Turku harbor, and off we went.

Regardless the fact Sweden is just across the sea and Finland's neighbor, the actual trip from Jyväskylä to Stockholm takes much more than a flight from, for instance, Klagenfurt. 4 hours on a train to Turku, a whole night on the ship to Stockholm's harbor Tegelvikshamnen. I had a cabin on the ferry so at least I could sleep. I went to Stockholm once already, but that was with a group of exchange students. We had shitty cabins below the car deck and near the engine room; okay and good when one plans to drink all night and then sleep drunkenly for a few short hours. However, if the passenger wants to sleep as I do, and enjoy other things but drinking, then I would recommend a better cabin. Mine, for instance, had a window and so I was even able to see the shores of Åland during the night. Well, the reader must note that these big ferries sailing between Finland and Sweden are kind of big floating fun/drinking places, yet there are still some people that use the ship as a means of transport.

Runestone

And then Stockholm... this time, I stayed in the city much longer than during my first visit. Also, now I was in a cosy place with a bunch of friends. And yes, it was very cold, it was snowy and icy, we were sometimes walking too much and we were tired and our mood might had been bad sometimes, but still. It was time for visiting museums, for remnants of the Vikings, for runes carved in stones, for white squirrel with red eyes (a painting in Nationalmuseum). It was also time to see some modern art in Moderna Museet, like for example Dali, Warhol, Pollock and others. And it was also time to walk on the frozen Vallentuna lake in the sun while the snow was glittering all around.

Vallentuna lake

Finally, it was also time to do some shopping, but those details would destroy all the upper fairy tale. Anyway, I liked the city, regardless the winter cold and lots of tourists swarming in Gamla stan. Now when I am back to my everyday with the new Koirien Kalevala calendar for the year 2010 (the year in which I have to finish my MA thesis)... now I have realized that we had really some good time in Sweden and that also Stockholm can produce some special magic I am usually looking for when traveling to the cities abroad. Jep, it was nice.

P.S.: But Helsinki still has better metal bars! ;)