Hesjan from Stockholm

Sweden was amazing. It felt more like we were in a foreign country this time around since everything was in Swedish. Matthew had so much fun showing me around Stockholm, Uppsala, Taby, Lund, Malmo and Kalmar. Before serving his 2 year mission in Sweden he actually lived there during his Microsoft years. You could say he knew this place like the back of his hand. This is very helpful when traveling in a foreign country. It was fun to hear all about his mission and see how much love he has for the country. It definitely holds a special place in his heart.

We experienced record heat while in Sweden. I love the heat but when the sun is up from 3:00 a.m. to 11 p.m. it sure can make it exhausting. This post is mostly about Stockholm and the cities we traveled around the area. Stockholm is in the middle of a series of over 30,000 islands that stretch out into the Baltic Sea. Another name for these islands is the Archipelago. With the warm and sunny weather the Archipelago was full of life with lots of people out on their sailboats, motor boats and jet skis. Some people were even soaking up the sun lying out on big rocks throughout the Archipelago. I guess there aren’t many beaches around. Stockholm was absolutely beautiful and I loved all the water. I can see why Matthew loves it so much.

Here is another day by day of what we did in Stockholm, Uppsala and Taby. Our trip about Lund, Malmo and Kalmar will come later.

Side note: When in Dallas I realized I left my temple recommend in SF. I had a friend send my recommend to the hotel we were going to be staying at in Sweden in hopes to go to the Stockholm Temple. It never made it to Europe while we were there. I did get to attend the Copenhagen Temple while in Denmark thanks to the Temple President and my wonderful Bishop. It was a very complicated situation and everything and I mean everything was going wrong. Recommend not activated, records lost, and a kind friend from Lund cutting me out of my dress while in the Temple so I could attend a session. Nothing was going to stop me. I wanted to be there that badly. Thankfully our records were eventually found, recommends were activated, the dress is fixable, and my recommend surprisingly showed up in the mail just a few days ago. I thought it was lost for sure. In the end everything worked out.

Day 1: Slept in • Exhausted from London • Walked around the shops in the city • Walked to Kings Park and ate at TGI Fridays for lunch • Ate outside • Beautiful and Relaxing • Walked to the Royal Palace • The Royal Family no longer lives at this location • Beautiful but just doesn’t compare after what we saw in London • My feet hurt already • Walked to Gamla Stan (where Stockholm was founded) • I absolutely fell in love with this place • Really old buildings with so much character • Narrow streets • Cobble stone roads • Lots of shops and café’s • Grabbed a delicious waffle cone made right in front of us • Walked to Sodermalm which is another island of Stockholm • Walked to the top (have I mentioned my feet are killing me by this point? Plantar fasciitis is very painful) • Awesome view of Stockholm • It’s so beautiful here • It was another HOT day • Back to hotel • Out for dinner

Day 2: Drottningholm • Hour boat ride to the island • Royal family currently lives here • So fun to see • Beautiful gardens • Still underwhelming after seeing how the royalty lived in England • Vasa Museum • Huge old ship completely in original state that sunk in the Baltic Sea • Matthew was in heaven • The museum was air conditioned • It was lovely • Had dinner with Matthew’s friend (Daniel P. & family) from his Microsoft days • Super cute family • Ate Mongolian BBQ • The food was really good • Great to see/meet them

Day 3: Ate a Swedish breakfast in the hotel • I ate the more conservative food • It was good • Matthew went all out Swedish style with opened faced sandwiches • I still don’t understand how that is breakfast food • My favorite was of course the cinnamon rolls • 3 hour cruise along the archipelago (this saved my feet for the day) • Gorgeous • Breathtaking • Beautiful • Tiny small islands all around us • Just enough room for a house, a boat docked up on shore and a flag pole • Made me want a summer home in Sweden • Went shopping in the city and bought keepsakes • Dinner at Hard Rock Café • Called it a wonderful day

Day 4: Took the subway to Uppsala which is an hour ride outside of Stockholm • One of the first areas Matthew served in • A grand total of 3 months • Uppsala hadn’t changed much from how Matthew remembered it • He showed me the streets where he proselyted • I had fun trying to picture him as missionary walking around • Small college town • Cobble stone streets everywhere • Very quaint • Uppsala Cathedral, Domkyrkan • Museum Gustavianum (the first human dissections took place here) • Super cool for me • Matthew officially thinks I am weird • Couldn’t take pictures inside • Uppsala University Library • Saw a copy of the New Testament from 400 A.D. that was transcribed by hand • Walked to a garden • Grabbed an ice cream cone • Enjoyed being in a small European town listening to music and eating our cones next to a stream • It was romantic • Headed back to Stockholm • Walked to Kings Park and grabbed dinner a TGI Fridays again • Eco friendly festival going on while we were there • Interesting • Reminded me of San Francisco

Day 5: Took the train to Taby to visit the mission home where Matthew served for 8 months • He lived there two separate times • The first time round he was there helping out with their computer system • The second round he served as the AP • Needless to say he was excited to see everything again • We ate at the pizza shop in the basement • Learned that the name and owner changed about 6 months ago • Talked to the missionaries and they told us all about the areas • Matthew loved asking questions about the locations and seeing where the mission had changed and grown • We learned they are cutting back on the amount of missionaries out there • Went back to hotel • Temple recommend never showed up in the mail so we headed to the Stockholm Temple (hour south of Stockholm) and walked around the grounds for a little bit • This was my first time to see and be at a foreign temple • The Stockholm Temple was mall but beautiful • Wish we could have gone inside • Grabbed a water and ice cream bar while waiting for the train back to Stockholm • Took an evening walk around the city • Ate dinner in Gamla Stan • Last night in Stockholm • Sad to leave the city but excited to see southern portion of Sweden

Tidbits of Stockholm according to me…

• the sun said hello at 3:30 am
• the sun set at 11 pm
• Open faced sandwiches for breakfast. I have a hard time grasping this concept for some reason
• Subways are so nice and clean
• Really good cinnamon rolls
• Clean city
• The Swedish people are very friendly
• Everyone knows English and are willing to speak it (this was a nice change from our France trip)
• Lots of mustardy colors with black
• Furniture in hotels scream Ikea (not a huge fan of Ikea)
• Castles and palaces are not as elaborate as the English