Stockholm: Art Cuts and Top Knots Over Easy

Do yourself a favor, right before an international flight, stop by an AT&T store and get some quickie help on switching data plans. Do yourself another favor. Put all the raspberries you couldn't eat that week into a zip loc bag and gamble with how long it takes before it leaks on you on the way to the airport. Oh, pre-trip bullshit, how we love you.

Anyway, I was pretty excited to abandon everything at home (⌘Q) and go on my trip.

We arrived at Stockholm in the morning, disoriented and groggy from back to back movies and no sleep on the flight over. (Manchester by the Sea, GRIM).

Our airbnb was in Södermalm (metro stop: Mariatorget) in a quiet, leafy, residential. Our host was a no nonsense older lady, she was headed out the door for Swedish Mother’s Day when we arrived. We were up on the 6th floor. Outside our kitchen window I spied people sun-bathing and a bored looking man chain smoking on his patio.

We couldn't have chosen a prettier time to visit Sweden. Everything was so verdant and there were flowers in bloom at every corner. Fragrant lilac trees, giant cherry blossoms, flowering trees of all kinds, really. I love tulips, and they were everywhere! Tall and bright, they lined pathways and were scattered throughout the city. The overall effect was so beautiful, made me really happy 😀

Dreamy

Mariatorget in Södermalm

😍

It took us a while to get used to the long summer days. It was great for traveling because we felt like we were on some sort of extended borrowed time, but it was maddening in the mornings when my eyes would just flutter open with the sunrise at 4am. The sun would eventually set around 10:30, but the light outside was like 6pm in CA. Even at midnight, it felt like dusk, the night sky never turned completely dark.

We spent all our late nights eating candy and watching trashy British reality tv (Geordie Shores, and Tatoo of Us).

Jokes on us

Mjölk

I'd been longing for Scandinavian yogurt since my last trip. I'd never had anything remotely close to it since and I've had to accept that I needed to stop looking for the holy grail of yogurt and just have it again at its point of origin.

The consistency is a lot thinner than the ones we have. Taste: clean and milky, slightly tart without all the cloying sweetness of artificial flavors, and an absence of gelatinous sheen. I think I prefer it because overall it's just more natural tasting and milder.

I was surprised (but it makes perfect sense!) to find that they come in pourable tetra cartons, instead of the traditional tub. I also tried out some of their skyr yogurts. Skyr is thicker and closer to Greek yogurt. They were all delicious and I was back in yogurt heaven.

Envious selection of Wasa crackers and crispbreads.

En route to the Vasa Museum

Serious lakrit action

There was a day we went to check out some hipstery outdoor market going on in Hornstull, (verdict: junk is junk is junk no matter where it's from) when we came across this guy selling thick ropes of licorice. Katee chose a sour watermelon rope...Brian went for it and got the one touted as the most saltiest one. It wasn't like the other black ones on the table, it was extremely matte, and had an unappetizing, grey-green cast to it. I took a bite of it, and immediately spit it out a la Ugly American. A shocking jolt of salt? acid? accosted the tip of my tongue. It was like biting into some rubber hosing that had been dragged around by a whale for a year. It was like gnawing on a scrap of wet suit...it was like...well no matter, because we all acquired a sick taste for it and Brian eventually ate the whole thing.

Salty licorice (salmiak) I learned later, comes from ammonium chloride, which gives it that astringent, tongue numbing salty taste. When you abandon the notion that it's candy, it starts to grow on you, strangely enough.

My favorite, the sour raspberry + licorice coins

We found this incredible licorice store that sold only licorice. Lakrits Roten. It was bourgie salmiak heaven. They had everything from sour, sweet, salty black licorice, soft, hard, brittle, chewy, logs, caramels...to licorice powers and extracts for cooking and baking. There were licorice potato chips (take a moment to wrap your head around that) licorice salt and pepper, most importantly the thing that made my eyes glow–SPRINKLES. I batted around a few of the packages and left store without buying anything because of sensory overload. I regret not purchasing some because I could have had some fun experimenting with licorice cupcakes or something.

Licorice katjes gaurding the door with the world's shortest red carpet

Pièce de résistance

Lest you think we went around only eating candy, we went to the Östermalms Saluhall and ate our first Toast Skaagen at the popular Lisa Elmqvist. Toast Skaggen, basically shrimp salad. Tiny coldwater prawns mixed with mayonnaise, gräddfil (a bit like soured cream) and some seasoning on triangles of toast, topped with a heap of roe. It was really light, fresh, with hints of dill. Just really delicious. I ate an awful lot of fish while I was in Stockholm.

An assortment of pickled herring at Pelikan

Delicious char at Nytorget 6

Still there's always room for the lewd looking French Hot Dogs. Brian started eating them on the streets to stave off hanger and incidently discovered, they are pretty damn good. I guess the reason why they're French, is because they're encased in a baguette. I don't know why the baguettes can't be an inch or two longer though...

Just the tip

Across the street from Drop Coffee, this strangely modern twist

Our airbnb was conveniently close to two places in Stockholm that I wanted to check out. Drop Coffee, and Sandqvist. Drop Coffee was really cute, and served up excellent capuccinos.

The Sandqvist store was really cool. They had a great selection of understated and nicely designed bags and backpacks for every occasion.

Wasted a lot of Katee's time in here as I hemmed and hawed

Cardamom roll from Mellqvist Kaffebar

Do you know the Grandpa Man? Annoying song set to the tune of Muffin Man, that haunted us all trip.

Muted colors of Stockhom–pistachio, ochre, cream and peach

Unlike the yogurt, the ice cream was t-h-i-c-k, son

Minimal fuss and ornamentation

I see stars

We went to the Nordiska Kompaniet department store, and Illums Bollighus (more on this magical place on the Copenhagen post) on our shopping day, and I got really excited about Copenhagen because we were getting a preview of what was ahead of us in terms of beautifully designed home goods, as a lot of of the brands were Danish. I bought a set of beautiful brass candlestick and tealight holders by Klong. It came with the option to buy a set of what could best be described as brass stars, to slip over the candles as added decor and perhaps to serve a function to catch dripping wax. It also came with an optional tiny glass vase in case you didn't want a tealight candle in the brass holder, and I'm so excited to set it up at home because it's so pretty. 

You have to admit IKEA has some good branding

It started to drizzle on our last day in Stockholm. We checked out the Vasa Museum. It was really awesome. The world's only preserved Viking ship from the 17th century...The sheer scale of the thing was impressive, and to know you were looking at a piece of history, that old, it was really incredible. God bless conservationists. It was still an ongoing work of painstaking detail and accuracy. Apparently the ship capsized on its maiden voyage and spent 300 so years in the sea until it was lifted out in the 60s over several years. Photographs don't do justice to the ship, it's one of those things that you just have to be there to fully understand how crazy it is. 

This was also the day I had a meltdown because I had left the house without an umbrella and eventually started getting soaked by the rain. I went from casually keeping an eye open for a drug store that sold a cheap plastic poncho to cover myself in (nowhere to be seen)--to desperately searching for a store that I could just buy an actual raincoat from (nowhere to be seen, only tasteful home decor stores)--to needing a towel, really. There's nothing more undignified than scurrying around in the rain sans umbrella, having to duck into random stores and being held hostage by any awning available to you, as you Super Mario Brother it across town as a sad, wet rat with limp bangs.

On a random note, I noticed that the cars in Stockhom were all normal sized. Usually when you go to Europe, the cars are all miniature, but Sweden kept it real with their full sized Volvos and Peugeots.

Hyggelig view from our windows. Made me wish I had a reading nook like this.

I had a different experience of Stockholm than I did back in 2012. Back then I was busy observing the culture as a bystander, delighting in the different aesthetics, and things that were so different to me (I barely registered all the bicycles this time around). Maybe it was the sense of familiarity or having had five years to appreciate certain things, I felt more present and able to enjoy the moments as they came.

On my first trip, I also recall feeling like Sweden was a bit quiet and dare I say, boring compared to Denmark, (the more mature older sibling to the fun and playful Copenhagen) but I left Stockholm with a different feeling. It's more quiet and understated, yes. Definitely takes the cake for Impossibly Cool––but it's not too cool for school and I left it with a renewed sense of curiousity and love.

Souvenirs:

Lots of black licorice

Stig Lindstrom Bersa plates

Klong candle holder

Sandqvist bags

Drop Coffee 

Next stop: Copenhagen!

Scandi Trip Part Två

It’s no secret that I love Scandinavia. It’s been five years since I visited and because I’m a believer in going back to the places you really loved—I did another trip. I was curious to see whether I would have a different perspective on things, and what new experiences I would have.

The verdict:

1. I love it even more.
2. Definately going back!
3. Sigh...

Music

Bruges

We left Amsterdam and hopped on a train that took us to Bruges via Brussels. The two hour train ride gave me bad motion sickness and I couldn't handle much but fuzzy water on our first food outing. Our air bnb in Belgium was located right above the Torture Museum, next door to a waffle house and across the street from a chocolate shop. Terrible wifi, but a very spacious, modern setting with more room than we knew what to do with. We could have thrown a house party.

Don't mind if I don't.

The Belfry...located right outside our window clanged incessantly, playing endless chimes and told time nonstop. Felt like Quasimodo just hanging out up there, taking nonstop requests.

Beautiful view right outside my bedroom window.

Our only plan of attack for Bruges was: 1. mussels 2. chocolates 3. boots of beer 4. chillax. We went to Poules Moules and compared some mussels cooked in pernod, with mussels cooked in a broth of beer. Verdict: beer bath mussels were tastier.

Poules Moules!

Not normally a fan of beer but it felt idiotic not to try some in Belgium, so  I started with a sour cherry beer in a dank, Medieval beer cellar that made us all sweaty. Not bad. The next day I moved on to a Hogaarden Rose. Delicious!!! I might have found my gateway into the beer world.

Bruges is a tiny fairy tale of a city. It reminded me a little bit of Prague in it's charm, maybe an older more crude version without all the pastel and crispness.

Ever wonder who the masters of chocolate making is? Uhh... well... it's... hmmm...oh. It's BELGIUM.  I'd never seen so many chocolate shops in one square mile... the whole city was perfumed with the scent of chocolate. Every other store was a luxury chocolatier; Godiva, Neuhaus, Galler, Leonidas, Dumon and Bruges' own Chocolate Line to name a few. They were all pretty serious like a jewelry store. Chocolates stacked and lined up neatly underneath glass cases like gems. I liked the posh little ballotines at some of the places, where you could hand pick all the freshest pralines you wanted for the week. 

Milk chocolate horses, dark chocolate dipped orange peels, marbled sea shells, green shiso leafs...

At one point the four of us stumbled upon an awesome home + kitchen store (our collective weakness) and I walked out with a big wooden bowl because it's my m.o. to fall for annoying things like perishables, breakables, and cumbersome souvenirs when I'm traveling.

Realizing we were pretty close to France, I decided to look into the offerings inside the Belgian pharmacies and success! All the good french staples and skincare within arm's reach. I loaded up on some stellar products. Trying out a pale pink serum by Lierac that smells like roses.

Ghostly

We spent most of our evenings face swapping on Snapchat and making disgusting videos of our warped faces while dealing with the clanging Belfry.

Next stop: London

Souvenir list:
Chocolates from everywhere
Salad bowl
Old school floral shears
French beauty products
Sparkly socks
Tiny Derilium beer glasses
Delirium pink elephant pin

Wish list:
More chocolate
Pint glasses

Amsterdam

It's been a week since I came back from my trip to Amsterdam, Bruges and London and I thought this a good time as any to get back into writing about things, because I regret not doing this for Austria/Vienna/Budapest, and last year's epic Rome/Florence trip. You just forget details the more time passes and if not for photos all the fun little memories of a trip dissipates.

I'd never been to Amsterdam before, I didn't know what to expect. It was also the gang's first time trying out airbnb. Our cab pulled us up to the trendy neighborhood of De Pjip, and met our air bnb host, a tall lanky Dutch dude who nonchalantly ignored our sputtering reaction to the crazy, steep stairway that greeted us at the door.

Kudos to Brian for his suitcase workout, lugging all our crazy bags up and down these chutes and ladders.

I could write a whole post just on these stairs, none of us managed to take a photo that perfectly encapsulated how dangerous and outrageous these stairs were, but they became the bane of our existence our entire stay in the city because getting up and down from the bedrooms to the living room downstairs was akin to going through a booby trap in your own home. We made the most of it of course, pretending to eat shit daily (sometimes succeeding on accident), joking about how we ought to just throw ourselves down the stairs to save time...a three story ladder would have been more honest.

Really enjoyed making dinner and chilling when we felt too lazy to go out to eat.

Crazy stairs aside, it was awesome to share a whole house with friends. It was a nonstop hang out fest and it really did feel like we'd neatly inserted ourselves into Amsterdam and was going about business like locals do. At one point after a trip to the grocery store, we ran into some other airbnb tenants in the stairway and they expressed surprise at seeing occupants on the flat above them, to which Brian haughtily retorted "Would we go grocery shopping here if we didn't live here?"

De Pjip was a good location to stay in. Near lots of restaurants, cafes, and bars. Our place overlooked a cute little wine bar called Glou Glou.

Notice the moving hooks up top. Certainly don't envy the Dutch on moving day.

Amsterdam reminded me a little bit of Copenhagen. The architecture was similar...not identical, but had the same tall vertical vibe. The houses in Jordaan were beautiful, so many different style arches on the roofs, a trademark of the canal homes. The overall effect was of gingerbread homes, because of the flatness of each fascade. No balconies, no protruding fronts, just a ton of windows and these gigantic moving hooks on the very tops of each.

My favorite neighborhood was undeniably the Jordaan. Such a quiet, elegant neighborhood along the canals.

Amsterdam seemed almost MORE of a bicycle city than Stockholm or Copenhagen is (which is saying a lot). The vibe of the bicyclists were way more no nonsense and aggro compared to the fashionable set we'd see gliding through cobbled shopping streets in Stockholm, wearing long flowy dresses, pink ACNE bags in tow. The entire city had an impressive and incorporated network of bike lanes next to the roads/sidealks...bicycles really were treated as no different from a vespa or a four wheeled vehicle. (I say it that way because some cars were somewhat questionable due to it's tiny size and tippability factor.)

We went to the Anne Frank House. It still hasn't hit me how crazy it is that we were inside the actual house that she and her family lived in. It was really tiny. We went up the actual stairs hidden behind the bookshelf.

Green eyed Van Gogh.

Also on the agenda was the Rjiksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. As excited as I was to see Vermeer and Rembrandt, I was really blown away by the Van Gogh Museum, which I wasn't expecting. It just goes to show you that you can learn about artists, or architecture in art history via books but nothing compares to actually seeing said objects in the flesh. His use of complementary colors, thick brushstrokes, and ability to create some of the most beautiful, and emotional pieces...I left the museum, a renewed fan of his work.

The next few days, we went shopping in the charming 9 Straatjes in Jordaan, walked through street markets, sampled bitterballens (deep fried beef croquettes), ate endless caramel stroopwafels, and tried the famous apple pie at Winkel 43.

We ate so many stroopwafels that we can't anymore. Killed it.

A soft and pillowy ball of dream burrata.

Hi buddies.

We hit up a weed cafe one afternoon. When in Rome, after all. There was a No Opium Smoking sign inside which we thought was strange, because... who's smoking opium?? 3 euros bought us a joint, and we settled outside with our cappucinos and a few edible stroopwafels. What was supposed to be a short little break in the middle of the afternoon, turned into one intense session of being #toohigh to do much of anything. After feebly trying to navigate a food hall and nearly getting hit by a car, we decided it would be wise to get ourselves home and ride out the wave.

The infamous edible stroopwafel that did us all in.

Things are weiiiird.

It was a very musical high. Katee and I lounged on the couch and listened to some intense sounds through the jambox. After some hours we came out of our stupor and had a nice night in, pigging out on all the cheese and raspberry juice we'd hoarded all week.

I know I mentioned this in my Sweden post years ago but Dutch people are super fucking tall. They're even taller than Swedish and Danish people. I lost count of how many over 6 ft tall women I saw in Amsterdam. They were everywhere, super cool and unapologetic. Brian and I felt dimunitive for the first time in our lives and it felt weird. "Brian! Stop being so SHORT!". But these are some of the little things I love about traveling; just seeing and experience things completely outside your norm, and thinking about how you feel about the differences or similarities.

Bondage / Homo / SM / And Teen Sex ?!

We checked out the Red Light District of course. It was more touristy than I thought. It was weird, women standing in the doorways of their little glass box rooms...they were so available and right at street level. I noticed that the majority of people there skulked around, stealing glances almost guiltily, even though everything was out in the open.

The highlight of our trip was the night time canal ride we did our last night in Amsterdam. It was an hour and a half of drinking wine and our usual shenanigans, while seeing some really beautifully lit up canal homes and nightlife.

I'd go back to Amsterdam again. It was chill, everyone was nice and tall... I loved it.

Souvenir list:
Tiny blue painted Delft porcelain clogs
Delft printed candles
Stroopwafels
Porcelain canal home tealights (for X-mas)
Gold bicycle bell
Van Gogh postcards
Sour fizzy gummies

Wish list:
Pure raspberry pressed juice
Crazy Delft vase with about 50 tiny porcelain clogs and animals all over it
Tulip bulbs to plant at home
A few edible stroops, just because.
A cat

And...I'm back.