Saturday, May 22, 2010

Swedish Spring and Travels

Summer (or at least late spring) has finally come to Stockholm. Last weekend we had a classic long Swedish weekend. Thursday was the Day of the Ascension. My favorite religious holiday of course. Mostly because I had never heard about it until moving here. That meant that Wednesday was a half day. And Friday, being a klämdag, ended up being a day off. So I headed to Skåne to go sailing.

It was cold and miserable. Eight degrees cold in the middle of May. Driving rain that froze me to the core. Plus, I went through three different coats because all of them had lost their ability to keep water out. We even ran aground at one point. Couple that with my last attempt at sailing when I fell in the water and ruined my phone and camera, my experiences as a sailor are not good ones. Strangely enough I still enjoyed myself. Probably because despite being wet and cold, this time I wasn’t wet and cold after having fallen in. It’s the little things really.

I returned to Stockholm Sunday night only to find out that it was 20 some degrees here and sunny all weekend. Fine Stockholm, you proved your point. After having complained that many of the trees were missing leaves, Stockholm wanted to prove a point. And it did.

Monday morning I headed to Italy. It was sunny and warm and I managed to get myself sunburned with very little effort. My poor pale skin doesn’t really know how to handle sunlight anymore. The red tightness in my ever expanding forehead though was worth it.

I have been to Italy three times, and each time I go, I like the people more and more. The first time I left Italy disgusted by how rude they had been to me, the blatant sexist attitudes, and just an overall lack of manners. Of course that trip was marred by a couple of extreme incidents, one being in Assisi. Which is why everyone needs to travel to the same country multiple times. Since that trip I returned to Rome, and then Milan and Turin and was amazed by just how friendly and helpful everyone was. The fact that the sun was shining and trees and flowers could be found everywhere I looked probably helped my mood.

Returning to Stockholm, I was nervous. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Not because I was flying into Arlanda (I wasn’t, I know better than that. Skavsta is the way to go.) but because I hadn’t checked the weather or news in days and the way the spring had been going I wouldn’t have been surprised to land in snow. I didn’t. The sun has been shining, the flowers are blooming, and life has returned to Stockholm again.

Welcome to Sweden. And spring. Finally.

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6 comments:

  1. Turin is really a nice city, my family lives there so I try to visit the city as often as possible.

    The weather has been really good lately, here in Götebord we had 25+ C a couple of days ago. Really nice :)

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  2. Summer came just as I was beginning to think that Sweden was not capable of warm weather :). I love how green it is, and all the cute little flowers everywhere!

    When I was in Italy last month I was not crazy about the people at all, I thought they were very rude. But yet I still have plans to go back in June (to Rome), so I'm hoping that I leave with a good impression as you had on your second time. :D

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  3. why is Arlanda not so great? Im going for my first time and Im flying into there...anything I should (or shouldnt) expect?

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  4. Haha, it's the little things. :D :D Well written.
    P

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  5. Nila, don't worry. I have never had any problems with Arlanda. I prefer it to Skavsta any day.

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  6. @TS – Turin was absolutely beautiful. Definitely would like to spend more time there.

    @Jessy – Good work, Rome is a lot of fun.

    @nila – lots of people actually like Arlanda, but Arlanda and I don’t get along. Im always delayed or having my bags lost.

    @anonymous – the little things indeed. Thanks.

    @Thomas – one of the many. But not me.

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