Last weekend in Sweden!

Well, its my last weekend in Sweden. *tear.
Andreas came into town for it and promised to teach me how to make Swedish Meatballs. Deadly! Though sadly there isn't really a secret to them, its more so how you eat them.

We spent all afternoon making them, rolling and frying them. I'm getting really good at flipping them in the fry pan now too.
Meat balls for everyone when I get home!
Then that evening we went to see ÖSK (the football team) play against the number one ranked Helsingborg. The game was actually fantastic! Örebro destroyed them 3-0 not to mention three other goals that were not allowed cause the ref called them offside, though they definitely counted!
That night we went to a party with some of Andreas's friends, and Cailan and I spent our last Saturday partying like Swedes... not a good thing. Andreas got this crazy pizza, bacon and egg pizza. They put the weirdest stuff on their pizza here.
This morning we got to have even more Swedish food - Swedish pancakes, which are crepes, but cooked with bacon in them and then covered in blueberry sauce. So good.

I cant believe that I've been here for five months now, its gone by so quickly... oh well. Time to return home to the real world...

Goodbye Berlin

Well Joey has returned to Canada, and I to Sweden, after spending an overcast week in Berlin. It was fun! 

Joey was in his element, being a passionate World War Two geek, and I because of the delicious Weiße beers! 
We scoped out a lot of WW2 sites, saw bombed out churches, bullet riddled walls, locations of propaganda offices and the terrors of the SS and SA. We went on a specific Third Reich tour one day and went to the offices of Colonel Claus Von Stauffenber, where he planned Operation Valkyrie. That was cool cause they left the Third Reich ministry floors in, and they are decorated, inconspicuously with swastikas. 
Personally, I like the communist history; I followed the former Berlin wall, Joey got soviet stamps in his passport, laughed at the people getting their photos taken with pretend US Army guards at Check Point Charlie and observed another cloudy skyline of Berlin from the Reichstag Dome. 
The history aspect of Berlin is fascinating!

We also indulged in the south German tradition of Brauhaus and sausages! Interestingly enough when we were at one brauhaus, we stumbled upon Sony Entertainment setting up for the German premiere of the film SALT, with Angelina Jolie, and we ended up seeing her walk by!

But back to the beers! They have such in interesting concept of beers there, not only the Weiße beers which are zingy and thick. But what they combine them with! Lindenbrau, the one we frequented the most, offered their beers mixed with so many different juices! Mango, raspberry, apple, cherry and many others! And also with coke, like the Germans from our sailing trip in Croatia. My favourite was beer and grapefruit!
Then there was the currywurst! Mmm delicious, but I think just the standard brautwurst was my favourite of the sausage selection (really a southern German thing, not so popular in Berlin)


Ive now returned to Sweden for nine more days, time to pack up!

Kiel.

Well today was an interesting day... I left Joey and travelled north to Kiel, via Hamburg, on the Baltic Sea.
Why? One might ask...
An insight into some family history; I have a great-uncle who was killed in action during the Second World War and is burried there. From what I could find on the internet before this little day trip was that he was a flight engineer for the RCAF. In 1942 he was part of a fleet of 24 Halifax bombers that were attacking the Kiel-Flensbourg U-boat docks. Sadly only 12 of the 24 planes returned to the UK, my great uncle's being one of the MIA.
The trip was long and it was raining cats and dogs when I got to Hamburg, so obviously I was questioning this decision to go. And in all honesty I wasn't sure why I was going... But the skies cleared when I arrived in Kiel. Took me a while to figure out what bus to take there, but the tourist bureau was super helpful! Soo I managed to find the War Cemetery, which was actually not just the Commenwelth Cemetery like I'd thought. I actually got lost cause it is huge. The first part I walked through was German war graves from the First World War. The average age was 18. Astonishing. After I wandered that for a while, realizing I was totally in the wrong place, I walked the other direction and ended up in the German Second World War Graves, but I could see the Common Wealth ones on the otherside of a hedge... Finally I found the entrance.
Very different 'look' and smaller than I had imagined in my mind. I knew his plot number before arriving, so that made it easier than walking row by row to find it. Though it was so much smaller that I had anticipated that it wouldn't have mattered. It was a shockingly intense experience. I am so emotional. I brought flowers, but his stone was surrounded by them that you couldn't even tell I had added some! It was so... I don't know. Their ages were so young, most under 23 - younger than me, same age as Patrick. I can't imagin him doing that... I'm still shocked at how I reacted. I had absolutly no connection to him, other than he was nana's brother... Regardless I'm glad I went, regardless that I have no connection to him, unlike others who are visiting their fathers or known relatives. It feels like something I needed to do.

Location:Berlin

Berlin, baby!

Well joey and I made it to Berlin! We spent Thursday and Friday touring Stockholm, where we had fantastic weather! We checked out the Vasa Museet which was awesome; it's a salvaged and completely reconstructed boat that sank in 1628. Only minutes after setting sail cause it was top heavy. I amazed Joey by explaining that they probably used PEG to help with the preservation, after learning all about PEG from work. Then later we found a panel explaining how they used PEG! I felt like my education paid off with that one. Friday was my friend Andreas' birthday so we went out for that, super fun, ended up at one point at a makeshift bar under an overpass. Fun! Saturday we arrived in dreary Berlin and walked around all evening. Joey bursting with excitement because he's a huge WW2 geek, so is in his element here. It was kinda chilly and we were both pretty drained from the night before so returned to the hostel for weisse sausages and mustard. Today was a looong day. We did a concentration camp tour. Sachsenhausen. Though I have to admit it didn't floor me like when I visited Dachau? Am I desensitized since I already visited one? This one I felt was not a gripping either... I'm gonna go with it was the tour girls fault? I really can't explain it... Not sure what we'll get at tomorrow? See how long it takes to go to Kiel?

Location:Berlin

Joeys here

Well Joey's come to visit! 

We didnt make it to Gotland after all. Instead we came back to Orebro. Hung out here for the weekend around the castle. On monday Joe and I headed west to Gothenburg for a couple days. Hit up an amusement park and are bound for Stockholm tomorrow!

Always on the go

Well I returned to Örebro for two days so I could do laundry (washing your clothes in the sink gets old fast), drop off everything that Cailan and I accumulated during our past month and so I could meet Joey in Stockholm today!
Sweden is so cold compared to where we've been, and overcast and just generally unpleasant. Blah. I' heading into Stockholm after lunch to meet Cailan and then go for supper with a couple of our friends who live there. Joey gets in later tonight and after he gets in we'll probably go out...
Then tomorrow we're going to Gotland for a few days. Haha this is where everything gets hazy. Cailan dosen't like to plan a head, and well, I'm anal and need to be super organized, at least organized in my head. So, we're heading there with no where to stay. In our past experiences, that generally means we pay more than expected... I guess we'll figure it out when we get there, and then we don't know when we are leaving yet either. Cailan has to be back here in Örebro for the 10th. I really hope going there isn't a bust. I wish we had planned something, even if it was just renting bikes. Oh well.
After Gotland Im not sure what Joey and I will get at. Örebro seems to lame to bring him here, but the idea of three days in Stockholm isn't appealing either. Silly Sweden.
Then it's off to Berlin! Joey was in charge of planning that... but I dont think he did either. ugh. All I know is that I am going to Kiel at some point, whether it be after he leaves or with him I'm not sure. My nana's brother is burried there from the war and I want to go check it out.

Hopefully these next two weeks are fun!

Photo time

http://picasaweb.google.com/Sarahpeyt/TravelPhotos?feat=directlink

I've added a few photos from Croatia. Ill get the rest up when I return from Götland and Berlin - Cailan has quite a few on her camera that I want.

Heading home

Well I relunctantly left Budapest and made my way to Bratislava all by my alone - cailan stayed in Budapest with Ellie. It's sad to think my hot summer vacation is over! I scoped out the weather in Sweden and it's in the low 20's and raining all week. Noooo! We've only had rain once and nothing below 25! I'm gonna freeze. And my tan will be gone before I make it back to Canada. On a plus, my friend Joey's coming to visit us on Thursday (why cailan and I are leaving the hot south). Should be fun, were going to the island of götland for a few days and then dick around Sweden. Fingers crossed that the swelling in my foot goes so I can wear shoes and not these aweful flipflops that have ripped my toes. Bye bye southern Europe :(

Location:Bratislava

Chess!

So, Im not sure about the history of chess, but it's all the rage here in Budapest. Did it originate around here?
We went to the thermal baths yesterday and there were old men playing chess everywhere... on tables by the bar, on tables by the pools and on the ledges of the pool while floating in the water.
Then at the train station today there were men lined up along the banisters and railings playing chess. If they weren't actually playing, then a guy would just be standing/leaning against the rail with his chess board (checkered cardboard or a flat laminate paper rather than an actual 'board') set up waiting for someone to come over and challenge them?
I wonder if they play for money, or simply just to play... I cant really picture them as chess hustlers, but maybe they are!
I should have challenged someone!