So we got invited to stay at a friends house in Stockholm, Sweden that we are studying with. It worked out that we had no class and airfare was only 39 Euros round-trip if we flew out of Germany. Sweden is pretty expensive but with housing taken care of I only spent about 150 Euros for the 5 days including travel.
The group of 7 international students took over her parents house. We cooked most of our meals there together and split up between two bedrooms. It was like a middle school sleep over complete with endless yelling, laughing, throwing things at each other and jokes about bodily functions.
We traveled all around Stockholm in the great trolley and subway systems that should make Seattle feel ashamed for its transportation woes. The food was great, the weather was great, everything was great. It is in the top three cities I have visited in Europe. We ate at a little restaurant in the basement of a cafe in the middle of the old city that was only lit by candlelight.
We visited the Vasa, a large pirate like ships that was raised after being sunk for 333 years. In the same area was a great island park that among other things has a zoo and old reconstruction of historical life. They have glass making shop, a bakery, a general store and living quarters from the 1600's where they actually bake bread, and blow glass, etc...Nearby there was a little cafe to grows a large part of the food it serves on the land surrounding it. The food it doesn't grow is bought organic and as locally as possible. It tasted amazing and even though it was a cold day we ate in greenhouses that had nice atmosphere by being comfortably warm, had birds flying around and smelled like the food that was being cooked. I had the buffet that had sugar pumkin and cabbage, stew, fresh chewy bread, and homeade carrot soup. The really cool part is that it has become so successful that it supports itself now after being started by a nonprofit using government grants.
