Jeffrey Donenfeld

Tag: Sweden2009

  • Stockholm to Helsinki

    Stockholm to Helsinki

    IMG_5241The previous night out at multiple bars ended up going quite late, so I took this morning to sleep in a bit at Emre’s, and catch up on a few things for Helsinki. Then, I navigated through the Stockholm metro, and made it to the airport to catch my afternoon hour long flight over to Helsinki, Finland.

    When I got to Helsinki, my friend Sari was there waiting for me at the airport. She was hosting me for the night during my 23 hour layover. We rode the bus back to her apartment in the suburbs of Helsinki, and then took the train back into downtown to grab dinner. After a good dinner, we went around the corner to the bar that Sari’s friend works at, and spent the rest of the night having some fun drinks with friends.

    The next morning we got up, got on our bikes, and set out on a long ride all around town. We biked down to downtown Helsinki, and had crepes for breakfast right on the water, at a small farmers market setup right next to the ferry dock. After crepes, we got big bags of peas and cherries from the market, and then hopped on the ferry over to Suomenlinna, an island in Helsinki which had one of the original forts/castles. We spent the better part of the afternoon exploring around, finding hidden bunkers, canons, and meeting some parasailers using the stiff breeze from the ocean to glide around the island. We also found an experimental German uboat from WWII, which was open to the public. I spent a while geeking out in the submarine “Vesikko”, while Sari chilled, called me names, and ate Blueberry pie.

    After a short ferry ride back to town, we picked our bikes back up, and did a huge loop around the city – stopped at the 1952 Olympic stadium and checked out the view from the top of the tower, got coffee overlooking the lake, biked around the main church, and hung out in the park. Overall it was an fantastic bike ride, and a great day in Helsinki.

    After biking, we went back to Sari’s place, and I packed up and hopped the bus back to the airport, and Sari went out for a run.

    That was my final day traveling – I hopped on the plane and flew back to new york, severely jet lagged, and looking forward to getting back to the office and city life.

    IMG_5295

  • Stockholm Day Two

    Stockholm Day Two

    Ikea69-Exhibit-PosterToday Jill got up early to go to the airport to fly to Switzerland, and I slept in a bit, and then had a full day in Stockholm to myself.

    First thing I did was grab some breakfast at a local cafe, then walked over to Pet Sounds, a local music store near Emre’s apartment in Sodermalm. Pet Sounds is a great music shop, with cool staff, a great selection, and a bar, with the same name, same owner, right across the street.

    From there, I trekked across town to the Liljevalchs museum, to see the Ikea 69 exhibit, which looks at all of Ikea’s long and interesting history with design and production. Super interesting, especially seeing videos of the designers talking about their inspiration for designs, and looking at the special and commemorative sets of furniture for various occassions. Really put a new spin on the Ikea brand for me – before I had associated it with both cheap in price and quality – It’s nice to know how much thought really goes into each piece they make. It was also interesting to see so much Ikea goods in the homes of everyone Jill and I stayed with, as well as all around Sweden in shops, bars, restaurants. It really has helped shape the country.

    After Ikea, I bounced over to the Modern Museum to see the European Photography Exhibit, as well as the Clay Ketter exhibit. The photography exhibit was great, and seeing photos from an isolated time period – teh 70’s, was a great way to really get into a particular style of collective feeling.

    Finally for the day, I immersed myself for an hour and a half at the Design Torget store (like the MOMA gift shop on ultra steroids), and then took a long slow sunset walk home through Gamla Stan.

    Showered and changed, then went out to Pelikan for some, yeah, Swedish Meatballs. I had to have them, as cheesy as it may sound. Was a great, warm, tasty restaurant and meal.

    Finally, I walked all the way down to the southern tip of Sodermalm to the new hot nightspot, under the bridge, called Tradgarden – It’s a large outdoor venue and bar, and when I got there, it was completely packed, with a line stretching around the block. Apparently I wasn’t the only one frustrated with the long line, and quickly I met a group of kids who were getting in a cab to go across town to another Drum n Bass Club. After a little drama rounding up the group, we all made it into a cab, and went across town to another spot.

    Quick walk home after that, and sleep.

    Modern-Museum-Stockholm-collage3
    Modern Museum Stockholm 70's Photography Exhibit
  • First Day In Stockholm

    First Day In Stockholm

    Jill and I took the overnight train from Malmö back to Stockholm, which turned out to be a great way to travel. The train was easy and relatively inexpensive, and we had our own private sleeping cabin, so we got a good night’s sleep while we traveled.

    In Stockholm, we set out gear down at our friend Emre’s apartment, and then set out to walk through Gamla Stan up to take a public boat out to the archipeligo.

    We boated out to the nature protected island Grinda, which turned out to feel exactly like summer camp. Grinda is a no-car island, and the whole place was linked by a series of trails through the woods, with brown and green painted cabins scattered all around. There was a small tourist info hut, a hostel, cabins for rent, a general store, a small restaurat out by the marina, a farm, and a main boarding house. Jill and I coulden’t decide whether the place felt more like summer camp, or more like the island in LOST.

    After Grinda, we went back to Stockholm and shopped around for a bit, got a late lunch, and then did a full lap through Gamla Stan, and a bunch of other parts of stockholm.

    For dinner, we found a nifty Turkish place called Aya Sophia, and then went to hang out on the public square up the street with all the other kids.

    Jill got a final ice cream, and then we went home, so Jill could get some sleep for her early early morning departure to Switzerland.

  • Copenhagen

    Copenhagen

    Another early morning wakeup at Gustaf’s, but this morning Jill and I ventured out by ourselves…to Denmark.

    We rode the train across thr bridge, which was much easier than navigating in the car from country to country.

    In Copenhagen, our first stop was Tivoli Garden. Quite surprising – we were under the impression that Tivoli was a quaint, nice botannical garden. Instead, it turned out to be a crazy, busy amusement park, complete with roller coasters, whack-a-mole, theme shows, and hot dog vendors. We had a great time at Tivoli hanging out, and then walked across town to a cool artists neighborhood. We got brunch at a nice cafe, and ended up meeting some locals and getting the inside scoop on what to to in Copenhagen.

    After brunch we took some time to walk around town and expolore a few of the many trendy tshirt and sneaker shops, then hopped on the bus and rode it in a big loop around town – an effective, cheap way to see the entire city. After the bus, we walked around a bit more, and I found a city of Copenhagen bike, which was interesting to try out – not the highest quality bike, but good for getting around town, and great that it’s free and provided by the city. The sheer number of bikes in copenhagen was staggering.

    Finally, we checked out a light exhibit at the Copenhagen Design Institute, and then got back on the train to Malmö.

  • Southern Coast Summer

    Southern Coast Summer

    Early morning breakfast at Gustaf’s, then the three of us hit the road for the southern coast.

    First stop was the sleepy fishing town of Ystad – good walk around, with a very old, traditional neighborbood.

    Then to the small marina community of Käseberg, where we sat in the sun and had fish sandwiches. We also checked out the Pink Floyd inspired maritime rescue and recovery museum, and finally the mysterious rock ring. At the rocks there were all sorts of crazy conspiracy theorists there handing out flyers with their cracked out explanation for the rocks – but our explanation was the best- it was an ancient kids playground.

    Next we cruised down the coast more, out of Danish radio range, to Simrishamn where we bought some wine and strawberries for the bbq at Magnus’ house.

    We then cruised to Gustaf’s summer beach house, and swam in the ocean and laid in the sand for a bit.

    Finally before Magnus’ bbq at his summer house, we stopped off at an amazing all you can eat coffee and cookies joint.

    We ended the day by bbq’ing at Magnus’ place, going for an evening swim in the ocean, and the racing home to Malmö.

    Copenhagen tonorrow!

  • Malmö Evening

    Malmö Evening

    Evening drive from Gothenburg to Malmö, sunset on the beach, dinner and drinks with our old friend Gustaf, now sleep. Beach house on the coast with friends tomorrow.

    Also, Gustaf has a dirt cheap true 10 megabit internet connection here, and apparently can get a 100megabit connection for not much more. Government built data backbone – awesome. This is why The Pirate Bay is Swedish?

  • Ikea… In Sweden

    Ikea… In Sweden

    Yeah, we had to check it out… And yeah, it felt like every other Ikea… But all in Swedish!

  • Universeum

    Universeum

    In Gothenburg, there exista the Universeum. It’s a giant indoor mountain, and educational nature walk. We checked it out today, and yeah, it’s pretty amazing. From the ground level, we took tge funicular up to the top, and then wound our way back down the mountain on the long winding trail. We went through the desert zone, arctic zone, lake zone, aquarium zone, and ended in the rain forrest. Fantastic!

  • Ultra Gothenburg

    Ultra Gothenburg

    Early morning wakeup at Eva’s apartment (“compartment apartment”), and a quick drive back to the Haga neighborhood. We found a little cafe to chill at and get tasty pastries for breakfast, after which we trekked over to the Viking ship museum. Grrr, damn Lonely Planet guide – apparently the museum is closed Mondays, so, no luck. We walked all around Gothenburg, and found a couple hip stores around town – Jill freaked out in the outdoor store and tried to buy four green sporks…. But luckily the cashwrap line was too long and we got out unscathed.

    After that, we took a touristy, relaxing Padden boat tour through the canals, then lunched at the Feskekorka – “fishchurch”.

    A walk throughthe Saluhallen market, now free wifi on the street.

    Jill is also blogging at her The Dish’s Dish.

  • Evening in Gothebsburg

    Evening in Gothebsburg

    Three hour walk all around Gothenburg, long sunset on the canal, and then a great dinner at Linnéterassen. We’re toast from a ton of travel and a long walk. The very long synsets here are a bit deceptive…. By the time we decided it was def time to end the walk and eat, it was already 22:00, and no streetlights were on yet. Toblerone and TV for dessert tonight, world’s only remaining Viking ship tomorrow.

  • Appelfabriken to Gothensburg

    Appelfabriken to Gothensburg

    Eggs and toast this morning at the Appelfabriken, then Jill and I hopped in the car, bound for Gothensburg.

    The first stop of the day was Drottingholm Slott, the Swedish royal family’s day to day home. Great gardens, a huge lake, and we found a giant hedge area, with hollowed out hedges and secret pathways inside….nifty.

    Our next stop was in Gränna, a small town on the edge of lake Vattern in central Sweden. Granna is known for their peppermint sticks, and the whole town looked and smelled like a life size candyland. We chatted with the locals for a bit, then had lunch on a deck looking out on the lake. Seating was a little tight, so to get us a table fast, I friended the bus girl and helped bus a few tables. Before leaving Granna, Jill got some tasty ice cream from a little booth, and the girl working there, our age, let Jill practice the Swedish ice cream scooping herself!

    Back in the car on our drive to Gothensburg, the highway cut through some spectacular evergreen forests. Right before getting into town, we stopped at a gas station to economically fill up our flex fuel VW Golf with E85 – ethanol.

    In Gothensburg, we’re staying at a friends apartment (while they are away on vacation), and are walking through downtown now, on our way to dinner. Free wifi on the streets is great!

  • Appelfabriken

    Appelfabriken

    First full day in Sweden was in a bit of a sleep deprived haze, but amazing nonetheless. I drove to Appelfabriken, where i met up with Jill, who has been working here for the last month. We made foodand took the boat out on the lake, took a hike the farmland, and had dinner out on the pook deck with everyone else living here – what a great first day of the trip!

  • Touching Down in Stockholm

    Touching Down in Stockholm

    After a long, sleepless, overnight flight to Stockholm, I finally got to the Arlanda airport, and immediately passed out on an airport bench… Needed at least an hour or two in order to have a somewhat lucid day….

    Picked up the car at Europcar, then hit the road for Appelfabriken.

  • New York City to Stockholm

    New York City to Stockholm

    First post “from the field”. About to take off from NYC, flying to Stockholm, with a quick layover in Helsinki. The Helsinki layover going will be quick – 40 minutes (with another, partially-full Helsinki-Stockholm flight leaving an hour or two later, just in case…). However, the Helsinki layover coming back is about as long as a layover can be – 23 hours, which gives me time to spent an evening and half day exploring the city.

    Anyway, about to take off. During the run from the AirTrain, through JFK, I got my traditional giant gold Toblerone bar, which usually lasts me most of the way through these trips.

    Next post fron across the ocean!

  • Jetting to Sweden…

    Jetting to Sweden…

    Swedish Social Democratic Party 1936 PosterNext week, I’ll be traveling in Sweden, Denmark, and Finland with my sister Jill. She’s been working at the Appelfabriken, an organic apple farm outside of Stockholm. We’re driving from Stockholm down to Copenhagen, meeting up with friends along the way, and then back to Stockholm via train. From there, I’m flying to Helsinki, and then home.

    During the trip I’m going to try to regularly keep the blog updated, although the actual amount may be limited by connectivity.

    Takeoff tomorrow!