Vi är i Sverige nu. Well, we were in Sweden a couple of hours ago but I wanted to use some of the little bit of Swedish that I remember. We made an expedition to Malmö for the day and it was a wonderful trip.Mike and I both have Swedish roots so it was a big goal of ours to make it to Sweden. We took a couple of quarters of Swedish lessons at the Nordic Heritage Museum a year or so ago, but unfortunately we don’t remember much. I see words on signs and think, “hmm, that looks familiar.” I really should have brushed up before we came. Keenan helped me with the numbers, but I should have done more. No matter, everyone speaks English, but it would have been fun to try some Swedish. It’s too bad Keenan couldn’t have been here with us since he is studying Swedish at the UW. Nästa gång!

It was so easy to get to Sweden—we just caught a train from the Copenhagen Central station and we were in Malmö in 30 minutes. There is now a bridge that runs between Denmark and Copenhagen and the train runs on the bridge. The first building we saw once we crossed into Sweden was a big IKEA. What fun it would have been to check that out!

As we crossed the bridge, we noticed a forest of wind turbines rising out of the water. Very bizarre! We did not have very high expectations of Malmö. A woman in the tourist center said there really wasn’t much there, but now I realize that she was Danish and this was Sweden we were talking about!

Malmö was a pleasant surprise of old buildings nicely preserved, lots of open squares and pedestrian streets, plenty of interesting shopping, and a beautiful, modern sense to the city that works well with the history. We found quite a few shops with furniture and home furnishings that really show-cased modern Scandinavian design and style. We were just drooling over many items we saw and were also so impressed with some of the inventive design of many household items. Why don’t we see more of these types of things? It was like IKEA on steroids and beyond. We loved it.

One thing we find amusing about these Nordic countries is their love of outdoor cafés. They are everywhere, but it is also still quite cold, so most of the cafés have blankets on the chairs so you can bundle up. We usually opt for going inside to stay warm!

While Denmark and Sweden are not nearly as expensive as Norway, they are still quite pricey and we are finding that a good way to avoid breaking the bank is to eat lunch out and then have a small dinner of crackers or bread, cheese, meats, and fruit in the room. Lunch in Malmö was some typical plates of fish, rye bread, and pickled onions. I had salmon and Mike had two kinds of white fish. They were delicious!

Salmon- yum!

Our lunch stop also had an extensive whiskey collection and we thus discovered a Swedish whiskey. The bartender steered us to the government liquor store where we found a bottle to bring back—just half of our allowance! Kevin, Melinda, and Keenan—we also spotted the OP Anderson. The amazing thing is that it was actually cheaper in the US!

OP Anderson- look at all those bottles!

Our day in Sweden went quickly and we soon found ourselves back in the train station trying to figure out how to spend the rest of our Swedish kroner—it’s becoming a part of our travel: how to spend our remaining pounds, euros, kroner. Not usually a problem, but it’s a fun puzzle to make sure you don’t take out too much, and then find a way to spend what you have.

-T