what better way to start the day then to put on your anti-alien-brain-reading helmets made of tin-foil.......


Went with Johnnie, Niklas and Jens in to town to do some shopping... we walked all over and ran into a bunch of people we know.. but first we met a bunch of guys with anti-alien tin foil helmets.. or something.... We managed to get away from them, but not before they turned Johnnie into one of them...



It was an amazing day.. the sun was out.. it was perfect weather.. not too hot yet. We had lunch in Kungstradgarden. It seems like everyone was out. Sweden really does have such a long dark winter, so on days like today everyone goes out....



We walked past the Kungliga Dramatisk Theater (Royal Dramatic Theater) looking for a good place to eat....We ate at Max which is a Swedish burger restaurant...



After eating ran into our friend Rikard, who joined us to shop.... I did manage to find a 3 button suit that I was looking for... it is being tailored right now, and should be done on Monday. Everyone managed to find a few things... its pretty easy right now since all the summer sales are right now...



This evening there was a BBQ at Johnnies sister Angelica's place. (thats her on the left, then Hanna, Lisbet and Daniel are also on the front row above. The three in the back are Niklas and Jens and standing is Rikard.) We grilled and hung out and played Kubb. Which is a viking game that is sort of like a mix between chess and horseshoes. go figure. But its pretty simple and everyone can manage it...



here are a few of the Pieces.. The King, and the blocks are kind of like towers i guess.. and you throw the long skinny pieces.. to knock down the others towers, and the ultimately the King... Check it out.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubb I am to make a set when I get home....



Here are Daniel, Jens and Morgan as they start a game against the girls... It took them a while to do it, but they ended up winning....

Then after the BBQ a bunch of us guys went into town and met Max and some other people for the midnight movie to see Harry Potter... We had about an hour to kill before the film, so we went into a club and met a bunch of people from Germany and danced for a bit....I thought that the movie was alright...but I was pretty tired afterwards. It was a good thing that Johnnie drove so we didn't have to take the train home... sleep awaits...

So i managed to walk a ton today.. if I keep this up then I am really going to be in the best shape... Its amazing how much more you walk over here. Whether it is walking between the bus or the subway or just walking to different areas. It makes me really want to use my car less when I get home.

Today I started walking in Soder and then made my way over to the subway at Slussen. I hopped on the subway and to the Ostermalms Torg stop. I was pretty much just watching people today and taking pictures. I did have to duck into a 7 eleven to check my email for about 20 minutes during a short rainfall....other than that, I went all over town before eventually going to meet everyone for a dinner activity at church... It was good to run into so many friends that I haven't seen for so long...

Here are some pictures of the day....


This is one of the few skyscrapers in town.. This is one by Medborgarplatsen in Sodermalm.


A fountain in Kungstradgarden which means the "King's Garden". If you look you can see one of the palaces in the background (behind the 3 pillars on that stage).


The daily market at Hotorget right in town. The blue building is the Konserthuset (Concert House). This market has everything from flowers, produce, wallets, T-shirts, and of course fresh berries!



I walked through Mariatorget in Sodermalm (torget means square in Swedish) and they had a big Boule tournament. Its really like Bacci, but played with smaller balls made of metal. There must have been 8 games going on at once. This was the main game field as you can see by the bleachers... I had no idea it was such a spectator sport!



From MariaTorget I walked up to the north edge of Sodermalm. (its an Island, as Stockholm is built on a series of them) From there there is a great view of Gamla Stan (the old town).



This is the north edge of Sodermalm.. I took the last picture of Gamla Stan from the cliffs up behinds those buildings with the steeples.



On the way to the church I walked past the stop where the prime minister Olof Palme was killed in 1986 on the street on his way home from a movie...his murder has never been solved.



On a lighter note.. here are Moroni (left) and Johnnie as they attempt to (and finally succeed) to make brownies. Niklas is slaving away in the background.



Niklas putting the final touches before we eat.. We had awesome Greek food and a bit of America with Brownies for dessert.... Then we all went over to Hanna Mattsson's to hang out afterward... Then back home to hopefully get some sleep before a big Saturday....

Finally up early for once...I managed to get up at 8:30 today. It's now about 9:30 and I am going to get into town just in time to check out a few stores. I am planning on taking a lot of pictures today of most of my favorite places in Stockholm...Tonight there is a dinner activity and I hope that a lot of my friends that I haven't seen for a very long time are going to be there.... Plus now it is Friday and lots of people are going to be out and about.... and most of my friends start their vacations from work this weekend...

Stockholm, Sweden.....

I must have been a bit in Denver time today as I woke up kind of late. Granted I did get home a bit late last night. I took the train into downtown in the afternoon to grab some late lunch. I got off of the train in Sodermalm and went over to Jerusalem's Kebab to eat. I had an awesome Kebab Talrik. (I took a picture of it just for you Jordan..... It was as good as ever!)





After lunch I walked about in Soder looking at the shops and at people for a while. I then caught the Tunnelbanan (subway) over to Ostermalm. There was a Metallica concert in town tonight and the subway was packed with concert goers in their metal band t-shirts... needless to say it was packed on the subway. I somehow managed to get off at my stop after climbing past a few people. I walked around Stureplan, which is kind of an expensive area, but with some really good shops and places to go out. I found a good buy on some jeans and started to look at suits, but decided to wait on the suit for a few days. I might check out a few more places.





I got a call from my friend Anna Maria Ekelund, who suggested that I come over to the church to meet her. They were having a dinner for her and some of the missionaries birthdays. On my way over to the church on Kammakar Gatan (street) I walked past a pretty sweet Ferrari.



One of the missionaries happened to be a girl that I know from my congregation in Denver. It was pretty cool to run into her and say hello. We had some awesome hot blueberry as well as rhubarb pie with ice cream.. kinda hard to beat.



On the way back home we went to see the Transformers movie at the Filmstaden in Hotorg.. I thought it was entertaining..but a bit cheesy...



Then I caught the last train back to Haninge to Daniels place... (again filled with people wearing Metallica T-shirts).......

After a great weekend in SLC, I finially flew out to sweden on Monday July 9th... It was a pretty uneventful flight with a stop in Minnesota and in Amsterdam...I always love the feeling I get when getting off of the plane in another country. I love hearing people talk and realizing that I don't hear much English at all.... And its even better to when I arrive in Sweden and can understand it all....

My freind Daniel Naslund picked me up at the Airport and then I slept for a while..I had a little nap on Tuesday after I arrived, and I think that I am now on Swedish time....

Tuesday evening I didn't have much to do as Daniel left for a family vacation for a few days, so I went into town and went to check out most of my favorite places to wander. The weather was great and not near as hot as it is in Denver. Thank goodness.... I was out close to Medborgarplatsen in Stockholm and I ran into a few freinds of mine... We ended up walking around pretty late and walked about 30 minutes to my freind Max Akebrands' place. We all crashed there after staying up pretty late catching up...

On Wendsday, I went straight into town to pick up a few things on my way home from Max's..There were a ton of people in town, lots of tourists as well as locals out taking advantage of the summer sales.... From Max's its about 45 minutes from his place to Daniel's on the train. I got home, took a bit of a nap.. and then headed back into town. I ran into my freind Tobbe on the train into town... Stockholm is a bit like that.. a bit of a big, yet little town... you can still run into people you know quite often...

I met Max in town and we went to Kunghallarna to eat... pretty good food for a decent price.. I had some cajun chicken... kinda funny to come all the way to Sweden and then eat a dish called Louisiana Chicken.... We then went to Soder and had ice cream and sat and watched people... Niklas Wannerlund (Daniels roommate) came and met us, then we went over to Max's neighborhood.. He has a great place right by a lake..perfect for swimming.. He is also close to the forest and a large ski hill. We walked up to the ski hill and saw the view then went down into the new Hammarby Sjostad area. Its a pretty amazing area with lots of new apartments.. pretty modern and right next to the water...

Then from there Niklas and I caught one of the last trains on the tvarbana and then caught the night bus to Handen... then we were able to walk about 20 minutes the rest of the way home....all in all not a bad first full day in town....