Sunday, March 21, 2010

Scandinavian Adventure!

Okay, this year is going to be amazing. That's it. We get a house AND a trip to Scandinavia! We are pumped. My dad travels a lot for work and racks up the frequent flier miles and very generously donated them to our pouty faces as we told him that roundtrip tickets were going for over a thousand dollars per person. Awesome!! We depart from LA on August 23rd for Oslo, Norway where we'll tour around for 5 days or so before taking the train down to Copenhagen for a few days, and then we'll wrap up the trip for a week in Sweden. Our friends Brendan Monroe and Evah Fan live in Stockholm and are artists so we'll tour around all their favorite places with them I hope and check out the Swedish art scene. My aunt and uncle, Britt and Rui, and my cousins Jonatan and Johanna all live in Stockholm also so we will of course see and spend quality time with them (the picture above is the view from their balcony! It overlooks the harbor, amazing. It's snowed over there now, my dad took this picture on his trip last week, but it will be gorgeous when we're there in the summer). 

My aunt and uncle, Dagfinn and Bjorg, and cousins Eivind and Jon, live in and around Oslo so we're looking forward to seeing them as well. We'll be backpacking and hosteling and traveling by foot and train and we'll try to cram as much adventuring in as possible. Jeff is beside himself with excitement, as he's wanted to go to Scandinavia badly for a long time. I can't wait to share with him the places we went on our family vacations, show him Lillestrom where my dad is from, the Viking ships museum, the harbor, and all the good eats that the countries have to offer. I think Jeff is expecting all reindeer and moose burgers, but I'm all about the paprika chips from the grocery store. I will live off of those, shrimp, and Kinder eggs for the two weeks. No problem.

Here's another picture from Britt and Rui's home, isn't it gorgeous? The Danish furniture I mean, not the view. The view isn't too shabby either I guess. :) It's a good thing I can't fit furniture in my suitcase...
Britt and Rui and the very typical Norwegian/Swedish breakfast. I'll pass on the meat but I love the thick cut bread with yummy jam. Mmmm... Jan would be all over that baconost. It's this (in my opinion) gross white cheese spread infused with bacon essence. You squirt it out of a tube, which is just one reason why it's gross. Ligonberry jam I'll take though! My aunt looks so much like my dad, it's pretty hilarious. I wonder if Jan and I are going to be like that when we're older... he should be so lucky!
We can't wait!! Many more blog posts about what we want to see while we're there so stay tuned. :)

3 comments:

Nikki Menda said...

Yay!!! And Yay on your house!! Every year, I actually look forward to takes, because we get money back :) Hopefully it will be that way for you too!

Liv said...

Definitely was NOT that way this year. :( We'll have to file an amendment to get our 8K house credit and THAT day will be a happy day... I hope you get a ton back and get to go on your European adventure too!

ET said...

Good thing you are heading to Sweden during September, as it was VERY cold--with snow and ice--when I was there in March. After I left Britt said it warmed up and the snow was melting but suddenly, the next day, they had a snow storm!!

Hopefully you and Jeff will have nice and warm days in Stockholm in September and you will no doubt have a GREAT time and be able to swim in Maleren lake, right below Britt's and Rui's place.