Berlin 2014

We traveled to Berlin over the weekend to see Måns and his friend Anders perform as Sine City at a club in Berlin called Urban Spree. There were 4 bands performing Saturday night.  The show didn’t start until 11:15 and we didn’t leave until around 03:30 in the morning.  They were amazing as always.  They had some records for sale and one German guy came up to buy one and paid double price because he said, “This is the best thing ever in Berlin!”  Nice compliment. 🙂

While in Berlin, we ate a lot of good food, visited the Computer Game museum and took a Trabi Safari.

A Trabi is one of those little cars they used to drive in East Germany.  They couldn’t have Western cars behind the wall and so you had to order these, paying lots of money and waiting years on a list until one was made (it took a long time to get the parts).  It must be one of the worst cars ever made. It’s almost hollowed out inside except for the seat benches, it’s so loud you can’t hear yourself, and it reeks of gasoline.  That being said, it was a lot of fun to ride in one for an hour.

We followed with a group of 8 cars around Berlin just seeing the sites.  At Checkpoint Charlie (of all places) Måns got stopped by a news crew who shoved a camera in his face to ask where he was from.  When he answered Sweden, he was suddenly asked, “So what do you think about the situation in Crimea?!” Måns was smooth as always and had plenty of answers.  If it would have been me, I would have just said, “Uh, I just wanted to drive the Trabi.”

Enjoy the pictures!

Our 14th Anniversary – Stockholm

This year we spent our 14th anniversary at the Elite Marina Hotel in Stockholm.  It was a very nice hotel right on the water.  Sure, the historical signs say the island used to be quarrantined for lepers in the 1700s, but it looks like they’ve fixed it up into a nice, relaxing place (they’ve turned the foundation from an old mental hospital into a nice picnic area!).
We had a nice dinner at a Greek restaurant and a great buffet breakfast the next morning.  It was a wonderful anniversary, as always, with the greatest husband in the world!

Ljubljana, Slovenia

We spent 5 days in Ljubljana, Slovenia during the Christmas season.  What a beautiful town!  The Christmas lights were amazing, as were the hot wines and hot chocolates sold on the street.  We also got the chance to see a St. Nicholas celebration.  Here is my view of the show:  The devils come out and scare the children along with a fire breathing man, then the angels come out to give candy with St. Nicholas.  We had to catch a boat ride, so I’m not sure how it ended, but I suspect St. Nicholas won.

We also visited the Ljubljana Castle which sits high on a hill overlooking the city.  You have to take a funicular to get up there (or walk uphill 20 min – guess which we did?).  At the top of the watchtower, we had amazing views over the city.

We also took a nice boat ride, walked around the Christmas market every evening and got donuts at the local bakery in the mornings.  It was a great trip and we are full with hot chocolate, hot wine and honey mead.  At least until next weekend..

 

Halloween 2013

We actually got invited to another Swedish/American couple’s house yesterday for a Halloween dinner plus trick or treating with their kids.  It was wonderful!  Finally my kids got a fun and real Halloween over here!  Lots of people answered the door in costume and the kids had full bags by the end of the night (first time ever!)

That being said, let me give you the highlights of the people who did not understand trick or treating last night.

1. When our group of kids (6 – 7 years old) came to one lady’s door, she argued with them and told them it was the wrong night and they should come back tomorrow.  Then she closed the door.  I wonder what she said to the other 20 groups of kids I saw running around and if she ever stopped to think she MIGHT be wrong.

2. One man said, “Guess what kids?  Fruit is the new candy!” and gave them all oranges.

3. Some guy gave all the kids potato chips because he didn’t have candy.  Just dumped clumps of chips in the bag.

4. One couple got interupted from a romantic dinner (Swedes don’t often have curtains and we could see the couple having a candlelit dinner with wine – they picked the wrong night).  The woman went back in, rummaged through the cabinets until she found a huge bag of nuts.  She looked at the man.  They both shrugged and then she came to the door and just handed the kids the giant bag of nuts.

5. One lady apologized to the kids saying they had just come back from vacation in America and all they had was dollars.  The other American guy and I hollered, “That works for us!” and this sweet, polite lady said, “oh, should I go get them?”  We had to say, “um. No.  We were just kidding.”

Out of the maybe 50 houses we visited, about half had candy (I was so surprised!), 20 percent gave the kids weird things from their cabinet because they weren’t prepared, 10 percent answered the door and told the kids they had nothing and the rest just shut off the porch light as soon as the kids approached the door.

But the kids were thrilled and they are still talking about it today.  Their bags were full, they had a super time and there were a lot of really cool people who made it fun for them while answering doors.  There is hope for a real Halloween in Sweden after all!

(But I’ll still hold on to my bag of candy for the next 2 days because they honestly just can’t get the day right).

Berlin 2013

Måns and I have just returned from a weekend in Berlin.  Måns was there for the Digital Communications Awards, which his work did not win, but in a funny twist, we think the Volvo commercial that our son, Max, was in did win!

The awards ceremony was at the Hanso music studios (where Depeche Mode, U2,  Iggy Pop, David Bowie and more have recorded).  I couldn’t afford a ticket to the awards, but managed to crash the afterparty there, which was fun.

After the party, we went with friends to a very cool karaoke bar until 2 in the morning.  Måns and I have not been up that late in over 10 years (except for jet lag).

We ate some great food and did a lot of walking.  On Sunday we went to all the flea markets, which are full of fascinating things and artists.  We filled the suitcase coming home.