Travel – The Rox Life

April 11, 2017

Stockholm March 2017 – Day 1

Today, it’s been a week since I returned from my visit to Stockholm. Sadly, only days after my return – there was a truck attack in Central Stockholm which made international headlines. This hit particularly close to home…as this senseless and violent attack occurred a week to the day after I, myself, had leisurely walked down Drottninggatan. I bought a scarf at H&M and passed through the intersection at Mäster Samuelsgstan and walked right into the exact entrance to Åhlens department store that’s been seen all over the news with a truck driven through it. My heart is still heavy in the wake of this event, and I’m sad for the lives lost and prayerful for those injured and recovering.

I was there in spirit with the people of Stockholm who held a “Lovefest” vigil against terror on Sunday at Sergels Torg. Stockholm is such a wonderful place, and the greatness of the city and its people only shined in this tragedy.

This was my third visit to Stockholm. While Ronald worked Wednesday-Friday, I got to do some exploring. We arrived on Tuesday evening…and most of that evening was occupied with getting settled into the city. We traveled from Stockholm Arlanda Airport to the hotel (Radisson Blu Royal Viking) via the convenient Arlanda Express, and made a trip to a nearby Telia store to a obtain a data only SIM for me. We stopped in the nearest Pressbyrån (chain of Swedish convenience stores) to top up our SL Travelcards with the 7 day all you can ride pass (SEK 315 or about $35 more info here ). Finally, it was time to grab some dinner and we had a lovely walk through the St Johannes kyrkogård (cemetery) and past the Gothic revival style kyrka (church) to Bierhaus. This restaurant is a German food and beer hall featuring homemade sausages. We probably turned in a bit early that first evening.

Our hotel featured an amazing daily frukostbuffé (breakfast buffet), and we took advantage of it. The selection was so plentiful you could probably have something different for breakfast every morning without repeating. My first morning was cold, overcast and SNOWING. So, I decided I would visit some of my favorite spots…that are fairly easy to access from the city center. We were staying very near T-Centralen (Sweden’s largest and central railway station), and I hopped on a train to the nearby Gamla Stan station. I walked through Gamla Stan, “The Old Town”, which dates back to the 13th century and features medieval alleys and cobbled streets.

lovely blue gate to pedestrian paths on Djurgården

Eventually, I found myself back near Kungsträgården and feeling a bit ready for kaffe (coffee) and kardemummabullar (cardamom roll). Café Flickorna Helin & Voltaire immediately came to mind…as it has been a favorite spot of mine since my first visit to Stockholm in 2011. It’s a charming castle like building just off some of the lovely pedestrian paths on Djurgården (an island home to several historical buildings, monuments, museums, the amusement park Gröna Lund and Skansen a very popular open air heritage type museum . I was definitely getting some steps in by walking there along Strandvägen with it’s beautiful waterfront views. This is a cozy spot I often long to visit when at home…so I simply enjoyed hanging our there momentarily sheltered from the cold and wet weather.

cappuccino and cardamom bun at flickorna helin voltaire

I decided to pay a visit to well known Östermalms Saluhall. Currently, the well recognized facade of this famous food hall (originally established in the 1880s) is under construction/renovation. Fortunately, I’ve already been in the original building, but I was curious to see the temporary covered market just across the street in the square which is housing all of the restaurants and stalls until some time in 2018. I figured I might get inspired for lunch. However, the hall was starting to buzz with the workday lunch crowd, and I decided I’d head back to my hotel room for a quick break and then browse for some lunch at T-Centralen.

When Ronald had an extended 6 week work assignment in Stockholm back in 2011, his flat had a coop grocery store just across the street. I’m notorious for liking to visit grocery stores when I travel…so I was pleased to find a coop INSIDE central station. I browsed the small but well stocked store, and decided to make myself a salad at the salad bar. It’s a long story, but I fell victim to credit card decline and not having cash on hand when trying to pay… Even though I had gone out of my way to set pins for my chip cards and call my companies with travel notices…and the fact that my card had worked fine at flickorna helin & voltaire…I was stuck. Fast forward some ATM searching and getting turned around later, and I made it back to my room to enjoy my lunch.

I confess that I also needed a nap after lunch. Ronald returned some short time later, and we had plans to see one of his friends for dinner. We enjoyed a meal featuring Northern Swedish cuisine at Knut. I had a wonderful cocktail that I think featured whiskey and rowanberries, and Ronald had a beer from Jämtlands Bryggeri (a brewery in Northern Sweden). I had a Skrei cod dish and Ronald had minced moose steak. We were quite delighted & surprised by the minced moose steak. That’s pretty much a wrap for Day 1.

March 23, 2017March 23, 2017

upcoming travels

So, I suppose it’s that time again…where I notice it’s been TOO long since I’ve blogged 😀

I just did a little design modification/update, and I suppose I’ll write a post, too.

Ronald and I are about to travel to Stockholm. This will be my third time there, and the last time was about 3 years ago. I’m looking forward to visiting some of my favorite spots again (like Djurgården)…

and eating some kanelbullar (see photo below)…yum…

I’m working on a little map (still in progress) that notes my particular points of interest.

We also have a trip coming up a bit later to Osaka…and I’m still trying to wrap my head around the time I’ll be on my own while Ronald is working. I’m looking forward to some bowls of ramen, and lots of unique portal visits in Ingress…lol

May 24, 2015March 23, 2017

virtual walks & I <3 maps

I am not sure why…but I love maps. I think I’ve liked maps for a very long time, too. I LOVE modern technology + maps..like Google maps and Google Street View. I’m often “accused” of being a carrier pigeon…while I’m pretty sure that’s not true…I am pretty good with direction. However, I do make efforts to go back and look at places I’ve been on the map, too. It seems to enhance my knowledge of an area…

So, doing just such a thing moments ago…I was revisiting a jet lagged walk through some allotment gardens near Tantolunden park on Södermalm when we visited Stockholm last year. As I began my stroll (actually much longer than a stroll lol) back home, I walked along the Årstaviken bay and kept thinking how fun it would be to take Cooper swimming there. So, as I’m virtually recreating this walk I saw this –

and this simple thing makes me SO happy today!
*EDIT 3/23/17 apparently, the original street view along my walking route is no longer available on google maps 🙁 So, originally – you could actually see what looked like a black lab swimming & playing with its owner. So, instead of the black box saying “no street view available” here’s a new embedded image of the walking route…and someone walking their dog.

August 10, 2013August 10, 2013

Vacations in progress and recaps…

Well, I guess I missed the last 3 days of writing for 30 minutes…or maybe it’s just that I’ll do it 3 times a week instead of 6.

It’s a lovely Saturday morning, and Ronald & I are out at Canyon Lake. My brother, Bryan, and his girlfriend Eryn are here. Mom & Dad are on the way (with breakfast tacos from Casa Alde YES!) Other brother, Beau, and his girlfriend Amber will be here later. Not sure I know of a time when we all made a point to get together and just hang out (unless it revolved around a deer lease/hunting trip). We should definitely make a point to do it more often. Ronald and I made our way out early to do our week 1 day 3 Couch to 5k workout. The view along Canyon Lake while we ran was quite nice. Seems like scenery helps make running a litter easier. I tried out mapmyrun.com to plan our route/distance. It seems pretty handy…only problem being we ran into and area that apparently required DOD ID for entrance… I’ll have to look into some better resources for planning/mapping routes if perhaps you’re not too familiar with the area.

We’ve made some coffee and are just enjoying the views on a lazy morning. Not sure what else we have planned for the day, but I’m sure it will be fun. Our dogs are staying with a good friend in our absence, and I miss them. We’ll have to find a pet friendly lake house to bring them to one day soon. I think they’d like a little trip like this. I know they’re having a blast where they are! I just hope my friend doesn’t want to pull her hair out by the end of their visit.

Yesterday, after our drive into Austin- Ronald & I made sort of a quick tour of the major points in our relationship. We had a quick beer at The Draught House (where we were on an outing that turned into our first “date”). Then, we drove out toward Driftwood where we visited Chapel Dulcinea (site of our own nuptials almost four years ago) and then had an early dinner at Salt Lick BBQ (site of our wedding reception). We brought along a growler filled with Live Oak HefeWeizen. I’m quite fond of the “Come and Fill It” logo on the growler (acquired at The Growler Room.)

So, I’ve been thinking I needed to write a post (or a few actually) talking about our time spent on vacation in San Francisco. I found a cool feature on google where you can create your own maps with various points of interest. So, I started making one with all the locations we’ve visited (spanning 3 trips to SF since 2009). (Here’s a link to my San Francisco spots map still in progress.) I really REALLY enjoy San Francisco. I knew it was time for us to visit again because I had started having dreams about going and having Blue Bottle Coffee. We stayed 4 nights. It doesn’t sound like a long time, but we did a lot. We literally got off the plane and took a cab to Blue Bottle in Mint Plaza. It was walking distance from our hotel – so, we headed to the hotel to get settled in post caffeine fix. Once rid of our bags, we walked all the way down Howard toward the Bay Bridge/Pier 14. It was a GORGEOUS day! We wandered into the Ferry building. Apparently, we were just a little too late for the usual Saturday farmers’ market. We decided we’d do an early dinner at Tadich Grill. The Cioppino was pretty epic…and the seafood sauté wasn’t too shabby either. In order to maximize our post dinner calorie burn, we walked ALL the way over to Alamo Square Park and snapped some pictures of “The Painted Ladies”. There was a random couch in the middle of the park…which I think made for an even better photo opportunity than the old Victorian homes… We decided to take a bus back, and we pretty much turned in for the day.

June 9, 2011June 19, 2012

Flickorna Helin Voltaire – Reflections on Stockholm

Finally back at home…in Texas and acclimated to Central Standard Time. By the end of my 11 day trek through Stockholm, Paris, and London – I can say I was READY to be in my own space (especially shower & bed). However, now that I’m all settled back into my normal life, I’m starting to reflect on my experiences during my travels.

One of the first places that pops into my mind that I’d love to make an instant return visit to – Flickorna Helin Voltaire Café. Ronald and I had just visited the Vasa Museum and looked briefly at Sweden’s largest museum of cultural history – Nordiska Museet. We were naturally drawn to the beautiful greenery and pedestrian paths across from Nordiska Museet. This island of Djurgården (large island in the center of Stockholm where these popular museums are located) also features some beautiful scenery and walking paths along the water.

Walking path with trees across from Nordiska museet

It was during our exploration of these walking paths – by total accident – that we happened on Flickorna Helin Voltaire. It’s castle like exterior is a definitive attention grabber! As we had worked up a bit of an appetite during our museum visits, we decided to give it a try. Upon walking in, I have to say – it took my breath away. It was like love at first sight. There was a whole tribe of “foodie” type women cleaning up the gorgeous kitchen area. (Google research tells me “flickorna” translates to “girls”.) There were delicious looking breads and pastries laid out on the counter. The main interior room was dark, romantic, and cozy with cool brick walls – the overhead area was adorned with strings of little white lights. There was a well used (though not on this warmer summer day) fire place. I felt like my own imagination for a perfect café had been brought to life in this fairy tale of a place. I instantly felt a pang of grief – that I wouldn’t be able to return week after week to this same spot.

Sadly, we arrived at very nearly closing time – 5pm. We only had enough time to grab a coffee and a few pastries. I had a delicious coconut and chocolate chip macaroon and Ronald had a quintessentially Swedish kanelbulle (a.k.a. cinnamon roll). We enjoyed our sweets and coffee outside on the terrace. If you get a chance to visit Stockholm, you might notice (as we did) that it’s more the exception than the rule to find a place with poor quality or weak coffee. Gotta say – that’s my kind of city.

Back in Frisco, Tx…I find myself longing for a nice place like Djurgården to stroll along the water and drink in the green of early summer. Alas, it’s already nearing 100 degrees…merely walking in between the car and the house puts you in a rush for the air conditioning. I must remind myself that the beautiful weather I experienced in my few days in Stockholm is part of their tiny respite from many months of cold and dark winter (much colder than I’m used to).