stockholm & midsummer

Last weekend I flew to Stockholm last weekend to see my friend Sofia! Sofia and I studied together at the université catholique de l'ouest for a quarter when I was a junior in college!  It just so happened that the weekend I chose to go to Stockholm was their midsummer celebration so I was in for a treat!

What is midsummer? I'm not really sure and the people I asked didn't really have great explanations, haha. From what I gathered, it is a celebration of summer (longest day of the year) and fertility. There's a huge maypole that people usually dance around that have two circles on either side...I'll let you use your imagination. 

A legit maypole

Our makeshift one :)

I arrived extremely late Thursday night and was picked up by Sofia and henrik (her hubby) then went straight to their apt to sleep. The next morning we woke up very early and headed to the archipelago (near nörtalje) to Sofia's friend Johanna's family's summer house. Haha that was a lot of association going on there. 

The landscape on our way to the cabin reminded me a lot of Oregon. Lots of trees and green.  It was nice. Once we got there, Sofia, Johanna and I set out to find wildflowers to make the a garland for the table and for decorations in general.  It was clearly not Johanna's first time doing this. With some twine and leaves we found in the yard, she was able to fasten together an amazing garland that we decorated the table with!

i was in awe

the finished garland is hanging above the table!

We had a traditional herring lunch which was actually quite tasty!  Everyone kept telling me I didn't have to like it and that it was an acquired taste but I didn't mind it. The herring comes out of a can and is in many types of sauces. We had herring in mustard, garlic, vinegar, archipelago (no clue what this was but I enjoyed it) and vodka lime (yes this was a flavor). In addition there were Swedish meatballs Sofia made the night belfry potatoes, salmon and sambuca!

the herring is on the left!

our midsummer crew

After lunch we went to our makeshift maypole and danced and sang with some of Johanna's extended family. At one point there was the most absurd relay possible that we had to do. Each person had to run down to this station where we...

1. Scarfed down a piece of shortbread.  Then...

2. Whistle! Then...

3. Chug either a bottle of beer or fizzy soda. Then lastly...

4. Nail a hammer through a piece of wood and into the ground!!  Wtf right? Haha. 

I struggled with this but luckily had a very lenient judge!

Saunas, apparently, are a big part of Swedish culture so we hit that up afterwards and then would cool off by jumping into the inlet.  I made the mistake of dipping my toe in to see just how FREEZING the water was so I opted not to but now I kind of regret it!! For the record, they said that this midsummer was the coldest midsummer they've had since the late 1800's!

gorgeous surroundings

newly built sauna!

That evening we bbq'ed with her family and continued to sing songs for a while then just hung out for the rest of the evening.  I kept looking outside and could not get over how light it stayed. The sky still was not fully dark at midnight and then rises just 2.5 hours later. Of course the winter is what you would expect if they have such long summers. They said it usually gets light at 9am and dark at 3. Perhaps that's why the swedes have the highest suicide rate...

this was taken in the 11 o'clock hour!

Saturday we headed back to a sleepy Stockholm minus the tourists since all the locals were away for the holiday. We walked through Sofia and Henrik's neighborhood (östermalm) to their old town and then over to södermalm in the south which has great views of the city.  S

​tockholm is a very walkable city. 

narrowest street in stockholm

södermalm side

royal palace

We had some asian fusion food for dinner that night then went out for drinks with some of their friends.  Everyone spoke perfect english which makes sense because the chances of other people speaking Swedish isn't big so if you want to communicate with the rest of the world, you're going to learn english.

i devoured this.

Sunday we headed to Sofia's friend Jennifer's for brunch.  Just in town for a few days, Jennifer also recently moved to London so it was nice to have someone to commiserate with :)  after that we hit up the Spirits Museum then it was time to head to the airport. 

seattle represent!

​Unbeknownst to me, Scandinavia is known for being quite expensive, and Stockholm was no exception.  A can of coke with lunch was 36 kronor ($5.32) and buying two drinks at a bar with tip came in just under $50.  Unreal.  I don't know how they do it, because I don't think that the salaries are higher, and I believe the Swedes are taxed quite a bit.  You know it's bad when your British coworkers say how expensive Stockholm is, haha. Denmark is apparently even higher, and still on my list of places to see...perhaps I'll have to keep that trip to a weekend!

america!

i wrote this a few weeks ago, and got very lazy and never posted it.  better late than never, right? :)

my cousin carson got married on 5/24 which meant that i had to go home because i was not going to miss it!  i remember telling carson that i was going to move to london and his next question was 'for how long?' and then i replied with, 'don't worry, i'm coming back for your big day!'  well, i stayed true to my word.  i grew up with the kid so whether i had to foot the bill or not, it was happening. 

so just after two months in london, i packed a suitcase within a suitcase (no joke) then flew back home.  i got into SFO and met up with adam then flew straight to portland.  we met up with one of my bff's megan and stayed with her for the night then started saturday bright and carson's tea ceremony.

my whole family showed up and we watched while carson and joy served tea to each of the siblings that were older than my uncle.  in return they got were given red envelopes and some words of advice, luck, and wisdom.

carson serving tea to his parents

serving tea to my parents :)

my family!

obligatory girl cousin shot

this isn't even all of the cousins...

my dad's siblings in order from right to left

the ceremony took place at a church in downtown portland with the reception a few blocks down at the governor ballroom in the sentinel hotel which was gorgeous!  the dj was nice and played some actual ballroom dancing music because a lot of my relatives ballroom dance and then played some tunes that the younger generation could dance to!  it was so nice seeing all of my family even if it was for a short amount of time.  then it was back to sf on sunday afternoon!

waiting for the bride!

first kiss!

my dad intruded our sibling pic

monday was memorial day so we headed up to napa with a group of friends.  this was actually the first time i'd ever been to napa!  i've always gone to sonoma, russian river, healdsburg, etc. so it was nice to actually trek to napa though the tasting prices aren't as friendly.  beth was awesome and setup a tasting for us at this really nice winery called trefethen where we tasted reserves from 2004! then we grabbed some sandwiches and picnicked at rutherford grove before heading to chandon for some bubbles.

beth was amazing and planned our napa itinerary!

most of our wine tasting group!

the rest of my week was spent eating and working.  it was so nice to see my co-workers there again!  i answered the question 'how is london!?' about a hundred times but that's alright!  there were a lot of catch-up meals which i definitely did not mind.  i had to get my fill in before i headed back!  

here are some of the delicious things i consumed:

pork bone ramen from izakaya kagura

totopos from nopalito

sushi sam's omakase!

trout of some sort & madagascar shrimp

bonito & amberjack

white salmon & arctic char

baby lobster & seared fatty tuna (SOOO amazing)

uni & scallop

saturday finally came and that morning i was able to go wedding dress shopping with alisa before heading out to the airport later that afternoon!  it was her first time trying on dresses ever and she found it after trying on about 6!  the dress is perfect for her and it was such a good price so why waste more time searching??  after that i ran to dim sum with my brother and adam then finished packing and headed to the airport.  there were no tears this time, mostly because i know i'll see him again in a month (more like a few weeks now since i sucked at posting this)! :)