The flying Viking sails over Gärdet in Stockholm.

Launching the ship.

Yesterday, we were bicycling through Gärdet on the way to Djurgården when we saw a Viking ship in the sky. No, we had not been drinking. Really. It was early in the afternoon, after all. But we had come across Drakfest på Gärdet and a kite festival was going on. Thus there was a huge Viking kite flying in the sky, along with about 25 or so other kites of all sorts of shapes and sizes. Robert couldn’t resist participating and went home to get his Wright flier – a kite replica of the Wright brothers plane that flew at Kitty Hawk. By the time we returned, the show was wrapping up. But there were still a handful of kites in the sky, so Robert did get to join in. He was happy about that. And I was happy to just hang out in the sunshine.

The Wright flier in action.

And after a crash landing.

Inspecting the flier.

Getting the butterfly ready for lift off.

Waiting for the wind.

My tuna salad at Miss Voon.

On Tuesday, I finally got to the Stockholm restaurant that I’d been dying to go to since it opened a few months back. I’d been looking forward to Miss Voon as I’d read good reviews and the cuisine is described as Asian fusion – one of my favorites. I’d even recommended the place to a lot of friends. But as I am so often disappointed by eating out in this town, I was nervous about going.

While I wanted to be wowed, I wasn’t. It was just average. OK. I was there at lunch and I had the tuna salad, so maybe it wasn’t the most representative choice of the restaurant’s talent, but still. The Asian noodles and tuna were buried underneath the lettuce and coriander in a rather ordinary looking presentation. And as there was just a hint of dressing on the salad, there wasn’t much taste to it at all. I was there with my friend Debora who swore that this salad was usually good, so we asked for some dressing to be added on the side. Instead, our salads came back drowning in dressing with even more dressing on the side. Yikes. It was definitely not subtle, nor was it that inspiring. I felt so let down.

Miss Voon is part of the F12 group and I generally find their restaurants to be some of my favorites in Stockholm. So I am willing to give the place a try again. I’ll let you know what happens.

On a roundabout related note, I was reading a very funny expat blog that I recently discovered. It’s written by a woman from the Netherlands who lives in Moldova. On a recent post, she had a link to an older post that featured great quotes about countries. The first one is about Sweden. And it just couldn’t have been more appropriate:

“Eating in Sweden is really just a series of heartbreaks.”  Bill Bryson

So thank you Bill Bryson for the laugh.

The pineapple tulip of Stockholm's Humlegården park.

And the gorgeous flower beds surrounding the pineapples.

Walking by Humlegården today, I saw this gorgeous bed of tulips in full bloom but couldn’t quite figure out what some of the flowers were. Coming up for a closer look, I decided these taller flowers had to be some sort of a tulip, but to me they looked like the top of a pineapple with tulips hanging upside down from it. So I am hereby calling them pineapple tulips. Of course, I am willing to be educated about what these things actually are.

Meanwhile, most of the trees are beginning to show traces of green. The building here is Stockholm's Stadion – one of the venues for the 1912 Olympic games.

The Katla volcano in Iceland.

Continuing on my theme of what I’ve enjoyed about living internationally, here’s part two. And in case you missed it, you can also check out part one of fun things I’ve gotten to do thanks to living in Sweden. Even the process of pulling together these photos makes me realize all over again just how lucky I am to have the opportunity to live abroad.

6. Thanks to my job on Scanorama magazine, I traveled to Reyjkavik, Iceland. This volcanic island is a land of extremes, from its landscape to its people to its light. Waterfall, geysers, hot springs, mud pots and the continental divide, this land simmers with underground activity. The Blue Lagoon is my vision of what a spa on Mars might look like – it’s both magical and odd. It was only after Robert and I had been floating in the murky waters of the lagoon for about an hour that we realized that everyone around us was getting a lot of action. Some sort of aphrodisiac  must have been in the air or water?

Vineyards in the Moselle valley.

7. A German friend from Swedish class got married to a Swedish man in the German wine country outside of Mannheim. And lucky for us, we got to go along for yet another special event. The ceremony was at a historic town hall and then immediately afterward, they sawed a log together to signify the tough work they would need to do together in their marriage. There were homemade cakes and champagne and then more later when we got to the hotel. It was a crazy hot day and the day after was even warmer as we did a sparkling wine tasting in a vineyard by ancient Roman ruins. We went to a few wine festivals and yes, we drank a lot of wine. It was such an amazing trip in a beautiful part of the world and we were lucky to get to see the sights with the locals.

Enjoying the archipelago view from the front seat of a helicopter.

8. I’ve gotten behind the scenes tours and done food and drink tastings at all sorts of interesting locations around Stockholm, from castles and palaces to the city hall. But one of my very favorite press trips ever was one that I did for Volvo. After cocktails at the luxurious Grand Hotel, I was picked up by a yacht directly outside the hotel. We drove out to our very own archipelago island and got to swim and use the sauna. After a spectacular meal outside, we were picked up by a helicopter to go back to town. We landed on a helicopter pad on the water right by Gamla Stan (the old town). I’ve never felt quite so much like a rock star.

Dog sledding at the Arctic Circle.

9. I’ve travelled to the Arctic Circle four times, twice in the winter. Summer is amazing thanks to the 24-hour light. But winter, now that is something really special to experience so far north. (Actually, I am partial to going in the spring when there is still plenty of snow around, but the daylight hours are long.) Snowmobiling, ice fishing, dog sledding. Reindeer hanging out on the roads and cooked up for dinner as well. What’s not to like about being in a winter wonderland?

10. Thanks to Robert’s work, we travelled to Shanghai, China and stayed for two weeks. It was so different from anything I expected. And I loved it. People were curious and friendly and asked to have their photos taken with me. Shanghai was this crazy mix of old world vegetable carts being pulled by hand on busy highways next to giant skyscrapers. Because I missed my flight home, I had to spend two days in Beijing on my own. Even after all the exploring I had done on my own in Shanghai, it was a little overwhelming at first. But I hiked the Great Wall of China by myself. In the snow of November. And that was awesome.

The walpurgis eve celebration on Riddarholmen, with Stadshuset in the background. Photos © Robert Corkery 2012.

Winter is done. Over. We burned it out of town last night. Today is valborg or May Day in Stockholm. It’s a holiday and last night was walpurgis eve or bonfire night. All over Sweden, fires were lit to burn off the last of winter and launch us into spring. Let’s hope it works. I like the symbolism of the night in all its many facets – that you are literally burning or getting rid of all the winter junk in your yard, including the branches and leaves, and I also like the idea of celebrating the move from one season to another. For students, valborg means freedom – exams are over and they are getting ready to graduate. And for me personally, I like the idea of getting rid of old baggage and moving on.

We went with a group of friends to the Valborgsmässoafton on Riddarholmen in the center of town. It was absolutely packed with people. Traditional songs of spring were sung as usual. But then, rather inexplicably, karaoke of the very worst kind started – sappy songs sung by people who can’t sing. And that’s when our group of eight decided it was time to move to the pub.

The pyre.

The crowd with Lake Mälaren and Södermalm in the background.

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An up-close look at the cherry blossoms. This photo © by Robert Corkery. All others © by Sandra Carpenter.

They’re back! This week, the cherry blossoms have been in full bloom in Stockholm and Kungsträgården is packed with people checking them out. People of all ages and nationalities are there – in addition to Swedish and English, I heard Russian, Japanese, Finnish, Spanish and German. And everyone is taking photos with their cameras and phones – in front of me at one point, I counted 50 people posing with the blossoms. There’s something magical about this time of year. The blossoms are gorgeous, but even more than that I think they’re a sure sign of spring and people are happy to be outside again.

I loved these guys in kiminos.

Striking the Iphone pose.

It's spring at last!

Checking out the results.

If you look closely, you can see the faintest hint of green on the trees of Djurgården.

And then when I look at this photo, all I see is winter.

I know that there are countless ways in which living in Sweden has been a positive thing for me. But I can tell you definitively that it has done at least one very freaky weird thing to me: it has made me seasonally psycho. I obsess over the weather. I agonize over the change in seasons. I long for the long days of summer while I live in fear of the winter dark. It’s just a little odd, isn’t it?

Just now, I am obsessing over spring. It’s April 24th and technically speaking, it has been spring for over a month. Friends in other parts of the world have been sharing their spring photos FOREVER. But the transition to the new season is happening oh so slowly here in Stockholm. While on  a walk on Djurgården yesterday, I could see that the grass is definitely getting greener. And there is the faintest hint of green on the trees now too. But I want more, dang it. Much, much more.

A Djurgården flower box.

And a Djurgården swan. He wants spring too.

Skogso nature reserve.

Pine and birch trees that are not quite ready to leaf out yet.

Here are some more photos of Saltsjöbaden, the seaside town – it literally translates to salt sea baths – where I spent Easter weekend. Just now, Robert and I have so many decisions to make about our future in terms of where we will live and what we will do, including even whether we will stay in Stockholm. As I said to a friend the other day, it’s like we have all the pieces of the puzzle, but none of them are quite fitting together yet.” I am sure we will figure out what’s next, but just now it’s hard. In the meantime, I am anxious. So I suppose I am posting these peaceful forest and Baltic Sea views in the hope that they provide me with a little grounding.

A light in the forest.

The Baltic Sea.

These crocus were poking their way out of the snow in Humlegården.

The last snowman standing?

After snowing hard for several hours yesterday morning, by the afternoon it turned to almost rain which soon made way for bright sunshine. By 5.30, a lot of the snow had melted. But its traces could still be found in Humlegården where I found several snowmen and a new one being created while another boy made a snow angel. I also found crocus and the first forsythia I’ve seen blooming this year. Today, the snow is practically gone. Ah, it is springtime in Stockholm.

The first forsythia.

The snow remnants.

The bright sun and warmer temperatures were quickly melting the snow.

It’s snowing buckets out there and it has been for hours. There are several inches of snow on the ground and it looks like more will be accumulating. And you know what, I love it. I am not minding this springtime snow for the moment. Or at least not while I am snugly tucked inside the house.

On another surprising note, I had good customer service yesterday. In Stockholm. As this tends to be the exception and not the rule, I will share my tale. I called my local Systembolaget (the only place you can buy wine and alcohol in Sweden) to order a bunch of wine for an upcoming party. First, you need to realize that my Swedish is slow. Instead of ordering a wine by its order number as most Swedes would – number two thousand, two hundred and twenty one – I spell out each number separately so as to make sure that my Swedish is clear and leaves no room for miscommunication. On top of this, my clerk was a fast talker. So in my slow Swedish, I repeated everything he said back to him to make sure I was understanding what he was saying. “OK, what you just said was…”

It was a long conversation. I thought for sure that this guy would lost patience with me. But he didn’t. Not even when I ordered  several bottles each of seven different kinds of wine. When I was done, the clerk complimented me on my excellent taste in wines. That was my next shock. Such small talk niceties, while common in the US, aren’t the usual in Sweden.

So I told him that the wine was for an upcoming wine tasting party. And he said that it should be a really nice evening for my friends. And then he thanked me, telling me that taking my order was mycket rolig or very fun for him. I about fell off my chair as I am pretty sure that it was a tortuously long order for him to take. On top of it, he then told me that he looked forward to meeting me when I came to pick up my order. The whole conversation left a smile on my face.