Emily and Stacy's Visit

Hej (from Emily and her new clown friends)!

Now that I have finally (somewhat) recovered from Emily and Stacy's visit with daily naps, I can blog about it!

Thursday

Emily and Stacy arrived, and were greeted with kanelbulle and kardemum rolls for breakfast. They visited the Vasa Museum, then I met them at Strandbryggan for lunch. Strandbryggan has amazing avocado turkey sandwiches, and shrimp salad, yum!

After work, we had Embassy friends over for a welcome party (note the awesome intern pic). I introduced the girls to some traditional Swedish club music, and the greyhounds were flowing! After that, we continued out to a great outside bar/club called F12. When this bar closed at 3, we ventured to a late late night bar closer to home called Spy Bar. Needless to say, our Friday started a little later than expected.

Friday

On Friday, we explored Gamla Stan. We had a leisurely lunch at a pub by the water, with some much needed fish and chips. We bought souvenirs, shopped around, and then headed to happy hour at the embassy.

Friday night, Amanda and Cecilia joined us at a great french restaurant in Gamla Stan called Le Rouge. It had a great atmosphere, and we had our own dinner/ party room. The night followed at a bar in Sodermalm called 54. We made it an early night for our venture Saturday morning.

Saturday

On Saturday morning, we took a boat ferry to the Archipelago. We went to the island of Vaxholm, known as the capital of the Archipelago. We shopped around, made some purchases in a really cute Marimekko store, and then ate lunch on the water.

Before dinner, we hosted a margarita party with homemade guacamole and queso, delic!! We had to mask the terrible tasting margs with tequila, but needless to say everyone had a great time.

I took them to my favorite thai place for dinner in Sodermalm called Koh Phangan. Even after 9pm, there was more than a one hour wait for a table. So, we did what any normal person would do... We ordered a thai bucket that we could share, and drink out of with straws! It consisted of thai whiskey, Japanese energy drinks, and coca-cola.... yum (well, not really).

After dinner we met Frances at Sturecompagniet, a popular club in Stureplan. Stacy quickly made friends, and the champagne starting flowing. Emily dropped her full beer on her toe, and that seems to be a pretty good recap of the evening. Of course, we finished the night off at Spy bar again... Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Sunday

Sunday, we had brunch at Ruby Grill, and I finally got some eggs Benedict over here... amazing. Stacy and Em found some last minute gifts.

For our last dinner, we ate dinner at East, and toasted to our last night in Stockholm. It is a great sushi/ asian fusion restaurant that is very popular with the locals. It was a great way to end an amazing trip.

We were all sad moose (think sad panda, with a new Swedish wilderness twist) when they headed home EARLY Monday morning.

Thanks for coming to visit me... it was EPIC. Croatia 2011... Who's in?

Ciao!

K Fitz

Bye Bye Bromma

Hej Hej,

Yesterday was a monumental day... We said bye bye Bromma, hello big city. For the past six weeks we have been living in the suburbs. Yesterday, this changed.

Now, we've moved into a great flat located in the city center. Instead of an hour commute, we now have only a 20 minute walk to work.

I'm reminded of Jay Z's song 'Empire State of Mind'

These streets will make you feel brand new
The lights will inspire you

Finally, I can walk across the street to a local grocery store, bakery, or pub... it's life changing really.

K Fitz

It Takes Two!

Happy Birthday Curt and Wynn!

Today, you, my precious neice and nephew turn two. Curt, I heard your new favorite thing to say is,"I did it." SO, congratulations twinks... You did it, today you turned two.

I'm so sad to miss your big pool party and book reading, but Aunt Kat will make it up to you with great gifts from Sweden.

Also, I really loved getting to talk to you on skype last week... After hanging up, Curt (you may remember) asked for "more Kat." Extra bday presents given for missing me!

Can't wait to celebrate upon my return.

Love,

Aunt Kat

Stockholm Week 6

Hej!

This week I welcomed roommates Amanda and Dru to the Bromma House... It is nice to have some company in the house..

Gothenburg

Cecilia hosted us in Gothenburg this past weekend. Gothenburg is Sweden's 2nd largest city, and is located on the western coast of the country. It is smaller than Stockholm, and has a more laid back and "chill" atmosphere. Volvo is also located outside of Gothenburg.

We had a great dinner at Vino Pasta Due. I ate a delicious fish dish with lobster ravioli, and champagne of course.

Being on the coast, Sweden is known for their seafood. Saturday, we had lunch at the Feskekorka, meaning the "Fish Church" in Swedish. They have great shrimp sandwiches and salads. We also bought crab, crayfish, and shrimp to eat for dinner on the boat.

Kanelbulle

Have I talked about kanelulle? AMAZING Swedish homemade cinnamon rolls. On Saturday, Cecilia took us to Cafe Husaren, a bakery located in the Haga district of Gothenburg.

They have a life sized kanelbulle (see business card for scale). Luckily, the three of us decided to share one, instead of getting our own. Now, all I have to do is learn how to make them at home.









Marstrand

Saturday afternoon we headed to Marstrand, an island about an hour from Gothenburg. The second week in July, Marstrand is "transformed into a boiling kettle of the world's best sailors, artists, vacationing families and the top notch of the business community." The Stenna Match Cup Sweden has become Sweden’s largest international sailing event and one of the very hottest summer places. Ben Ainslie, British sailing legend, with three straight Olympic golds and eleven World championships in his baggage, collected the victory after winning two straight matches in sun tricky winds against Danish Jesper Radich in the final. Go Ben!

Cecilia is on the sailing team at Brown, and we stayed on her family's sailboat. Located on the VIP dock, we were docked next to all of the competition sailing boats, like the audi one pictured here.

We took the train home, and our four hour train ride turned bad when the trains were forced to share one track... The ride took five hours, on a train without air conditioning!


Upon our return, we rushed to a bar by the train station to catch the second half of the World Cup Championship. Go Espana!


Vasa Museum

This week we visited the Vasa Museum. The Vasa is Stockholm's largest tourist attraction. The ship, built in the 1600s, sunk 1300 meters into it's maiden voyage. It was not until the 1950's that the ship was salvaged, and recovered. People say that Swedes embrace failure, as their biggest tourist attraction is a ship that sunk after only 20 minutes at sea. To date, they have been able to salvage and display more than 95% of original ship.



Strandbryggan Sea Club

This floating house bar, located on Strandvagen, is a local favorite located on the water. Strandbryggan is located in Ostermolm, close to the embassy.

One Week and Counting...

Emily and Stacy arrive one week from today, and I can't wait!! I have been working on their itinerary, and I'm looking forward to sharing Stockholm, and the nice weather with them!


Ciao,

K Fitz

Mi Amo Lake Como

WOW! I forgot how much I missed Italy until my return. A lifestyle where taking in the "Italian culture" involves eating pizza, pasta, gelato, and drinking prosecco, Chianti, and other fine Italian delicacies is le dolce vita.

Breathtaking views, friendly people, and a language I can understand... Now that's more like it.


After living in Sweden, I felt like Lake Como was cheap... Very frightening thought. In fact, the prosecco I ordered at the bar was $2.50 a glass, about 5x less than in Stockholm.

Another great thing about flying out of Sweden is duty free. A bottle of Absolut vodka, made in Sweden, is between $40-50 US dollars. However, in duty free, this same bottle is less than $20. What is wrong with this picture?

The Incident


As many of you know, I have many "incidents." My mom, to be diplomatic, refers to me as "accident prone" as opposed to clumsy.


For those of you at Hollis's wedding, you might recall "the incident." Deciding to ride bikes with my friends after a mere 10 years off the bike, an incident occurred. We had been riding about 50 feet when I lost control and started heading full speed ahead towards a tree. I had to "jump ship" onto the pavement to avoid colliding with the tree. A local security guard rushed to the scene, about 15 minutes later to file the essential accident report. Luckily, I only had a cut toe and some scraped knees. The rental company was kind enough to refund my bike rental fee, considering the short duration of my ride. For those of you who say, "it's just like riding a bike, you never forget"... Well, you were wrong.

Lake Como Incident

When arriving in Lake Como, I noticed that people were swimming in the lake. I was very excited about this seeing as the water in Stockholm is in the 60s, and I can't even go swimming at Barton Springs.


So, I thought... I will just walk down this boat ramp and put my feet in. I was carrying my luggage for the weekend, and trekked down. To my dismay, I was wearing flip flops and encountered some algae at the point where the water meets the cement (see photo). My feet slipped out from under me and I went plummeting into the lake. Still having my bag with me, I was using all of my energy to push the bag to safety... My camera and iphone were in it. Once that was rescued, I tried to stand up to walk up the ramp. The algae got me again, and again I fell back into the water. No one even saw me to help... On the third try I finally made it out of the water alive, with a soaking wet skirt. I am now proud to say that I have fallen into Lake Como!

Bellagio, Bellisimo

Bellagio was so beautiful, and made the whole trip. There were sidewalk cafes to choose from on every corner, and some good Italian shopping.


My hotel, Hotel Belvedere, (pictured on the left) made the whole trip. They hotel is located above the city center, and has a spectacular view of lake como and the mountains. The infinity pool also had a hot tub that looks directly down on the lake. They also had a great spa, and I finally got the pedicure I've been dying for... Pedicures are not popular in Sweden, and very expensive.

I took a boat ride to Como and a nice couple in front of my pointed out George's house on the lake...

Erba
Hotels.com can be misleading. I found a hotel that I was convinced would be amazing, and "close" to Lake Como. The hotel, Castello di Casiglio, forgot to mention that you cannot get to their hotel without a car, and that the town of Erba does not have cabs or public transportation. After attempting to walk uphill for 30 minutes the hotel agreed to send someone to pick me up.


Other than being remote, the hotel was beautiful. It is an ancient castle from the 1400s that was converted into a hotel. The pool also had a beautiful view of the surrounding hills.

Italy, Ciao for now!

K Fitz

Stockholm Week 5

4th of July

This week the Embassy celebrated the 4th of July, in Sweden... On June 29th naturally. Set up like an american state fair, tents from the east coast, west coast, and "fly over states" were represented serving local fare from the various regions. Ben and Jerry's provided unlimited ice cream favorites, and I was finally to fulfill my texmex crazing with a quesadilla.

The Ambassador sported some levi jeans, boots, and a pearl snap shirt. This Texan could not be prouder.

There were some other sharply dressed attendees as well. When I see this gentleman, I think of the bud light radio commercials.

Bud Light proudly Salutes
Real American Heroes,
Real Men of Genius

Today we salute you, Mr. frat-tastic King of Preppy. Armed with charm, style, a green blazer, and a little help from a J. Crew catalog and your yellow hanky, your pink pants have helped you win best dressed 2010.

So, crack open a cold bud light and a can of starch and you're ready to go!

Dinner with Oscar

One of our family friends put my in touch with her Swedish cousin that lives in Stockholm. Oscar and I met for dinner on an old ship on the water facing old town and the royal palace. We drank rose, a Swedish summertime favorite. Oscar owns a bakery here in Stockholm, Friends of Adam, and I can't wait to frequent it. We also discussed possible places for me to find chocolate chips in Stockholm, a delicacy here!

The Gondalen

On Thursday night, I was invited to attend a work function at the Gondalen, a famous restaurant in Stockholm that has the best views in the city. My favorite dish of the night was a grapefruit infused salmon ceviche. so light, delicate, and refreshing for a cool summer evening.

Congrats!

I wanted to send a special "shout out" to Carrie and Daniel getting married this weekend. Congratulations, and so sorry to miss out on the big day. Have an amazing time in the Caymans!

I look forward on updating you all on my trip to Lake Como in the coming days.

Ciao!

K Fitz

Stockholm Week 4

You know you're in Sweden if...

1. 1. You are willing to wait in a cue 50 people long just to enter the System Bologet (Swedish alcohol monopoly) leading up to a holiday where they could be closed for three days straight. It's a love/ hate relationship.
   
   2. You celebrate Midsummer Eve (June 18th) by participating in potato sack hopping, singing Swedish songs while circling a maypole, and toasting to the summer solstice. You also eat steak and potatoes (believe it, it was my only option).

3. You receive a traditional Swedish massage from a Swedish woman at the Grand Hotel. The hotel's new spa, Raison d’Etre, was first class all the way. The Nordic-inspired Raison d’Etre Spa celebrates the history and landscape of the Swedish archipelagos and expertly blends Swedish materials, design traditions and natural resources with a contemporary design. Stunning features include waterfalls and the use of slate in the swimming pool to create the sense of Swedish waters, heated lime stone floors and ash-clad walls (ash was the World Tree in Nordic Mythology) and beautiful mosaic walls with pictures of the Swedish archipelago, one which forms a backdrop to the cold water plunge pool.


4. You appreciate prepsters, polos, and pastels... Who doesn't? Swedes embrace the "warm" summer months by dressing in vibrant colors, seersucker, and pastels. Colored converses and leggings are also in style (Emily... you are in luck). I am told that people here dress in black during the winter (as if the weather doesn't make it dark enough already?).

5. You listen to ABBA, read the Steig Larsson's Girl with the Dragon Tatoo books, and appreciate the adventures of Sweden's own Pippi Longstocking.

K Fitz