Monthly Archives: August 2009

Djurgården & Cypern

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Djurgården is this year a pretty bad football (soccer) team in the highest division in Sweden. But it is a pretty good place to spend the morning on a sunny summer day.

We took the bus 69K to Kaknästornet and walked from there. Then we found a spot next to the canal where could just lay in the grass and watch the boats pass by. Or watch the ducks. Or read. We did a little bit of everything.


Donald? Bridge connecting Djurgården with Gärdet

By noon we had had enough. Too much Djurgården for a Gefle IF supporter. So we got on bus 69 and went back to central of Stockholm for lunch at Burger King and some final shopping.

In the late afternoon we walked from the hotel to Östermalm to deliver some gifts to a friend’s daughters. A pink Japanese school bag with dark pink flowers on and some teddy bears, or teddy rabbit.

Chie was lucky to find two pair of Angela C shoes. Something she had been looking for for a long while. Even though that took most of our time until 6 pm we still had 5 minutes to spend in Östermalmshallen. Looking at the meat, cheese, fish and other things they have there.

It made us quite hungry so we hurried to our destination for the evening. Restaurant Cypern. There we met with Anna-Karin and her son Samuel. Soon to be joined by Magnus, Per-Ã…ke and Helena. All, except Samuel, are ex-Eurosteppers.


A non ex-Eurostepper

We had a fun time eating good Greek food. One of the best is the Feta psiti – grilled feta cheese with herbs and tomato. Yummy!!! And for desert… A not so Greek hot raspberries with vanilla ice cream and white chocolate. 2xYummy!!!

Shopping & Ki-Mama

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What can you do in Stockholm? Well, you can have breakfast at the Nordic Light hotel. Then relax taste of Japanese food was to large. We checked some Japanese blogs and found a ramen shop called Ki-Mama that seemed good.


Ramen Ki-Mama

We had soy souce ramen and miso ramen and gyoza. It was all quite good. But we have a ramen shop (Ren) about 100 meters from our apartment in Naka-Meguro that is at least a 100 times better. And less than half the price. Not including the air ticket that is 😉


Chie drinks Asahi Miso ramen

Afterwards we walked back to our hotel via Odenplan. Suddenly we heard a loud sound from above. A balloon using the big burner to heat the air inside the ballon.


Red ballon over Stockholm

Once we spotted the first balloon it was easy to spot the others. Quite a few. Seemed like a night perfect for ballon flying. Calm. Blue and clear sky.

Chie and I talked about riding one. And how fun it would be… For the first 10 minutes. But what about the other 80 or so minutes?

Going to Stockholm

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Had a long breakfast at my father’s place. Both he and his wife was at home so we spent the breakfast talking with them. And eating.

Then it was time to leave Gävle for Stockholm. With the new road from Dragon Gate to Uppsala the drive to Stockholm was a piece of cake. And fast. We arrived safely at the Nordic Light Hotel in central Stockholm around 1 pm.

We got a room on the 7th floor with a view over the roof tops of Stockholm. Quite nice view. And no body that can do peeping Tom on us.


View from Nordic Light

The afternoon we spent shopping. For us. And for friends. But most for us.

At 7 pm or so we had dinner at Vapiano at Stureplan. Insalata Mista. Spaghetti Arabiata, with extra garlic and extra red pepper. It was actually quite good.

From Vapiano we walked slowly back to the hotel via Kungsträdgården. There had been some kind of concert there. But we just missed it. Though we were happy anyway.


Chie in Kungsträdgården

Before going to bed we had a final view over city. Closed the curtains and went to bed.

Nielsen Family

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Late afternoon we arrived at my father’s home. Almost the whole Nielsen family had gathered. Only my grandmother was missing, but we had visited her in Eh a few days ago.

It was the first time to meet Nathan, since I met him when he was just a few days old just before I left for Japan last year. He had grown quite a lot since then. His aunt and grandmother from Thailand were also visiting (from Thailand).


Nathan Nova & Chie

We all had BBQ together. Ending the dinner with a panna cotta with rhubarb jam. Very yummy!

After the dinner we joined Jimmy and Emma to their home. Since we visited the last time they had rebuilt the kitchen. It was now a big and open kitchen the covered more than half the 1st floor of their house.


Spareribs Jimmy and Emma's new kitchen

Outside, in the garden, their bunny and their dog (Nova) was oblivious to the new kitchen. As long as they get their food the kitchen can be new or old or whatever. But Chie and I enjoyed it.

IKEA, Mackmyra Whiskey & a Horse

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Breakfast at Scandic CH in Gävle

We had not much planned for the day today. Only an early lunch with my mother. Before we met her though, we had a big breakfast and then checked out of the hotel and moved all our bags to my father’s place where we would spend the late afternoon and night.

My mother works for Ossen in Gävle, an insurance broker. Their office is located in a building from the 19th century and very beautiful. Especially compared to Japanese type of offices. We met here there and walked to Bergrenska Gården where we had lunch.


Lunch at Berggrenska GÃ¥rden Lunch at Berggrenska GÃ¥rden

Next stop was IKEA in Valbo, just a short drive outside of Gävle. At IKEA we experienced a miracle. We followed the arrowed route through IKEA without buying a thing 😀

Before leaving Valbo we stopped at Systembolaget. Chie bought some wine, especially wine from South Africa which is difficult if not impossible to find in Japan. And they were in paper “bottles”, which cannot be found in Japan. I bought a Mackmyra Whiskey.

Once the wine and Whiskey were in the car we drove to Mackmyra Distillery where the Mackmyra Whiskey is made. The factory was closed for visits for the day but that was OK.

Since my aunt lives 100 meters from the factory we payed here a visit. Only her husband were at home. She were about 250 meters away at the stables, preparing her horse Ebba for a ride.


Mackmyra Distillery Ebba and Chie

Ebba is a 550 kg 19 years old horse. Big. But seemed friendly enough. At least Chie and Ebba became friends.