Boo Too

This is the 2nd part of the Boo pics. After a recovery day after the night of drinking after coming back from NY Eve (there was fresh swedish vodka to try, christmas beer, caiparinha making to teach, etc), we took a day trip to Gammelstad and then on to Ikea in Haparanda, 150 km away. It was one of those absolutely gorgeous arctic days: not so cold, snow on the ground, and sun and clouds doing amazing things. If we weren't on a freeway, we would have stopped far more often to try and get pics of the sky, and moon, and golden trees.



This version of the Gammelstad church was built in the 1400's, and was where the old town center and port used to be before rising land needed the town to be moved 9km away in the 1600s. It is now a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site. The red houses are part of the 400 in the 'church town', which were used by pilgrims to stay overnight when coming to church from all over the region. They are still owned and used by private people, but you have to be a Luleå city resident, and they cannot be modified beyond certain maintenance. Of course they have no water or electricity, but are still quite popular to have.

On the road to Ikea

As we were so close, we had to go to Finland, so we did a quick nip across the border. There, the systembolaget or government-run liquor stores are somewhat unfortunately called 'Alko'. A small bottle of Chartreuse was bought, at 20% less than in Sweden. I wont mention though the cost of petrol to drive 300km there and back...

So we get there, and Boo looks at the sign and says, "actually, I think I have been to one of these before, with Sachiyo, in Melbourne". Inside there is the chair they were debating buying. Great. Nevertheless, I managed to buy a couple of things that I needed, including an ice tray, 3$ ugly but supremely functional slippers (wall to wall carpet is very rare in Sweden, and the lino is cold), and the most popular item sold there, the 1$ large, sturdy, blue, IKEA plastic bag. Boo bought nothing.

Stockholm. The City Hall where the Nobel Prize awards were recently handed out is the red building with tower on the left.

Miscellaneous buildings

Streets in Gamla Stan, the old town in Stockholm.

The German Church


Another typical church

These globe things are quite common in Scandanavian churches

The Royal Palace

The changing of the guard was a fairly simple affair, with two groups of soldiers basically walking a circuit around the square. Not worth the 20min wait. And spoiled by the loudspeaker advertisements for the various museums within the palace grounds, and the souvenier shops contained within.

St. George slaying the dragon, I think.

Detail

Södermalm, where we stayed, and where a small pub crawl was initiated. Then it was goodbye Boo, and Hello Italy!