Swedish Meatballs

We are now on country # 7 (France, Monaco, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark and now Sweden)´--I'm still counting Germany even as it was just 8 hours in Berlin. Thereäs a brand new train station very close to the Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie so we were able to absorb a lot of history in a few hours and even got in a proper German meal of weiner schnitzel, wurst and beer (well, a Radler anyway, beer with sprite--my new favorite!)

Our travels get interesting (I use this term very loosely) at this point. First, is the overnight train to Mälmo, Sweden with a short train to Copenhagen. We had the cabin to ourselves, very tiny, but with our own bathroom and even a shower/toilet--had to try it for the experience, very fun when youäre moving side to side! Little did I know how similar our hotel in Copenhagen would be to this!! Our hotel was Cab Inn City, I think www.cabinn.dk, an inventive idea as the rooms are set up like the accomodations in cruise ships. Funny enough, we both felt that we were moving when in the bathroom, either weäre losing it or we still felt like we were moving as our overnight train actually went on a boat across the Baltic!!

Copenhagen is very charming. Very few cars as they are taxed 180%--bikes are everywhere and people are really friendly, no one seems to be in a big hurry. We checked out the area known as Freetown, Christiana and got caught in a rain storm listening to a Willie Nelson-type guy singing Red Hot Chili Peppers. Along a boat cruise to see The Little Mermaid statue, we were mooned (full frontal too) by some residents with letters on their butts spelling circus and something else in Danish. Free loving place!

Last night, we took another overnight train, to Stockholm. The sleeping arrangements consisted of 6 people in an entirely too small space: I was the only girl, Ryan had the bunk just above me and then a smelly guy from Seattle (I thought grunge was over) slept above Ryan. I slept better than I thought I would (because of my sheer exhaustion from sight-seeing) but it was not fun. You could not even sit up without hitting your head on the bunk above you. Weäre voluntarily spending our vacation time doing this as Scandinavian hotels are very expensive so weäre saving time and money taking these trains but I hope this is the last one!!

Itäs worth it, though, to see all these cities and countries I never thought I would. Stockholm is pretty. Lots of parks and water. But it is COLD here. I'm wearing a fleece, windbreaker, and scarf and still cold and this is JUNE!!! It's bright at 10 pm and light by 4 am. The most surprising thing for me is the food is NOT bad. Tried the Danish open-faced sandwiches and loved them. Had to try the Swedish meatballs, really good too, especially with cream sauce (like gravy) and lingonberries. With all the walking, I think I'm still gaining weight but I don't care....