Helsingborg

After our week in Denmark with silver wedding, smal trips and meeting friends, it was finaly time for moving over to the other side of Öresund (the sound between Denmark and Sweden).

We had gotten our things from Barcelona and after collecting and filling the truck with as much things as possible from the Copenhagen apartment, we went with the ferry from Helsingør to Helsingborg.

Bye Bye Denmark (Kronborg castle in Helsingør)

Going with the ferry. Kasper's dad, Kasper and Charlie the dog

Hello Helsingborg!

For about 10 days we lived with no furniture, because they were still in the Copenhagen apartment. Well we had bought a new bed and we had our balcony table and chairs from Barcelona, so we managed ;) But then 10 days later we went back to Denmark to collect the last things and filled up an other truck with stuff. The following days we spent unpacking, going back and forth to IKEA and orginazing in the basement. Since we had had a leak in the basement in Copenhagen where a lot of things had been distroyed, we now have nothing on the floor! All my "old" books, that I had planned to sell from veterinary-school were distroyed.. Thousands of Dansih crowns just thrown away.. :(

In between everything, we have been exploring Helsingborg and doing walks with Charlie the dog. Helsingborg is one of Scandinavias oldest cities, dating back to the vikings (10th century).

The cityhall

Kärnan. What's left of an medievel castle

Looking over the city, with Denmark on the other side and the cityhall in front

Me and Charlie (yes, look for his head in the hole to the left) with Öresund in the background.

Kärnan seen from Stortorget.

Charlie enjoying the Swedish summer

Öresund with Denmark on the other side

Back in Barca

But only for 10 more days..! On the 8th we are moving up north for good. This last 1½ week I'm going to get as much sun as possible, because as you know, sun can be a rare thing up there.

The last weekend in Stockholm we celebrated Midsummer with sill, potatis & snaps (herring, potatoes and shots), grilled meat and Swedish strawberries. We didn't make any maypole but my mom and I picked a lot of flowers. It is an old story that on Midsummer night, you should pick 7 different flowers and jump over 7 järsgårdar (roundpole fences). You should then place the flowers under your pillow and they say that you will dream of the man you are going to marry! Quite cute and we always did it when we were little. This year we just placed the flowers on the table. It was a nice evening!

Roundpole fences (pic from Google)

The flowers

The cake with strawberries, raspberries and blueberries

In the previous post I told you about the light in Sweden and that it almost don't get dark during the night this time of the year. I got some pictures of it this weekend:

This is at 22 (10pm)

and this at 00:30 (12:30am)

Read more about Swedish Midsummer here (scroll down to the Sweden part).

This weekend we also did a small trip to Haga Slott, which is the castle that Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel are going to live in when they return. You are not allowed to take photos of the house, so I'll give you some pictures of the Koppartälten (the "Copper tents") in Haga, which lays next to the castle.

My mom, dad, grandmother, Kasper and Charlie outside the tents

A little faded maypole next to Fjärilshuset (The Butterfly House) in Haga.

And here some mixed pictures from the week:

Charlie enjoying the Swedish weather and climate

My new nail polishes etc

and new pants from MQ, half price!

Oh and I forgott to tell you. Kasper has some things to do in Copenhagen, so I flew back alone to Barcelona today. Since we are living on the fifth floor (without elevator) I couldn't take everything (suitcase, hand luggage, Charlie and his cage) in one turn. When we got out of the taxi, I registererd that some road workers were standing on our street, but I didn't pay any attention to what they where doing because I was busy with all the luggage.. I should have. Because when Charlie and I later went out I, too late, discovered that they had painted new lines for parked cars on the street, right outside our door... In a bright green color.. Charlie now has two green paws and one of my shoes is green under.. IH.

(this is after trying to shower and scratch it away..)

La Diada de Sant Jordi

Today is Sant Jordi's day in Catalunya, the same as St. George or in Swedish Sankt Göran. And now you think, didn't he slayer a dragon or something? Yes he did, but he also gave a rose to the princess he saved (a rose he picked from the rose bush that grove up from the dragon's red blood) and that's what all is about St Jordi's day. The men give roses to the ladies, and the ladies give books to the men.

The book part of the story is not that romantic. There was a bookseller in 1923 that started the bookday because Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes died on the same day (the 23 of April) and he thought it was a good way of making money. Well he wasn't wrong; today around 20 million euros will be spent on books! Read more about the day here (in English).

A girl selling roses almost outside my house

The newspaperstand sells book today

An other thing, I saw this today while walking Charlie. NOT a job I want..

How to make Españoles laugh

Well it is not that hard, the Spanish are quite a happy people. But if you want them to really laugh, like falling-of-the-bench-laugh, here is what you will have to do:

Go out and find some young people, preferable young men in a gruop. Then take a guy from Scandinavia, preferable Danish, like Kasper. And then (and this is the tricky part) take out your roller-skis. Put the Dane on the skis, and volá your Spaniards will die of laugh!

At least that's what happened yesterday. After Kasper had come home, after 2 days on the rails, he wanted to try out his new roller skis. So we went down to the beach. At first Charlie was a bit suspicious, but after some minutes he liked running next to Kasper.

Kasper has namely decided to do the Vasaloppet, which is a 90km cross-country ski-race in Sweden, held every year the first week of March. Kasper's only problem is that he has never been on cross-country skis before. So to be able to train before the race, he is now starting to go on roller skis.

For you who don't know what Vasaloppet is, here is a short history lesson (oh come on, don't stop reading just because I wrote history lesson, it's fun!):

In 1520 Gustav Vasa was escaping the Danish king Christian II on skis. He skied from Mora to Sälen (to Swedish town/villages) and therefore the race is between those cities, (although the race today is from Sälen to Mora). Some years later, Gustav Vasa became the Swedish king after having defeated Denmark and Christian II, and ever since, Sweden has been independet! Read more

So if you spot a guy in roller skis in Barcelona, it's probably Kasper. He will be the only one. At least it was the first time the guys next to us yesterday saw one.