#folkbaren

[froderik]

Folkbaren efter Folkoperan. Förklädd gud, hummer och stek.

[blindgirlblog]

Kulturnatt Stockholm

What?!  We'll get into that in a little bit, I promise ;)  Just to keep you in the loop because several people asked me before I left LA - is moving to Stockholm mean David would travel less?  Now I know the answer - no, not really.  

He left to London last Thursday morning and returned in the wee hours of Saturday morning.  I was literally here for 1 week and he was off again - is he trying to tell me something? HA!  Just kidding, but I do find it pretty funny though! :)  The important business meetings haven't stopped, and I'm totally fine with that, but at least this time when he's out of the country, the time difference is only 1 hour and this time, I'm the one an hour ahead! Tonight he leaves for Oslo, Norway and returns tomorrow night.  Zorro and I haven't been able to join him on his travels because Zorro hasn't had his vet appointment to get his EU pet passport yet - that's finally scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. :)

Saturday was our scheduled day to do our laundry, fun, huh?!  Well, unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it - David will have to be the one in charge of doing laundry.  The washer is too tall for me to reach the area to pour the detergent in, HA! :)  I guess there are advantages to being short! ;)  I do feel bad though, I have all this time during the week but it's not feasible.  Plus, the dryer is all touch screen and in Swedish, so that's not going to help me either!  I just have to laugh about the irony of it all! ;)

We took the subway to Slussen to run some errands and stopped into a small, sandwich shop for lunch.  We ordered and as we took our food to sit down, we were told that we had to sit outside because of the dog!  I knew it was too good to be true - we hadn't been hassled yet about Zorro, or at least as soon as they see his harness, it's fine.  Not today! :(  Even though we explained that he was a "lederhund för blinda" and that I was "blinda", they insisted, understood and apologized but said because of the food and that they didn't make up the rules.  We told them that we don't think that's legal, but sat outside.  I'm not fully familiar with the laws here, but 'm pretty sure guide dogs are allowed, but I am going to check with a trainer from the gudie dog school here in Sweden.  Not sure what my recourse is, but I'll keep you posted!

OK, so back to Kulturnatt Stockholm wich means Culture Night Stockholm!  As of 6 PM, there were over 1000 free events all over the city, how cool! :)  From galleries to music to film, you could go all over and find something fun and interesting to do :)  We decided to go to Stadshuset which is Stockholm's very famous city hall.  We took the subway to Central Stockholm and walked to it.  The courtyard is beautiful as we walked through it and went by the water, wow, what a beautiful evening :)

I know it looks like daytime, but trust me, it was in the evening! ;)  We headed inside and into the hall where we heard music coming from.  We listened to a gentleman play this huge, old organ and then a choir came and sang in Swedish of course!  We enjoyed it and it was truly awe inspiring to me - to be in the same room where the Nobel prizes are awarded to the greatest thinkers, scientists, humanitarians, writers, etc..of the world, wow, truly humbling!  We were able to go upstairs where Davd had a glass of champagne and we sat in a room surrounded by giant, gold mosaics, awesome! :)  We continued touring the city hall and eventually we were in the room where the current city council meets.  David noticed that one of the seats had Braille over some buttons! I did read them and we figured out the "j" must be for "yay", the "n" for "nay" and the "a" for "abstain" :)  I'm sure I wasn't suppose to touch it, but I couldn't resist! ;)

We left and walked around Central Stockholm for a bit then went into an espresso bar for a warm drink and a bite :)  I had a Chai tea latte, what else?! ;)  We split a carrot cake muffin and a raspberry/cardamom muffin.  We sat and chatted for quite a while before we finally decided to head home :)  I'm apt to stay up later than usual when it doesn't even begin to get dark until after 9 PM! :)

Notable dinner on Sunday!  David took me to Folkbaren which is just about a block and a half away, nex to an Opera house!  Dinner was fantastic!!  I had to try their upscale version of the traditional dish, Swedish meatballs since I hadn't had them yet! :)  Wow, decadent and I was stuffed!!  Creamy and rich mashed potatoes, peas, veal "meatball" all served with a side of lingonberries, so yummy! :)  Can't wait to try more of the Swedish cuisine :)