A Weekend in Gothenburg, Sweden

The weekend in Gothenburg was a nice mix of being out-and-about and relaxing in Kat's cozy apartment.

Kat lives in a condemned building, which is quite beautiful. It is historic and the owners chose to not sell it to the government when many buildings were torn down and newer buildings were put up. These older, more traditional buildings have been named as historical buildings now and restorations cannot be made. It's interesting. There are two apartments on Kat's floor and the two tenants share a toilet, which is in a small closet in the stairwell. The shower is in the basement and is shared by everyone in the building.

My first full day was quite rainy, so a trip to a museum was the perfect activity. Kat took me to the Sjofarts Museum (Sjofartsmuseet Akvariet). The museum was originally the maritime museum and is in an old shipyard, along the wharf. Many of the immigrants that left Sweden for America left from the port in Gothenburg. There is currently an exhibition called The American Line, which shows and tells people's stories of immigration.

The museum also contains an aquarium! I really liked the guy shown below... it's like he's giving Swedish fish kisses! Ha! (...mostly in reference to Swedish fish, the candies, which I love, and fish lips.)

I found Nemo!

Cute street decorated for the holidays.

The buildings along this street were very beautiful too - old and traditional.

We went up to the 23rd floor of one of the Gothia Towers for an incredible view of the city (and the Liseberg Amusement Park!). There is a restaurant as well as a bar on the floor and there is almost a 360-degree view. Beautiful.   : )

Liseberg Amusement Park

Fun reflection:

I had a 4-hour layover in the Paris airport:

BUDAPEST FAVORITES

Below is my last post about the long weekend I spent in Budapest. ...What a great city!

Carrie noticed this man walking while pulling two huge sacks of potatoes along behind him (picture above). A bit further on... we saw more people doing the same thing. THEN... our walking tour stopped by a semi truck that was unloading these sacks and handing them out. We asked the tour guide and she said that it was political -- the local government gives out potatoes.

Some gorgeous views around the city:

Reflecting.

The longest hike I've ever done

Once the sun was up and we had a clear blue sky, we set off on the day-hike. I knew I had a lot ahead of me... but even when we stopped for lunch and I asked how much further we had to go, I was surprised when the guide said we were (only!) about halfway. Yikes!

Thankfully, the new hiking boots I bought for the big day were comfortable enough. Since we had taken two chairlifts UP the mountain, most of the hike was downhill. I hurt my knee throughout the day and it bothered me quite a bit for the next two weeks. Now (over 5 weeks later) it's fine.

I'm glad I did the hike... but I'm not really yearning to do it again anytime soon. I usually enjoy a 3-hour hike or so, not really 10 hours! Troppo! (Too much!)

39 ninth graders and a 10-hike... GO!

One of the guides taking a group photo of us (his photo is the one after):

The group!

Not sure if you can see it in the photo above but atop each mountain peak, there is a cross. Each cross is different and even made of different materials. We took the photo standing around the cross.

Below, we are marching to our lunch spot. Top of a mountain, 360-degree view!

(We may have been the group of stragglers and Gunther, in the middle, was pulling us all along the final steps!)

I had a bad cold all week and was really feeling it the day of the hike.

It was tough to keep the kids going while I wasn't feeling up to par myself.

I took a much needed nap after eating lunch.   :P

Just. Stunning.

(Ok, maybe I would do this hike again. Ha!)

Almost to the refugio! (There are refuges along hikes, where you can get a bike to eat, sit and rest, and even spend the night at some.) We enjoyed a rest and some snacks before the final decent to get to the bus.

We did it! We were all exhausted by the end of the day. Some students soaked their feet into the cold water of a stream while waiting for the bus. They were already worried (and complaining) about the "Night Hike" scheduled for the next evening. I felt the same! Haha. In the end, it was worth it and we all bonded along the way.

Walkabout Tour - San Gimignano

I really like the small, medieval hilltop town of San Gimignano. After lunch, the next stop on our day-tour with Walkabout was having some free time to wander and explore San Gimignano. This was my second time here, the first being about 10 years ago during college. This was my mom and Aunt Gail's first time to San Gimignano. I think we all could have used a bit more time here, but we did enjoy a wander through and climbing up to see beautiful sights of the Tuscan hills.

Piazza della Cisterna

Le Sorelle (The Sisters)

San Gimignano's duomo

(a bit different from Siena's, eh?!)

Loving the time with Mom in Italy!

I wish this was the view I received after climbing all staircases:

The three ladies  : )

Adventuring through Italy

San Gimignano still have 14 towers standing

<3 Tuscany

Manarola - Cinque Terre

Back to Manarola -- the town that we stayed in -- for my last post about our time in Cinque Terre this past June. I love Cinque Terre; I think it is a magical place. I especially love Manarola -- one of the five towns.

The apartment we stayed in is in the midst of these buildings!

(We took a walk through the terraced farming to look back on the town.)

I meeeaaannn...

Stunningly majestic:

Manarolaaaaa!

Vernazza - Cinque Terre

Mom, Aunt Gail, and I went to Vernazza our fist full day in Cinque Terre. I really like Vernazza a lot -- well, I like all 5 of the towns that make up "Cinque Terre"!

We took a walk through (and UP!) narrow alleyways.

We stopped partway up to have a coffee snack...

...and this was our view!

A view from the other side of town: 

(we had our snack straight across on the left side of this picture!)

A view of Vernazza from the sea!

The picture above was taken the next day, when we took a boat ride from Monterosso to the furthest town, Riomaggiore. It is amazing how the towns are built into the cliff-sides! And the terraced farming reminds me of being in SaPa, Vietnam.  : )

FAVORITES from Brussels

Below are some of my favorite photos taken while I was in Brussels, Belgium.

A covered alleyway just off the main street...

within the Grand Plaza...

Er, cake please...

Me, Mom, Dad...

LUGANO, SWITZERLAND!

Mom and I took a train ride for about an hour... and were in SWITZERLAND! That amazes me. That various (amazing) places that I am able to get to in a day from Milan are incredible.

Her birthday present to me was a day-trip to Lugano. Neither of us had ever been to Switzerland before... although it felt a lot like Lake Como, as there is a gorgeous lake with mountains jetting up from all around. The town even felt very Italian, as Italian is the main language in Lugano.

We had a great day with wonderful weather!