Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Öland

ecause of the lack of updates, I have decided to post another here as a make-up one.

This weekend the gang and I headed over to Öland, Sweden's second biggest island. It was completely awesome.

The car ride was long, but luckily the iPods/radio/conversations made it lively and interesting. Add to that, we brough along Madison and Tommy's dogs, Fido and Richard (really Kaisla, but her face looks like Richard Gere. I wish I could say I was lying or joking, but it's honestly the truth). Fido randomly barked at other cars and riders, so we were always caught by surprise when he randomly barked. Added a little mystery to the trip.

When we arrived, we checked into our hotel room. It was huge. I'm talking, the biggest hotel room I think I've ever stayed in. And the view on the balcony was amazing-- we could piers and the Baltic Sea from our room. It was awesome. The town, on the other hand, was completely empty. I think we saw maybe ten people throughout the entire trip in town? The pub we went to at night was also dead--two other people besides us. Apparently, the place we stayed is only busy during tourist season, which we missed. But it's all good. We went to Sweden's second oldest pizzeria for dinner. It was amazing. It may have been the best pizza I have ever eaten. And, to all you haters who thought I was disgusting for ordering canadian bacon and mushroom pizza (because, apparently, it's such an odd combination), in Sweden it is a popular pizza, and in fact has its own name: Capricciosa. And it was awesome.

After a long night of hearing Fido's paws on the floor and an unbearable heat, we headed out to the best part of the trip--Borgholm's Castle. It's this old castle from the 16th century (I think 16th.. maybe 17th?) that underwent two different bouts of remodeling, and ultimately burned down one night in October in the 1700's. All that stands now is the floor, the walls, and a few trees. And yet, it was still incredibly interesting. Three floors, various views of the surrounding prairie and sea, and old etchings in the wall from the 1800's is all that is left. It was great. Add to that the fact that one of the royal family's get-away houses is located down the hill from it; only open for tours during the tourist season, the house itself was closed off from the public. I'm assuming the royal family may visit there soon.

After that, we came back home. We were all tired and dreading another week at school, and I'm pretty sure everyone crashed early Sunday night. All-in-all, a great weekend.

(The castle... awesome)

(My amazing pizza)

(From left to right: Fido and Richard)

1 comment:

  1. Those are some high quality photos, my friend. I started drooling when I saw the picture of the pizza. It looks delicious. Why didn't I just order that one? I feel like I have to go back there just to taste it and judge for myself.

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