A Taste Of Sweden (Part 1)

Well, well, well, holidays are over, we're back home and as we say in Greece "κάθε κατεργάρης στον πάγκο του" (ka-the ka-ter-ga-ris ston pa-go too), meaning: everyone gets to their place. 

I must admit it was an amazing experience, although I've visited several places in Greece, I had never been abroad and dealing with a whole different culture was a pleasant shock to me (so pleasant that I didn't want to get back). We stayed at Uppsala where we visited lots of museums and beautiful gardens, we drank beers in a few pubs and strolled along the beautiful gardens of the town. We also visited Stockholm twice (not enough! I needed at least one more week to see every cobblestone alley there was), checked out a few museums and bought souvenirs for the friends and family back home (and by souvenirs I mean super delicious CHOCOLATES!).

     

But let me take you on a trip through my camera shots...

On Wednesday (15th) we left Thessaloniki...

     

     

...and landed in Arlanda airport. Next, we took the bus to Uppsala, then we were off to find the nearest ATM to get some swedish crowns and headed to Palermo pub for pizza and beer!

     

The next morning we had a quick coffee and went to explore the city. 

     

First impressions? I was amazed by how calm everybody seemed, no traffic, no rushing drivers, they all waited for pedestrians to pass once they notice you approach the zebra crossings (in Greece you're lucky to pass running even if sometimes you have the green light). There were no cracks in the streets, the sidewalks were all clean and bikes...bikes were everywhere, it was the first time I saw a delivery boy riding a bike with a box attached to his back.

We entered Domkyrka (the Cathedral of Uppsala), an amazing building that leaves you with nothing but awe from the very first glance...

     

The church has several chapels, stunning stained glass windows (the pictures gave a really weird atmosphere under the daylight that came through them). 

  

     

There we also found the tomb of Gustav Vasa (an old king that was burried among his three wives).

          

After the church we got in the Gustavianum museum (an old building of the Uppsala university).

There we found a lot of treasures including mummies...

     

          

...and outdated scientific equipment (awe was domineering this visit as well). I almost forgot that we saw the old anatomical theatre (it was freezing up there).

    

The daily trip ended with a visit to Botaniska trädgården (the botanical gardens) with an amazing indoor collection of plants and flowers. 

          

There X42 made a new friend...

     

...and had a little accident in the succulent and cacti room, but hopefully he's ok! 

     

On our way home we walked through a park with a really cool playground...

     

and even got to see some squirrels (I don't think you can see them in the left picture)...

     

This was the first part of my trip, don't miss tomorrow's post on some amazing pieces of equipment I saw in the Gustavianum museum!

*All images by @ruth-girl.

Thank you for reading this. Feel free to check out my bizarre natural phenomena series, short stories, educational posts or pranks using science.

 Special thanks and mentions go to:

Until my next post,
Steem on and keep smiling, people!