Heja Sverige!

Again, this is old news, but it's a good story. We had one week in early September between when Paul finished in Munich and his classes started again in Oxford, so we though we'd take a trip somewhere in Europe. We'd been wanting to visit Sweden for a while, especially since Paul had never been there, and coincidentally Ryan Air was having a sale on airfare to Gothenberg so we decided to go for it. And to make it even better, I e-mailed my cousin Fredrik and found out all my cousins would be around during our visit! It's kind of complicated how we're all related, but basically my Grandmother (on my mother's side) met her Swedish half brother for the first time when they were both grown, and our families have stayed in touch since. I'm so glad I have that connection, because the rest of my family didn't stay in touch with their Swedish relatives once they hopped on the boat in the early 1900's, at least not for long enough for me to know anyone.

As for our trip, it couldn't have been better. First, we stayed with my mom's first cousins in Trollhattan, which is where my great-grandfather was born. It's also where they make Saabs, and they have a movie studio that they call "Trolley-wood", where some big time movies have been filmed.

Here's me at the Royal Moose Hunting Museum in Halleberg-Hunneberg. Every two years the king goes on his official hunt, and this museum was built to educate people about the moose and the history of the hunt.

From Sweden 2008

Here's one of the specimens in the museum:

From Sweden 2008

After we went to the museum, we drove around the hunting grounds, which are like a national park. We did manage to run into some moose on the prowl for apples!

From Sweden 2008

Here we are at the edge of the park near lake Vanern.

From Sweden 2008

Next we went to Hamburgsund, on the West Coast. Ingegerd (who's my mom's first cousin) kindly let us stay at her summer house out there, and Gunnel (my mom's other first cousin) kindly let us borrow their car. Although it wasn't warm summer weather in September, it was sunny and nice enough for us to go for a pleasant stroll around the area in the morning. Here I am on the street in front of the house:

From Sweden 2008

Swedish beaches are really rocky, and the water is cold, so it's a different experience from going to a beach in, say, Miami. Walking around the coastline, we came upon this little fishing village - Tegelstrand. I have no idea how long it's been there, but it looks like something out of a storybook.

From Sweden 2008

We spent the afternoon driving around Bohuslan, which is a very historic area of Sweden. There's evidence of people living there as far back as 3,000 years ago! In that time, Sweden's climate was like the south of France, until it started to get colder around 500BC. They were even growing grapes for wine back then! We stopped at the museum at Tanum (which is free!), where they've built some houses like people would have lived in back then. They kind of remind me of the English cottages with thatched roofs. Here's me coming out of one:

From Sweden 2008

That evening, we joined my Grandmother's brother Stig and his wife Greta for dinner in Högsäter. They have a gorgeous historic home up there, where they spend their summers. Greta treated us to a tasty meal and we caught up on some family news, and I got to practice some broken Swedish. Here we are at the dinner table:

From Sweden 2008

So that was what we did during the week. On the weekend, we went to Gothenberg and stayed at Fredrik's apartment. What was even better than free accomodation was that all my cousins are now living in or near Gothenberg! A lot had happened since I visited 5 years ago. Two of my cousins got married, and there were a couple of new baby cousins to meet.

Here's my cousin Peter, his wife Lijana and their super cute 9-month-old son, Vincent

From Sweden 2008

Peter is taking a few months paternity leave from work to be home with Vincent while Lijana goes back to study dentistry. Swedish law allows either the father or mother to take leave from work, with full pay, to care for a new baby. Lijana took the first few months, and now Peter is taking the next few months. Aren't you jealous? Kind of makes you think, higher taxes, but free school and crazy benefits like this - not a bad trade-off, I think!

And now for something that's not quite as cute. As a joke, my cousin Helene and her husband Karim brought us some Surstromming, which is a fish delicacy. What makes it a joke? Well, if you had ever smelled it, you'd understand. They used to make this stuff when salt was really expensive - instead of preserving the fish with salt, they used yeast, which basically ferments it. It's so vile that the tin actually bulges under pressure - that's how you know it's good! Paul had mentioned the night before that he liked to try new or exotic foods, and he already knew he liked 'sill' (pickled herring) which they usually use to impress foreigners, so they had to take it a step further. Well, not to be outdone, Paul had to follow through and try the stuff. Anna, Fredrik's girlfriend, understandibly did not want this thing opened in her home, so we had to bring it outside to try it out. So we knew it'd be stinky, but not that stinky! Apparently no one had tried it before, so all of the guys (except Fredrik - smart guy) tried it. Here's Karim opening the tin, which makes a sound like a deflating tire when you open it:

From Sweden 2008

If you've got a good connection, you can see Paul trying the surstromming on video, with Swedish commentary:


Here's my cousin Anders (with absolutely adorable daughter Maja) trying the surstromming. I actually hadn't seen him for something like 15 years, during which time he got married and had three daughters, who I'm sure are also gorgeous.

From Sweden 2008

Well, I think that's enough about the stinky fish. We topped off the night with some of Fredrik's tasty cocktail concoctions and some intense debates about world politics and everything else that comes to mind at 2AM after three apple martinis.

And to finish off, here's a nice shot of most of us the next morning at Peter and Lijana's place (they made us an awesome waffle breakfast! yum!)

From Sweden 2008

I'm so thankful we had a chance to see/meet the Swedes. I hope they come visit us in the US!

Girls Trip in Devon

It has been all too long since I've blogged. There are a lot of updates, and I think I'll break it into a couple of separate posts.

A few weeks ago, I went on a girls trip in Devon, in south west England. Alka drove most of the time, with Vinita, Karen and I as the passengers. I was so glad there were three other people in the car who not only can drive stick shift, but also are used to driving on the left! We'd been trying to plan another girls trip to follow up our trip to Bath, and we finally made it happen.


Here we are on the way there, at a random pub we stopped at called "the Hungry Horse", where you can "Fill up for 5 pounds." You can't get that kind of bargain in Oxford, that's for sure! It was quite the local place, and really made me feel like I was experiencing English culture. The age range there was anywhere from 3 months to 85 years, and unlike in Oxford, they actually had teenagers working as waitstaff rather than grown-up immigrants.



We stayed in a beach town called Torquey (pronounced 'tore-key'). This town must have been quite the place back in the day, and still had a special seaside feel to it. Since it's England, and it's not all that warm in the summer (80 degrees for 2 days is a major heat wave), there's not so much swimming in the water, but people walk around the beach and hang out.

We spent two nights in a B&B, touring around Dartmoor National Park the first day. I had found a brochure for Miniature Pony World, and we all decided this was the perfect place to go. Problem is, to get there, even with a GPS device is nearly impossible. You have to drive on all these two-way roads that only fit one car - literally, there are tall stone walls on either side of the car, so if another vehicle comes, you have to back up the windy road until you reach an intersection or driveway. Fortunately, the area is beautiful, and we happened upon this really cute town called Widecombe in the Moor. Here's their church, where they were having a craft fair.


And here's "The Old Inn" next door, built in the 14th century according to the park website. Yeah, I'd say that's old!


Here's what the park looks like, for the most part, when you've managed to get away from the crazy roads:


So finally we made it to Miniature Pony World! Here's some pony pictures:


Here I am petting a pony! I knew Paul was going to be so jealous, because he secretly wants to get his own miniature pony! He saw one on TV once that rings a bell when it needs to be let out and he thought it was so cool.


I guess the place is mostly for kids, but we still had fun. This kid was really into it.


I tried to get an eye-level shot with this pony, but as soon as I squatted down, she came over and tried to nuzzle me - so cute


And of course, they also have some chickens...



Next we had afternoon tea with real Devonshire cream at the Primrose Cottage in Lustleigh


So remember those crazy roads I was talking about? Well, usually you come up against cars, but occasionally, you have a stand-off with a rogue cow! This one didn't want to back off for a couple of minutes, but eventually she relented and walked over to a gate.


We then toured around Cockington (that's really the name, I did not make it up, I swear). We were too late to see the little market village there, but they had some real cute buildings. Doesn't this look like something out of a fairy tale?


And this is more what I had in mind for accommodation when I found out we were moving to England


Just slightly more glamourous than our student flat!

Here's downtown Torquey, where we stayed:


Cute English cabanas at Paignton Beach


My pasty white feet in the English channel


Donkey rides on the beach at Weston-Super-Mare (north Devon)


And finally, we decided we needed to fly a kite before we went home (thanks Vinita for bringing the kite!)

More Simaceks in Oxford

No, there's not another little Simacek on the way. I'm talking about Paul's family coming to visit us a couple weeks ago! We spent most of the time touring around the Cotswolds seeing all the touristy things. We even rented a car, and Paul did great driving on the other side of the road!

I had to work the first two days of their visit, so they all went around to the Oxford colleges. That was fine with me, since we all got a chance to get out of Oxford on the weekend. Paul and I don't get out of town much (even to go one town over), so we really haven't had much of a chance to see England together. So it was great to have guests and an excuse for Paul to take a break from studying to see the sights!

On Saturday we did Warwick Castle and Stratford-Upon-Avon. We had some National Heritage passes left over from when my family visited over Christmas, so we wound up saving a ton of money on entrance fees - well over $500 when all was said and done!

Here we all are at Warwick Castle


Shakespeare's birthplace:


On Sunday, we saw Blenheim Palace and Broughton Castle. Blenheim is the birthplace and was the home of Winston Churchill. Not a bad start!

Here's Paul in Blenheim's back yard


At Blenheim, you can walk right into the sheep pasture, and there were adorable little lambs all over!


here I am striking a pose in front of the "Column of Victory" at Blenheim:


We also just happened to see this wedding procession! Can you imagine how much a wedding at Blenheim Palace would have cost?? I have no idea, but I'm sure you need a title like "Lord and Lady" to afford it!


Here are the Simacek ladies at Broughton Castle. The owners, Lord and Lady Saye and Sele (yes, they have an 'and' in the last name), still actually live there, but open it to the public two days per week during the summer. They filmed Shakespeare in Love here!


This is the back yard at Broughton - and the moat!

Yolanta & Anne in the garden


Paul and me on the roof..

I went to Bath and got a Shower

As exams are coming up this week at the Business school, I and a bunch of my girlfriends who also have partners in the program decided we should go on a trip together to get away from the stress of studying. The group of us were a big international melting pot - there was Alka, Vinita and Bhakti from India, Nina from Denmark, Karen from Australia, Janick from France, Alina from Romania, Mikki and me from the USA. We all left after work so we still had a chance to go out for dinner on Friday night. Bath is just a 45 minute train ride from where I work near Didcot. We stayed in a B&B just to the west of the city center, which had a lot of English country charm and a nice hot breakfast. It rained the whole time, but that didn't stop us from having a great time! We're already excited to start planning another trip together.

A bit about Bath: It has been known for its hot spring baths since about 800BC when the Romans were in the area. They liked the springs so much that they built a whole complex for them. The Baths themselves still exist as both a tourist and an archaeological site. Archaeologists have found all kinds of items at the bottom of the pools, including over 13,000 coins! There's not much else for industry around there, though it seems the city was a stop on the way up the Avon River where boats could unload cargo into warehouses to be shipped to other areas of the country.

Friday night we went out for some Thai food, then went to a couple pubs. The first pub was called "Mole's Pub" and it was located in a cave-like basement with lots of little nooks and crannies to explore. Neat place!

Unfortunately they were at the end of their set, and the pub was closing (most bars close at 11pm in England) so we had to find another place to hang out! The city center was bustling at night, and unlike Oxford, you didn't see lots of cops and falling-over-drunk college students. I have been reading a lot about England's drinking problems, so it was nice to see that it's not always that way. Anyway, we had a blast at night and didn't get back to the B&B until about 12:30. Here's what the Bath Abbey looks like at night:


The next morning we had our breakfast and left for the city. Alka was nice enough to offer to take our luggage back to Oxford since she had driven to Bath. That meant we had more time to explore the city without lugging all of our overnight things around with us. Our first stop was to make sure we saw the old Roman Baths. Here is some of the group in front of the entrance (clockwise: Karen, Janick, Mikki, Alina, Bhakti, Nina; missing were Alka and Vinita, who had already seen the baths and went exploring the shops instead):


Here is part of an old temple wall that has been reconstructed after being found on the site:


And here's what I thought was really cool: old curses that people had written and thrown into the pool:


Here's a close-up of one of them:

Here's Karen, Nina and me in front of one of the drains at the baths:


And here's the main bath. It really is that green from all the algae and other creatures living in it. There were signs all around not to drink or even touch the water! You can see the steam rising up because of all the rain.


This is a piece of an old roof, which shows how the Romans used hollow bricks to make the arches more lightweight. Pretty clever stuff!


This was a weird part. This area was all dark, but when I looked in, I thought I saw what looked like big eggs all around. Turns out they're stalagmites! The sign in there reads "hypocaust" which is an old Roman term for "central heating" (thanks Wikipedia for that definition!) I'd suggest looking it up if you're interested, it's pretty neat! I heard from a tour guide there that they would have children cleaning out the ashes from the heating system because they were the only ones who could fit down there! Yuck!


After that experience, we needed to do something that wasn't so damp, so we went to the Jane Austen Center for Afternoon Tea. I'm not a big Jane Austen fan, but the place was really charming and put on a great tea. The sandwiches weren't the best (butter & cheese and butter & cucumber), but the sweets and the tea itself were delicious! Most of the girls had never been to Afternoon tea before, so it really was a treat - and a true English one at that! We all felt very English and very proper.


We spent the rest of the day poking around shops and seeing sights like the Royal Crescent:


The inside of the Bath Abbey, where the choir was practicing - so pretty!


And the outside of the Bath Abbey:


The Pulteney Bridge (apparently one of four in the world lined with shops on both sides)


And last, but not least, this handsome pig statue: