Bandy, Culture, Fun

We won one of the toughest matches we had to play this season, 5-0. YEAYE! That secured our position as the “All Svenska” champions (all Swedish Champions). That’s an awesome feeling. So, that means that we stay at #1 in the league, then we have to prepare for playoffs where we will face that same team, Nassjo, again. They are a good team and a friend of ours helps coach them, Pelle. Pelle, Hanna Brusberg, and Matilda J came to the US last year to see what USA Bandy is all about. I had the pleasure of getting to know them a little bit and Pelle was supportive of me coming to Sweden to play bandy. Hanna Bruseberg (aka – “Brus” on the ice) joined the AIK team this year too, and it has been fun getting to know her a little more. Pelle and I will write back and forth to eachother and poke at eachother that “the best team will win” --- I have now the satisfaction of 2 of 2 matches going to the “BEST” team --- AIK. We will see them again and we will prepare for that match, as we will wear the golden helmets at the finals. As for the game this coming weekend, I’m very saddened to say that I will not get to play. At this point, I can only hope that I will get to skate in the finals. I have busted my @$$ on the ice during our team trainings as well as off the ice when the team hasn’t had any training and I was to run and lift on my own; I only hope it has made me a better bandy player - good enough to play in the finals. This was our last season home match, and that makes me sad to realize that my “last home game” was last weekend and I didn’t even know it --- sometimes I guess you have to take your “10 seconds to soak it in” each and every time just in case there isn’t a “next time”.

So, onto the fun things that we did this week…I did some research online for the Vasa Museum this week and found that if we went on Wednesday nights, we could go for less $$...and we figured that it would be less crowded in the middle of the week as well. We were right!!! A very pleasant and informative evening was spent at the Vasa Museum, and followed by dinner at O’Leary’s! The Vasa was a ship that was being built for the military guys and was going to be used in battles against Poland…but apparently, the Polish (no offense Jill) must have designed the thing as it sank within 30 minutes of it’s maiden voyage in front of the King. This thing was massive! The theory is that all of the weight of the cannons and guns was not counterweighted enough in the bottom of the ship, therefore as it started to sway one way, then back, and back the other, water came in through the port holes for the cannons, and thus sinking the ship since the counterweights at the bottom could not keep the ship upright. Such a tragedy for all of the hard work that went into making the ship. The ship sat for 300 years at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Amazing that it was preserved so well…the theory on that is that because the waters in the Baltic are not very salty, the “wood eating creatures” that would normally thrive in salt water don’t live in the Baltic, and therefore, could not eat away at the ship or the skeletons that were found there as well. (there was a name for these creatures, but it escapes me). Anyway, the ship was quite impressive and I do recommend anyone who comes to Stockholm to take 90 minutes to see the film and tour the museum. (If you see the film, chances are you don’t need to do the guided tour). What I found quite interesting more than the ship, however, was how some one in a wheel chair was to climb flights of stairs. Oopsies.

Next stop – Food. We stopped at O’Leary’s to see about getting some grub and I wanted some buffalo chicken wings. Let me just tell you that the “buffalo wing sauce” here is nothing more than a honey red pepper thai sauce with a little something else mixed in. Kind of disappointing, so onto more shopping in Gamla Stan J I love shopping…I love shopping on a mission. When we first got here, my mom said “Do yourself a favor and see about getting some Crystal candlestick holders….they are timeless and you can always use them to dress up a table.” So…my mission was laid before me (thanks ma!) Again, using the handy dandy world wide web, I did some research to find out that the factories are too far away for us to go there and get any kind of great discount without us spending money to get there as well as a hotel for the night or two that we’d need to stay there. Onto the local store in the great city of Stockholm. I found the candle stick holders…well, ok, so they aren’t intended for that, they are really tea light holders, BUT the Kosta Boda/Orrefores people must know that we like multi functioning things, so they have these neat little things you can put into the tea light holders to make them “candle stick holders”…I picked up a set of 3 “Snowballs”. I also picked up a special something for mom…but I’m not telling what!

We also decided that since I didn’t have to get to bed early on Friday night, that we would do something fun and special. I took advantage of the “no game on Saturday” thing to do some marathon training as well…so, I ran around the city a bit – for an hour anyway – on Friday morning before work, did some work, then in the evening we headed out to do some fun things! As we ventured out, we decided we would check in to see what the Absolut Ice Bar was like…it was pretty “cool” (pun intended), but at the same time, very underwhelming. The bar wasn’t much bigger than the living room at our apartment and it seemed a bit…well, kind of plain. We think that it must just be hopping when there are a ton of people in the bar, and the atmosphere a bit more exciting that way. We did offer to take a picture of some girls who were in there doing self photographs, and they must have been pretty unsuccessful as they kept trying. The girls from China accepted my offer, then wanted a picture of me with them; quite cute. After that, we were onto “The Soap Bar” for some dinner and then back to home as we were tired from a busy day. Saturday we will go to the AIK bandy match, and Sunday we will go to the Globen Arena to watch Team Sweden take on Team Finland in some hockey. Should be a fun weekend! Until next time….Cheers.