Flew out to the Stockholm to meet up with my basketball playing allstar, Swedish League Champion, high school buddy, Tamar Gruwell.
Her and Pär met me at the Stockholm airport, talk about service! Not accustomed (has punny) to such relaxed customs, I assumed I still had more checkpoints to go, and almost walked right past them, until Pär said "isn't that Kelley?"
I had previously met Pär a few summers ago when he came out to the US and stayed with me while visiting San Francisco, so I didn't feel too guilty crashing at his place. But turns out, he had recently graduated law school and is living at home for the summer, so instead we bombarded his lovely mom who insisted on letting Tamar and I share the master bedroom in her incredibly Swedish home.
Not the very Swedish red barn summer house in the photo that has been in the family for years.
Can you imagine this being your view... yet you are 20 steps from a bus station that is 10 minutes into the heart of Stockholm?
Every morning, she left out breakfast for us before heading to work and made us feel so incredibly welcome.
Including some Kalle's caviar
Though I had been to Stockholm before, I was very young and I have possibly the worst memory. So it was great to play tourist for a few days!
My friend Evelina, who I became close to when she studied abroad at Berkeley for a year during my junior year, also took time to meet with us. And in great news, will be coming back to Berkeley for another year now that's she's in a PhD program! Insane to think that we met when I was a foolish 19 year old, and exciting that it's as if no time has passed and we can continue our friendship now that I'm 25... and as foolish as ever!
I had spoken with her before the trip about my grandma's passing... and a few weeks before my visit, her grandma had also passed away. So it was very special for both of us to be able to light candles for our grandmas at Stockholm Cathedral, Storkrykan, where Princess Victoria wed Prince Daniel Duke of Västergötland in the center of Old Town, Gamla Stan.
As well as see a model of Stockholm which helped give an idea of the layout... that said, it was certainly wonderful to have Pär as a tour guide as we explored the city!
One day, we took the ferry, färjan, over on Djurgården, a green island park of sorts.
We took the subway to meet up with Evelina and her husband Jonas and some of Pär's friends for some Thai food, ya know... getting a taste of authentic Swedish food ;)
And then adventured over to Stockholm City Hall where the Nobel Prize dinner is held.
Trying to cram in some last minute tourist sites
Before finding a cool bar to grab a beer and some live music.
And before too long, we were heading back to the airport to catch a flight to Spain with one sleepy traveler!
