My Grand Adventure in Sweden!!!

Whoa...I have ALOT to report!!! Lets begin with the party on Thursday night...that was cool. The buffet was truly amazing and we met quite a few of our classmates there...they also had great music playing and an extremely crowded dance-floor. So crowded that I decided not to step in!! Hehehe!!! But it was cool to just hang out with our classmates...even though we were the first to leave since we had to travel the next day.

Now my grand trip...it was an adventure!!! LOL!! I left Magdeburg at 2 pm...I was to change my first train at Wittengerge at 3.30..only my train was 30 mins late!! So obviously I missed the connection...I had to wait at Wittenberge station for an hour and a half...and the station is the worst I've seen in Europe..cold, unheated, no rest-rooms, no coffee vending machines, or cafes-nothing!! Anyways I caught the next train to Hamburg, after going 'sprechen zie english' and getting a translator who helped me change my reservations!!! At Hamburg I was forced to spend the night, coz the next train was in the morning...so I did the 'sprechen zie english' again..and found out that Hamburg being a big city has enogh ppl speaking english...and anyways went to a tourist info centre and then to a hotel and checked myself in for the night.

After settling in I roamed around a while...saw the Christmas market in Hamburg and just strolled through the streets...returned to my room for dinner and slept early. The next day I got a wake-up call at 6 am...my train was at 7.20...so I got ready and left...I figured now things shall go smoothly...little did I know what was awaiting me!!!

The train from Hamburg to Kopenhagen was a eurocity express....it goes upto Puttgarten on the German border and then onto a ferry which take the train across to Denmark -Rodby. That was soooooooo cool..the whole train on the ferry...and then you can go upto the deck and sit there while you cross the sea..its awesome. I went right up and even stood out for a while but I had to come in coz it was raining...

Anyways the train got later after that....so I reached Kopenhagen 30 mins late...I had 5 mins to spare so I ran to the platform for my train to Stockholm...only to find out I'm on the wrong platform...ran to the right platform...but there was no train...I thought I'd missed the train, but there were still 2 mins to departure time, so I caught a guard and asked him. He checked up and told me that the train was cencelled, but I could catch a train to Malmo Central from the next platform in 1 min....huff puff...just managed to get on the train...

At Malmo I got a reservation for the next train to Stockholm..so now I was going to reach Stockholm at 7.40 pm instead of 6.20 pm...over 12 hours late!! I was so misreable and depressed and tired and homesick...I was sitting there trying hard not to cry and getting all worked up in the process when a tissue appeared under my nose...the man sitting next to me asked what's wrong..and well, I just spilt out my dukh bhari kahani to him...he was very nice. He sat with me till his daughter arrived and offered to stay till my train came..but there were only 15 mins left so I told them not to wait...very nice people. But was I misreable at Malmo - I just wanted to go home...home, as in Bombay...made several plans to fly home from Stockholm...hahaha!!! But also decided to drop the trip to Amsterdam coz that will be too tiring - which was good, coz I later found out that the trip to Paris was very badly organised and Saima and Jigi were having second thoughts about the next trip anyways...

Anyways finally boarded the last train to Stockholm, which was on time!!! LOL!! It was snowing all the way to Stockholm....so yeah, I saw my first snow and once in Stockholm even felt it!!!! Yipppeeee!!! I reached Stockholm and met the Rabergs on the station....

They drove me straight to their home in Vasteras, a 2 hour drive from Stockholm...they are really very nice people...they made my trauncated stay in Sweden very very special. When I reached their home, they made me relax while dinner was prepared. I saw a video of the St. Lucia's celebration that morning with Pauline. Dinner was marvellous...Dini had prepared a traditional Christmas meal for me and they had palced 4 snow-men around my plate to cheer me up!! We chatted over dinner and it was 1.30 am before I slept. I styed with Pauline in her flat coz Dini and Bengt-Olof are re-decorating their house. Anyways Pauline's house is very charming and cozy...the best part of the house is her collection of 50 dolls from 40 countries. Bengt-Olof travelled alot, so he got back a doll from every country he visited for his daughter...and today she has an amazing collection!!!!

The next day they showed me around Upsaala, where Pauline is studying Commercial Law. The Upsaala university is the oldest university in Northern Europe and very prestiguous...the whole town is a university town...very charming and nice. My grandfather has also studied in Upsaala for 6 months, so as Dini said , this was the third generation of the family visiting Upsaala!!! That felt cool...even tho I have never met my grandfather, I felt like hey...now there's a link...sounds odd, eh?

Anyways from Upsaala we drove down to this Christmas market...that was cool. I tasted some Reindeer meat there and well...I've got some dried reindeer meat back to take home. They told me how to serve it in traditional Swedish style...cool eh? They had interesting stuff at the market...lots of gnomes, elves etc dressed for Christmas...I was told that Sweden has a lot of folk-lore revolving around gnomes and such creatures...so Christmas market is full of them...there were also ginger-bread houses made by school children..beautiful ones that reminded me of the story of 'Hansel and Gretel'....

From there we drove around Vasteras..they showed me a viking grave etc...and then back to their house. We had traditional Advent's tea and for dinner, Dini once again cooked a traditional Swedish meal - this time one that is served for New Year's Eve!!! As I said, they made my trip very special...I feel that I've returned with new friends - no longer just Papa's friends, now MY friends!!

We went to bed early but I was so nervous about my journey back that I hardy slept...got up at 3.30 to get ready and left for the station at 4am. We had to leave early coz of the snow...that makes driving tricky..and well...I didn't talk about all the snow...that shall follow in my next blog...coz that deserves a seperate blog by itself!!!!

I left them loaded with gifts and even food for the journey!!! Surprisingly, as hectic was my journey upto Sweden, the journey back to Magebdurg was just as smooth....trains were on time and I changed trains very smoothly...returned home and Annika dropped in to find out about our trips...so we talked and it was midnight before I slept....

So that was the story of my first grand adventure....very eventful and great fun, despite the tension in between....I shall blog more tomm, but for now I must stop...more details shall follow on my blog...about the snow, Swedish customs, etc etc...