Up North

I'm sitting in the Stockholm train station writing this post because I was too stubborn to make my reservation yesterday and the train ended up filling up. I'm headed to Sundsvall, Sweden to stay with Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Jamie Garvey's good friends, the Gulliksons. They are actually way up north in Sweden now, but their son and daughter are home, so I will be staying with them.

Copenhagen was an amazing city. Everybody rides bikes everywhere. It is the coolest thing ever. People were so friendly and more than willing to help. I spent most of my day wandering the streets of Copenhagen on a bike. I ended up popping a tire at the end of the day because I rode so much (not really, it was probably just because the bike was old and the tire was low on air and I was riding over curbs and cobblestone streets, but let's pretend that's not the case). Copenhagen is a rather diverse city. There are people from all over and a lot of different cultural backgrounds bending rather peacefully. There were some very cool buildings randomly dispersed all over the city and more beautiful, green parks than anyone could possibly imagine. Late in the afternoon I went to the Carlsberg Brewery. Carlsburg is like the Budweizer of Europe...except they actually make good beer. This place was enormous and has been around forever. They had a museum which showed all of the techniques used for brewing beer dating back to before the US was even a country. This brewery was enormous and had such cool, but weird architecture. There were elephants that were pillars and other cool designs. The jazz festval was also going on while I was in Copenhagen, so I was able to catch some free jazz while wandering. At one point I found myself in a perfectly manicured garden. I walked past a beekeeper and I thought it was so cool. I watched him for a little and then he came over to me. He brought over a pallet with a honey comb in it. He told me to stick my finger into it, so I did. Honey poured out and I ate it all. It was the most delicious honey ever. He said from each bee house he can get 50 kilos of honey. Copenhagen was really spectacular. Beautiful boats everywhere and just gorgeous scenery. I really loved Copenhagen.

Stockholm is like a wealthier Copenhagen. People ride their bikes everywhere here as well, but there's not as much of a laid back feel. There are a lot of incredible yachts, but not so many charming wooden boats. Stockholm has so many parks with trails throughout. It's a beautiful city, but a but flashy. It seems fashion is a big part of the culture here, which isn't so much my thing. People were still very nice. Stockholm definitely seems to have a lot more tourism than Copenhagen as well. Stockholm has tons of massive buildings with fancy architecture. It's a pretty cool city, especially at night when everything is lit up, but be aware, it doesn't get dark until after 11pm.

You bike trip lovers (Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Jamie, Mom and Dad), Denmark and Sweden are the places to go for your next excision. They are the most biker friendly places I have ever seen. It's also very cool here so you won't die from summer heat.