Happy National Day!

Happy National Day! I'm not doing anything more exciting today than going to the pub, so please enjoy this photo from national day last year, taken at the royal palace, where there were free tours, and the option to dress up and have your photo taken. I think that was aimed more at the children but that didn't stop me and Heli!
Today is actually the day last year, whilst I was on holiday, that I realised I wanted to move here. It was the start of a big adventure, and here I am, I've made it. I'm happy to have had this experience.
This week of anniversaries has had a couple of coincidences, because last night I went to Trädgården, which was also where I spent the night before National Day last year. Lessons were learned from the two hours we spent queuing to get in last year, and we went early. If you haven't been to Trädgården I highly recommend it - I wish there was somewhere similar in London. It's under a bridge, with music, various bars, artwork and graffiti, a restaurant, and a small grill selling burgers. It's only open in the summer because hanging out outside in winter would be ridiculous, but it's a cool venue and the people there are pretty diverse, including plenty of typical Södermalm people. Perhaps next summer I'll have to visit Stockholm at the same time to ensure I'm there on 5th June, as apparently that's my tradition now. It's a really unique venue, and definitely a fun place to go out.

I went AWOL

It's been almost a month since I updated this blog. I've had to personal matters to deal with recently, and it seems that, very sadly, I'll soon be going back to London due to what's been happening. It's unexpected, and if it weren't for this I would not even be thinking about leaving Stockholm, but it's something very important to me. So this has taken up a lot of my time and energy recently, I've gone into myself a bit. My work contract finishes at the end of April - I never looked into other options at the same place because all of this came up - so it looks like I'll be shipping out at the start of May, meaning that I was here for four months. It's so sad, especially as it's now getting warmer and sunnier in Stockholm, summer is definitely on its way. I have a very short time left here, so I'm trying to appreciate it and make the best of it. As it's been a while, here are a few noteworthy things that have been going on lately.

First of all, in another unexpected turn of events, in a weeks time I will be travelling to Krakow for a week! For the final month of my contract I've been given a slightly different role at work, which mainly involves planning an event in Krakow, and as part of this I'm required to attend said event in Krakow! I'm excited but also nervous, and it does mean that, according to when I expect to leave, this is my last full weekend in Stockholm, as I will be travelling to and from Poland during two weekends. It's still a new experience, so I'm really grateful to have the chance to go.

I visited a vegetarian restaurant lately that I had walked past many times in Gamla Stan, but never been to, Hermitage Restaurang. It's a vegetarian all you can eat buffet - a lot of the food is vegan - and is wasn't bad for 120kr for dinner. There are not a huge number of choices - bread, soup, a hot dish, lasagne, rice, potatoes, and various salads - but the food was quite nice, and it's a pleasant environment. You're given free jugs of water with mint and lemon, which is a nice gesture. The restaurant is small, and I was part of a large group at a busy time, so I did get cramped. The buffet and counter area is also quite cramped, but other than that I really enjoyed it here. I think that lunch here was 10 or 20kr cheaper than dinner, and I think this would be a great place for lunch. Yet another restaurant in Stockholm that I approve of.

After the meal we went for a drink, and walked to Södermalm. We found one bar called Stora Vikingen, or in English, "The Big Viking", and decided that we really had to go there. It was all really kind of funny because the bar looked a bit old and tired, it didn't look to be that well maintained, but when we sat down they gave the menu to us in the form of an iPad! We sat down and immediate had four iPads on the table! It wasn't the most attractive looking place but the staff were pleasant, the wine we ordered was good, and we enjoyed ourselves. But it goes to show that not everything in Södermalm is cool.

On Friday night I went somewhere really cool though, also in Södermalm - Södra Teatern. I hadn't been here before, but actually had probably one of the best nights I've had in Stockholm. At first we were on the terrace, where the views are absolutely beautiful. Definitely one of the best places I've found to look at all of Stockholm. In the evenings right now it's still a bit too chilly to sit outside very late, so we went back inside to the bar, but it must be so nice to sit outside there in the summer. 

Best of all, after a while it turned out there was a ska/reggae night happening, which happens to be my favourite genre of music, and until now I hadn't found any nights with this type of music in Stockholm. I really enjoyed it here, and would love to come again.

At the moment I'm really taking each day as it comes, but I hope that I will have time in the next few weeks to appreciate being here, and make more happy memories of my time here, which is sadly being cut short.

A delicious new experience

Last night I had a new experience, but not a very Swedish one. Our housemate suggested an Ethiopian restaurant to us, so Kai and I went for dinner there. I'm certain that there are Ethiopian restaurants in London, but I'd never really eaten Ethiopian food before, so it was new for me.

We went to Gojo in Södermalm, and it was amazing. We hadn't booked a table but they managed to fit us in anyway with a time limit. There was a nice atmosphere and the restaurant is comfortable and looks great, with portraits of Ethiopian people and colourful lamps. It felt really homey, and they played Ethiopian music too. When we left we noticed there's a live show on Saturday nights - we were a bit too early for that last night.

The menu is small, and there's just one vegetarian meal, but after eating it once I have no problem with that at all! I loved it! 

The food is presented beautifully, with the plate set in a woven basket with a lid that the waitress took away. It looked nice on the plate, and tasted so good. Even the salad was seasoned perfectly. Every item on the plate had a unique flavour and texture, and it all balanced really well. I can't think of many occasions when I've been to a restaurant for the first time and been so impressed. Kai had a similar meal that included meat, and he loved the food just as much as I did. Of all the small dishes I really can't choose a favourite - the salad, cabbage, beans, and potatoes with carrots were all unbelievably tasty. The bread is really good too, but very different in texture, flavour, and appearance, to European bread.

We read on the menu that coffee is a very significant part of an Ethiopian meal, so next time we go to Gojo we'll definitely book a table so we can take our time and drink coffee too - we finished eating just in time last night so ordering coffee was unfortunately not an option. After this experience I would undoubtedly recommend Ethiopian food, and Gojo too. It wasn't even very expensive; the vegetarian meal cost 145kr. 

I know of a couple of other Ethiopian restaurants in Stockholm - I walk past one of them every day, it doesn't look great from the outside but is almost 100kr more expensive than Gojo, and my housemate read me an online review that said someone found a bug in their food. So I don't think we'll be going there, but there's another near Rådmansgatan that we could also try. 

I've been really impressed with the restaurants in Stockholm - the variety of food available, and the quality. Every time I've eaten out here I've been very satisfied. I'm used to living in a very multicultural city, and I'm glad that Stockholm also has such a mix of people, meaning that authentic food is available. I think Gojo has replaced Greasy Spoon as my favourite restaurant in Stockholm, and its location is ideal for us, it's so easy to get to. I really can't say anything negative, and I've found a new type of food to enjoy!

A lovely afternoon in Södermalm

As it was Valentine's Day yesterday we wanted to do something nice, so we decided to go to Greasy Spoon in Södermalm, which was recommended to me when I previously wrote about my desire for a vegetarian fried breakfast.

We got there around 2pm, and didn't think that it would be extremely busy, but maybe it's understandable seeing as it was both Valentine's Day and a Saturday afternoon.There was a one hour wait for a table, so we went for a little wander to pass the time.

Yesterday was really a beautiful day - the weather is definitely improving, and there's much more daylight now than when we arrived. We walked to the tip of the island, and from there we had beautiful views of Djurgården, Gamla Stan, and Skeppsholmen. It reminded me how beautiful Stockholm is, and I felt so lucky that I can live here and that our life here is starting to become more stable. We also walked to the Viking Line ferry terminal, so it amused me to see a street sign pointing to Finland. Now that I have an income I really need to look into the price of ferry tickets so that I can visit Turku.

By the time we'd had a walk for an hour we were so hungry, so back to Greasy Spoon we went. Actually getting food was quite a slow process because it was so busy, but I don't want to criticise the staff, especially the kitchen staff because they were putting food out constantly. The staff were all English, and automatically speaking English to every customer. I only heard Swedish being spoken amongst groups of customers. As it's clearly as English themed cafe maybe this added to the experience for non-English customers. The customer based seemed to be English people, and Swedish hipsters who probably think eating breakfast in the middle of the afternoon is edgy. I do actually find it a bit funny that this kind of food is a novelty here because it's the most normal thing in the world to me.

I like the way the cafe is decorated - the wallpaper looked like it had attractive scenes of London at first, but when we looked closer it actually showed scenes of gangs and police cars. I liked that - it felt more real to me, as someone who has lived in London for years, than having various tourist friendly pictures of Big Ben and double decker busses.

Eventually the food arrived, and wow, it was worth the wait!

Needless to say, this cafe is not a greasy spoon in the traditional sense. The ingredients and cooking were obviously of a much higher quality, and it may well be one of the best fried breakfasts I have ever eaten! Even now, the next day, I am still thinking about the food! Usually I prefer fried eggs to be more well-done, but these were actually delicious, and I say that their chefs are doing an amazing job. I also feel that you can't have a decent breakfast without some nice toast, and the toast here was just perfect, with lots of butter. Every single component was perfect, and I was so happy to find that the vegetarian sausages were Linda McCartney sausages. Maybe it's a bit sad that I knew that from taste alone. Fortunately, they're my favourite vegetarian sausages, and went perfectly with the rest of the food. I remember that the same sausages are available in The English Shop in Medborgarplatsen, and now I'd quite like to buy some to have at home. I've been to a limited number of restaurants in Stockholm, but for now I'm actually going to say that this is my favourite.

I'm not homesick, and I don't actually want to surround myself with purely British people and British culture here, but it was nice to be in an environment where my native language was expected, rather than potentially awkward. There seemed to be a sense of humour that's very familiar to me, the staff were lovely, the food was amazing, the coffee was very good, and it really did feel like a little piece of my home. They were playing English music from a cool jukebox, the cafe looks lovely, and I really enjoyed every part of our visit. I will definitely be going back there, and if I ever want some comforting food I think it's the obvious choice.

I would highly recommend Greasy Spoon. British people will love it because it's so comforting and familiar, I think for Swedish people it must be an interesting novelty. At least I know now how popular it is, and will maybe time my visit better, or at least be prepared for a long walk whilst I wait, as by the time the food actually arrived I was so hungry I could have passed out.

Friday night was the first night we'd spent in our new house, which we are so happy with, so overall yesterday was a really nice day. We're still exploring our new area, but there a more shops and businesses than there were in Hagsätra - so far we're really pleased. The flat is beautiful, and the two guys who already live here have been really friendly and welcoming to us. I think it's a really good thing that we now have the Swedish language being spoken in our home, so it's there all the time and hopefully this will help us both to keep improving.

My weekend is going very well, and I'm already looking forward to my next trip to Greasy Spoon. If they could start a home delivery service that would just be even better!