Travel and stuff

We got too tired to post before American bed-time, so you'll get to read it late...

The day started with a wake-up at an ungodly hour: 4 am. This was so we could save some money on taking the early train. It´s depressing that even on our vacation we have to be cheap-o's :) , but as a matter of fact, it wasn´t too hard, since 4 am here is 10 pm over there. We can still feel the pain today though, since we didn´t get in bed on time the night before and thus ended up with a mere 5 hours of sleep or so. Hopefully we´ll be more responsible the rest of our time here.

The train we took was called the X2000, which is Swedens high-speed train, which brings me to today's question. Just to appease Anthony it´ll be a non-random fact. What is the top speed of the x2000?

Micah and I spent most of the trip playing a game, while Kristine and Kathryn were making faces at the camera, saying it showed how tired they were. Unfortunately we ended up riding in the seats facing backwards, which made me kind of nauseous, but we made it to our stop without any food leaving our bodies unnaturally.

The last leg of the trip we had to ride by bus, since they were working on the track. Kathryn was impressed there was a bathroom on the bus, but not enough to try it out. I don't remember much at all from that ride, since I pretty much passed out for the whole hour. There might be some claims out there that I was snoring, but please disregard those lying liars.

Once we made it to our almost final destination, Sundsvall, my parents met up with us, and it was time for our separation from the Gerbers. Kristine was going to get picked up by her cousin Lasse to go into bush-country, and we were headed for my parents.

First though, we had a farewell dinner (and some well-wishes for Micah, who probably never spent that much time in a location with only dial-up :) at Sweden's BEST hamburger place. At least if you believe their big banner they had hanging there, and true, the burgers were definitely good for being at a fast-food place. Maybe I should mention here, that fast-food in Sweden is not quite fast... just faster than your average restaurant. :)

After a round of hugs and a short ride to Härnösand we enjoyed my mom's lasagna (now that was the best in the WORLD!!!!) and then walked it off through picturesque Härnösand.

Mom also showed me the candy she's been buying/benn given for me from work. Just imagine, some of this could be yours! Plus ofcourse there will be chocolate... there is always chocolate.

Mom also appreciated our all-american gift for her. Her very own snuggie. Now she can keep warm watching TV, watching a game, cooking and all those things they do in the commercials :)

Our First Swedish Meeting

(This blog is contributed by Kristine Gerber)

We all went to our first meeting here...Upplands Bro ("Upplands Bridge") Congregation. To get to meeting, we got a ride with a family nearby who had 2 cars; thank goodness, because it was raining a lot and we would have had to walk to the train station otherwise. At the Kingdom Hall, everyone was very nice, and there was one brother who had the part on presenting the Watchtower and Awake magazines. It was sweet because he would speak English on and off through the part so that we, who can't understand much Swedish, could follow along. Made us feel very welcome. They sent their love to the brothers & sisters in USA!

When we got home, we had FIKA!!!! (that is like snack time in Sweden) We had hot sandwiches...bread with ham and cheese, open faced. Delicious!

So as you may see the above picture...David & Kat had a baby!!!! lol Ok..I am kidding. But doesn't it look natural? Make fun of them about it later:) But in all honestly, Fredrik & Ellinor's baby is the sweetest and happiest baby who could make a person least wanting a child (Kat) to want one. haha But we know....not all babies are like that. So we aren't getting any crazy ideas; no worries.

Question of the Day- What is the name of Fredrik & Ellinor's baby?

Good Morning

Well, we had a feeling we would be tired this morning, but it was worse than we even thought, and we woke up at noon... so we're not going to have time to do much of anything since there is a meeting tonight. But I thought I'd throw up an amusing picture we took yesterday. I'll let you figure it out on your own. And also I'll give you a bonus question, it'll be a bonus if I get a blog up tonight that is :) Where can you find the quote (in Swedish of course) "Med henne har jordens kungar begått otukt, medan de som bor på jorden blev berusade av hennes otukts vin." Hint - The picture does apply, as well as the festival going on in Stockholm. :)

First day in Sweden

Ok, I know that people might feel that I am a bit partial to Sweden, for reasons unknown to me... but let me just say this: I have flown to Sweden several times over the years with SAS, a Swedish airline, and even though the planes have been tight and uncomfortable at times, I never experienced anything like Delta airlines put us through. When we got on the plane, we were smacked in the face by urine odor... fortunately once the air started circulating, the smell went away, but as soon as there was an interruption, the smell was back, filling the whole plane. Food was horrendous, and the entertainment system and selection was just pathetic... stinking Americans. :P
Anyways, as soon as that ordeal was over with we got off the plane and into vacation mode... I got to take my first cab ride ever in Sweden. Next time we will have someone pick us up, it was too expensive and a little bit crazy.
We went to Fredrik and Ellinor's place where we will stay for a couple of nights, and even though we were deadly tired, we decided to tough it out and get on a Swedish schedule, so we hopped on a train heading into central Stockholm.
Kathryn and Kristine wanted to see the old part of town (gamla stan) with the cobble stone streets, and narrow alleys, so we went for a long walk around there.
Now past dead tired we hit the Jonsson's apartment and slowly wound down to a grinding halt, and now I'm passing out at the computer.
By the way, I saw this really nice soap store... maybe tomorrow we'll get a chance to shop some there... If you want to see more pictures, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/micahgerber/Sweden?authkey=Gv1sRgCJDwneLZp5zmFg# courtesy of Micah and his borrowed camera.

So for today's question... What is the name of the Swedish crown-princess that just got married?

The DAY is here

Yup, less than 12 hours to take-off. We actually managed to sleep, even though we were a bit wound up. Tomorrow some pix should start showing up on here too, so a little bit more interesting. Hopefully someone besides Stephen will give the competition a shot, remember, there is chocolate up for grabs, and I'd hate to give it to someone who cheats so shamelessly.
If we get going on time (which we more than likely won't) we should be on the road in 2 hours... after that there is no turning back :)
So for today's question - What does "Packa Pappas Kappsäck" mean, and what is the purpose of the sentence. Happy googling :P

Update

It's getting close to crunch time, 10 days to go, and we went gift-shopping... we need to get rid of some friends :) or actually, I think the solution is that our friends and family need to stop popping out babies. You don't see us overpopulating the earth now, do you?
We have some bags out, and started throwing in some stuff, but we don't know yet if it's gonna stay where we put it.
So, just to keep the competition going, let's have another question.
One of the stops on the trip is going to be Sweden's closest point to Denmark, our favorite city.
It has been the site of permanent settlement officially since 21 May 1085, so that makes it older than Columbus :P. What is the city?

Testing time

As you can see I have been trying to get this blog set up to be ready well in advance... Makes it more exciting I guess :)
Well, anyways, I thought I'd throw in a couple of pre-departure questions just to make sure that I have your complete attention.
First some rules:
Answer questions using the comment section for the blog entry with the question. I figured I'd give the first correct answer 3 points, 2nd 2 points and 3d 1 point. And I won't check if you copied the answer from your classmates. Bonus points will be given out at my arbitrary decision in case I decide that you're smart/funny. :)
All decisions by me are final, no use arguing with me on why your answer is better than the one I have, you could get yourself a penalty point.
You are allowed to follow the blog without competing, but then you're boring.
Make sure that you include your name in your comment when you answer if you don't have an account, otherwise I won't know whom to give the points.
I will try to throw you off, so pay attention. Trick questions are to be expected :P

Now for our first question. Exciting, huh? :) I'll make it an easy one just to make sure you're on the ball.

What are the names of my parents and sisters and brother? (If you misspell I will be offended and you will start the game with a negative score, I'm very sensitive that way:) )

Let the game begin!

Rerun of Sweden

Well, it's that time of every other year again. That is, the time when we go to Sweden. I'm going to be blogging again this year for those who care, but just to make it a little more interesting I'm going to have a small competition going with sweet Swedish candy up for grabs... more details coming up.