• [Travel]

    [Travel] Ålgpark in Målilla

    22th August 2017

    Today was our first adventure with the whole family. And it immediately was a highlight! We visited an elk park nearby our cottage. While buying a ticket you also got some branches as food for the elks. And they really liked them! They came so close to you and fed out of your hand. Using this opportunity you were able to stroke them. It’s unbelievable how soft their fur was. Even the horns were covered with soft hair. But you hadn’t only the chance to see one or two elks, there have been many of them in different enclosures. You walked around in this park from elk to elk. When they wanted to come to the fence, they could.

    I really recommend this adventure to everyone having to possibility to! We enjoyed this experience pretty much as family. No matter which age you are, you will love it.

  • [Travel]

    Stockholm – or not…? | Part 3: Stockholm

    20thAugust 2017

    Finally was the day I had some time to stay in Stockholm itself. Allthough I’ve stayed here since Thursday I had almost no time to do some sightseeing in Stockholm. So today on my last day the time was come. 

    Because of the very short night, I started cozy into the new morning. Although check-out was on 10 o’clock I managed to stay in bed as long as possible. Afterwards I locked my backpack in the luggage room of my hotel. It’s very helpful when your hotel is near the train station you need to go to when you will leave the destination. It’s easier to lock your package and don’t have to run through the hole town before leaving it. Left with 4 hours to visit Stockholm before leaving it, I walked blindly through the area, to let the sight sink in. Almost every building looks like it was some special one with a great history. I was very impressed, but also overstrained. I bought something to eat and searched for a nice place to sit and enjoy the view. On the riverside I found a platform where I was able to lay down. Being still tired of the last few days I did a little nap there, smelling the lovely air of the sea. Felt almost like wellness. Furthermore I watched a seagull fighting with some birds over a piece of bread it found. Poor thing lost.

    Suddenly it started to rain, so I needed to flee to my hotel. At least then I could explore the hotel a bit more and found a nice lounge, where I stayed the last hours of my visit in Stockholm while reading. At 2pm it was time to throw my backpack over my shoulders and start off to the central train station. Again I had to buy a ticket, this time to Hultsfred. Did you know that in Sweden you almost with every ticket also book a seat? That’s very uncommon for us German.

    Shortly after that (or 4 hours later) I met my parents again in Hultsfred. Only 25 minutes later we arrived in our cottage, where my two brothers waited for us. We had a nice evening with much talking about the last days and playing some board games.

  • [Travel]

    Stockholm – or not…? | Part 2: Uppsala

    New day – new town

    18th August 2017

    Again my day started with a very late breakfast. I preferred to pack my things and just GO. At the supermarket on my way to the central station I bought some sandwiches for later. Then it was time to buy my first ticket in Sweden. Maybe you already know that Sweden people love their credit cards and would always prefer to buy with card, then in bar. So I decided to buy my ticket on the shelter instead on the automat. By now my English had become more fluent then a few days ago. I think travelling is a very good way to practice your language skills. You only have to use this possibility while being on vacation. Prepared with a day-ticket I started my way to the university town Uppsala. One hour later, again the rain has stopped, I left the station to walk to my first object of interest: Uppsala Castle. It wasn’t that impressive compared to the castles I’ve seen before. But the garden was quite nice.

    Maybe because it was a Saturday I wasn’t able to visit that much buildings of the university as I wished to, but at least I managed to do the guidance I wished to. We were guided threw an exhibition of the history of Uppsala. But even more interesting was the autonomic theatre! To be honest it was the main reason why I wanted to go to Uppsala. 😀 It was so impressive and kind of creepy. Just look on the pictures to receive your own impression.

    Gotten very hungry I decided to have lunch in a little restaurant with view on the stream. Just when I had finished my lunch and thought about driving back to Stockholm, was the moment when I noticed three guys on the street. They seemed to be playing a game, where they had to fulfil many different challenges. It looked very funny, almost like a stag party. People knowing me would have knew right then, what would happen only shortly after. Yes, wandering around the city I encountered the boys again and – woosh – I was hanging around with locals. Finally I was able to do the part I love most about travelling.


    Marcus and the others were ice hockey players from Stockholm. Every new member had to take part in the challenge. My meeting with the boys didn’t stop when they went back to their team mates, instead it first started then! From like 2pm until 1am I hanged around with the team and had many interesting conversations. Coming back to my hotel very late in the night (like 2:30pm) it was obviously time to go to bed immediately. 😀

  • [Travel]

    Stockholm – or not…? | Part 1: Mariefred

    17th August 2017 – Part 2

    Again it was time for a 4 hours travel by train. This was the moment, when I realized Sweden is prone to cancellation of trains. Imagine yourself standing in front of the information board, seeing a big red “Cancelled” next to my booked train to Stockholm. Well…”Don’t panic!” was the first thing I thought, feeling the start of a panic. Gladly there was a staff standing nearby, who explained me, where to find my replacement for my cancelled train. Thank God I was that early at central station (ca. 20 minutes) to notice the problem, because the alternative train left 15 minutes earlier! In the end everything went pretty well and I caught trouble-free my connecting train in Malmö, which was actually my originally train. Feeling like 10 meters before Stockholm Central station the train stopped for 25 minutes. Why? Don’t know I don’t speak mumbled Swedish yet. 😀 But in the end, I checked-in into my bedroom and met intermediately some of my nice roommates. Being very tired, I didn’t go on tour this evening.

    Zimmer Stockholm

    18th August 2017 – Mariefred

    New day – new destination! Instead of doing sightseeing in Stockholm I wanted to explore some places nearby. So today was my trip to Mariefred by Ferry. Realized my plan wasn’t a bad idea when I woke up and it was raining pretty much. And for real, who wants to do sightseeing the whole day, when it’s raining a lot?

    So I stayed for 3.5 hours on the ferry to Mariefred. With a nice view and my eReader I knew how to pass time. Although I have to admit, it can get a bit lame being alone such a long time. But on the other hand it was a great opportunity to think about my life and such things, enjoying the silence of nature.

    Arriving to Mariefred the rain had stopped and even the sun came out a few times. I visited the Gripsholm Castle, ate my first ‘original’ Köttbullar and lingered threw the historic centre. In the book shop I bought a bookend in a “Pippi Longstocking” design. An amazing possibility to combine my passion and my naming.

    After a long day I was really tired again, why I didn’t want to linger around the town again. Additional I still had to plan my trip for tomorrow. So I stayed in my bedroom, taking a hot shower to relax.

  • [Travel]

    [Travel] København 2017

    16th August

    Arriving to Copenhagen

    Today was the big day. In the morning I stand up full of adrenaline and good mood. A long trip was incoming. My first 4 hours in the Train went quite silently while having no one to talk with. But yet I didn’t minded it, because I enjoyed the time on my own.
    My first stop for almost one hours was in Hamburg. Sadly I wasn’t able to look arround the City prety much. But at least I was able to sit in the sun for a few minutes. After that it again was time for driving with the Train for some hours. But this time, it was a special drive. Our Train suddenly dissapeared into a Ferry.!I couldn’t believe it at first, but it was such an amazing experience. Some of my expressions you can see below.

    Then finally I arrived in Denmark. Only a few hours later I was able to step out of the Train. Welcome to my first big stop: Copenhagen!
    Searching Hotel is always like an Adventure to me. It’s like a curse, that I will always pick the wrong way first, when there is a much more easier way instead. At least I always start to use the faster way after that first cursed walk. 😉

    First night

    My bedroom was available for another five girls, so I thought maybe I could find some international friends there. Sadly my roomates weren’t that chatty. But for only one night that was ok with me, I think. My evening activity was visiting a theme parc in the town. 

    Until 10pm I wandered around in this combination of theme parc and beautiful settings. When I left to got home I just bumped into a Festival. It was Copenhagen pride. They played great music so I decided to stay a little bit longer outside. What an amazing way to end my first day of vacation!


    17th August

    Sightseeing

    Allthough it’s called vacation, long sleeping won’t be on the plan. Starting fresh into the new day, it was time to do a little Sightseeing by day threw Copenhagen. And guys, Copenhagen has some pretty places to show! Because of going to leave the town in a few hours, I had a tight timeplan to hold on to. Still it was a lovely day. 

    As you can see on the Pictures above I spent most of the time in the nature. I admire that about the scandinavian towns, you’re always able to go into nature. Back home in Germany sadly that isn’t that easy like here.

    Call me oldschool, but I recovered my love to postcards. That’s why I didn’t hesitated to buy a postcard, when I saw a nice one. Now it’s on his way to my grandmother. She love those! 🙂

    But now it’s time to say: „Farvel København!“

  • [Travel],  [Unterwegs]

    [Packliste] Bücher im Reisekoffer

    Wie ihr vielleicht schon mitbekommen habt, bin ich ab heute für 2,5 Wochen im Urlaub. Genauer gesagt in Schweden mit kleinem Abstecher in Kopenhagen. Im Gepäck natürlich ausreichend Lektüre. & da meine Familie wenige Tage nach mir per Auto anreist, gibt es für mich gleich zwei Taschen mit Platz für Bücher. Doch welche dürfen mit?


    Backpack-Rucksack

    Die Freude über zwei zu packende Taschen verging leider recht schnell. Zum einen weil das bedeutete, dass ich gleich 2 Taschen packen musste & da einiges zusammen kommen kann. Und zum anderen das Problem, dass in meinen Rucksack für den ersten Teil des Trips vor lauter Klamotten, Kosmetikartikeln & weiterem wichtigen Krimskrams weder Platz noch verfügbares Gewicht vorhanden war. Trotz allem ließ ich es mir nicht nehmen, neben meinem kompakten eReader auch das schwere 700+ Seiten Buch „City of heavenly fire“ einzupacken. Vor Antritt meiner Reise fehlten mir noch gute 300 Seiten & für 2,5 Wochen oder auch nur für 5 Tage pausieren wollte ich bei solch spannendem Buch nicht. Da würde ich lieber mit einem schwereren Rucksack reisen. Ebenfalls mit durfte noch der Reiseführer von Schweden. Zwar steht mein grober Plan für den Aufenthalt in Stockholm, jedoch wollte ich mir noch ein paar der Geheimtipps näher anschauen.

    Rucksack

    Mir am Sonntag im Auto folgend, können meine Eltern dementsprechend auch mehr Bücher für den Urlaub transportieren. Da ich nun unbedingt „City of heavenly fire“ mitnehmen wollte, wurde in den Rucksack Zuhause der erste Band „Clockwork Angel“ der Prequel Trilogie TID eingepackt. Da ich im Urlaub bereits an meiner zweiten Hausarbeit arbeiten muss, landeten auch drei Lektüren aus der Uni Bib im Rucksack. Die Fachliteratur befasst sich übrigens mit dem Thema Chic lit.

    Um für alle Fälle vorgesorgt zu haben, durfte außerdem kurzfristig noch mein Rezensionsexemplar von „Palast der Finsternis“ mit in den Koffer wandern.

    Fazit

    Alles in allem sollte ich für die kommenden 2,5 Wochen ausreichend ausgestattet sein. Schließlich wird tagsüber ohnehin viel mit der Familie unternommen, die Recherche für die Hausarbeit muss parallel laufen & abends wird ebenfalls viel gemeinsam unternommen werden. Wer weiß, wie viele ungelesene Seiten ich wohl diesmal wieder mit nach Hause bringe. Doch selbst wenn mich die Lesesucht ereilt, Buchhandlungen finden sich schnell & der Kindle weiß auch, wie man schnell gefüttert wird. 😉


    Habt ihr einen durchschnittlichen Bücher pro Woche Quotienten? Oder packt ihr von der Reise selbst abhängig eure Bücher ein? 🙂

  • [Travel]

    Good planning is half the rent!

    Before you can go on a bigger travel it’s important to plan at least a few things. Of course traveling to the blue can also bring considerable advantages, but is not suitable for everyone. Particularly inexperienced travelers should take care of a few things before traveling.
    Important are the cover of a larger distance between two places, which is often better to book from home. Especially if you can not speak the language of the country to be traveled well enough. Today English is sufficiently to communicate, but when you want to be on the safe side, you should book train rides and flights in particular from home.
    The booking of accommodation is similar. Experienced travelers can rely on where the wind will blow them. However, for all others, it is generally necessary to inform them in time about possible accommodation. It is even more recommendable to book these also before the trip.
    Most importantly is to know your rough route. It does not matter if only the rough city or country goals are researched or the entire tour route is planned. But traveling with a starting point only, without a coarser goal in sight, is likely to be unclever.


    The route

    So it was once again the first step of my trip planing to set the destinations of my route. I knew my main destination would be Stockholm. So I first thought about what would be the easiest way to get there. The answer was quickly found after a short search: by train. It also quickly became clear that the most pleasant route from my home town to Stockholm is with stops in Hamburg and Copenhagen. Why simply pass these two great cities, if you can stay there for a short time? That was the moment when I realized I’d spend one night in Copenhagen. Without planning it would not have happened!

    Accommodation

    The next step was to find a place to sleep. I found them on comparative pages and booked a five-person women’s room for both Copenhagen and Stockholm. I am very excited what it will be like to spend the night alone with 5 strangers in a dormitory. Even though I’m a bit nervous about it, I’m looking forward to this new experience. Since I am quite open towards others and also very communicative, this should be quite a positive experience. I would wish it at least for the future, since such possibilities of the overnight stays would be both cheaper and a more enriching experience.

    The journey is the reward!

    Although Stockholm is my destination, I will not stay there all the time. Instead, Stockholm is rather my starting point, from where I’m going to explore the surrounding area. On the agenda is an excursion by boat to Mariefred, where I will visit the Gripsholm Castle. But the university town Uppsala is also on the list. Another important point on my list is the Swedish National Library in Stockholm. I would also like to discover new bookshops in Sweden. Apart from that, I am very open about spontaneous excursions around Stockholm before it is time to go to Mörlunda to my family and our holiday house.