Our anniversary was a few weeks ago on a Monday but I guess one can say that we began the 'festivities' on Saturday when we travelled to the capital city of Stockholm for an overnight stay on a company leisure trip. And right after that, we headed on to Orebro, a big town close to Askersund to spend the next night in honeymoon bliss.
At the train station waiting for our train to Stockholm! Very excited cos it was my FIRST train ride in Sweden. YIPPEE!!
The men chose to stand and try to look all important. The men in glasses are the brothers/bosses/owners of the company. They're really nice.
Our train arrives!!
Our entire group of 12, all dressed in black and pulling rolly bags. Dear husband was the only one wearing blue jeans...ok fine..LIGHT blue jeans.
Me, happily getting on the train. Little did I know that I only had 5 minutes to get my butt ON the train before it leaves the station. A bit goondu lah but what to do, I was a train virgin.
Finally all settled into our seats after much disorder and confusion. This is Katarina, the bosses' sister. She intimidates me a little but friendly-ish..is that an oxymoron?
Patrik, dear husband's colleague and partner in crime. He brought his gf along but for most of the trip, he chose to sit with the bosses, saying she's grown up and can take care of herself. Hmm...not sure if I would forgive Mathias if he ever did that to me.
Bengt is the handyman/deliveryman/cleaner/jack of all trades but sales man and Katarina's husband. Mathias thinks he's 400 years old cos he's done pretty much all jobs in the world when he tells his stories. Eg. construction worker, farmer, property evaluater...
DH and I happily settled in our seats. Well, I wasn't so happy since my seat is nestled between 2 windows which means that even though I got a window seat, I don't have any windows. Which sucks cos I wanna look at scenery!
When we arrived in Stockholm, we dropped off our bags at the hotel and headed straight to this Asian restaurant. Apparently it's a very posh place and Swedish celebs go there all the time. But to be honest, the food was so so (supposed to be fusion-ish) and I can't even remember the name of the restaurant!
Our group table. Youngsters (me included of cos) sat on one side and the oldies sat on the other. And the only time that Patrik sat next to his gf for a meal on that trip. So lunch was high class Asian Buffet which included Sushi and sashimi. Totally thought of you, Praisie when I saw the sashimi.
Happily posing for the camera the only time Mathias remembers to take my picture.
The food may be so-so but I love the interior of the building. I believe it is an old building that was converted to a restaurant.
The ceiling is so high and the chandeliers really add a touch of glam and pompousness. I guess I can understand why celebs like coming here. It's the place to see and be seen. Many of such places here in Stockholm. And sushi. Stockholmers LOVE sushi. I think they consider it high class Asian food.
The restaurant is located right next to the Chinese Theatre where we went to after lunch to watch The Producers!! I loved it even though it was in Swedish. The fact that I had watched the movie before helped..a lot. But the actors were all FANTASTIC! I love it! Love it! Love it!
These Indians are buskers that perform close to our hotel everyday and play excellent, soothing music. They don't just busk to earn from passers by but also to promote and sell thier own CD which has a really nice cover to it. Very haunting music.
One of the things I like about Stockholm is all the old buildings and architectural wonders abound. It's sometimes difficult to fathom that some of the buildings are hundreds of years old.
This is a metal statue of a famous Swedish writer whose names eludes me right now. But what is significant about this statue is that the entire front and especially tummy of the statue is so nice and warm even though it is blisteringly cold. I almost thought that the statue is heated until I felt the back and realised it's cold as ice. It is the morning sun that keeps this statue nice n warm.
The National Theatre where all the bigger plays, musicals and performances are staged. It's the Stockholm version of our Esplanade but so much more beautiful in architecture and presence.
Our hotel room at Hotel Scandic Royal Viking, my 5 star Swedish hotel experience. It was so so. Nothing really spectacular about the rooms or service. The Rooftop bar had a fantastic view of the city but is way too small and cramped and the bar staff aren't particularly helpful or eloquent which I would expect them to be since they hardly have a comprehensive menu.
The room is quite small but a very large mirror spans almost one entire wall, which comes to think of it, makes the hotel room rather sexy. And yes, it's not an afterthought. Luckily, I did think of that ..uh hum..factor while I was still staying the room. *wink wink*
The bathroom is not too bad and unlike all other hotels I've stayed in in Sweden, the bathtub is actually built into the wall so one doesn't accidentally tip the tub over a little. Yeah...personal experience.
After Stockholm, we continued on our little getaway and this time to Orebro where the rarely romantic husband surprised me with a booking at one of the boutique hotels, The Berhn Hotel, I've always wanted to stay in. And not only that, he had us booked in a 2 storey suite!! Ooh! Even better than our honeymoon!
The hotel is located in an old style building that has 4 tornets which makes it look like a small castle and our suite is up one of the tornets. So I kinda felt like a princess up in a tower looking down at the parking lot downstairs. Hee hee! The suite is divided into livingroom and bathroom downstairs and the bedroom upstairs.
That is the top of the tornet which is about 5 meters up from our bed. And blinds are installed which shut parallel to the floor so we can shut out the 4 'skylights' at night.
The stairs up to our bedroom. The only thing about the room is that there is no bathroom upstairs so one needs to walk downstairs even for the middle of the night number 1s.
Jacuzzi in the bathroom!! We used it a few times...on an overnight stay...heh heh...
The lovely couple on their way out to a nice Greek dinner. One of the surprisingly few pictures we took together that entire weekend. I must say, Swedes are really no good at taking picures.
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