Falun 7/30-8/1

When we got up the next morning we had some eggs and toast waiting for us. Shawn had over heard us talking about how much we missed eating eggs for breakfast so he made sure we got some before we left. We told them all goodbye and were off to the train station. We took a 3 hour train to Falun when we got there we called Justins sister Cierra and she came and met up with us. We walked around the small town for an hour and then headed to Justins uncles house in Sagmera where we were going to be staying. Sagmera is a small village about an hour away from Falun. It’s a beautiful place with many lakes and amazing tree covered hills. Justins cousin Linda also lives there and lives just down the street from his uncle Eeros house. When we got there we were able to hang out with Eero and talk about what we had been up to. Eero had surgery on his foot recently so he has a cast on and has to use crutches to get around. We set our beds up in the living room because he had other guests staying with him and they were occupying the guest room for 2 more nights. We decided to go and visit Linda at her work. She works at a clothing store called Lager 157 about a half mile away from their houses. In Sagmera there is a restaurant and Lager 157 and that’s it. Its such a tiny little place. We found Linda and said hello then we looked around for a while. After that we met up with Cierra and Milou. Milou is Lindas 5 year old daughter and she is so cute! She speaks very good English for her age. That night we took a bus with Cierra back to Falun to get some food. We went to a small pub called Harrys. We got an amazing hamburger. Our waiter was a stud and hooked us up with free drinks. We sat there and talked with Cierra until they kicked us out because they were closing and then went down the street to an outdoor bar that was having a concert. It was kind of expensive to get in so we went around the back and found an opening in the fence and snuck in. The music wasn’t really our flavor so we only stayed for a bit and then went back to the bus station. We had just missed the 12:30 bus and the next one didn’t come until 2:15 or so we thought. We waited around until 2:30 and it never came. We looked at the bus schedule again and realized the 2:15 bus was only on Friday and Saturday nights and it was only Thursday. We asked a taxi how much it would cost to get back and it was 100 dollars! We checked a few hotels to see if we could find something cheep but they were all too expensive so we had to resort to the taxi. By the time we got back the sun was coming up and we were exhausted. We were so happy to get to bed.
We slept in Friday morning to catch up from the late night. When we got up we took a bus to a nearby town called Bjorsas. They have a small restaurant that we went to for lunch. Swedish meatballs and potatoes with a berry sauce! It was so good. After lunch we went back and went running. That night Eero ordered us dinner. We both got a kebab pizza. The pizza in Sweden is much different then at home, its really thin so you can eat the whole thing by yourself. After dinner we went to bed.
The next day we went with Linda and Cierra to another small town called Luxen. They have quite a few small shops and a nice park. We walked around and then went to the park. There was a giant Dala horse that we all played around on. We sat down on the grass and took a nap in the sun. When we got back we did some laundry and we faced a hard reality….they don’t have dryers in Sweden! We had to hang our clothes on the line outside. Not only does it take forever to dry but your clothes get so stiff its like putting on a shirt made of cardboard. It makes you realize some things that we take advantage of when were home. We never had thought about how much we love our clothes fluffy and fresh.
We decided we wanted to go for a swim so we walked down to the lake and stopped at the first dock we saw. There was a sign that looked like it said no trespassing but it was in Swedish so we sat there for minute deciding if we should just go out on the dock anyways. Only a minute after we were standing there a guy came down from his house and started saying something we couldn’t understand. We told im we could only speak English. He knew enough to tell us it was a private dock and that we could use the dock that was a few miles down the road. We asked him a few questions about the lake and tried to butter him up so he would let us use his dock but it didn’t seem like we were getting anywhere with him so started down the street. We only got about two hundred yards before a car drove up to us. It was the guy and he told us that we should just use his dock. We are so good at manipulating people into giving us what we want! We jumped in the water and swam for a bit then went back to get ready for dinner at Lindas. She made us an awesome dinner. After we ate we made a fire in the wood burning stove and all hung out then talked until late. Then we were off to bed.

Stockholm 7/27-29

We woke up Monday refreshed and ready for the new week. We were starting to feel really bad that Shawn and Kristina were sleeping in Alex’s room and we were staying in their room and sleeping in their bed. We got up and went running next to the water and tried to work off some fat. It seems like we have been eating everything we can get our hands on lately. We decided that we would go check out some more of the sights. When we got down to the city center there were people everywhere and there were rainbow flags and pink ribbons hanging from every lamp post. We started asking around and it turns out it was gay pride week. It didn’t seem like there were any gay people around. Maybe the gay people in Utah just go overboard to make sure that everyone knows. We checked out some small shops and we went into three different malls. After a long day of walking around we decided to get some food. We went to a cool little restaurant and we both got the lamb burger. We sat there and enjoyed the atmosphere for a bit and then we went back to see what Shawn was up to. We cleaned up a little and then Shawn took us to a one of his favorite places to chill. We sat and talked and had a few beverages until it got late. We headed back and went to bed.
The next morning we decided we had taken their bed for long enough so we found a the only hostel that had vacancy and booked it for the night. It was about 2 miles away so we decided to just walk. When we got there it looked kind of nice but once we checked in and saw our room we decided it wasn’t good at all. Our room was the smallest so far and we had to share it with 6 other people. There was no place to lock up our stuff so we had to just leave it on the bed. We didn’t even want to leave the room because we were scared someone would jack our stuff. Luckily our roommates showed up and they ended up all being pretty cool dudes and we felt like we could leave without getting robbed. The only good thing about this hostel was the shower. It was like showering in a rainforest. It had these huge showerheads that poured down on you and was lined with black tile and had cool lighting. After we got ready we met up with one of our friends we had met a few night before. We all went and walked down by the water and then we went to a small little bar and ordered some appetizers. It felt like we were adapting to this place and it was becoming our new life or something. We felt right at home. When we were done there we decided to go back to the hostel. We told our friend goodbye and we were off to bed or so we thought. The beds were the worst beds ever. We would have slept better on the floor. There was a bar right in the center of the bed so it peaked in the middle of the bed. We had to pick a side to sleep on so we were trying to sleep on half of a twin bed. The next morning we realized we shouldn’t have left Shawns place. We still had one night left before we had to leave for Falun and we didn’t want to stay at that hostel one more night! We called Shawn and begged to come back to his place for the last night. He laughed at us and told us we were dumb for even leaving. After we got back to Shawns we headed down to a small park that had a turf soccer field. We met some guys and jumped in for a pick up game. They were all cool guys and we had a great time playing with them. After that we met up with Shawn and we went to a different part of town that we hadn’t been to yet and shopped around for a while. We found out there was a circus going on in one of the parks later on that evening. They have the circus a couple times a week and its free so there are hundreds of people that go. We went and got some bread and cheese to take with us and headed over to the park with Shawn and Alex. We got there kind of late so we didn’t get the best spot but it was still way cool. Everyone brings food and a blanket so you sit on the lawn and watch while you enjoy a snack. It was so fun. After the circus was over everyone sticks around and hangs out. We sat there for a few hours and relaxed then went back to get some sleep because tomorrow we are off to Falun.