Hej dear chums!
Apologies for the prolonged absence. Work really kicked off, and then Rich came to visit, and I have been remiss. I hope you have all had a good week, all Jubileeing and Olympic torching it up to those at home (although I know the torch doesn't get to Edinburgh until tomorrow).
I have been having a fine old time here, cell culturing to the max. I made neurons! But the cell culture room is a black hole of time slips, and days go past without you even noticing.
On Friday Rich came for a visit which turned out to be 100% longer than originally planned! We started with a wander through the old town (Gamla Stan) and a three hour lunch in a vegetarian restaurant with a view over central Stockholm - glory. Watch out Wowzers, you might need to sneak in some bacon. This was punctuated every hour or so by groups of Swedish senior school leavers, who celebrate their last day of school by decking out open top trucks and riding round the city with ghetto blasters, or whatever the kids are calling them these days. It looked like great fun to me.
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| I found this dodgy chap in the old town... |
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| Gamla Stan from Herman's veggie restaurant. |
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| Grona Lund funfair on Djurgarden. |
We also did some hanging out in sunny Djurgarden, where we were equally disturbed by the hords of geese which closed in around us, and the man in just his tiny pants sitting in the orchard.
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| For Nosh. I can just see him adorning your room. |
On Saturday, after an inauspicious flat Swedish bike tyre that turned out to be incompatible with British tyre pumps we walked to Drottningholm Palace. It is quite beautiful, very close to my house, and has been associated with Swedish Queens since the 1500s. Today the current King and Queen live there. I am getting used to seeing their faces, or more often their children's faces, on Swedish versions of Hello and OK. I thought it was a bit odd at first, to plaster the royals all over the outside of corner shops, and then I remembered Kate and Wills, and that it's actually exactly the same at home.
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| Drottningholm Slott. Totes amazeballs. |
We absolutely lucked out on the way home, and got a free boat trip on a steamer right through the islands back into the centre of town, and then ate pad Thai in the garden outside my flat, with a friendly cat guest. Delightful.
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| Steaming away from the Palace. |
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| All the way to the centre of town! |
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| Misha, desperately hoping for some daim chocolate. She didn't get any; daim is tasty for humans and bad for cats. |
Sunday was
supposed to be the day Rich flew home, but EB did not agree. She would not start, despite complete incredulity on my part, and though we ran to the airport bus terminal Rich was too late to catch his flight. So we had another day! He actually had two extra days, since the Monday flight wasn't until the evening, but cell culture was calling me on Monday. On Sunday we walked to the highest point in Stockholm. 58m! I don't know how we made it without succumbing to altitude sickness.
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| We met these chaps on the way. |
All in all a glorious weekend.
I hope you are all having fine old times too. I'll be back in Blighty in a month! Hopefully see you then...
Hejdå!
Laura x
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