Stockholm, Sweden, Tues 26 Jan - Fri 29 Jan 2010

We finally got home from Venice at about 3 in the morning and then I was up again at 8am and off to a different airport for a flight to Stockholm. Had a 3 day sales conference at my work's main office.

It was snowing and freezing in Stockholm but it was great to see the city in winter. I was in conference all day and then it was networking and drinks at night so not much exploring but one of the days we went out into the Stockholm Archipelago and that was definitely worth an entry in the blog.

The Stockholm Archipelago is a series of approx 24,000 islands/islets which are absolutely stunning and they are made even more stunning by being covered in ice and snow. Up at 4:30am to get on a bus out to catch a ferry. It was amazing to take the ferry through the archipelago in the middle of winter. We had to crash through so much ice and the atmosphere was so peaceful as the sun was coming up.

I'm not a big fan of boats and I didn't have any tablets on me but I decided I'd rather fight the cold then feel sick so I spent most of my time on the back deck. No-one else was really game, I don't blame them, it was like -15deg or something crazy like that.

After our day at the conference we were allowed to relax in the indoor or outdoor spa. Now all conference I had been told about this activity that the Swedes do in the winter which is ice swimming. And we all had to take part. Now at first it sounded like a bit of a laugh and something a bit different, then I actually got to the island and felt the temperatures and started to realise/think that they may be having us on. I thought this even more when I realised that all this 'ice swimming' business would have to take place in pitch darkness since the sun went down at like 3pm.

So there I was walking out to the outdoor spa in my bathrobe and slippers, walking over snow up to my ankles, and I got into the hot spa happy in the knowledge that they were pulling my leg. Well yes it turns out they weren't! The Swedes are actually crazy enough to jump into ice covered water in the middle of the night! And guess what... I was crazy enough to do it too!!

Yep that's right, one of the guys from Sweden cracked the ice down at the foot of a set of stairs in the harbour and one by one they started to jump into it! I was quite happy sitting in my hot spa, watching these crazy fools jump into who knows what crazy temperature water. And yet somehow the fever and excitement of it all got the better of me. I mean how many times in my life would I have the opportunity to do something like this?!

So after psyching up the courage and convincing one of the guys they had to be right there next to me just in case (... well you never know what might happen) I jump out of the spa run along the ice and snow in bare feet (pain pain pain!!! my feet would not stop stinging), I then climbed down the ladder and jumped into the water up to my chin. My feet then connected with the ladder under the water and I managed to pull myself back out again (thankfully since the ladder was actually covered in ice and rather slippery). I ran back along the ice and snow (more pain, more pain!) before jumping into the hot spa covered in a million prickles of pain on my skin and saying more swear words in one time than I think I have ever in my life!

But I did it! And I was the first girl to go in, and the first one from the London office so I felt pretty proud of myself. A lot of the boys went in more than once but once was enough for me. It was quite funny because after a few beers in the spa (& sauna, there was a sauna there too) the games started, including 'lock the poor sod who just jumped in the ice out from the sauna' and 'throw open the sauna door and throw snow over all the nice warm people' and my personal favourite 'tackle a fellow colleague to the ground and cover them in snow'. The last one always resulting in nice big red welts on the unfortunate victim. Sometimes I'm very happy I'm a girl.

I only have one regret and that's not getting any photos. But unfortunately when its like -15 deg outside and every single surface is covered in ice and snow there isn't really anywhere to put your camera. To give you an idea, I put my robe and slippers down and when I picked them up again after the spa they were covered in ice. My hair was like that too, hard little icicles all over my head.

I did manage to go back and take a photo of where we jumped in which I have shared with you and a pic of the outdoor spa & sauna after everyone had left. I also unfortunately hit my legs (quite hard) against the ladder when I jumped in and I ended up with two massive bruises on my shins which turned a nice shade of blackey purple the next day. I didn't even notice I had done it because my whole body was numb. Well I have to say it was an adventure.

The rest of the night was filled with drinking, dancing and shenanigans. Gotta love it.

Stockholm, Sweden, Sat 26 - Sun 27 Sept 09

My second time coming to Stockholm for work but the last time we stayed out of Stockholm center so decided I wanted to see a bit more of the city this time. I had two days here for work on a Mon and Tues but decided to head over on the Saturday.

By the time I flew in and got to the hostel it was mid afternoon so just enough time to head out and see some of the old town (Gamla Stan). I remembered some of it from my first visit when I had a quick hour or two walk in the old town before catching a flight home. This time around I had longer to spend walking through all the old lanes and exploring different areas.

The guards were at the Palace again but the streets were quieter this time around (and colder!). Lots of cute cobblestone streets and old buildings, it's really beautiful wondering around Stockholm. But then the sun went down and holy crap I was FROZEN. So hightailed it back to the hostel and rugged up before heading back out for some dinner. I forgot how awkward it is to find a place to eat on your own. I'm glad I don't have to travel solo too much anymore.

On Sunday I was starting to think the city had it in for me. The metro stations I needed were always closed, the attractions I tried either didn't exist anymore or weren't on and walking through the city was killing my feet. But then I think I just realised hardly anyone visits Stockholm outside of the peak summer so all the tourist stuff shuts down.

I dropped my bags at the hotel work had booked (much nice than the hostel and my room was pink & purple! Awesome) and then stopped for breaky around the corner at this really nice little cafe. Even without an English menu I managed to order something tasty. It was a little weird because with every brunch order you also got this little basket with orange juice, yogurt with berries (yum), mini pancake (double yum) and coleslaw (yes coleslaw! weird). Very interesting.

Stockholm is made up of several islands which makes travel around interesting as it's a combination of walking, metro, trams and ferries. I jumped on the metro from Vasastaden where the hotel was and rode down to the southern island, Södermalm. Had a wonder around the shops and walked up to an area where you get views over the city.

Then jumped on the metro again to go to the very west of the island to find a market called Street. Took ages to get there and turned out it didn't exist anymore, bugger. So I headed into the harbour area near Östermalm to see if any boats were doing tours (the dates in the guide book said 'summer only' so it was hard to tell). No luck on any city boat tours and the 4 hour ones into the archipelago were only running once a day and it had already left that morning. Not having a lot of luck this trip.

So instead I jumped on a tram and road up to Djurgården, an island that housed the Skansen open aired museum (which I saw last time I was in Stockholm), the theme park (closed), museums and a national park. I spent the rest of the afternoon chilling in the park and walking through it's woods.

I found a nice little glasshouse area with a type of market (selling food and plants) with lots of picnic people around which made for a wonderful chill out area. Quite a few beautiful houses on the island too which I saw on my walks, although I'm not sure they were homes as they were huge but not sure what else they could be.

As the day came to a close I took the ferry from Djurgården back to the south island again just so I could say I had been on the water and for the nice views over Stockholm, then back to the hotel for a much needed rest before meeting up with Bevan & Chris (my workmates) in the early evening. We then went and saw one of the Stockholm office guys (Mats) for dinner at this yummy czech restaurant.

We also went out Monday night to a steak house and to play pool (along with a few drinks of course). Was great fun hanging out with various EPiServer peops.

Stockholm, Sweden, Sun 01 June 2008

Final day in Stockholm and no conference so I headed into the city with the NetCel guys for a bit of sight-seeing. Such a nice city and I enjoyed just walking around it. We mainly wondered around the Old Quarter which was very cute.

We saw the Palace and timed it just right and got to see the changing of the guard which was very entertaining. Got to see a bit more than the British one as there weren't so many people around. The guards had a funny run they kept doing which kept making me crack up. The guns were pretty cool too, with huge bayonets on the end.

We had lunch at a little cafe overlooking a square where a classical band were playing, a lovely way to spend some time, and then we headed to a department store so Tim could get some lego for his son. There was an awesome R2D2 made out of lego there, geeky yes I know but it was cool.

It was a nice way to end off my trip to Sweden and I really hope to have a chance to go back again, Stockholm was such a beautiful city.

Stockholm, Sweden, Sat 31 May 2008

More conference sessions today, the last ones including the roadmap ahead. It was a really good conference, I enjoyed a lot of the sessions and it was great to have an opportunity to meet and speak with everyone.

In the afternoon we took a boat out to our afternoon activities. It was so nice being out on the water and it was a great way to see the city. We had a choice of three activities for the afternoon; a boat museum, a theme park or an open aired museum called Skansen. I originally was signed up for the theme park but after my night out I decided a more sedate Skansen was the way to go. Plus I knew they had animals there so I was excited about that.

We strolled through the park, jumped on a cable car and enjoyed a drink out in the sun. Then we went and checked out the animals. I got to see reindeer, brown bears (very cool!) and other smaller animals like otters and birds etc. The bears were the coolest. There were two younger bear, probably call them teenagers, who were play fighting together which was heaps fun to watch. And there was a mum bear with three little cubs who were so gorgeous. Sadly my camera had almost died of battery by then so i didn't get many photos of the animals. There were also wolves which I really wanted to see too but one of the mums had just had pups and the rest were in hiding so didn't get to see them.

We had our last group dinner together at Skansen which was also an awards dinner. Intergen won best international partner, go Intergen! It was a good night and good food. We headed back into town again and ended up at the irish pub again. It was the same band so not quite the same the second time round and I was pretty tired so wasn't a late one.

Stockholm, Sweden, Fri 30 May 2008

A full day at conference so pretty draining. Have to give a mention to the yummy food we had in Sweden. There were a lot of tasty breads and cheeses and the like for breakfast and it seems for lunch and dinner all they eat is fish and steak! We had steak for every meal we were there and usually a fish entree, incl caviar which I made the mistake of eating not quite realising what it was! Sorry to say I'm not that posh, caviar just aint my thing. but the steak was incredibly delicious though!

After the developer conference we met up with those that had been on the partner conference (we had split in two for the day) at a restaurant on the waterfront. There was a human foos game set up but I wasn't quite game enough in high heels (damn them!), still a lot of fun watching though.

After dinner we headed into town to a club called Cafe Opera. We were meant to stay there for the night but it really wasn't my scene, I need music with lyrics and more chilled out environments, so a few of us took off to an Irish pub. It turned out to be a great place with a live band and a good atmosphere. Strange thing was the band was scottish (at least that's what I took from the guy in the kilt and the bagpipes they pulled out on one of their songs!), so it was an interesting experience being in an Irish pub in Sweden listening to a scottish band play Irish music... hmm... that's unique! We stayed there till it shut at about 3am.

One of the crazy things about Sweden (and i imagine a lot of places in the north) is that at this time of the year it doesn't get dark! So at 3am it was as light as it is at dusk. The sun never truly sets. It was the strangest thing. I've added a photo of stockholm at 3am so you can try and get a taste of what it's like.

Saltsjöbaden, Stockholm, Sweden, Thurs 29 May 2008

The morning started with a very early 4:30am wake up call in order to get to the airport for the EPiServer Partner Summit in Sweden. Ouch! Very sleepy, but once we were there... wow!... what a city. Stockholm is simply gorgeous. We were lucky enough to land during beautiful weather and the city is filled with green and blue. I couldn't stop staring out the window. It reminded me so much of home.

The summit was being held in Saltsjöbaden which was outside of the central city and was originally built as a resort location. We stayed at the Grand Hotel, a large hotel right on the waterfront with lots of outdoor spots to enjoy the sun. Some of the EPiServer local guys had their boats moored at the jetty and we were all welcome onboard for a chat and a drink in the sun (which of course I took advantage of). Honestly nothing better than drinking champage on a fancy boat. Dad don't worry I took photos of the boats for you.

Turned out we all had to share rooms and I was sharing with a girl called Mari who worked for EPiServer Norway but we only had one bed in the room! It was all good in the end, a bit of a laugh.

The afternoon was spent in conference and then we enjoyed dinner and a casino night at the hotel. I lasted 3 rounds of poker before I lost it all. I mean who wouldn't go all in on an ace, nine double pair?!

I met a lot of people on the first day including many from NetCel, a partner company in St Albans, which included Nick Urry who used to work for Intergen, Wellington and we also met up with Intergenite Wayne Forgesson who was over from NZ. It was great to see so many familiar faces, and it was fantastic to meet a lot of people I'd talked to in the EPiServer community but had never met.