Day 6

We woke up at about 10AM because we were all so tired from yesterday's trip! (I shouldn't be complaining, it was Nicole who drove.)
 So far, Stockholm seems like a pretty cool place! We're about to go to the Swedish Museum of Natural History! Sounds fun!

 So we just got back from the museum, and I have time to write before we go out to eat. Its already mid afternoon! The museum was absolutely incredible, let me tell you little bit of what we learned:

 

The Swedish Museum of Natural History, or Naturhistoriska riksmuseet, is one of two major museums of natural history in Sweden, the other  in Gothenburg. (AKA: The Universeum, which we went to!)

It was founded in 1819 but the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, but has records of collections from 1739 from earlier donations. The original collections were made available to the public in 1786, but the museum separated from the Academy in 1965. So, its super old!

The museum also had an IMAX cinema called Cosmonova. The cinema is also the largest planetarium in Sweden, and it was AWESOME!

Did I mention how big and beautiful this place is? It was designed by architect Axel Anderberg and completed in 1916, topped with a dome; the main campus of Stockholm University was later built next to the museum. None of us could get over the ancient beauty this place held!

This was our first official day in Stockholm, and the city turned out to be magnificent. We then left the museum at 5PM, after staying there since noon, so 5 hours overall! We went back to the hotel and stayed there for about an hour, then went out to dinner. We're going to a fancy Swedish later, so we'll tell you all about that when the time comes, but for now, we are all super tired and REALLY need to sleep. We have a HUGE day ahead of us tomorrow!

Day 5

Day 5

We woke up today at 9:30AM very excited! Today we were going to Stockholm! We were going to Stockholm to spend a few days there and experience the culture on the other side of Sweden.

We all rented a car and left at 11AM. It was over 4 and a half hours, plus stops. But, it was so pretty. It was the most beautiful trip any of us had ever been on!

We decided to take the scenic route, rather than the busy, loud highway. It was a little longer, but it was totally worth it. It was completely different from anything we've experienced in America.

We arrived in Stockholm at about 4PM and booked our hotel, the 2kronor Hotel City, right in the heart of Stockholm. It's such a cute and cozy hotel! We'll be here for 3 nights!

Now we all need to go to bed, because tomorrow we're going to some museum! We can't wait!

Day 4

 DAY 4

We woke up today around 8:30 and we got breakfast at the hotel. After we ate we got ready for the cultural festival, and soccer game. The cultural festival was close and we were able to walk. There were so many different things we could see and do. First we chose to go watch people perform tricks.

It was so amazing to see how the dancers were able to balance on top of really high poles doing tricks. We also went to get some food. We sent Nicole to get the food because it was crowded and we thought she would be able to talk to the sellers.

 Then we headed off to the soccer game around 2PM. We watched IFK play, and guess what they won!

The fans were going wild and it was an unforgettable experience to be so involved in the atmosphere produced when a country shares together a victory.

 

Did you know that IFK is arguably the most successful club in Sweden? IFK currently rank in the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan, where they have played for the majority of their history. It was also founded October 4th, 1904! So its 109 years old! Best soccer game we've ever been to!

After the soccer game, which started at 3PM and ended at about 5PM. We headed back to the Swedish Cultural Festival to experience it during the night again. We had more performances at we loved it! We have to go to bed now because we're driving to Stockholm tomorrow! Can't wait!

Day 3

DAY 3

We woke up at about 9AM and went out and got breakfast at a place nearby. Then we took a taxi to "Universeum." It is a science museum AND aquarium and we spent from 12PM to 5PM because it was so awesome! Let me tell you about it:


 Universeum is a public science center in Gothenburg that first opened in 2001. It is split up into 6 different sections that have collections of reptiles, aquatic life, insects, birds, and so much more.

The 6 exhibits are:

~Kalejdo: Exhibit about space, crime-investigation, lasers,etc.       

  ~Explore: Experiment department about  humans  and technology

~Vattnets Vag: Also called "Water's Way" shows Swedish fish, reptiles, and other animals

~Akvariehallen: Called "Ocean Zone", marine animals including sharks

  ~Regnskogen: Translates to "Rainforest", has contains tropical animals in their natural environment

~Dodliga Skonheter: Means "Deadly Beauties" andhas deadly and poisonous reptiles

After a long and exciting day we walked back and took in the beautiful city of Gothenburg. Overall, it was an amazing day that all 5 of us enjoyed and will never forget. It was an absolutely incredible experience where we saw Sweden's animals in person, while in Sweden. I don't think any of us have ever felt so culturally connected to another country. The walk back was absolutely beautiful. We're going to sleep now, and are excited for tomorrow. I forget what we're doing. Maybe the soccer game, or maybe the famous annual music festival. I'll have to find out tomorrow!

Day 2

DAY 2

So we officially arrived at the airport in Gothenburg! It was about 3AM and we were all exhausted. Well, technically, it was 9AM because Gothenburg is 6 hours ahead of us.

We decided to take a taxi to our hotel so we sleep for a few hours before waking up and experiencing what Gothenburg has to offer. We wanted to get some sleep and get our hotel situated and then spend the afternoon seeing Gothenburg.

And our hotel, is REALLY nice. I mean 4 star, 2 rooms, GIANT hotel. Plus, it was only $254 for 5 people and for 5 nights!We got there at about 10:00AM, and we slept until about 5PM, which was really nice.

Then we took a taxi to some restaurant for dinner at 7PM. It was called "Hemma Hos" and was a restaurant that had amazing Swedish food. It had comfortable tables, and the place seemed really relaxed. We all decided on either moose carpaccio with sharp lingonberry mustard or suckling pig with potato rösti. None us had ever had anything like it, and it tasted so interesting! We loved it!

After we ate, we went to Gothenburg's cultural festival. While there we all enjoyed Darin perform live. He is this really cool singer that was on Swedish Idol. Although it was hard for us to stay up, especially since it was so late for us, he was a really good singer and everyone had a great time. After that we headed back to our hotel and got there around 11:45PM. We all are were ready to go to bed, so that we can have many adventures tomorrow!

Day 1

 DAY 1

We left RDU today at 11:03 AM on August 13. The Five of us are very excited to finally visit sweden. We have been planning this trip for many weeks and have everything sorted out, what places we are going to visit, and what activities we are going to do.

The flight to Gothenburg is very long and very boring. The flight is a little over 16 hours. The people around us on the plane  are pretty dull. Nobody really talks much, but thats understandable because the trip is so long. The five of us are getting a little tired of pretzels and honey-roasted peanuts.

We need to make two stops along the way to Sweden, because there is no flights in our price range that go from RDU directly to GOT. We are stopping in Newark and Stockholm before we reach gothenburg.

there are lots of places we are excited to visit in gothenburg, Sweden and even a couples places outside of gothenburg. We are planning to visit The Gunnebo House and gardens, and go rafting, and visit many places like museums relating to the history and culture of the Swedish society.

The plane ride seems to getting longer and longer because we are so excited about arriving there. We can't wait to have a great trip in Sweden.