Örebro Day 3 -Last Discoveries

by Patricia

PART 1  /  PART 2

The last day begun in Örebro. Waking up earlier than the usual, we started packing up as we had to check out by twelve o'clock. 

Although packing everything in our car did not mean leaving yet. After filling up the suitcases and stuffing them in our car, we parked out if the stugas' area to a free community parking lot and left the car there. 

The map of Gustavsvik, Örebro

We visited lots of places in the previous days, like Klossbutiken and Nora, but we didn't really get time to walk around our actual area IN Örebro; Gustavsvik! 

As a beginning, we walked down by the lake, which was completely frozen. I was totally surprised, because back in Stockholm, there was barely ice on the lakes, but here, it was completely hard and safe. Too bad I didn't bring my ice skates. :( 

Then we walked past an easy-looking obstacle route made of wood and a few ropes. Of course the family gave it a try, we'd never have missed it. :D As I said, it seemed pretty easy, but it was actually really hard! You had to swing, jump, balance… It was just a non-official playground like route though, probably built by the people around. It turned out good!

Afterwards, we walked all the way back to the reception near where we parked our car, to see a golf court. It was no ordinary court, this one was well-known all across Örebro. Why? Let me just explain.

This golf court was basically the maquette of Örebro. It showed every important place or tourist attraction from the city! The perfect copies of places were fully detailed and symbolised Örebro well, reflecting the importance of every each thing. For example, Örebros' well-known castle, the slott was built, just as good looking as its real building, but smaller of course. It looked great, even the water around was present! Great job, Gustavsvik!

Closer look at the slott

I really liked how the slott was made. As a person who likes art and drawing, I studied the windows for a while, how the designers made them look like they were in deeper, when the building was actually plain. The shadowing is done perfectly, well done to the artists!!!

There were also models of the water tower that is famous here, the Tekniska Museet av Örebro, a possible picture gallery I didn't know about, and many more! They looked amazing, all accurate and real!

The water tower and the Tekniska Museet with the water powered wheel

When we admired all built maquettes, we said goodbye to the reception staff and to Örebro itself. It was time to leave. Of course we visited an IKEA before approaching home though… and a Toys R Us…. and inside the car, I even wrote my English homework! I mean, better later than never!

This had been an amazing and eventful trip in my life. All these new memories… I hope we'll go on a similar trip like this soon! Maybe this spring in the Easter break! Travelling is endless.

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My Second Blog!

Hi People!

So I'm just doing another update, and hopefully you're enjoying Patricia's experience in Örebro! It's her first time posting on the blog and she is looking forward in her sharing more of her thoughts in future posts!

Örebro Part 1 - The Basics

Örebro Part 2 - The Events

Örebro Part 3 - Last Discoveries

Also, make sure to catch more of Patricia's writing and thoughts on her main blog, Life of the Formal Rulebreaker!

Shriya, another co-author is also looking forward into posting and will start this Tuesday! 

So, something actually related to this post's title is that I (Euan) have a second blog! It's a blog where I express my opinions on things which aren't travel or food related, such as things in school, friends and even why I chose to come up with the idea of introducing contributors to this blog.

Check it out:

Euan's Thoughts

Euan's Thoughts is my secondary blog, and The Teen Traveller will still be the blog which I will be more focused on. Remember, I'll try to update my second blog weekly!

Catch you guys in a week for more Euan posts... but remember to enjoy the contributors' posts as well! They've been working hard to share what they experienced to you! 

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Örebro Day 2 -The Events

by Patricia

PART 1  /  PART 3

Waking up in the top of a bunk bed, I immediately realized it was a start of a new day in Örebro. 

The plans for today were various, but after breakfast, we decided to go back to Klossbutiken, the largest LEGO shop of Sweden. It was closing at 2 o'clock today since it was Saturday, so we had no time to waste. 

Of course we ended up with a few items after closing time, like a The LEGO Movie lunch box for my sister and LEGO shaped erasers because they were just cute.

Afterwards, we didn't go back to our stuga in Gustavsvik, we went straight to a town called Nora. Nora is known as the favourite summer place of the Swedes, so my mum didn't let us miss the sightseeing. However, when we got there, there was literally nothing but snow. That's when I learned that visiting a summer place in the winter is just not right.

Nora

Knowing that Gustavsvik is far from here, we decided to eat lunch in Nora. Coop Forum seemed to be the best option, since we couldn't even find a McDonald's…

After a "wonderful" lunch, we were heading back to our stuga in Gustavsvik. On our way, we saw a huge "lekhus", which is a Swedish word for "playhouse". It's name was Lek Bus Landet, and it was known as the largest playhouse in Europe. Wow. It is a GREAT opportunity for families, I believe children would enjoy it a lot! And the age group is 0-18! 

http://www.emailsson.com/lekobus.html

Eventually, we got back to our stuga. It was eight o'clock, which only meant one thing. Melodifestivalen, here we go! 

After watching the song contest, I was disappointed since my very favourite band was out, but in overall, this was a great day!

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Örebro Day 1 -The Basics

by Patricia

 PART 2  / PART 3

On the Friday in the Sports Break, me and my family travelled to Örebro, a city two hours away from Stockholm. I was excited for this trip since my dad had said so much about the opportunities we have, from water park to Toys R Us.

After two hours of driving, we arrived to Gustavsvik, a leisure time place in Örebro. The place is based on a water park, just like the place where we went in Uppsala this January.

Stugas

When picking up the keys for our house, we were told that we'll live in a "stuga". A "stuga" is a Swedish word for little house, like a cottage. It was about five minutes to get there from the reception, and on the way, we saw lots of different "stugas". There were the really small ones, all wooden, even from the inside. They were all empty now, probably because they weren't heated and it was still winter in Örebro, snow everywhere. Next to the small stuga group, we could see medium ones. The buildings were bigger, and one building had two sides; two different parts to rent. Our stuga was one of these medium ones, number 31. I was amazed by how modern it was from the inside compared to the smaller stugas. It had everything, a living room- kitchen- entrance combination, a bathroom in a separate room, and one bedroom with a bunk bed in it. The medium stuga meant to be 5 star rated, and let me tell you, I approve! We even discovered that they had wifi in the stugas, because every teenager needs that. :)

After we settled in, we ate lunch that my mum cooked in this stuga, trying out the modern oven. I read a magazine I found about Örebro later, which I found interesting. It said there is a famous museum which seemed just like the Tekniska Museet back in Stockholm. I also read about Örebro's water tower, and a "slott", which is a Swedish word for castle. I wondered if we'll visit any  of these places.

Later, my dad told us that there's a LEGO shop near by. Of course we got excited, I mean, LEGO is amazing. ;) But after listening to him, it turned out this one's the biggest LEGO shop in Sweden!

The place was really nice, and it was surprisingly full of LEGOs. We stayed there until the closing time, observing everything, because I've never seen this much LEGO in one place yet!

After getting home with some freshly bought products, we decided to visit Gustavsvik's water park as a nice ending of the day. I saw a map of the park earlier, so I was expecting lots of slides and jungle pools. When we got there, I wasn't disappointed! 

Honestly, this water park was way too scary for me. Those slides… I screamed all the way. Turned out that following my sister and my dad was a really bad idea, because they only took the dangerous-looking slides. There was a fast, dark one, which was scary, but the worst of all was the "onion" slide. It started out normal, then it became one single circle, which made me spin around all the way, then eventually, I fell into the water. Never again.

Just like in the LEGO shop, we stayed here until closing time as well. This had been a perfect ending of the day, I hoped we can come back here tomorrow, but I also remembered that there are lots of other things we planned to do in Örebro! I wonder what's the plan for tomorrow...

***

Read More:

Uniquely Stockholm? Part 2

Euphoria Bar & Grill - Bansko, Bulgaria

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Uniquely Stockholm? (Part 2)

A while back, I talked about a bike pump and water fountains around Nybroplan in Central Stockholm, and asked if they were uniquely found in Stockholm. Now, I have another one.

A few days ago, I was walking around Central with my family and stumbled across this just in front of Central Station:

If you look on the top right of the sign, you should be able to see text saying "Grattisbuss till IKEA". ONLY IN SWEDEN will you find a BUS STOP offering a FREE BUS RIDE to an IKEA. 

If we were playing a word association game and I mentioned "Sweden", many people might say "Meatballs" or "Blonde People" or "ABBA" (!). But I bet majority of people will say "IKEA". 

Believe it or not, even until NOW I have never entered an IKEA here in Sweden, or anywhere around the world. I know they sell easy to assemble furniture, but that's about it. Also, a couple of websites states the fact that IKEA is actually made to be just like a maze, to prevent customers from easily exiting their premises.

So once again: is this uniquely Stockholm? It probably is... or is it? Is there something like this in other parts of the globe? Maybe instead of a shuttle to IKEA, a bus to another big mall / market? Remember to leave your thoughts in the comments below or GO TO THE FACEBOOK PAGE and comment your thoughts there! 

***

And get ready for the next two weeks of March, the co-authors will be posting!

More Cool STOCKHOLM Attractions:

SKANSEN | Stockholm's Open Air Museum

STOCKHOLM CITY HALL | and Strandvägen Harbour

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Benefits of Learning Langauges

Something I stumbled upon while using the web was this interesting infographic. The graphic shows a ton of benefits if one person studies foreign languages to different aspects in their lives, such as travel and intelligence.

Hopefully you also think the graphic is interesting, and feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments down below!

(The infographic is not mine.  Credits here.)

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POST ROUNDUP: The Bulgaria Trip {Feb. 2014}

That's it. Bulgaria posts are done and you had the opportunity to see my adventure skiing and eating in Bansko, the most popular skiing destination in Bulgaria.

So, here's another edition of Post Roundup, where I compile all my posts from a trip of mine. You can read my Dec 2013 - Jan 2014 PHILIPPINES trip Post Roundup HERE.

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Skiing At Bansko (Bunderishka Polyana and Chalin Valog) - My first time skiing was on Bunderishka Polyana, an easy slope literally next to Banderitza (a hard slope). We also went onto Chalin Valog, another easy slope but is much more fun than Bunderishka. 

Skiing At Bansko (The Ski Road) - The Ski Road is a 6.3 kilometer path made for skiing from just south of Bunderishka, crosses Chalin Valog to the main town of Bansko. Pros of skiing here: very calm and relaxing and you get to enjoy a beautiful scenery. 

EATS: Bansko's Mexana Restaurant - Tender and juicy bacon, a salad with all sorts of yummy goodness, and a crazy man that welcomed us and let my sister and our friend carry bunnies inside the actual restaurant.

EATS: Euphoria Bar & Grill - Valentines Day was celebrated with a risotto of chicken, arugula and buckwheat and a tasting plate of five scoops of ice cream with assorted flavors. 

EATS: Chateau Antique - An interesting looking castle on the outside was a fancy restaurant on the inside. Their tiramisu is a highly recommend!

Chateau Antique's Tiramisu

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EATS: Bansko's Chateau Antique

Our final night in Bansko and unfortunately, my dad was not feeling very well. He decided to stay home with my mom, and let my sister and I to have dinner with our friends. Here's what he missed out:

The exterior of the restaurant was a type of a castle, which interested me immediately. Once entering, it was a rather fancy looking restaurant with a bar and ornate decorations and paintings on the walls. We ate in the fanciest setting I could have imagined; a part of the restaurant which was perfect for a huge round table, set up flawlessly. The only thing missing was the president to step in and join in on our dinner.

Since we had a snack earlier (Tip: Do not buy any street vendor pizza in Bansko. You can pay 2 Lev for bread at the supermarket that has the same taste.), my sister and I chose the lightest appetizer, a small pizza (again?!). It looks like a pizza, but it was garlic bread. 

The garlic bread was not up to par with my expectations. My first slice of the home-baked bread was bitter... and all was revealed when I flipped the bread over: it was burnt. 

I opted for a pasta dish for my main. Above is a ricotta and spinach stuffed ravioli with mushroom and walnut sauce. The pasta didn't have the spinach and ricotta taste, but the sauce made up for it by giving it the body that it needs. I am also a big fan of mushrooms, where it and the cream made a satisfying duo. The walnuts gave it an unusual texture, but did not do much besides that.

The final dinner before we go back to Stockholm concluded with tiramisu. The tiramisu gave this "okay" meal a delightful finish. The ladies fingers were covered with that lovable coffee taste, and the cream tastes very good... I wish there was more lady fingers though. 

***

More Satisfying EATS from Bulgaria: 

Euphoria Bar and Grill

Bansko's MEXANA Restaurant

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***

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EATS: Euphoria Bar & Grill - Bansko

It was Valentine's Day when we ate at the Euphoria Bar and Grill at the town of Bansko. It is a restaurant offering a rather large selection of food, ranging from pizzas, pastas, Kid Menu-style and even Chinese food. Euphoria also features a bar and is great if you're a fan of food and watching sport.

My experience here was also filled with a two "firsts". First time tying risotto and first time trying hummus.

This night was kicked off by some salad and homemade hummus. So, this was my first time trying hummus and I knew from that first taste that I wouldn't try hummus again very often in my life. It had much more "depth" when spread with the bread, but it's still... "eh". 

For my main course, I chose the arugula, chicken, quinoa and buckwheat risotto. Again, something to check off the "something I have eaten for the first time" list. However, the risotto disappointed me. Just like the hummus, it was very dry and flavorless. As a Filipino, I can say that the rice wasn't of best quality. Trust me, a majority of my life consisted of eating rice for three meals a day. I KNOW what good rice is, and this risotto was surely not it.

My sister had fries and chicken nuggets from the children's menu, while the adults had a variety of foods from the separate Chinese Options menu.

After a long debate with my mom if we should go order dessert or not (as we bought some ice cream from the supermarket), we saw an option that might suit me and my sister. For dessert, we got a tasting plate of homemade ice cream, one scoop for each of the five presented flavors.

My sister and I tried our best to identify the flavors of the ice creams because the waiter and the menu did not tell us what the flavors were. The first one we tried (on the far left of the plate to the right). After a small nibble, I claimed it was pistachio while my sister thought it was mint. The second one was a bit weird because it tasted very... unusual (Spoiler: We think it's Cookies and Cream). The third one was an obvious chocolate. The fourth one urged another debate between me and my sister: I believed it was rose (I've never had rose ice cream, but I would imagine this would be its taste), she believed it was strawberry. The final one was caramel. 

In summary, our experience here in Euphoria was a bit of a mix of highs and lows, with the lows coming mostly on the food and the highs from the restaurant's amazingly comfy atmosphere. We spent dinner watching the Sochi Olympics' ice hockey battle between Norway and Canada (Canada won..) and talking to some great friends. Our friends seemed to have enjoyed both the food and the company, so maybe I just picked the worst things on the menu. Who knows? The only way I could is to go back and try again *wink*. 

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READ MORE - Strandvägen Harbor + Stockholm City Hall

READ MORE - Transportation Comparison (Philippines and Sweden)

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EATS: Hippopotamus Bar and Grill

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Our first main meal in France (I don't know if you consider McDonald's something "main", but you get what I'm saying) was at the Hippopotamus Bar and Grill near Les Halles.

We were actually intrigued before going Ito the restaurant, frightened about the fact that they actually serve hippo meat, but we were quickly relieved upon spotting an English menu. My petite knowledge of French helped, but I still couldn't quite understand most of the foods.

After ordering, the kind lady that attended us served us a basket of bread and a bottle of water as complements. The bread was hard on the outside... Shame they didn't serve us some butter with it.

My sister opted for the children's menu. She got some chicken nuggets and French fries (see what I did there?) for her main course. 

My mom and I went for the Hippo Steak (Pardon me if that's not what it was called), which was NOT made of hippopotamus meat. I ordered mine medium with fries and Bernaise while my mom ordered hers medium well with a sour cream baked potato and barbeque sauce.

The steak was beautifully cooked, much better than in Jensen's Bøfhus back in Stockholm. The Bernaise was okay, but it wouldn't be something worthy of a highlight. Fries were good: not too crispy and not too covered with oil.

 

Something good about our deal was that everyone got dessert. My sister wished for a chocolate mousse and my mom and  I went for a Frenc classic: creme bruleè.

Our overall experience in this restaurant has been very pleasant.

I remember our first two weeks in Sweden where we had lunch at TGI Friday's near Kungsträdgården and how this ranked better than that. The Hippopotamus Bar and Grill is definitely a recommendation, 8.5 out of 10.

***

READ MORE

Benefits of Learning Languages

Where Are The Vikings?

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EATS: Bansko's Mexana ("Bunnies !")

It had dawned upon me that this whole time we had a trip to Bulgaria that we only stayed in one location, the town of Central Bansko. One night, we went out and went out of Central Bansko, towards its equivalent of Stockholm's Gamla Stan, the old town. 

After some ten minutes of walking, we have arrived. We were immediately greeted by a man with a crazy looking outfit, overseeing rabbits above a sign infront of the restaurant. This man was very friendly, he even let my sister and our friend, Talia to take the rabbits inside the restaurant... thus the affectionate term for this restaurant has been born: "Bunnies".

The adults had a long and uneventful discussion about which kind of wine to drink before we ordered appetizers.

Tonight's appetizer: salad with onion, tomatoes, coleslaw, cucumbers and goat's cheese. I liked this dish because of the different tastes you get when you mix and match the different elements of the dish, and that cucumbers are my favorite. 

Onto some mains! The first one was some veal shanks with roasted potatoes. The veal was tender and satisfying, but was much more impressive when combined with the potatoes. Sadly, no photo.

We also had chicken, bacon and beef with vegetables, actually cooked in a ceramic pot! The bacon was very, very delicious (I actually finished them all). The chicken was also a highlight of this dish.

Finally, dessert. Something I see a lot in menus of restaurants here in Bulgaria is the yogurt, so I decided to try some frozen yogurt with strawberry jam. Prior to this, I have been a fan of yogurt, and this just raised my obsession even more. The jam was on the top of the yogurt, so a good mix was done before I took my first bite. It was heaven! Simply delicious.

(It was served in a clay pot!)

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