The Tranquil Little Town That Is Vaxholm

You might want to experience a one day getaway in Sigtuna first.

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Another couple of days off of school and my friend Linh and I went to the small but cozy town of Vaxholm, just over thirty kilometers away from Sweden's capital city, Stockholm. 

We used our SL cards to use the tunnelbana (the subway system) to Tekniska Högskolan (in the red line towards Mörby Centrum) before we changed to Bus number 670 to Vaxholms Kyrka. Once we reached the church, we hopped off, admired the shining sun and walked to central Vaxholm.

Upon walking, we notice that Vaxholm is just like Stockholm's Old Town, Gamla Stan. The architectural design of the houses, the pavement composed out of bricks and the magnificent view of the water makes me think about walking through the narrow streets and admiring the shops and boutiques in Gamla Stan.

Vaxholms Centrum

After some more walking, we reached the pier. There was only a few boats sighted, so you can clearly see the islands close to Vaxholm, separated by the water. The weather was amazing for a walk, so we spent more time walking around the pier and browsing the shops to soak up some Vitamin D.

We then saw one of Vaxhom's most precious attractions, the Vaxholm Fortress. The fortress is situated on a separate island with no connections by land whatsoever.

More Travel Pictures On My INSTAGRAM

Afterwards, Linh and I walked some more and had lunch in Vaxholm's Pizzeria, before boarding a bus bound back to Stockholm.

Another small walk/Sweden adventure today was successfully completed. Honestly, I expected more from Vaxholm, as the standards set by our first trip to Sigtuna were really high. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this day.

Where in Sweden should I explore next? Leave me a comment!

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Read More - Solna's Karlberg Castle

- Unlucky Numbers Around The Wolrd

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Tio Tretton

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A while back, Linh, her friend and I went to Kulturhuset in T-Centralen to go to a library. The library was called Tio Tretton (in English - Ten Thirteen), which was a library directed to kids 10 to 13 years old.

The main purpose of the library is, well, a reading place. But I think that it's more than that. It has a kitchen, a small stage, a ton of board games and much , much more.

On the left is a really big, soft and comfortable couch. It's designed their as a reading nook.

Another reading nook near this was a large bean bag. It was much more comfortable than that on the left!

Another reading nook Tio Tretton has to offer is like a dock. There's two levels, one on the bottom that has two wide chairs for you to sit on and one on the top (requires to you climb steps to go there) which is like a half-circle shaped foam area kind of thing.

Another facility of Tio Tretton is their mini-stage / theater / computer area / reading lounge. It's basically composed of a half-circle shaped stage. Covering the stage is an area where children can use Wifi-Enabled Macs to do anything they wish, from Facebook to Minecraft Party. Outlaying the computers is an elevated sitting area with a velvet sofa. Below the sofa is a showcase of different Swedish books for children. 

(Sidenote: I tried my best describing the place, but you must see the pictures for a better understanding of what I just wrote.)

Tio Tretton has activities laid out for the children every weekday, wherein in one day they have a theme. Let's say Mondays are for making your own computer games out of scratch, Tuesdays are for muffin baking, Wednesdays are for making a necklace out of beads and string and et cetera. 

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See y'all on Thursday for an Announcement!

Read More - The Stockholm City Museum
Read More - Bangkok, Thailand - 2013

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EATS: Love Desserts

After our trip to the University to the Philippines, we went to Trinoma and to SM City North Edsa (I was going to blog about these two, but there was not enough content). We met with a ton of good friends of my auntie and uncle.

These good friends (I think) they met via WOWTrippers (Backpacking adventures to the Philippines!). It was the owner of WOWTrippers' birthday (Janine / J9!) and we met her at the TriNoma Foodcourt.

After a hell of a lot of browsing in at a store that sells backpacking and hiking gear (Good Lord, I hope my description of the store is correct), we went on a car journey to a place that has a buffet. But this is not an ordinary type of buffet, this was a dessert buffet (diabetes for everyone!)

NOTE: Once you see a word "shot" on this blog post, it was a non-alcoholic thing, and was purely cream, toppings and calories. I'm not that stupid to consume alcohol. It was just in a shot glass, that's all.

When we got there, we just sat down for a literal five seconds before everyone got up, got plates and browsed the selection of desserts.

There was an array of cakes and pastries, cookie jars were present, so was tarts. On the other side, the  crew was making fresh crepes, make-your-own halo-halo (shaved ice with toppings! very Filipino), ice cream and toppings and three drinks, water, iced tea and boba (pearl milk tea / buble tea)

From Top Left, Clockwise: Smarties Cookie, Cookies & Cream Shot (non-alcoholic),
Brownie and a Mini Tart.

Off the bat, I didn't want to try any cakes, because they were heavy on the stomach. The cookie, brownie and the tart tasted the same, which was very surprising. The Cookies & Cream shot was awesome. 

I also wanted a crepe. They had four crepe flavor options, and I took strawberry. Tita (auntie) Janine and Tita Joy opted for the blueberry crepe. Crepe tasted purely like jam. 

The best part of this was the shots (Please read the note above if you haven't already) and the ice cream. The ice cream I had was vanilla and strawberry. They also offered three shots, Cookies & Creme, Peach and Chocolate Mousse. The Cookies & Cream one was to die for. I would have it every day if it wasn't for the weight I'd gain and the diabetes I'd get. 

From Left - Cookies and Cream, Peach Shot, Chocolate Mousse

The buffet of desserts was incredibly affordable, at PHP 199 (~ USD 4). I would say that I mostly enjoyed this EATS because of the company I had, which was friends with my uncle and auntie. I didn't enjoy the food that much, maybe because I sampled the same things all over again. Hope to change that.

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CONTI'S BAKESHOP & RESTAURANT 

Contis' has the best cakes I've ever tasted. Really.

How To Make Simple Cheese Crackers {Recipe}

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Reflection: 5 Months in Stockholm

First of all, I just want to apologize that I haven't posted in the couple of days.... I too am aware of that.

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Okay, so today {25 November '13} is the official 5 months since living here in Stockholm. There have been (what seemed) a thousand highs and awesome experiences that I have encountered here... Now, I want to reflect on some of them. 

Best Travelling Highlight would be Gamla Stan and the Vasa Museum. Two of the most iconic Stockholm attractions, I suppose. Gamla Stan is very cool and vibrant because of its awesome architecture and the numerous attractions there. The Vasa Museum because it's just a wonderful piece of reconstructed art. 

Best EATS Experience would probably be Jensen's Beefhouse! I just love their steaks! They have lots of locations around Stockholm and (I think) around the Scandinavia area... By the way, I LOVE the sauce that comes with their Lunch Steak... I'm sure it doesn't just come with their Lunch Steak, but it's to die for. 

Another EATS Experience that I would love to blog about was our FIRST experience at a "posh-er" restaurant... Melanders in Dalagatan (Vasastaden)... I haven't blogged about it, but I hope I still have my experience in my memory. 

Highlights of Stockholm Living... There are lots of stuff that I love about Stockholm. One is that there are so many parks and stuff. It's just good to know that there's so much "wiggle-space" for recreation and stuff. Living in Stockholm is very good, but the prices may be a bit steep... I hope you read my blog post on me ranting about how Stockholm is expensive. 

I am most excited about... I am definitely excited about experiencing my first snowfall. It would be so cool to wake up one morning seeing snow just falling down from your room window. I would never experience this in a country with 30 degree Celsius temperature, so this will be one of my ultimate milestones.

Finally, I just want to say that these five months that just passed went by like a heartbeat. There have been so much awesome events that happened (and certainly so much great eats). I do say that I'm looking forward with everything ahead considering Stockholm, Sweden and everything! 

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Almost to 7,000 views, so thank you so much people!

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All The Things Below Will Be Linked Here: 

- Gamla Stan

- Vasa Museum

- Jensen's Beefhouse

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EATS: Subway's Sandwiches

Before this happened, me and some of my friends ate cookies from Subway. Click Here to read it.

Last Sunday, me and my friends wanted to grab some lunch from Subway, so we did!

Subway Melt {Zoom}

Subway Melt

Gloria and I chose the Subway Melt, and just bought a footlong to share (SEK 50). It was really awesome that they can customize what vegetables or sauce you can put on. We chose every vegetable except onions and tomatoes. 

The sandwich wasn't "the bomb" but it wasn't terrible either. Subway restaurants are so rare in the Philippines, so I've never ate there before. The sandwich could have been in the toaster more though, it was kinda cold.  MORE CHEESE, PLEASE!

Steak and Cheese

Meanwhile, Linh had a Steak & Cheese 1/2 Footlong (SEK 40-49). After she finished this, she bought another sandwich! She bought a Chicken Teriyaki 1/2 footlong (SEK 40-49). Clearly, she was very hungry.

Gloria polished her lunch off with a cookie, while I bought my cookie for my sister.

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MORE EATS: 

- All Star Sportsbar ~ Stockholm

- - SUBWAY COOKIES

- Pizza Hut @ Klarabergsgatan

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EATS: Subway's Cookies

After we ended class a few days ago, I was so exhausted because of P.E... I needed energy, I need sugar!

What I thought was for me to get a cookie in a Subway restaurant near the Skanstull station, so I went and bought some with my friends Gloria and Shriya.

White Chocolate Macadamia

I interviewed Shriya on my Thoughts for Travelling segment. CLICK HERE to go to it. Gloria's interview will come up tomorrow!

We bought three cookies (1 cookie = SEK 10, 3 cookies = SEK 25). I got the White Chocolate Macadamia, Shriya got the Double Chocolate Chunk and Gloria got the Chocolate M&M's or something.

Chocolate M&M's

Double Chocolate Chunk

Chocolate Chip Chunk

Shriya said that her's was very good, because of the chocolate chips, chocolate cookie and the melted chocolate on top (Way to go Shriya. You got diabetes now.). She passed me and Gloria some crumbs (!) so that we could taste her cookie. It was burnt.

Gloria said that her cookie was fine, but based from her facial expression I think she wanted more. More M&M's.

My cookie was the best. I like how it was crunchy because of the Macadamias but at the same time chewy. I LOVE CHEWY COOKIES! I wouldn't say this was the best cookie I have ever eaten, but it is one of my favorite ones.

• One day later... 

So I found out that I could get another free cookie from Subway if I go to their website and fill out a survey form. I filled out the survey form online and I went there the next day to get my cookie. 

Only Linh and my sister came with me to Subway, though. We chose to get the original cookies, the Chocolate Chip Chunk, and it was good. It was chewy again, but nothing can seriously beat the cookie I had.

Note: There was some debate about the "free cookie after you take the survey" from the cashier and another staff member, but I did get a free cookie.

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Subway Ringvagen
Near Skanstull Tunnelbana Station


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More Awesome Posts I'm Sure You'll Enjoy: 

• Travel To The Philippines III - Manila Iterinary 

- The third part of one of my favorite blog segments! Read as I show you some of the most awesome, historical and cultural sights in Manila, Philippines. 

• {Recipe} How To Make Pizza!

- Another of my favorite series! I give you a simple walk-through of what to do to fix yourself a rather quick, simple meal. In this post, pizza!! 

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Thoughts For Travelling PART 5: Gloria Zhang

Thoughts for Travelling is a segment of my blog where I interview some of my good friends about their thoughts about travelling and experiences.

PART 4: Gloria Zhang -- My first friend here in Sweden, Gloria is from China who plays badminton and does gymnastics in her spare time. You might recognize her from numerous of my posts.

  

Santorini

1: Where did you go this fall break and what did you do?

 "I went to the Acropolis in Athens and I went on the beach and on a volcano (I think it's called Minos) on Santorini (a Greek island). I also went to Rome in Italy." 

The Acropolis

   2: How did you get there (to Rome and Greece)?

"I went to Athens by plane and I went on an eight-hour boat ride to Santorini."


3: What was your favorite "Eats" on your trip?

 " I liked the Traditional Italian Cheese Pizza. I also ate Greek Moussaka. It's like lasagna... And Greek frozen-yogurt. 

4: What was the best thing overall of your trip?

"Eating!!!!!"

Thank you to Gloria for sharing her experiences!

Remember to like my Facebook page for exclusive blog post updates and notifications. 

More Awesome Articles You Should Read:

-- A Quiet Little Town Off Gothenburg (Munkedal)
-- An Easy Recipe To Make Cheese Cracker Snacks

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Thoughts For Travelling PART 4: Renee Bamba

Thoughts for Travelling is one of my favorite blog segments, where I interview some of my friends about their point of view and experiences on travelling.

- Before we start, you might want to read the first three parts: 

-- T.f.T Part 3 - Shriya Sant  
-- T.f.T Part 2 - Daniele Grigaite
-- T.f.T Part 1 - Stephanie Younan

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PART 4: Renee Bamba -- One of the craziest people I know, Renee is undoubtedly one of my funniest friends from the Philippines. She describes herself as a bookworm and a musician 


1: What's your favorite city in the world and why?  

"I like Laguna (in the Philippines). It's because I already know the place." 

2: If you were given the chance to go to another country, where would you go?

"I want to go to Italy or the Vatican. I want to go there because my parents dream to go there too." 

3:  Where should we go in Laguna? Any recommendations? Experiences?

"I would recommend going to the Pagsanjan Falls, because it is really peaceful there. Plus, you can eat beside it for a different, but relaxing experience."

4: Name five words that go in your mind if I say "travelling".

"Educational, Unexpected, Fun, Worth-It and an Adventure." 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Thank you to Renee Bamba for letting me interview her!

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5,000 Views. Thank You.

I set up this blog because I know that I will encounter much more stuff in the fields of travelling. I'm just thirteen, and I still have a long way to go until my coffin falls down.

I made this blog so that I can share my travelling experiences, tips and knowledge to you awesome people.

Let me tell you that YOU will also experience a lot in your life. May it be good, bad, plain, extraordinary or dull, it will contribute to your future. A good example? Maths.

In all seriousness, I want to thank all of you who read my blog. If you just read this, I still thank you. Every post is an experience that I share with a larger audience. Thank you for giving me your good comments, suggestions and YOUR travelling experiences.

This milestone is for me to keep, and I thank you for that.

Next Milestone : 10,000 Views
Milestone Goal Date : Before the 20th of February, 2014.

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UPDATE: Getting Ready for Gothenburg!

Currently here in Stockholm, the Middle School students are experiencing their fall break... which will be finished in a couple of days. So we thought that a perfect way to end this break was to travel. Isn't travelling the solution for anything though? {lol, jk, but most of it, maybe?}

So we're gonna visit one of my mom's relatives living in Gothenburg (which is still in Sweden). I really don't know though if the house we're staying at has Wi-Fi (pray to the heavens it has), but I will still keep track of my travelling {and eating} experiences for you!, But don't expect for me to post anything for the few days coming up, though.

Thank you once again for supporting me and most importantly, this blog!

BONUS - Tomorrow's post will be a RECIPE!

LIKE MY FACEBOOK PAGE for BLOG UPDATES and such.

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Stockholms Stadsmuseet

We went to Slussen yesterday (18 October) for a class trip to the Stockholms Stadsmuseet (Stockholm City Museum).

Facade

Opening Sign <Close-Up>

The first thing we did was to look at an overview of Stockholm by century, from 1400 to 2000. We then proceeded to another corridor with this replica on it:

This is a replica of the Stora Barnhuset pa Norrmalm, or the Norrmalm Orphanage. Our tour guide told us that children here were treated quite badly, giving them meals of bread and butter, chickpeas, or sometimes, no breakfast or lunch at all. If children tried to escape, their heads and hands will be chained to a wooden contraption, or their legs will be shackled to a chain connected to a heavy wooden log.

16 children have escaped the orphanage, though. They then raced to the Royal Palace (picture above, not exactly how it looks like now), where they met the current queen. Interestingly, the palace is heavily guarded, there were only a few entrances and exits and the walls were very thick and high, but they still managed to go in. Even our tour guide didn't know what happened. Maybe they were just really fast runners? They should have raced against Usain Bolt back then.

Fast-forward for about forty-fifty minutes and our guide led us to some stairs, before ending in one of the corridors leading to two houses. One of the houses belonged to a family of three, who really can't even afford the cheap price of the house. Because of this, two men from the harbor just nearby also settled into the house to help pay the bill. Quite disturbing.  <No pictures because my phone's battery died!>

Then our guide showed us the next house, belonging to only two people. This house was quite better, because it had a sewing area, some kind of writing/reading nook, wallpapers, and etc. It really is like those stereotypical "grandma's houses" that you see in the T.V shows.

The houses were really small though, everything was kinda squished together. I wouldn't be surprised if the house replicas would fit into a rather large bathroom or a small bedroom.

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Fees: SEK 100 (19 years +), otherwise free.
Overall Impression: Very good. The museum is great for kids because it is somewhat interactive, but it is still loaded with historical information. 7.5 out of 10.
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You should read more. 

• TRAVEL ADVICE for Sweden
• Stockholm's Changing of the Guards & Gamla Stan
• EATS: Jensen's Beefhouse - Vasagatan (Stockholm)

Travel stories? Advice? Tips? Bizarre experiences? Click here to share them.

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The 20 Million (Swedish) Crown Painting

My mom, my sister and I met with a nice Filipino lady the other day and took us to her nice and cozy apartment. After we took the little tour, she offered us some snacks and a strawberry drink. 

She then showed us this:

Nothing much, just a painting right? That's what I thought until I heard my mom's friend say "It's worth SEK 20,000,000". 

My jaw just dropped. How can this painting be worth so much? Is there something I missed? Some kind of hidden message I didn't get? Hmmmmm..... 

I know it isn't exactly travelling, but isn't it mind boggling? 

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Remember to submit your travelling ideas/experiences/tips to euansuarezblog@gmail.com! Or, click here to learn more. 

SHOUTOUTS:  Patricia Balla | Elleina Suarez | Leah Suarez   {thank you people!} 

READ MORE: Skansen - The Open Air Museum

READ MORE: The Stockholm Metro (Tunnelbana / Subway)

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EATS: More Hemköp Pastries! {Bon Voyage, Stephanie!}

So another good friend of mine, Stephanie will go back to Canada after over one year of staying here in Stockholm. Long story short, she treated us with pastries from Hemköp, that supermarket I had two posts on.

Click here to see more of my thoughts about Hemköp's doughnuts, or here for my thoughts about their Danish Pastry. I am not getting paid by Hemköp, even though most of my "EATS" post comes from them. 

So we bought a chocolate muffin for me, a kind of carrot cake for Patricia, a soda for Linh and three doughnuts for Stephanie.

The muffin was tasteless, I admit. Can you see those little chunks / squares of chocolate above the muffin? Yeah, they were the only things that were good... The doughnuts seemed to be freshly baked, but in my opinion, the doughnuts should have been freshly baked and hot. (My sister ate one of the doughnuts, Stephanie had two... I can't exactly remember). Most of the pastries were priced at SEK 9, but I think the doughnuts were 3 for SEK 15 or SEK 25. 

Thank you Stephanie! I wish you a great life in Canada! As one of my favorite Youtubers Joey Graceffa would say it, may the odds be ever in your favor, goodbye!! 

From the left: Patricia, Me, Linh, Stephanie 

READ MORE: Stockholm's City Hall

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