Back in cold Sweden again!

I hardly know where to begin. We came home yesterday night after two weeks in the States, and they have been two of the most amazing weeks in my life! I think I'll split the trip up in three parts, since this blog post would go on forever otherwise. I'll start today with the New Yark part, then get back later with a post about Washington DC, and do a final one on our stay in Clifton Forge and Douthat State Park!

We left last Sunday, on the thirteenth, which turned out to be a pretty long day! We arrived in New York, on JFK airport, around five in the afternoon local time, which for us was actually ten in the evening. When we arrived at the hotel (We stayed at the Pearl Hotel on 49th west) it was closer to midnight our time (which was local time 19.00), and we were just beat! Ten hours of flight is kind of draining! But the hotel was sooo nice! The room was really pretty:

And the service was excellent (although they couldn't get me a glutenfree breakfast, but that was ok since we had a refridgerator in the room and the supermarket on the corner sold glutenfree bagels). This was one of the better hotels we've ever stayed in. Anyway, we decided that we had to try and stay awake until at least nine pm, so we went out to look at the supermarket and the closest surroundings. I don't really remember what we saw that night, but we fell asleep pretty fast once nine o'clock rolled around!

The next day we first went to the Apple store, since Thomas wanted to buy and Ipad 2 (they are apparently sold out all over the world, so he didn't find one). There was a line of people at least 200 m long outside of the store, just waiting until the store got a new shipment of Ipads! Luckily for us, they were waiting outside the store, so we could at least go in and have a look around. Apple have some cool stuff! We didn't buy anything, and went on to have coffee at a Starbucks (we don't have Starbucks in Sweden, so this is a novelty for us :) We also had lunch at TGI Friday's, which we also don't get in Sweden), which we really enjoyed. We also went to the Disney Store on Broadway (which contained way too much Micky Mouse and Tinkerbell and way too little Donald Duck for my taste), Toys 'R Us on Broadway (which had a five storey Ferris Wheel inside! 

And a whole section dedicated to Willy Wonka candy which I bought for my sister), 

and ended the shopping day with Midtown Comics on Times Square. My oh my how much we loved that store! We ended up spending lots of money in there, but the comics were really cheap compared to the imported ones back home, so we got lots for our money. Plus, the dollar is very cheap right now!

The comics we ended up buying were the following (starting at upper left in the photo): 100 Bullets (issue 2), Constantine Hellblazer (issues 1 and 2), Freak Angels (issue 1), Fables (issues 1, 2 and 3), Lucifer (issue 1), Northlanders (issue 1), Transmetropolitan (issues 5 and 6), Chew (issue 1), Y - The last man (issue 1), Locke & Key (issue 3), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (no issue), and Little Adventures in Oz (issue 1 and 2).

Quite the haul! Both me and Thomas LOVE comics (or graphic novels, as they should be called), and it was so much fun just browsing in this store. One of the employees came up to me almost as soon as I came in and asked if he could help me, and ended up giving me great tips about new comics after I told him I was looking for the Locke & Key one (that is the best comic there is!). I think he was probably pleased that a girl came in and actually knew something about comics! He was very nice though, and as it turned out a huge fan of swedish death metal, so he got along with Thomas too.

The next day was spent doing a bit more shopping, most of the stores that we didn't have time for on Monday. We started the day by going to the top of Rockefeller Center to look at the view, which was really pretty. We managed to get most of the photos just before the sun disappeared too.

We then went to Nintendo World store, which was really awesome. I got to try the new Nintendo Wii game Kirby's world of yarn (great name, don't you think?), which was very cute and kind of fun (although I really suck with the wii remote!). We also bought a small plush toy for my sister from the Pickmin games (which we have both played and loved). 

We also visited the Gap, where Thomas bought a shirt (we don't get the Gap in Sweden), and Victoria's Secret (which we also don't get in Sweden), where I got free reins! Boy did I enjoy this store! I ended up buying a brah and matching panties (they're green with white dots on, they look like a princess cake!) which are probably the best fitting underwear I've ever had, a pair of lace panties and a small nightgown/negligé. I wish I had been able to go here before I got married, so I could have bought my wedding underwear here!

Our last stop for the day was Babycakes bakery in Chinatown, a small glutenfree bakery that Virginia had scouted out for me. I went sort of wild in here as well, as I wanted to try pretty much everything they had!

The best one was definitely the chocolate doughnut in he right bottom corner. I haven't had a doughnut in fifteen years, I've never seen a glutenfree one before! Great stuff!

Tuesday night ended at a small Japanese restaurant called Yakitori Totto, which was completely awesome! It was one of those restaurants where you sit at the counter and the chefs are on the other side making your food. We had lots of skewers with different stuff on them, my favorite was the one with grilled Shitake mushrooms. I think I could live on these alone! This restaurant was actually so good that we went back on Thursday night for another filling :)

On Wednesday I got to meet up with Virginia (who writes the blog Virginia is for...), which was absolutely fabulous! We had planned to go to the Natural History museum, but it was completely packed (there was even a line outside to get in!), but we went and had lunch at the Stack Shack, and then Virginia and me went yarn crawling. Can you believe I didn't get any photos of any of the yarn stores?!!! I guess I was too busy looking around! First we went to Annie & Co, which was a really nice store. The following skeins ended up following me home:

Madelinetosh Lace (100 % merino, 868 m/113 g) in colourway Ms Taylor

Madelinetosh Merino Light (100 % Merino, 384 m/100 g) in colourway Norway Spruce

Madelinetosh Prairie (100 % merino, 768 m/114 g) in colourway Oxblood

Then we took a bus to Knitty City, which was also a really nice store! There were several people sitting around in the store knitting, and they were really helpful. The following skeins went with me back to the hotel (which sounded a lot dirtier than it was meant to...):

Madelinetosh Merino Light (100 % Merino, 384 m/100 g) in colourway Mulled Wine

Malabrigo Sock yarn (100 % merino, 402 m/100 g) in colourway Lettuce

Then we took the subway (yay! I got to go on the NY subway!) to School Products yarns, which was a really weird store. It was located in a sky scraper of some kind, so you had to know it was there. Then we took the elevator up to get to the actual store, where we had to ring the bell to be let in! I guess that might be typical of NY? Anyway, the store was a bit different too, they only carried Karabella yarns and a lot of unbranded yarn on cones. I ended up just buying these two skeins of this:

Karabella Yarns Lacampo (60 % Llama/40 % Cotton, 124 m/50 g) in a teal tweed colour (10901)

The yarn crawl was really awesome, and it was so much fun to get to meet Virginia in real life! Most of my blog friends seem to be so far away in different countries, so it's kind of unreal to actually meet any live!

Then me and Virgina parted, and I went back to the hotel to meet up with Thomas again. This night we got to go see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway! I'm a huge Andrew Lloyd Webber-fan, and Thomas loves this particular musical as well, so this was really a high point of our trip.

On Thursday it was St Patrick's Day, which we totally didn't know about when we booked the trip, so we went to see the parade on 5th Avenue in the morning. It was a lot of military and police men, and after a while we sort of grew tired of the (very drunken) crowds, so we went to the Museum of Modern Art ( MoMA) instead. This was a very beautiful museum, and we got to see some Warhol:

Lichtenstein:

And my personal favourite, Vincent Van Gogh:

I don't really know why, but I love Van Gogh, and the Starry Night painting is one of my favourites. I got goose bumps just by looking at it! We're not that big art fans, or at least we don't know that much about art, but we liked a lot of the stuff at MoMA. 

For the evening we went back to Yakitori Totto (it was just that good), and had our last night in NY. It was kind of nice to go to this small, kind of quiet restaurant on St Patrick's Day to avoid the crowds, and a perfect ending to the NY stay.

Friday was mostly spent on a bus to Washington DC, where we took a cab to Arlington for our stay at the Hilton Garden Inn hotel. We were really tired from travelling, so we just had dinner at a nearby libanese restaurant (they had awesome hummus), had a quick drink at the hotel bar and went to bed.

Ok, I'll have to get back to you with the rest of the stuff! We're still very jet-lagged, and I have to go to bed as I have to work tomorrow too. And we have lots of cuddling to do with Hobbe, as he's stayed with my parents for the past two weeks :)

/ Jenny

I'm old

Yup, now I'm officially old. Today I turned 30! Although I have to admit I don't feel old yet :)

I've had a wonderful birthday weekend! On Friday morning me and Thomas took the train to Stockholm for a long weekend away. We stayed at the Clarion Sign hotel, which is really really nice, and by lunch time we were out on the town for a little shopping. We started out in Old Town, which is really tourist-y but still very nice. There are some really good stores there, including the Sci-Fi Book Store, and Comics Heaven. We did a fair bit of shopping in both those stores! These are the books and comics that followed us home from Stockholm:

Lilla Stjärna by John Ajvide Lindqvist, Zombies, edited by John Skipp, Metro 2023 by Dimitry Gluhkovsky, and Dead Sea by Brian Keene.

The Talisman, story by Stephen King, Locke and Key by Joe Hill, First issue of The Wheel of Time, and Wyrms by Orson Scott Card.

And finally, at the Sci-Fi book store, I found this little gem: Crobots - 20 amigurumi robots to make, by Nelly Pailloux.

I've already finished the Locke and Key, and it is just so incredibly good! I want to have all the issues NOW (there is only one more out so far...).

We've been so lucky with the weather this weekend too, it's been about 24 Centigrades so lots of skirts and T-shirts (well, Thomas wore shorts...). So lots of cold drinks and ice-cream. Here I am at a cafe in Old Town eating an absolutely fabulous fruit ice-cream. Such a lovely break from all the walking!

After Old Town we went to Söder (which translates as South, it's a part of central Stockholm that is often compared to Soho: Lots of artists and such) and I got to visit Marias Garn for the first time. Boy, do I wish I lived there! I came out with ten skeins of yarn, but I could easily have picked out ten more. Or fifty :) These are the skeins I bought anyway:

Two skeins of Marias Garn Handpainted Sock yarn (75 % superwash wool/25 % bamboo, 420 m/100g). I LOVE this colour! It turns out that the store is shifting owners next weekend, and lots of Maria's own handpainted yarns will probably disappear then. So I'm really happy to have found this! I think it will become at least one of the Windsbraut shawl patterns (the link only goes to one of the patterns, but you can find links to all of them at that page too), and possibly a pair of socks too!

Two skeins of Wetterhoff Silla yarn (30 % silk/70 % wool, 250 m/50 g). I fell completely for this colour, but it turns out to be very hard to photograph! It's a sort of rusty brown/pink and the yarn is super soft as well. I think these skeins will become a Brandywine shawl in the near (or far) future.

Three skeins of Butik Strik Ecological Fair Trade Pima Cotton (which I assume is 100 % cotton, but it actually doesn't say so on the label, 200 m/50 g) in a gorgeous lilac colour. I've never knitted with 100 % cotton before, but this yarn is just so incredibly soft! It feels almost like silk. These are destined to become another Windsbraut pattern.

One skein of Malabrigo Lace yarn (100 % Merino, 430 m/50 g), in colourway Emerald. I've recently become sort of fond of Turquoise, and this yarn more or less jumped on me! Unfortunately there was only one skein left in this colour, but I found another one on Garnkorgen, so I've actually ordered another one. I think this yarn will become a Historical Stole.

One skein of Marias Garn Baby Alpacka yarn (100 % baby alpaca, 500 m/100 g) in a gorgeous pale green colour. I really, really adore alpaca yarn, it is always so incredibly soft, so I fell directly for this yarn. This will turn into a Three Towers Shawl (that name really speaks to my inner nerd).

Finally I got one more skein of the baby alpaca yarn, in a deep wine red colour. I'm thinking of turning this into a Victorine shawl, but I'm a bit afraid that it will be too thin? I guess I'll just have to start it and see how it looks.

Ok, now you know my fiber purchases. After spending a loooong time in the shop, we went back to our hotel for an hour to rest and freshen up, and then we met up with our good friends Anders and Ellen, to have dinner with them. We've known Anders for at least 13 years (boy, we're old!), and him and Ellen have been together for a while now (at least a few years, I think). They are so nice, and we always try to meet up with them when we are in Stockholm or Borås at the same time. We had dinner at a place called Belgobaren, which is a Belgian themed restaurant, so they had LOTS of beers. I don't like beer, so I had a glass of wine instead :)

Thomas and Anders

Me and Ellen

After dinner we went to a bar and had some drinks together, which was a blast! We were back at the hotel right around midnight (yes, we're old), and I could barely keep my eyes open!

On Saturday the weather was just as nice, so we spent the morning shopping some more, and then to escape the sun around lunch time, we went to Nationalmuseét (The National Museum) and saw some great art. I've now seen my first real Van Gogh, and I'm such a huge fan of the impressionists! They also had some Rembrant, Gaugain, Titian, Monet, Manet, Ruben and Van Dyck. And one of my personal favourites: Swedish painter Carl Larsson. I enjoyed it so much! Thomas, on the other hand, works as a producer for the local museum here in Linköping, and he's a bit damaged by that so I think he looked more at the way thing were displayed, than on the actual art...

National Museum

After this we went and had a beer (soda for me) with a friend of Thomas, Anna, and we spotted this hillarious mis-spelling on the menue. Do you think they got a lot of damage complaints?

Finally that night we went to the restaurant Aquavit (which is also a name of a swedish snaps) to celebrate my birthday (which is actually today, but we were going home today). This restaurant is run by celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson (he has among other things catered for the american president Obama!). We had such high expectations on the food, and were a bit let down. My food was delicious, I ordered grilled sea-food and got so much yummy fish. Unfortunately my stomach chose this moment to act up, so I couldn't eat very much of it! This wasn't the restaurant's fault, but Thomas got a meal that wasn't very good. His lamb was very chewy, and the mushrooms were way too salty. Also, part of the lamb was almost uneatable due to some really stringy sinews... You wouldn't expect this sort of food at such an expensive restaurant (I think we payed about 120 dollars, including two glasses of wine). So we left the restaurant a bit disapointed.

Today Thomas gave me his gifts (well, the whole trip was my real gift), which was a comics album by my author God Neil Gaiman. It's called The Eternals, and I hadn't even heard of it before! He also tried real hard, and gave me the Stich 'n bitch Nation book, which I so much appreciated! I'm going to have so much fun reading it!

The Eternals

Stitch 'n bitch nation

After the amazing hotel breakfast we ventured out in the rain for a bit of last minute shopping, and I actually managed to find myself two tops! 

You'll have to excuse my poor modelling skills! I look a bit pregnant in both photos (which I'm not!), and as it is pretty late here the flash made me look deathly pale too :)

I also bought nine pairs of underwear at Top Shop, this shop isn't available in Linköping and I love their underwear. Now I have enough to last me for a while :)

We also went by Designtorget, which is a swedish design store, and they always have lots of fun stuff. This store is available in Linköping, but it's a lot smaller here. I found this super cute little triangular notions bag that I just had to have! I of course plan to use it as a project bag :)! I think I'll lend it to my sister so she can figure out how it's made!

Finally we had a cup of coffe/hot cocoa with Anders and Ellen before we had to go to the train station. My sister picked us up at the train station here in Linköping, and when we got home I got a package from her as well. She had bought me this hillarious piggy bank where I can save up my yarn money, and she also sewed me this super-cute box bag just for me (which was filled with candy)! She had bought all of the fabric in secret, so this wasn't anything I knew of before. I love it, and I'm going to use it for everything now!

All in all it's been a great weekend! I love that I got to pick out most of my gifts for myself, I think I've never got this good gifts before :) When we got home we ordered chinese food and watched a crappy movie, and it was just the perfect end to a perfect weekend! Now I'm off to go to sleep, so I can get to work tomorrow!

/ Jenny