[Photos taken 25 – 26 March 2024, posted online 16 August 2024. Seems like we’re in for a lovely day after heaps of rain. School starts next week.]
Our first day in Sweden was a quiet one. I hadn’t really given myself time to formally organize the trip much before we arrived, much to the consternation of some of my “we like a schedule” offspring.
Looking around, it became apparent that the Swedes are fairly “mall-oriented”. Weird entertainment things lurk in the basements of malls, so on our first day we went shopping and mini-golfing! My brother and his wife were both working while we were there, so we mostly met them in the afternoons/evenings.
Monday 25 March 2024
Kids mini-golfing in a mall basement. I hijacked the younger ones one-on-one to go upstairs and try on clothes, as they keep outgrowing theirs!
The day began with a trip to a small grocery store. It’s always fun trying to navigate the breads.
Breakfast in our Airbnb.
Our rental car in the mall-parking-lot, in a nearby township of Täby. Parking required installing an app to register the car and pay automatically upon exit.
Late lunch at a pizza/kebab place.
The basement entry into the mini-golf area. Very jungle-y!
Shopping / mini-golfing lasted for almost three hours!?
Swedish is quite close to Icelandic, with some words being obvious, but others not so much. This was the golf-score list.
Home-made dinner!
Tuesday 26 March 2024
Charging stations became a bit of a theme during this trip. The various malls and parking garages tended to have lots of slow-ish chargers, which came in very hand. Of course, that also required installing an app, for every single company.
That morning I gave my brother and my sister-in-law a lift in our rental car north to Uppsala, where they had a medical appointment. The train-ride would have taken them quite a bit longer.
There were quite a few stately houses.
Nothing much was open at 08:30 in the morning, but I did find one old-style Konditori.
Easter-marzipan-figures!
Lots of detail!
Got a croissant wrapped in cellophane…
… and made my own swiss mocha by combining an espresso with some hot chocolate!
Walking along a river back to the parking garage.
There was something a bit decorative-Russian about the houses?
Proof it was morning-me.
A big house/castle in the distance.
The parking garage was called Grimhild (Icelandic: Grimmhildur, English: Cruella)!
Back at the AirBnb, we discovered the engineer-owner had “fixed” the broken washing machine door with some wire and a loop. It took the better part of the week to get the hang of opening it, as well as convincing the machine the door was really closed.
Arty candle by a window.
Sadly, a cup fell and broke. It turned out it was handmade by a mother of the owners… ooops!
The fight continued…
Yet another day, yet another town/district mall (Kista).
Bjarki tried on some hoodies at H&M, and found these gloves in the front pocket, full of these theft-prevention things… Ugh.
The main activity was electric go-karting. The entry was at level -2 (second basement).
The apps you can use to pay for parking…
The entry into the go-kart area. It turned out to be the parking garage car-ramp down into basement level -3!
Yes, the entry is in fact inside the parking garage itself!
The decorated, and sealed-from-the-elements ramp down to level -3.
The racers!
This was the coolest go-kart we’ve been to. The track sits in the lowest-part of the parking-garage, and is all neon-lit and smooth!
Getting ready!
Finnur crushed us, as usual, Bjarki came second. We only did 2×8 minutes (I think), and if we ever visit again, we’ll go again for sure!
The control desk, looking over the track. It was pretty chilly down there, but not uncomfortable.
The other direction.
There were too many of us to fit into one car, so Finnur drove the first batch home, while Anna and I chilled at the library in the mall. (Yes, of course there was a library in the mall!)
Cool shelves.
I’m not used to libraries living at the top end of escalators?!
At my brother’s et al place, watching a self-driving-drone fly about.
Cousins.
Mom was staying with them, and had to endure the cousins play-tickle-fighting on her bed.
