Chocolate hazelnut cookies

I have perfected the best cookie recipe known to man.

Bowtie and Plant party

My friends and I like plants. and bowties. and celebrating birthdays.

Kristianstad Naturum

Impromptu trips are the best.

How awesome is the architecture of this nature center? Oh, Sweden! We had fika here, watching the reflections on the water whilst sipping tea and coffee. 

We were so lucky the weather held up, always a bit tricky in Sweden. Plus, we came across these beautiful horses along the way! I really love the changing fall leaves, autumn can be really great sometimes.

Part 1 here.

Sibylla!

Trying out Swedish "fast" food. There is mango chutney sauce on the menu.

Kristianstad

"We missed our train to Kalmar, where can we go today?"

We were planning to go to Kalmar this day, even willing, but not so eager, to sit on a 3 hour train. Alas, we missed the train. And seeing how the train only comes every 2 hours, and knowing we had to get out of Lund for awhile, we decided to change our plans. So, my friend and I walk into SJ (aka Swedish train people), queued up (story of Swedish life) and had a little conversation with the ticket person... 

....who suggested we check out Kristianstad. Easy day trip, he said. And so, we went.

I liked this church a lot because, while it was traditional, it had been modified to suit the current congregation. Like a children's play area in between the pews. Or the cutest diorama of the Nativity Scene in the main aisle. Or directions at the entrance of this one room church. People use this church, they share part of their lives here. It was so much more welcoming and wonderful than any church I've been to for awhile and it made it all the more beautiful.

Afterwards, we went had an adventure in the spirit of Carl Linneaus, botanist extraordinaire and binomial nomenclature guru.

Malmö

Malmö is the neighbouring city, the third biggest in Sweden. "Big" being a relative term - 280 000 people. It's nice though, I really miss living near the ocean. It's weird how claustrophobic I feel when I can't see water. The nearest IKEA is also in Malmo, and it takes a couple of transfers to get there, which is a damn shame.

Copenhagen & Urban Architechture

Copenhagen is close by, closer still because of the handy dandy train. 40 minutes and I'm in a different Scandanvian country (or the same one, if we pretend it's 1660)!

As part of my geography class, I get to go on two (TWO!) field trips. Excursions. Adventures which are free! We focused mainly on urban architecture and it was cool to get off the tourist path. One of the places we visited was Ørestad, a new(ish) building development geared towards the lower to middle class. Fancy subsidized digs! Oh, Scandanvians and your functionalist designer hearts!

Afterwards, we indulged ourselves in coffee and sweet treats. I don't remember what this little cake was, but there was apricots and almonds and magic deliciousness in it.