Getting down and low in Goteborg

After Stockholm, we visited Goteborg, which was a much smaller city and felt a lot friendlier.

We arrived in the evening, checked into our costly, out of town guesthouse and proceeded to hunt  for dinner in town. Mostly places were closed or closing and luckily we found a small place recommended on the web. CS ordered fish balls (yes, swedish fishballs). I had the traditional swedish meatballs with lingonberries. These lingonberries are wonderful, CS describes them as "little sweet explosions in your mouth", nothing like the terrible cranberry sauce you get in the Singapore Ikea cafe.

Fishballs. Tasty but not like Fei Siong (Singaporean brand)

Meatballs and little explosions

The next morning, visited the Rohsska Museum, Sweden’s only design and crafts museum. They had a selection of Chinese art from 2000BC to 1900s as well as 18^th century furniture and objects. The museum is attached to a university (I think) and we were wandering around for a while before we found the entrance. It was a rather small and cozy museum and it was fun to walk around looking at the various exhibits and how things have changed and yet remained the same throughout the years. The iPhone as well as a Nokia phone (can't remember the model now) were also part of the exhibits to showcase modern design aesthetics.

We then had a quick lunch at a very local restaurant eating their famous herring and did a boat tour, which was rather fun. During the tour, we went under 20 bridges and also out to the harbour. Luckily the weather was rather good otherwise we would have both frozen to death. One of the bridges (Osthyveln) was so low, I was kind of afraid my head would get chopped off. Our guide was also really lovely and told us some interesting facts like how Swedes are the biggest consumers of bananas worldwide! Bet you never knew that, did ya.

Only in Sweden

We also visited the Universeum, which is the National Science Discovery Centre. It’s kind of like Singapore Science Centre but way bigger with lots more interesting and educational exhibits. There are a total of 7 main exhibits with themes such as Ocean Zone, Rainforest, Deadly Beauties etc. The temporary exhibition was about solving criminal mysteries and discovering modern forensics, which made me think of my BFF who works in HSA. It was rather fun and we had quite a few laughs playing with the exhibits. There was also a section about learning new things and we couldn't solve one of the puzzles even after pondering over it for the longest time ever. Though the place is targeted for children, we had loads of fun there as well.

Found Nemo!

Apparently there are 2!

After the coldness in Stockholm, Goteborg was a welcome change and definitely a good way to end our trip in Sweden.

On the way back to our guesthouse

Tracking down the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The next day we visited the Nobel Museum to learn about the Nobel Prize and its founder, as well as the Nobel Laureates and their creative endeavours. We learnt that Alfred Nobel invented dynamite and got very rich in the process. Apparently he wanted to leave a better legacy behind rather than being known as the inventor of dynamite and thus established the Nobel Prizes which were to be given annually in the areas of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. However as he wasn’t very clear in his will regarding how the prizes will be given as well as the criteria for some of the prizes, there were some controversies such as how Tolstoy never won the prize, amongst others. More than 800 Laureates have since been awarded the Nobel Prize and from the ceiling of the museum, visitors can see all the Laureates along a cableway. The museum guide was fairly informative though he seemed pretty new to the tour guide thing. We also learnt that Alfred Nobel wrote a book, Nemesis, however the entire stock except for three copies, was destroyed immediately after his death. Kind of make you wonder exactly what the book is about, and whether it was so bad that they destroyed it so as not to stain his legacy.

Fried herring... A swedish classic.

We went for a walking tour after that which was short but very enjoyable. There was a changing of the guards ceremony at the Royal Palace and we managed to catch the ending bits of it. To our surprise, they played some ABBA songs, I always thought they will play more stately songs at these type of events but apparently not. We learnt that the Royal Palace has 1430 rooms so even though Buckingham may occupy more space (77,000 m² versues 61,210 m²), they have more rooms, lol… We also visited the smallest public sculpture in Sweden, Olle, which was a major tourist attraction! We had to wait our turn as tourist after tourist went to touch its head, which apparently gives good luck.

We dropped by the Historiska Museum as we thought we could learn about the Vikings but there wasn’t much to it, so it was a bit of a disappointment actually. Instead, the exhibits mentioned how the Nazis used the Vikings in their propaganda and some educational stuff about the daily life of a Viking. We left after a short while and went over to Skansen Open Air Museum, which also turned out to be a bad idea. Perhaps due to the off-season, a lot of the places were rather empty and there wasn’t much to see. One of the more interesting shops/ places we visited was a hardware store where the man looked like he has been working there since forever. He had a really ancient cash register that still works! That was pretty cool honestly. However the rest of the place was kind of deserted and we got bored after a while.

Skansen Open Air Museum

After that, we went for our ‘Millennium tour – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’. I’ve watched all three movies but not read the book whereas CS has only watched the first movie so our knowledge was kind of limited. Still the tour was fairly interesting and it does let you see Stockholm through the author’s eyes. Walking up and down the various streets, I almost felt like I was in the movie!

Wandering around Gamla Stan

According to our guide, Daniel Craig was filming a few streets away the week before or something like that. He didn’t catch him and the producers seemed to keeping it rather secretive. 

With that, we ended our trip in Stockholm and headed to Goteborg. I guess the only thing we didn’t do in Stockholm was to visit the world's largest Ikea store, but we'll save that for some other time.

Money, money, money, must be funny, in a rich man’s world

After visiting Sweden, I think I can understand why ABBA had a song like that. Sweden is seriously not a cheap place to visit, though I do have friends who told us Norway is worse. While we have generally avoided staying in the city centre since hotels there tend to be expensive, we were relegated to staying near an industrial area in Stockholm since hotels were just ridiculously expensive almost everywhere.

Somehow the sun seems to be shining brighter in Scandinavia

Vasa Museum was the first place we visited. Just like Titanic, Vasa sanked on its maiden voyage, however the reasons it sank was completely different from that of Titanic. Titanic sank as it departed without the binoculars to permit an early sighting of the iceberg which caused its doom, whereas Vasa sank as it was too top heavy and unstable. Now that the history lesson is over, back to the museum. The piece de la resistance was obviously the reconstructed vessel of Vasa, most of which was salvaged in 1961 after lying in the sea for 333 years. The reconstructed vessel is 95% original,ad since there were no plans or contemporary pictures of the ship, they were basically fixing a giant jigsaw puzzle without a picture to refer to. The museum also contained eleven permanent exhibits which examine the ship, the time in which she was built and her recent history. We both quite enjoyed the one about the salvaging of the ship as visitors can try the diving gear which they wore while doing the salvaging. The diving gear was quite claustrophobic and I really can’t imagine how people can do it for a living then. The exhibition regarding what the different colors and sculptures symbolize was also rather educational. They actually have guided tours for visitors however we missed the English speaking tour so we had to walk around ourselves.

Amazing how they pieced it back together

As it sails off into the sea... literally...

We ended the day with a dinner of Swedish meatballs and some yummy raw salmon, which was kind of like sashimi without the wasabi or soy sauce. The service there weren’t the greatest though and we felt a bit discriminated against. It would not be the first time we feel that way in Sweden. With that unpleasant note, we ended our day and headed back to our hotel for some sleep before hitting the streets again the next day.

Ending the day tired...

Chilly in Warsaw and getting a glimpse of the wolf

From Krakow, it was another long and dreary drive towards Warsaw. We got so bored driving, we watched ‘The Blind Side’ while trying to get there. Or at least I did, while CS drove on and on and on. The movie was alright I guess, while I like Sandra Bullock I don’t think she deserved the Oscar for that performance though.

In any case, after driving for what seems like forever, we finally arrived. Luckily for us, the hotel owners waited for us to arrive. The first thing we felt about Warsaw was that it was very different from Krakow, it felt a lot younger, hipper and way cooler. Of course, that could also be because our hotel was located in a more central location than the one in Krakow. This was one of the more interesting rooms we had so far, with a big manga painting which was a bit weird to stare at with the blood splatters artistically strewn across the room.

Cool and weird

Waking up to the smell of fresh pastries

After a good night’s rest, we were eager to explore the city. Unfortunately, there were no walking tours available from any source so we explored the city ourselves instead. We were greeted with chilly winds which put a damper on our spirits. It was super cold, and totally not what we expected weather to be like in May. On top of that, it also started to rain and got rather depressing quickly. We stumbled onto a quirky quaint teahouse and just sat there watching the rain fall and people go by.

Fancy a spot of tea?

We walked around the Old Town but nothing really appealed to us. We popped into the grounds of the Royal Castle but decided we had enough of palaces and castles and gave it a miss. While walking around, we saw 2 girls who were posing for photographs and acting like models. It was quite funny actually, especially since the boy who was taking photographs seemed like he was the boyfriend of one of them and is only doing it to humour his girlfriend.

We did think of going to the Palace of Culture and Science, however it was a bit too far and we were too lazy to make our way there. It was an ex-communist structure erected by Stalin as a "gift from the Soviet Union to Polish nation". You kinda have to see it for yourself to appreciate how massive it is. It actually looks pretty alright and imposing from the outside but we’re not too sure how it looks on the inside since we didn't enter the building. From what we were told, it’s a symbol Stalin putting his finger down on Poland to claim it for communism but unfortunately has no real functional value with badly built interior and design.

Sore thumb of Stalin 

We had an early night in as it was the General Election and I was eager to catch the live update on the results. As we all know by now, Chiam See Tong didn’t retain Potong Pasir (which was a major bummer) and Workers Party took Aljunied, (yeah!), anyway it was all very exciting though I was thousand of miles away and didn’t vote.

The next day, we visited the Warsaw Uprising Museum which was extremely educational, but took us forever to get there. We got a bit lost and ended up walking quite a fair bit before we finally reached the museum, it was totally worth it though. As the name states, the museum is about the Polish movement to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The operation was planned to coincide with the arrival of the Soviet Union’s Red Army who will provide the Polish with support, however the Soviets never arrived and the Polish were left to fight the German Nazis alone. The museum has a rather good collection of artifacts ranging from weapons used by the insurgents to love letters, which presented a full picture of the people involved. It was quite amazing that even children were involved and you really have to admire their courage in doing so. The museum was rather moving, and definitely a must see if you are in Warsaw.

With that, we left Warsaw and headed towards Gdansk where we would take a ferry to Stockholm for our Scandinavian experience. We spent a night in Olsztyn, whose claim to fame is that it is located near the Wolf’s Lair, Hitler’s eastern command post. It’s best known as the site of a 1944 assassination attempt on Hitler (one of many in fact, but all unsuccessful) and also the basis for the movie Valkyrie (a really horrible movie, by the way). 

We arrived at Gdansk the next day with not much time to spare before our ferry ride, thus we only managed to wander down a street that sold loads of amber jewelry and do lunch. The jewelry was quite pretty but since I’m no gem expert, I thought it was better to stick to buying postcards. We also managed to stumble onto a famous restaurant, Pod Lososiem, though we only knew it was famous after entering the restaurant. Apparently Pope John Paul II hired them to cater his events! It was kind of after lunch hours when we were there so it was rather empty. The food was really good and it was a yummy way to end our trip in Poland.

Wanton soup, anyone?

Beautiful Streets of Gdansk

Understanding the past in Krakow

Krakow was our next stop after Levoca. Getting there was an adventure in itself with snow coming down on us. Imagine, snow in May! Totally freak weather.

When we finally got to Krakow, luckily there was no snow, instead the weather was pleasant and lovely. We did two walking tours in Krakow, one regarding Krakow in general and one specifically about the Jews in Krakow.

The general tour started at St Mary’s Basilica. There is a bugle call every hour from the highest tower and people clap and wave to the guy who blows the bugle. Firemen are rotated in shifts to blow the bugle and apparently it’s quite the honor to get to do so. It was rather interesting, though I was thinking for the people who work there, it must be quite tiring to wave to the guy every hour. The tour took us around the Old Town and up to Wawel Hill where the royal castle, cathedral and royal tombs are.  We didn’t visit any of those though as they weren’t very appealing to us for some reason.

St Mary’s Basilica

For the Jewish tour, we headed to Kazimierz, the Jewish quarter. We watched Schindler’s List before arriving in Krakow so it was interesting for us to hear the guide explain some Jewish traditions, such as the Mezuzah, which Jews affix to the door frames of their house as a constant reminder of God’s presence, as well as the tradition for Jews when they visit a grave, to leave a small stone on the marker as a sign of respect. I must say the Jews in Poland really did have a very sad life. While they did enjoy a long period of stability and prosperity in Poland, everything changed in World War II. It is estimated that 90% (around 3 million) of Jews were annihilated which is frankly quite a shocking number. After the tour, we visited Oskar Schindler’s factory (http://www.krakow-info.com/schindler.htm), which has been converted into a museum about the war time experiences in Krakow under the Nazi occupation. The museum was really informative and I appreciate how the exhibits were displayed to bring about the true horror of what happened.

Memorial for Jews murdered during the liquidation of the Ghetto

The next day, we visited Auschwitz. I think nothing you have ever read or seen can prepare you when you actually visit it. The place had official guides who will be assigned to each group. Everyone has to follow the guide and we are not allowed to wander off by ourselves. Though the place was packed with visitors, it didn’t feel overly crowded. Some of the exhibits got a bit overwhelming and affected me quite a bit. It was a bit like how I felt when I went to the genocide museum in Phnom Penh, there is just this overwhelming feeling of sadness that totally engulfs a person. It is pretty astonishing how the Nazis got away with what they did, though in this day and age it would be pretty hard for someone to do the same.

One thing we realized was that the image of Auschwitz that we see in movies is actually Birkenau, which was even bigger than Auschwitz, and more horrific if that is even possible. Unlike Auschwitz, only the barracks and remains of the gas chambers are in Birkenau, it is however more than enough to convey what happened there. Words are a bit hard to express how we felt there, and all I can say is that you have to go there yourself to understand it.

We have no pictures from Auschwitz. CS felt it wasn't a place to be a tourist and any attempt to show the atrocities that happened there would not be enough. A visit is the only way to pay respect, to see for yourself and ensure nothing like this would ever happen again.

Our visit to Krakow may have ended on a really sad note, however we both really appreciate that we made a trip there.