Trip to Uppsala.
In and around Sweden
see all photos »
Monday, February 25, 2008 - Al and Kathy (Jon's parents) dropped us off at the airport around 1:30 for our 4:25pm flight to Uppsala, Sweden. Our flight was on schedule up until the last hour; at which time they announced the flight was being delayed until 8:30 due to a failed part that could only be replaced by taking it out of the plane from Copenhagen that was in route. Between 4:30 - 8:30 it started to snow a lot as the pictures will show (but not to the extent it truly was). Around 8:00pm we were finally called to start boarding the plane. The plane we rode in was a skybus - it sat 2 people on each end of the rows and then in the middle it sat 4 people! Unfortunately, Jon and I were in the middle row but towards the end. The plane had tv's in the seat in front of each passanger so that you could watch a movie, listen to music, play games, or watch the sky from the pilots window or from below. Since we were delayed for about 4 hours we were anxious to get in the sky. BUT - we had to wait another 2 - 2.5 hours for a truck to arrive to de-ice the plane so that we could take off! During this time, as you can see in the pictures, Jon played golf! It was much harder than it looked. Most of the passangers on the flight were Scandinavian and a vast majority of them read the tabloids both while waiting for boarding as well as on the plane.
see all photos »
Finally, around 11 we took off for Uppsala. After a dinner of pork and mashed potatoes Jon and I slept. When we awoke we were flying just north of Dublin. A short time after that we were served a breakfast of yogurt, cheese, roll, and OJ.
When we got off the plane we walked throw the arrival section of the airport terminal - but we could see the departure area all was covered with brazilian hard wood floors. I did check out the bathroom - though there was nothing unique about it...
see all photos »
Once through customs, our taxi driver helped us load our luggage into his van so that he could take us to GE to get the key to the apartment. Before the taxi driver could start the car though, he had to breath into a breathalizer and that both of us had our seatbelts on.
The scenery between the airport (located half way between Uppsala and Stockholm) and Uppsala surprised us. It is the kind of scenry you would image seeing in Oregon (as Jon put it), with all the tall evergreen trees and open land. However, once in Uppsala we saw our first McDonald's (though we have been told Mack's is better - by the taxi driver), Subway and IKEA. The people look the same as in the U.S. except they wear different clothes and have different types of shoes that they wear.
see all photos »
When we got to the house, we unpacked as quickly as we could and relaxed a little bit. We soon realized,however, that we didn't have anything to make for dinner. So, we took a walk towards downtown Uppsala. We stopped at a Bar/Cafe. Jon had Beef Brisket (better than Famous Dave!!!) and I had Hungarian Goulash (very very very spicy). It was rather embarassing because when the bill came we had to have the server explain it to us. Apparently, the cost printed on the menu is what you will pay - it already includes the taxes into that amount. However, on the receipt (most places that is) will break out a part for tax purposes that will show how much of the total cost was from taxes. The server gave us several more options of food places to try out...one of which was SUSHI...i'm still not sold on that place yet....
see all photos »
On our rainy walk home, we saw the largest rabit either of us had ever seen. The rabbit was twice the size of Mr. Furry!!! We wanted to take a picture but it was too dark outside and the camera we had with us doesn't have flash. I'm sure we'll run into another one soon.
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler KandJBird
KandJBird has not entered any entries for this blog yet.
Would you like to comment or ask a question?