Week 4 Italy Update

Feb 3 – end of Week 4.

Well, it’s that time again….time for an update from Italia!
When we last left our world traveling hero – me – I was just getting settled after the first week of being in a new country, new city, new continent, surrounded by new people and a new culture. Well, for all of you sitting on the edge of your seats in anticipation - and I know that’s all of you – I’m happy to report that I’m still in Viterbo, Italy, and I haven’t gone too crazy yet. But let me tell you what I have been up to:

Last weekend, Jan 25-27, I went to Stockholm Sweden with 2 of my roommates and two girls from our program. Stockholm was beautiful. We got there on Friday afternoon, and left early Sunday morning (there was only one flight to Rome everyday – at 7:20am – Lame!), so we were only in town for about 36 hours! We got into town and went to our respective hostels to drop off our stuff and head out on the town, as we had not a minute to waste. My two roommates who came, Massimo and Omar, were staying in a hostel on one of the central islands in the city. That’s right, Stockholm is situated across an archipelago of several islands. The two girls were staying on another island that was actually close to the island that I was due to stay on, so we all decided to walk in that direction together. We should’ve taken my suggestion and rode the metro, seeing as how we ended up walking about 2 miles along the coast of one island, with the cold wind bearing down on us, freezing our ears and faces, but hey, can’t have ‘em all right? Anyway, after the girls found their hostel, it was time to find mine. Seeing as how the reservation for where I was due to stay had been made by another guy in our program who got sick and bailed, I had no idea where the place was, just a name and a phone number. I was directed to a thin green island (as it looked on the map) and told “it’s easy to find once you’re on the Island, you can’t miss us.” Great. Upon seeing that the island was mostly covered in trees and dirt, I was skeptical to say the least when we got to the island. One end was totally dark, but the other end of the island appeared to have a few small buildings with a few lights. Apprehensively, we went in for a closer look. “This is an odd place for a hostel. How the hell did he find this place?” I wondered as we slowly made our way to the small complex of buildings. Finally, we reached a developed little area of the island, where a few medium sized buildings resembling a high school stood, and we saw a sign for the Langholmen Hotel. We had found it! As soon as we entered, I knew this was no ordinary hostel/hotel. After explaining that I was there for a reservation under someone else’s name, and no, he wasn’t with me, I got the receptionist to put me in a room with 2 British guys (whom I hardly ever saw). It was also during this encounter that I realized I had just read about this place a little earlier in a friend’s Let’s Go Europe! guide book. This place was an old prison that had been converted into a hotel in the late 1980’s, and my room was actually an old cell! How cool is that? My cell:

So after I got done checking in, and we procured some restaurant recommendations from the girls behind the counter, we set off in search of sushi. We ended up at Helen’s Sushi (how funny is that?) and had a pretty good meal, save for the fact that they put mayonnaise in their California rolls and didn’t put the orange Salmon Roe on the outside of them.

We spent the rest of the night just kind of wandering around, checking out the nightlife in good ol’ Stockholm. Apparently due to the unusually warm weather they were having (mid 30’s Fahrenheit – take that global warming non-believers) and the fact that it was payday, meant that the streets were actually packed with Swede’s running around from here to there. Crazy Swedes. Not really though, everyone we met and talked to was actually very nice. Everyone speaks Swedish and English, EVERYONE. English is actually taught from 2nd grade all the way through graduation of high school, and you can’t graduate unless they’re fluent in it. Really makes you wonder why the US doesn’t do that with Spanish. The city itself is remarkably clean and surprisingly modern. We ended up finding an Absolute Ice Bar – one of only 4 in the world. Naturally we had to check it out (Don’t worry, no one’s tongue got stuck to anything). It was actually pretty cool – yes, pun intended. We got lots of pictures and had only 2 drinks seeing as how they were about 9 Euro (after conversion) each. But when the hell else are we gonna be able to go into a bar made of ice?

Me and the small Ice Bar Menu.

Saturday morning, we all wandered around by ourselves, seeing as how we all wanted to see different stuff, and decided to meet up for lunch. Myself, I walked all around the city center, up and down their main walking street that’s full of shops. I got few souvenirs, including a pair of Birkenstock sandals from an actual Birkenstock store(!), which I had never seen before. Come to find out, it’s the only one in Sweden, so there! I made my way to the “top” of the walking street, which is like the “corso” in Italian cities. When I got the high end, there was a small knob of a hill that afforded some good views of part of the city. Seeing as how Stockholm is a coast city, there aren’t too many elevation changes, but true to my nature, I found one of the high spots. The knob had views of half of the city, with the other half being blocked by trees or buildings. I sat there for a little while, eating some chocolates I had bought and drinking in the cool Scandinavian air.

When it came time for lunch we met up and went to find some authentic Swedish food. What we did find was a place that had chalk boards outside proclaiming that they served Reindeer, Elk, and Venison. Sold right then, we went in without even seeing the name of the place. Turns out it’s the Glenfiddich Warehouse. Roughly 100 types of Scotch/Irish whiskey stared up at us from the menu, calling us to drink it. But seeing as how it was only 1:30 in the afternoon, we passed. 3 people in our group got the Reindeer, I got the rack of Venison, and the other got the Elk. They were all magnificent. The reindeer had one of the best sauces I’ve ever had in my life – a lingonberry cream sauce, which was more cream than berry, but it was amazing.

After lunch, we split back up and Massimo & I went to find a restaurant that was rumored to have 44 course dinners. After lunch, we figured the bar had been set pretty high, and we needed to find something that would fit the bill. We walked to 2 different islands, directed there by confused Swedes, neither of which turned out to be the right place. One of the islands didn’t even have restaurants of any kind, just a collection of museums. Confused, cold, and tired, we decided to ask the ladies behind the museum counter if THEY knew where it was. They looked at the address we had written down, and pointed to the street where Massimo and Omar’s hostel was, on the edge of the island we had just been on. DAMNIT!! So we walked all the way back over to that island and find the building – directly across the street from his hostel! Only thing is, the restaurant is not there anymore. We decided to warm up, and seeing as how it was right there, we stepped into his hostel to ask the receptionist for some help. After much hassle on her part, and appreciation on ours, it was discovered that the restaurant had closed and was set to reopen in ten days inside of a new hotel. So close, but so far. We asked her for some recommendations and decided on one of them – a medieval restaurant that specialized in Swedish medieval food.

It was a good companion to our amazing lunch. No light bulbs, only candles. No chairs, only benches and stools (which hurt the ass a lot). And lots of amazing food: Pheasant, medieval bacon, ribs, apples, kraut, chick pea soup, and our personal favorite (at least in name) was a stew of rooster, which the waitress had translated as a “castrated cock.” What we think she meant was “beheaded” or “decapitated”, but it was just so funny we had to order it. They also had beaver on the menu, but the kitchen was out that day, due to a late shipment. Oh well, can’t have it all. At the end of the meal, the waitress asked us if we wanted any vodka that they made in the restaurant. There were 3 kinds – one with jalapenos, one with something else, and one with something she couldn’t translate. Being adventurous, Massimo and I said bring us both one of the last kind. Turns out, what she couldn’t translate was horseradish, and boy was it potent. The looks on our faces say it all:

The rest of the night, we spent at a local club, dancing it up with local Swedes. It didn’t take long for me to remember how much I hate going to bars/clubs like that. Too many stupid slutty girls, and too many stupid douche bag guys trying to hit on said females. LAAAAME! Seeing as how our flight was at the asscrack of dawn, and we needed to take an hour long bus ride there, we all decided not to even sleep that night, so we stayed out till 3 o’clock, headed back to our hostels, got our crap, and hopped on the 4am bus to the airport. After a few minor hassles at the airport, we were ready to go – except Omar. When booking his flight, and sitting next to other people doing the same, the numbskull booked his return flight for MONDAY morning instead of SUNDAY morning. So he was stuck in Stockholm, or rather at the airport and hour away, for an extra day. Oh well. As we got on the plane, the good weather we had been fortunate enough to experience decided to leave, as the snow started falling in droves. Figure the odds. All in all, a whirlwind, but rewarding trip. Worth going back, but also worth staying longer than 36 hours.

Whew! That’s a lot to catch you up on. And that’s not even talking about the weekend we spent in Rome the week before that. Let me sum that up for you – Rome is beautiful, old, noisy, full of ruins, and full of tourists. Check it out.
Up next on the Itinerary of Ron the World Traveler – Prague, Czech Republic, at the beginning of March: Friday the 6th through Tuesday the 11th. I’ll be going with Massimo, Mike (one of the USAC staff) and Barbara, the woman mentioned in the last post. She studied there last semester, so she’ll be acting as our tour guide.

Anyway, tonight is the Super Bowl, which starts at mid-night here. Massimo’s Italian tongue and my smarts have talked a local restaurant owner to stay open and let us come watch the game. We had a signup sheet to see how many people would be interested in watching the game, and 40 of the 60 people in the USAC program signed up. The reason for that was to make sure we had a large enough group to make it worth the guy’s trouble to stay open until 3:30/4am. His place always shows soccer games, but they also usually close about 12 or 1am, so he said as a favor to us, loyal regulars that we are, he would be willing to consider it if we could make it worth it. We told him 40 people, and he said that would be enough. So I thank myself for the idea, and Massimo for doing the talking. It should be fun.

Anyway, much love to all, and have a fun Super Bowl Sunday.

Peace out,

~Ron