Finally home

Hey friends!  Happy Saturday - I am actually in Geneva!  The past month has been a total whirlwind of travel, so I'm very happy to finally be home for a weekend.  Unfortunately, I spent a full day in the office today, and I'm heading back in tomorrow ugh.  On the bright side, this project is almost over!  We are supposed to deliver on Wednesday, so I am really looking forward to the (four-day!) Easter weekend!!

This morning before going to work, I met up with Courtney for a Saturday morning run!  We went along the "other" side of the lake, and the views were incredible!

Looking onto "my side" of the lake

From looking at these pictures, you'd never guess that the rest of the day was grey and gloomy.

Spring is coming!!!

High five!

Even though work has kept me from really being able to enjoy Geneva while I've been home this week, there are still some definite perks to being back in town.  One of the best things about being home is being able to eat real food.  I have always loved restaurants, but sometimes, you just want to cook and eat veggies!  Although I've been working a lot this week, I've tried to eat at least some of my meals at home.  Apparently, I only eat from bowls.

Oats with berries

Millet with veggies and feta

Yogurt with berries and meringues

Barley and berries

Now I am waiting for my dinner to finish roasting in the oven, and then I will be heading over to explore a new (to me) section with a new friend.  Daylight savings time in Geneva is actually tonight (it's so confusing that it's not at the same time as everyone else!), so the fact that we will lose an hour, combined with the fact that I have to work in the morning probably means that it won't be too late of night.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Weekend in Stockholm

Hello friends!  First of all, I want to tell you that Sunday night, after I got off the plane, I came home, changed into my running clothes, and ran EIGHT miles!  Boom.

Ok.  Back to the topic at hand - I spent the weekend in Stockholm!  As you may know, I've been working in Tallinn, Estonia for the past couple of weeks, and so when Stephanie told me she would be working in Sweden and had a free weekend in Europe, I suggested that we meet in Stockholm to explore!  Neither of us had ever been before, so it really worked out well!

Leaving Tallinn for the last time for a while (hopefully)

After my 45 minute flight from Estonia, I landed in Stockholm!  It was cold and rainy when I landed, so we had a pretty low-key evening of dinner and drinks.  Even though I just saw Stephanie last month, it is always so fun to catch up and explore a new place together!  We reminisced about some of the adventures we have had.. I am so thankful for my friends.

Saturday morning, we woke up to blue skies!

The forecast told us that Sunday was going to be a bit gross, so we wanted to take full advantage of Saturday for exploring the city.  Stockholm, like St. Petersburg, is a city built on a bunch of water, so based on the recommendations of several people, we headed straight down to the water to hop on a boat tour!

On our way, we passed the Royal Palace

Perfect day for a boat ride (with a jacket and a scarf haha)

Normally, there are different canal tours that you can take, but those don't start until April, so we took the Winter Tour that takes you out towards the archipelago.  It was a quick ride - only 75 minutes - but it was a nice little boat tour where we learned a bit more about Stockholm and the various landmarks that are along the water.

We got back to shore just before the changing of the guards at the Royal Palace, so we headed over to see what all the fuss was about.

In Russia, our guide told me that the lion is the symbol of Sweden

We got to the courtyard area where the changing of the guard happens about 25 minutes before it was to start, and there was already a crowd gathering.  We stayed and watched pretty much the whole thing.  I was a little underwhelmed, although I guess I'm not sure exactly what I expected.

These guys just basically traded walky-talkys and were done with it.

We wandered through the Old Town area until we found a place for lunch.  Actually, they were serving brunch, so I enjoyed some smoked salmon on a waffle!  The abundance of seafood in Stockholm was awesome :)

In the afternoon, we did a free walking tour - I am quickly becoming a huge fan of these!!  I was a little bit worried when we arrived because the group was quite big, but our guide was really good.  He was informative and funny, but he kept us moving at a pretty good pace as well.  Stephanie and I ended up making friends with another American, and we ended up leaving the tour about 15 minutes early because we were so cold!!

The three of us (me, Stephanie, and our new friend Dan) warmed up with over a few beers and then headed to dinner.  I am SO disappointed in myself that I didn't get a picture of this restaurant, because it was called Formosa!!  We had dumplings and hot pot, and I was so happy :)

I know it's not Swedish cuisine, but I don't care!

Sunday we slept in a little since the weather was a bit gray.  Once we were up and moving, we took the ferry over to the Vasa Museum.  Way back when, Sweden built this beautiful and giant ship. It was meant to be the pride of the Swedish navy, but it sank on it's maiden voyage.  Our guide on Saturday's boat tour actually showed us where the boat started to sink - not very far from the shore at all actually.  (The boat was actually built too high and not wide enough at the base.  Basically, the king just kept wanting it bigger and bigger, and at some point, physics was just ignored.)  It was quite the tragedy.

The Vasa was drawn up and restored, and now there is a museum for it!  The boat is 98% restored, which is incredibly unique, since most battleships are basically destroyed during their life span.  I was really impressed with the beautiful ship itself, but also with the museum!  It took us less than an hour to look through, but it was really cool!

It's HUGE

Super intricate detail carved into the ship

The different levels of the museum let you see so many different angles ofthe ship

See those people on the right side?  This ship is enormous.

Pffftttt

Rawr!

We ended our time in Stockholm with some Swedish meatballs, and then packed up our things and headed to the airport.  It was a quick trip, but I'm already looking forward to my next visit!

Midnight blogging

Hi friends.  It's 6 am in Estonia, and I've been up for about 2.5 hours already.  I guess I only managed to sleep a few hours before being woken up by thoughts of work.. spreadsheets, task lists, etc.  Sigh.

I tried going back to sleep for a while, but when it became clear to me that it wasn't going to happen, I logged on to try to get a few things done for work during these peaceful midnight hours.  I also managed to use this extra time to sort out a few things on the personal front, including some planning for some upcoming travel!

Today I have a full day in the office ahead of me, but tonight I'm taking a quick one-hour flight over to Stockholm to hang out with Stephanie for the weekend!  So excited :)

Meanwhile, here are a few other random pictures from my phone over the past week or two.  Bon weekend!

Sunday market spices

I used the spices to make this soup, and it was AMAZING!

Book club with people on Whole30

At book club, we basically all agreed that this book wasn't our favorite.  But apparently it won a Pulitzer?!

In Germany!

Beers of the Balkans

Staying hydrated at work

One of my favorite places in Geneva!  A half chicken, roasted potatoes, and salad for 15 CHF!

A cat sat at our dinner table