Julmässan (Christmas Fair)

I am more than ready for Christmas now! It was a beautiful Christmas market inside the Kalmar Slott, lot’s to look at and the 3^rd biggest in Sweden.

Here are a few pictures as promised:

Kalmar Castle

Inside the castle

                  

Roasted nuts

Court yard

The bottom half of the castle was filled with food to taste, of course we had to check that out! All the homemade jams, fresh bread, roasted nuts, fancy cheeses, and meat. Now usually I’m not one for trying random meat, (keep in mind my Dad hunts and I grew up on deer and moose meat) I can tolerate it but it’s not my favourite.

As we were walking by we saw one of the booths sampling and selling sausage, the Swedish man at the table cut us off a piece and insisted we try it, so of course being polite Canadians we do. I start chewing the mystery meat, as I continue ..one of the girls asks “so what kind of meat is this?” the man calmly replies with “HORSE” and points at the picture of the horse on the label of the meat package. I manage to get the meat down without gagging, you have to be kidding me I just sampled HORSE, who eats horse! I guess next time I will stick to my guns, no more sampling street meat for this girl!

Christmas Markets

As of November 25^th most Christmas markets in Sweden are officially set up. The markets are one of my favourite parts about European Christmases! Toasted candied almonds, traditional Christmas cookies, Christmas decorations, and many other handmade items are usually found at all markets. Along with beautiful light displays and traditional Christmas music! Christmas markets in Europe are very traditional and each town has their own.

Last year we took in a few different Christmas markets, here’s a look back:

Kerstmarket in Valkenburg, Netherlands
Most amazing Christmas Market, held in old caves and tunnels which run underneath the town
http://www.christmasmarkets.com/Holland/valkenburg-christmas-market.html



Streets of Valkeburg



Inside the caves



Winterland Christmas Market in Amsterdam with my cousin Meagan





Holland's traditional Santa Claus "Sinterklaas" and his elf "Zwarte Piet"



The Christmas market in Kalmar is starting tomorrow here’s the best part..its INSIDE the Kalmar Slott castle!  One of the girls and I are going tomorrow since the guys will be gone all day. Pictures to comeJ

Nybro’s Christmas market starts on Sunday as well, it will be a weekend full of Christmas markets!

Another Saturday

After spending the week cooped up in our apartment with a bad cold (thanks to Ty for looking after me and putting up with my whining), I figured it was time to get out and get some fresh air! We bundled up and headed into Kalmar for a few hours, even though I’m not feeling 100% it felt good to get out. Fall has definitely arrived, the crisp air and frosty mornings give it away. Tomorrow I’ll spend the afternoon at the Victoriahallen cheering on the Vikings and hoping for another win.

Here are some pictures from today:)

                                               So happy to be on the train

                                               Kalmar train station

                                                       Out and about

                                                  Indoor mall

                                                 Taking a break

                                                           Coffee!

Sending best wishes to my Jennabelle as she fly’s to St. John’s tomorrow; I’m so excited to hear all about your adventures on the “Rock” for the next 8 months! xo

Ps: For any of my readers who were receiving emails from my blog (to notify you of new posts) I have gotten rid of that gadget. You’ll have to check back for new posts, or sign up for an account and follow me. Sorry for any inconvenience!

In Love With Kalmar

It was the perfect day, the sun was shining and there was no wind for once! We had a lot of fun in Kalmar; it's about a 10 minute train ride from Nybro. I can see us going there at least once a week now:) We trained in with some friends and then went for Sushi, still love North American Sushi better!

We walked around the city (population 100,000) and did some shopping:) I handed out some resumes as well, fingers crossed. Mostly everyone spoke English which made me feel more at ease; it had a different atmosphere then some of the bigger cities we visited last year in Holland and Germany.

Here are some pictures from our day trip:

                                                            Cathedral

                                                          Kalmar Slott

                                                       Along the harbour

                                                          Streets of Kalmar

Ty left this morning he won't be home until early tomorrow morning, it's cold, rainy and really gloomy. Feeling a little bit home sick so I invited Jenny & another girlfriend (I haven't met yet) over for dinner and a movie. A little girl’s night is just what the homesickness doctor ordered! I think ill make some chicken quesadilla's and a salad for dinner.

I'm quite excited about the app I added on my IPod, it lets me send text messages home to Canada for FREE! (as long as I have WIFI). Most of you probably already received a text message or two from me since I was overly excited and sent out a bunch! Gotta love technology:)

I hope everyone's enjoying the weekend<3

Hurricane Winds

The winds this week have been atrocious, parts of Sweden were left with torrential rains and winds from the aftermath of Hurricane Katia. To say the least it wasn't the best bike riding weather. I was practically blown over with my basket full of groceries trying to bike home Eeek!

Earlier in the week I got my gym pass.. hooray! I am now a member of Friskis & Svettis, the gym is quite small, but very modern we have started to go every morning it's a good routine:)

I baked chewy granola squares on Tuesday..I would rate them only about a 6/10 since the syrup & honey in Sweden have a different consistency, long story short my squares crumbled to pieces. Good thing I have a sweet guy who will eat ANYTHING I bake even if it involves using a spoon!

We are off to Kalmar tomorrow I’m so excited, we will leave after practise and spend the afternoon/evening exploring the city. It will be nice to get out of this small town for the afternoon:)

It's Friday! Have a Fantastic day<3