Almost Home

Hello, hello. I am finally back in civilized land. There was really no chance for internet use once we left Stockholm. The woman who runs the farm where we stayed has a computer which we probably could have used, if it was urgent, but all I wanted was to check my email and see if anyone wrote to me on Facebook. Not urgent, unfortunately. And then yesterday, we stayed at a weird hotel near the airport in Stockholm, but their "business center" consisted of two computers which you had to stand up at the reception desk to use, and the internet was down besides. I was not happy about that. It really was a weird hotel. I felt like I had landed on a space station somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It was all glass and steel and odd round hallways. It was not homey at all. And there were round portholes in the bathrooms, which looked out into the main room. I guess this was to allow natural light in the bathroom, but it also made me feel like I was having a shower in a submarine.

We are staying in Frankfurt tonight, preparatory to leaving for Portland in the morning. (Yay!) I am ready to go home. More than ready, in fact. I have had many interesting adventures and have enjoyed my trip for the most part, but I have grown weary of digging through a suitcase for my shampoo, and of worrying that I will run out of clean clothes before we can do some laundry again.

I know, I'm a whiner. Here I am in Europe, seeing the great cathedrals and castles, and partaking of delicious cuisine, and all I want right now is to go home and sit on my couch in clean pajamas with a cat in my lap and watch a movie in English.

Except maybe no cat in my lap, since I hear it's been 105 degrees in Portland this week! Ugh.

I will get back to our Swedish adventures once I'm home, since it's costing me €4.50 for 45 minutes of internet time here, but here is a short anecdote to tide you over: when we landed in Frankfurt today, we immediately got the shuttle to our hotel (sort of--we waited and waited and waited for the shuttle outside the airport, and when it came we got seats, but a group of about 8 with suitcases did not fit into the small van and they were mad). It was already after 2 when we arrived and took our heavy bags up to our hotel rooms for the last time, so we decided to have lunch here at the hotel and then go to town to explore a little. I expected that the restaurant would be deserted, maybe even closed, but when we walked in there were several tables of people chattering away, and the food--oh, the food!

There was a table of desserts right inside the door, strawberry cakes and chocolate mousse and cherry sauce and blueberry cake and apple cake and chocolate pastries. There was a table of fruit and cheeses. There was a table of green salad, with sliced cucumber and mushrooms and olives and mozzarella balls and other things to choose from. There were two kinds of soup, and a whole spread of salmon and white fish. There were pastas and beef tips in wine sauce and brussel sprouts and broccoli au gratin. There was a carving station with mediterranean stuffed turkey. There was even a crepe bar.

I couldn't believe it.

So we sat down, and the waiter told us the price per person, and that it included sparkling wine and juice and water. And that's when it occurred to my dad that it was Sunday. This was Sunday brunch that we had stumbled upon. I didn't even know what day it was, but it certainly explained why groups of dressed-up Germans were eating a plentiful feast at 2 in the afternoon.

It was delicious. We stuffed ourselves (some more than others), having had a very bad dinner last night at our Stockholm airport hotel. (Seriously--it was awful. I had a shrimp sandwich that turned out to be fishy-tasting salad shrimp, partially congealed hard-boiled eggs, enough mayonnaise to coat the outside of the Vatican, and a small piece of cold bread. It was disgusting. I had to go to the supermarket afterward and buy a bag of nuts, the only thing I found that sounded good and didn't require cooking. And that was after they told us the damn internet wasn't working until Monday!)

And for lunch yesterday, we had eaten at McDonalds while traveling back to Stockholm. Yes, I know. But as I told my parents, it's kind of interesting to see what different things are offered, or what is not offered, at McDonalds in another country. Basically, the Swedish one was a lot like the American one. Not as different as China, where they serve taro pies in addition to apple, and pork nuggets. Anyway, it was fine for one meal but I was hungry and disappointed last night after all that.

Hmm, this has been a food-heavy missive, but you can see what's been on my mind.

Tomorrow, all things going in our favor, we fly home to Portland! I am so ready to be home. I am hoping to recover quickly from jet lag, because I start my NEW JOB on Thursday. Yay.

I will write more about Sweden as soon as the jet-lag wears off at home.