December 24 - Helsinki, Finland

I took a slow moving boat from the port of Stockholm into the port of Helsinki. Actually, it was very calming to be on the boat. Except for the fact that the boat kept making these weird groaning noises...the same ones that the Titanic made in the movie after it had hit the iceberg and was starting to break up. My cabin was underneath the water line and that was kinda freaky. I shared the cabin with three others and it started out okay but turned into the worse night of sleep possible. The first guy I met was a Russian. He bought a bottle of whiskey from the dutyfree and we spent a good couple of hours drinking it while talking about russian hockey. That was the good part. The bad part was he snored heavily and the chinese guy on the other top bunk made these bird calls throughout the entire night. Bird calls. Exactly. Heading back to Sweden in 2 days.
ed

December 22nd - Stockholm

04nobel
Originally uploaded by cherubichomer.

So, this is the Nobel Museum in Old Stockholm. (Old Stockholm is a small island just east of New Stockholm...does that make sense?)It's kinda neat from the outside but when you get inside you discover pretty quickly that the outside is probably the best part of the museum. It's weird that the museum is so dinky. Considering the city goes into celebration mode every December when they hand out the awards and how prestigous it is to get one of the Nobels (not to mention the $1.3 Million US you get with winning) the museum is a huge letdown. There are only six tiny rooms - well eight if you count the coat room and restaurant. One room is dedicated to Albert Einstein, two others are video rooms, and the remaining three are exhibits of stuff like the hat that one Nobel Laureate wore every day to work...I know, I don't really understand the relavance either. I was told that the museum had the original Watson and Crick DNA model but when you look at the model and the pictures the colors of the molecues are different. I kinda think they're pulling a fast one.

Today is day two of Sweden and I've already done all the things that I had planned to do. Unfortunately, hockey is out since the teams are on a Christmas break. Djurgarden is the nearest team that's on an island just east of Old Stockholm. Djurgarden aren't a very good team this year (they lost about 12 players to the NHL this year) but their next game is against HV17, which happens to be the best team in the Swedish Elite League. Unfortunately, that game is on the day that I return back to England. I'm looking into getting to Finland tomorrow. It's weird, though, that it's looking like a pretty difficult task. I can't figure out how to get there by ferry because all the ferries work outside of the country for some reason. The train might be an option but I couldn't figure that out either. Easyjet, Ryan Air, and Airberlin don't fly directly to Finland from here and Blue1 and Scandanavia Air are really expensive. I'll try something in the morning. I may go to the Vasa Museum if there's nothing else to do but I'm 90% sure I'll be on my way out of Sweden tomorrow and 99% sure that I won't be spending Christmas in Sweden.

News

So, I've booked my flight for Sweden and I'm off on December 21st to December 28th. I'm really excited because this is about the time that they hand out the Nobel Prizes. Of course, it doesn't go out until the new year but I'm sure there will be some heavy scientist about the town at about the same time as me. As well, we have decided to book a van and drive up to Scotland for the New Year. Six people in a small van beginning December 29th. It'll be fun, I think. Whatever.

I haven't received my tickets for Turin Winter Games yet but they billed my credit card so I'm positive I'll be there for February 19th games (USA vs. Sweden and Finland vs. Canada) and the women's final on February 20th.

I've purchased tickets for the World Cup of Football in Germany, too. The tickets are super cheap but they sell out very quickly. I'll get a response email in two days telling whether or not I've got the tickets for Brazil vs. Australia. (It's Odette's choice...she wants to watch her home country play the hot Brazillian tean.) The game is in Munich and I'm sure it'll be a great time.

We're in the end stretch before Christmas. The year elevens are all studying for mock exams so I don't have to teach them. I only have seven teachable hours this week. What a relief.

Got a weird email from Guy dressed as a dwarf type thing. Odd indeed.

Hope all is well.

Ed