Stockholm, Sweden. 27 Dec 2010 - 1 Jan 2011

After arriving home on the 26th from Bulgaria we then headed off to Stockholm for New Years on the 27th. We didnt make it to our hotel until about 2am and all the doors were locked. We were hoping we didnt have to sleep on the street because it was FREEZING!! On our first day we wandered around the streets of Stockholm and managed to fit in a bit of shopping. We were overwhelmed by how cold it was and that it was dark around 3pm.

Paul waiting outside shops while Lauren and David shop



Square in the centre of Stockholm

Me after a snow ball fight (and preparing a ball in my hand)

Walking through the old town

Paul and a massive christmas tree

View of Stockholm

Royal Palace

Lovely snowy treeline

While in Stockholm we took a ride up the top of the Ericsson Globe. The Globe hosts concerts, sporting events, ice rink events, shows and much more. We also visited the Vasa Museum which is home to the ship wreck. Vasa sank in 1628, after only 20 minutes of her maiden voyage and was not recovered until 1961. The ship was restored and restore work is still taking place. The museum was extremely interesting!

Ride we went on which took us to the top - I was scared (only a little though)

View from the globe

Inside the globe

Vasa museum - Replica of the Vasa ship

Paul pretending to steer the Vasa ship

We went to Skansen open air museum. The museum had a selection of Scandanavian animals, unfortunately the Brown bear was hibernating and it was like an old traditional Swedish Village.

Paul looking his handsome self

Seals making the most of the cool water

Owl! I loved this guy he had amazing features (click picture to enlarge)

Moose!

Cafe at Skansen where we stopped to dethaw our bodies

Little monkeys! CUTE

All wrapped up at Skansen open air museum (it was cold!)

As Stockholm is made up of 14 islands we decided to take a boat tour around some of the islands. As we were late and had secs to spare before the boat left, we had to sit outside with the nice fresh air and no blanket to keep us warm! After seeing some of the islands, we headed indoors for a nice cup of tea and Paul had a mulled wine. While inside the boat, we saw and heard the boat smashing through the thick ice to clear the path ahead. It was a realy enjoyable boat tour!

Paul on the boat tour

View from our boat tour

Lovely view from the boat

Breaking through the ice

The boat that took us on our tour

Junibacken - Lauren and I took a tour around this museum was really for children but hey only as young as you feel!



Inside the tube station

 New Years night and it was dumping with snow! We begun the evening with a wild party in Lauren and David's hotel room, we got our groove on, and I (Ash) taught Lauren and David how to REALLY dance. We then braved the weather to head into the city. We got to an area by the water where there was a band playing with lots of people having a good time. When it struck midnight there was lots of fireworks and a cruise ship sounding its fog horn. It was an awesome experience!

New Years night and I am all wrapped up to party hard! :)

Drinking in a door way to keep out of the snow

Mind the Swedish language at the beginning

On our way to the airport :(



Bulgaria 19th Dec - 26 Dec 2010

We headed off on our snowboarding holiday, something I wasn't overly looking forward to as I didn't know how to snowboard. It took an hour and a half to get to our destination in Borovets from the airport in Sofia. On arrival we had a look around the ski resort which took us about 5 minutes. The next day was when it all started.. snowboarding! While in Bulgaria I decided to get lessons to actually learn how to snowboard. I spent the next three days getting lessons, while Paul, David and Lauren were ripping it up on the mountain. After my third day of lessons I was thoroughly enjoying snowboarding and could finally hang out with the other three and start riding down the mountains with some confidence.

Ash and her teacher

 

The crew refuelling

While in Borovets we chose to do some optional activities where we went snowtubing, drove skidoos, went on a horse drawn sleigh ride, visited a monastrey and took a tour of Sofia on our last day.  

Ash on the Skidoo ready to ride

Ash racing around in the Skidoo

Me on the Skidoo

Rila Monastery

Santa Shaw

Prezzies!! (In my christmas themed p.js)

View from the top

Sleigh ride on christmas day

Paul snowboarding

On Christmas day we opened our pressies from Santa where we all received lovely presents. We then headed off for a spot of snowboarding, followed by our sleigh ride, a nice massage for Lauren and I (while the boys played table tennis), a yummy christmas dinner with great entertainment then out to have a nosey around the village. A very different christmas day to what we are use to!

The ladies at christmas dinner

Traditional Bulgarian dance



The boys

The locals in Sofia playing chess

Old Roman street found under Sofia

Paul!!

St Pauls Cathedral

We were excited about heading to St Pauls Cathedral for Christmas carols. When we got inside we realised it wasnt christmas carols, so we were abit disappointed but was still a good experience.

St Pauls

Inside St Pauls

Inside St Pauls

Thats my name...

Winter Wonderland

This evening we went to Winter Wonderland to start getting into the Christmas spirit. Winter Wonderland consisted of games, rides, food stalls and mulled wine!

Winter Wonderland

Inside winter wonderland

Enjoying some mulled wine

Paul Smashing away at the game, he keeped getting free turns!!

Competition on!!!



David looks scared, Lauren looks seedy and I am laughing my head off!!