Summer Socialist

Hi Everyone,
I woke up this morning to get the coolest thank you note for writing the blog from a random person, which kind of inspired me to finish the summer travel update. It also proves people actually read this blog, which I always wonder about. Increased readership is always a good thing, especially when you get a really nice message. As promised, this is the summer vacation edition, so enjoy this whirlwind tour to Sweden and Denmark. School has started, and I have a great group of fourth grade squirrels. However, I want to go back in time this blog, and wish I was in Sweden or Denmark.

Copenhagen, Denmark: Note to self, do not attempt to move classrooms with 16 first grade boys on the last day of school when you have a flight to Copenhagen at 2:40pm. Poor Milena and I were running around the school like crazy people trying to get people to move all my junk, I mean books and valuable supplies. It was during this moment I wished I wasn't such a book packrat and regretted my decision to keep EVERY SINGLE book.

Here is why you should go to Copenhagen:

1. Lots of bike riding and almost no bike theft. People just parked their bikes in the middle of Copenhagen and left them there UNLOCKED. On the weekend, we saw THOUSANDS of bikes, and no one left a lock on it. You could literally just take a bike, go riding around the city, and drop it off. If you left your bike unlocked in DC or Sofia, it would take three minutes for it to be stolen.


2. There is good shopping for random stuff, and a great bagel store. I found a great CD shop where I browsed through CDs for almost an hour, and Adair purchased herself a new camera.


3. You can take pictures like this in Nyhavn, which is a really cool spot, rain or shine.


4. There is a great bagel shop which you can avoid eating at fast food places because the price of food is simply insane.


5. I was able to find Miracle Whip at the grocery store.

Karlskrona Sweden: Adair and I decided to stop by this smaller town on the drive up the Baltic coast to Stockhom. Here are the highlights of our Sunday adventure:

1. Karlskrona is pretty much dead on Sunday. Sometimes, I felt like Adair and I were the only people walking around on Sunday in a town of 80,000.


2. Two old men stopped me and started speaking to me in Swedish. Since we were the only people walking around, it took little time to figure out they were talking to me. In Sweden, I had lots of people mistake me for a Swedish guy and speak Swedish to me when Adair was not around. In fact, I saw someone the identical twin to my brother Zack.


3. Watching movies such as Inglorious Bastards with Adair at the hostel, and cooking dinner with a stove that didn't work. To go here, you will need to take Adair and stay at the cheap hostel we stayed at which was nice compared to what we paid in other places.

Kalmar, Sweden:
Kalmar is a pretty cool town about 80km from Karlskrona, and it was a super easy drive the next day, and we got to wander around a very cool town, old town, and castle. Here is why you should go here:

1. There is a great old castle with cool art in it, and you can see great views from the Baltic.


2. There is a cool old town, but it rained a lot the day we were there. It would look a lot better in the sun. We did shop at H&M, since it was founded in Sweden. Of course, I had more people speaking Swedish to me when Adiar was not there.


3. MAX Burger: Adair and I were introduced to the MAX Burger fast food chain. It is the Swedish equivalent of McDonald's and your town must have a MAX Burger to even be considered a town. Lots of different burger varieties, free internet, and clean bathrooms. They also have a recycling system that is downright confusing because there are so many different containers.

Stockholm: Wow! That is Stockholm in one word. This is one of the prettiest cities I have visiting, and pictures do not do it words. You can check out my facebook album for Stockholm, because I couldn't just choose 1-2 pics from there. Here are some great reasons you should visit:

1. Vasa Museum: This is an indoor museum, with a Viking ship that sank in Stockholm harbor almost 400 years ago. The pulled it out of the harbor about 55 years ago, and now you can visit the ship and see for yourself what a real viking ship looked like. The water preserved it very well,


2. Beautiful people: Wow, is just about all I can say. There are so many good looking men and women that you almost need a bib to wipe off the drool because they are just so amazing to look at.


3. Island hopping: Stockholm is built on many islands, so you can go island hopping from boat tours, and see lots of cool things. The old town and everything else is easy to walk around.


4. Beautiful People: Yes, it needs to be repeated twice.

This concludes this edition of the blog. I could write about visiting Vancouver, Seattle, or DC this summer, but these places are not socialist enough to comment about. For the Tea Party enthusiasts such as Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, and Michele Bachmann, I needed to write about those socialist, communists states that will destroy America as we know it. If one of those Tea Party people get elected President next year, I will need to apply for Canadian citizenship. It was bad enough trying to explain to people why we elected George W. Bush twice. Once, they could understand, but never twice. I don't know where to begin with Bulgairans and Europeans if Rick Perry is elected president, or Michelle Bachmann. I will have to move to Sweden, get a higher paying job, learn Swedish, look at beautiful people all day, get free health care, and have a high standard of living.