Kristianstad

The clouds hung over but they didn't let any rain out.  Beautiful, nonetheless.

This past week has been a long intense week of studying.  I had an end-of-course written exam on Thursday.  It was a very long test (4 hours!) and I am happy to have it over.  A few friends and I decided to skip town when it was over to celebrate finishing and see another part of Sweden.  We took the train from the West Coast and went to visit Kristianstad on the East Coast of Southern Sweden (1 hour away).

People looked at us like we were crazy when we said we were going to Kristianstad. "Why?" Was the common question.  It isn't exactly known for being anything special.  And in reality, everything we did there we could have done here.  But it was so nice to do it somewhere else.  The train ride had a pleasant rhythmic comfort that fostered good conversation, we had fika (gotta have it at least once a day), walked the pedestrian street (every town has one), visited the local museum (textiles and video games?), had a big parsley salad for lunch (Sweden hasn't discovered kale yet) and biked out into the countryside to a big lake.

Heliga Trefladighetskyrkan, a church commissioned by the Danish King Christian IV is one of his 
most famous and beautiful building accomplishments. (Southern Sweden used to be part of Denmark)

We saw tons of children out dressed as ghosts (or Saints?) for All Saints Day.

An old railroad bridge across the canal

Fika break with a bike map of the area

Local museum had a sensor rigged pig, named Matilda, that made noises when you "touched it lovingly."

The museum also had an exhibit on video games throughout the years.
Seattle, SF, I would get, but Kristianstad? Weird.

Biking through the countryside to Hammarsjön Lake

Hammarsjön Lake, very reminiscent of a MN scene

Resting along the lake to take it all in

Again, it was a really great day of being with friends, meandering through a new town and enjoying life in Sweden.  I couldn't have asked for a better end of my week.