Sweden: ICA Supermarket (Groceries Shopping) & Clothes Shopping (Kista Stockholm)

This blog will feature more on the pictures on shopping and what would Swedes do in their daily lives in Sweden.
As the saying goes, when you're in Sweden, do as the Swedes do? haha~
Ai ya yai, that should be the quote for Rome. :P
So, here they are.....jeng jeng jeng~~

Swedish ICA hypermarket (Maxi) which sells a full range of groceries, just like UK Tesco and French Carrefour.

Self service portable scanning device?
So are you waiting for ppl to help you? Better you help yourself...Just scan those items you wanted to buy while you shop and pay straight at the self-service counter, it's easier and faster that way ;)

Appelmust? Got this from ICA.
Drinking apple juice is a must? LOL~  I do eat apple everyday, except on weekends.
(Appel=apple, Must= Juice)

The vainpot was having her selfie moment :*

Can you spot the Bumble Bee? Bum bum~

The countryside view of Sweden.

Fooling around.... *bunny tooth*

On the way to Kista Stockholm for shoppinggggggg. Yay~

We've reached! The external view of the shopping mall.

Prawn salad for lunch! I love salad with prawns actually...It has always been my favourite starter food la...it recalls back those days when eating at Eden Restaurant, always having prawn salad as starter, back at home!
Prawn salad with the olive oil as dressing~ yum yum and particularly more delicious when we were hungry. hehe~

Coffee or Fika break anyone ;)
#coffeelatte #cappucino

Gevalia it says. but somehow my thoughts were playing trick with me..and I saw that as Genitalia. :P
Forgive my hamsap-ness (horniness)~wtf

Late lunch or coffee break at Cafe Leaf @ Kista Stockholm

Slut Rea? Is it for real? Did it mean that really got slut inside? hehe~
All guys will be enjoying themselves in this shop then *kidding*
All Swedes will come bashing me. Don't get me wrong, I like to play around with words especially for learning new languages, so that I could remember them easily.
It literally means final sale (Slut=Final, Rea=sale)

The view outside of the shopping mall, Kista Stockholm. Buildings..Ericsson brand is a Swedish brand for the mobile phone. Ericsson brand mobile phone was my first mobile phone back in Form 4, in which my dad gave it to me as a gift~

Saw my name..."Jackie"?? I even owned a shop at the shopping mall in Sweden!
How I wish I am a boss. *dreaming mode* *LOL*

The countryside view of Sweden. 
I remember that my art drawing Sir would teach me the basic of drawing by tracing with the art paper from his own drawing on the skyblue scenery which looked just like that.  
So, this scenery above sorta reminded me of my kiddo drawing when I attended the art class when I was in my primary school days. 
If I could retrieve those drawings again, I will take a good shot on it and show perhaps. ;)

The horses grazing the meadow view? ;)

 Part of the Enköping town, the housing and apartments area

 Enköping town

The cute lil' menu at Tapas restaurant

The champagne Brut: A bit of alcohol percentage in it and slightly sweet. *Favourita* 

Awesome sunset view in Enköping town, while having dinner at Tapas Restaurant 

Tapas Restaurant: I enjoyed this variety of small snack bites that we had. I always enjoyed a variety of food displayed for consumption. But speechless to compliment more. hehe~

#deepfriedcalamarirings
#mozarellacheesebruschetta (yummy to bits, loved the bull's cheese. Something new to me though and didn't taste cloying at all, unlike other cheese)
#frieddumplings (delicious to bits especially when it was hot & crunchy, served directly from the kitchen)
#olives (like eating preserved fruits products from China, for example orange peel....you know...not sure how to describe further. hehe. Not bad ahh)
#grilledprawns (the prawns didn't tasted that good as if it lacked of the X factor, but when you gave it some of the lemon squeeze, it tasted better)

Top left side pic: The brave and daring lil' Swedish crow. LOL~ Beware, it could snatch your food, right in front of your weary eyes. :P

Top right side pic: Colourful flowers at the town area

Another awesome sunset view in Enköping town, while having dinner at Tapas Restaurant XD

              
The top left hand side picture: Geographically in year 1200, we should be looking at a higher ground view and I was supposedly by right standing on water/ stream/ sea, from where I took this pic. Hmm...get what I mean? Either you're confused or you may think that it's interesting~~ But hell yeahhh, interesting and the Swedes government take the time to make the shore line mark along with its year to convey such information to the public.

The top right hand side picture: As we go further down the road, (200 years later), the land rises even more. This happened cause of geographical issues. But nowadays after 1000 years,  I think the world is on its clockwise cycle, with the melting of ice in Arctic and Antarctic lately...all lands are going to be drowned soon, going back to where it belongs. Say, bye bye Land! :/

A walk at the well-maintained greenery park after dinner in Enköping
Casual maxi dress - by Jane Norman

To end this, here's the supposedly photo sphere panoramic view of the Kista (pronounced as "sheesta") Stockholm area.
Splendid pic, don't you think? With its bright natural lighting of the sun and peaceful street.

Till here, hope that you all like it! Night night~ :D

Sweden: The Land of the Vikings

I've been really tired and busy with work~ Sometimes, I'm not even sure if it's worth to shorten my life by additional 10 years due to work problems and etc. I even slept as early as 9pm. Not much time to enjoy watching my favourite series, Korean drama and American series. And the next morning, the same old daily thing is repeating again. Aaaargghhhh....

Ok, anyway.... 

Here's a sneak peek of my Swedish holiday~

Anyway, when you're in Sweden, you'll get to visit some Vikings rune and you'll even hear them using Lagom (for just the right amount) and Tack (thank you). ;) 

The Swedish Kronor notes.
Notice the 50 Kronor with the music notes? They first caught my eye. Never seen music notes on cash notes before though. That's why....haha~

Awaiting for my KLM check-in counter to be opened. They opened the counter exactly 2 hours before departure. Luckily Birmingham airport is not a busy airport like London. So I guess not much to complain.
I'm not going to blog much about the on board KLM air stewardess, apparently,
IMHO, I think they were quite snooty, not friendly, especially the flight from Birmingham to Amsterdam. And if they were to smile to you, you could sense that it wasn't genuinely. I'm not too sure if I'm being sensitive as a Chinese here.
BTW, I'm not from China and I'm not a ruthless Chinese, mind you all...:P
In conclusion, not all Chinese are good and not all Chinese are bad either, similarly to other ethnicity as well~
Apparently, my flight was delayed for 30 minutes from Birmingham to Amsterdam as the Captain was waiting for a lady to shop for gifts, as no one could actually find her at the airport.
In the end, she came back with a big Duty Free bag filled with gift items. WTF~ I guess, flying with KLM was good, since they waited for all their passengers. I hope one day when I'm the late person, they will wait for me lah~ =.= 
(I actually filled up their survey form halfway, but it was too much questions being asked, so I ended up didn't complain directly to them via the website)

My flight from Amsterdam to Arlanda airport was generally good.  No complaints.

Välkommen to Sweden again (to myself)! 

The miniature Swedish vikings buildings and ship :D

Pucker your lips like this. :*

The Vikings' rune~ (like the snake drawing)

Here's a short clip I made using meitu apps in Chinese.  Enjoy~

Vasa Ship @ Vasa Museet, Djurgarden, Stockholm: An Astoundingly Remarkable Ship, Not to be Missed!

Ticket was priced at 110SEK back dated in Summer 2012. However, with the latest checking at the website, the admission price is at 130SEK for an adult. 

The interior environment of the Vasa Museet was quite chilly & it was lighted very dimly as this were for the long term preservation of the superrrrrrr hugeeeeeeeee ship! 
The colours & structures of the ship was also very well preserved & maintained too! It looked the same as it was when it sank! o_O 
Apparently, the ship didn't actually crashed on anything, it just couldn't sail on its own and sank, just like that!

Museet in Swedish = Museum in English

The Once Remarkable Ship of Sweden

The ship looks like a ghostly Titanic ship which sank at the North Atlantic Ocean in year 1912, don't you think so?
Indeed, this ship also sank but in the year 1628, way before Titanic era! It's a pity that it wasn't able to be given a chance to set sail before sinking during her maiden voyage. :/ 
As for the ship of that era, it is quite unbelievable to see people of those days to have the idea to build this super hugeeeee, incredible ship! 
You might need around half a day to tour around the museum. Therefore, plan your time well~~
Anyway, it is suggested to bring a cardigan along together with you even though it is in summer!

Even though it sank, it is still very remarkable up to these days!

Feel free to visit its official website at:
http://www.vasamuseet.se/en/visit/Opening-hours--admission/

Sala Silver Mine @ Västmanland County, Sweden - Creepy Yet An Interesting Tour (155m Down Under)

The ore at this Sala Silver Mine was well known for its high silver content. The mine was first dated back in the 15th century until around 1908. Additional mining did occur even until the middle of 20th century too. So, it was really interesting to see how the government of the Swedish county preserves & maintains the mine, and they even placed a high capacity elevator in the mine itself to carry tourists and other stuffs down under whenever needed. Anyway, I felt really safe during the time of visit but I also kept wondering to myself whether the mine would actually collapse one day (as we all know, it is not a safe place to be at the mine area).....  

Signboard for the guided tour.
I recently checked that ticket price for the 155m underground mine visit is priced at 220 kronor. 

The map direction

A replica of the sala silver mine

Sala Mine Tower

This mining tour was a guided tour. Of course, how could one tour in such an exciting yet creepy & dangerous place without guidance? :-P
Before that, the tour conductor brought us to get our safety helmet and then off we went towards the elevator area in order for us to go all the way down to 155m!! Yesss, you read it right...it was that deep :D 

A high capacity elevator taking us down to 155m underground. 

The Miner's encarved metal frame

When I first stepped into the mine with my good friend, I saw the burning torch on the encarved metal frame logo of a miner with a pickaxe, a sudden thought of Snow White & the Seven Dwarves just came to my mind.
The temperature also dropped down to around 3 to 5 degrees Celsius when we've reached 155m underground. I could still remember that at first, I felt fine with my thick coat on but after touring for like more than half an hour, I think my body started to feel a bit of a hypothermia and I could sense that my nose was having a runny nose. 

                             The tour conductor with his flaming torch explaining at the mine                                  

First, the tour conductor told us to obey certain rules, which was not to speak foul languages, whistling or yelling throughout the journey as the belief was that, there's the "Lady in the Mine" who lives in the mine! o_O 
She's like a guardian/ protector for the fellow miners. In order to let her guard the miners or the fellow tourists like us who went down to her mine for a visit, we need to follow the basic steps of her rules. Basically, don't talk too much! Before starting our tour, each of us had to knock on the mine wall for 3 consecutive times to let the Lady knows about our existence. So, all this gave me goosebumps & made me feeling more chilly! *seriously* 

We had to keep following the tour conductor closely as he was the only one with the portable burning torch/ candle holder. It was a total darkness when you're inside the mine! 
All you could feel is only chilliness in the environment and you could either see a brightly lit area where the torch was shone, shadows or total darkness. The grounds were wet of course (probably with some puddles) and there was also water dripping down from the top part of the mine (ceiling?)
This was an English conducted tour btw. They have a certain allocated slot for different language guided tours. 
We walked a big round at the mine which included the Warm Hall where occasionally, concerts would be held here. When we entered the Warm Hall, basically, we could immediately feel that it was really warm of course (without my coat)! 
Other than that, they have got a mine Suite attached to a Banquet Hall as well. You could book the Suite to have your great, unforgettable moment in that Suite, if you wish to and perhaps if you're daring enough to have a night stay down there! ;-) 

The warm Banquet Hall

The exclusive dining area for two, attaching to the Suite

The exclusive Suite

Me, visiting the Suite

I guess it was really an extraordinary & a memorable, but at the same time creepy! It made me held my goodie's warmy & comfortable hand really tightly in which he made me feel really secured, even at 155m down under :-)
The tour lasted for around 1.5 hours. 

All in all, it was truly my first time having this wonderful experience of mine tour which I think I kept the excitement all to myself (not even to my good bestie)! *sings hi ho, hi ho song*

*peace* *smiles*
I look like a pweety cute construction worker here! lol~ wtf~

Silver products

Here's the official website to it, in case one may want to visit the mine one day:
http://www.salasilvergruva.se/