December 15, 2010 – Wednesday
Dinner was quite the experience. Picture this: First of all, we were heading out to eat Sushi (Gary had been wanting it for a while). We missed the place by a block and ended up in a Chinese restaurant, eating Chinese food, served by a Chinese woman – who spoke Swedish! What’s up with that?? Dinner was good – not the best Chinese we have had, but it was good.
The roads and sidewalks were thick with ice and lots of snow. On our walk home (we walk everywhere) from dinner I went down on my right knee and in an effort to brace myself, wrenched my left shoulder. It was very painful and got worse as the night wore on, but I knew I didn't break anything. Gary put together a small ice pack and took care of me. It’s not the first time, so I knew I would be fine.
After we arrived back at the hotel we received a call from Sam who told us our little granddaughter, Bella Grace, had been sick with pneumonia since Monday. We were sad to hear this and put out a prayer request to family and friends.
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| Town Square - Government Building |
December 18, 2010 – Saturday
Today we left one Scandic hotel and moved to another, which is probably equal distance to the town square (this time a picture is included above) in the opposite direction, and closer to Gary’s work. This is good since he walks every day. The reason for the move is because the first Scandic Hotel, and several others in Karlstad, closes over the holidays. There’s just not enough business to justify keeping them open. A positive to this is that since Annie is coming for a visit on Tuesday, the new hotel is putting us up in a suite that will comfortably hold all three of us.
The suite has a huge bathroom and a huge bath tub about the size of a small soaking pool! The shower is quite different in that it has no drain! The water runs at a slope under the tub and down a drain underneath there some place. We also have a snack bar and it’s refilled daily with Cokes and Sprite, water (vatten), chocolates, and chips. Not only that, it’s included in the price of the room. As with the other Scandic, the staff is very friendly. Oh, and “parkering” is included too.
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| Huge tub in suite of the Scandic Winn |
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| Espresso House below our apartment (That's Karolina in the bottom right corner) |
December 20, 2010 – Monday
Karolina and I had been corresponding and decided to meet for lunch at the Espresso House (see above) which is below our soon to be apartment. The Espresso House is quite popular and people gather there all hours of the day. They serve fresh sandwiches, pastries, and a variety of beverages besides coffee. To me, the best item they sell is their gingerbread muffins that have a hard white drizzle of icing. Yum! They’re great with coffee – in the morning. After lunch we walked to Telia, the phone store across the street. I had considered getting an iPhone 4, but because I do not have Swedish credit I learned I am not eligible. My next choice was to get a phone with a pre-paid card. I put so many Swedish kroners on the phone and when my use taps out the kroners, I pay for more. One long-distance call about does it too so limit its use to local calls.
After we left the Telia store, Karolina helped me select some bed linens at a department store (across the street from our future apartment on the other side. I am having difficulty deciding if I want to go with the US traditional bedding of sheets, blanket, and bedspread, or try the duvets. For some reason here in Sweden I wear summer pajamas to bed and I still wake up burning up – even with my HRT. At home in South Carolina I was cold and slept in warm pajamas. Go figure…
Later that evening…
Dinner at Tiffany's
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| That's a bottle of vatten on the table - not somebody's old beer bottle! |
When we entered both Scandics, we were given a packet of coupons to use toward the evening meal int the dining room. But, what we often discovered was most evenings the hotel dining room was closed for catered holiday events. Thus, we were able to experience many different restaurants – although this is not always what we wanted to do as it was so frigid outside.
This particular night was a special evening we had planned and looked forward to. Gary and I decided we would celebrate his birthday (11/24), my birthday (12/13), and our anniversary (01/28) - all celebrations rolled into one - and we would celebrate with dinner at Tiffany’s!
To me, so far, Tiffany’s is the best in Karlstad for fine dining. The downtown area is comprised of many old and new buildings. Tiffany’s is in an old building that has gone through renovations and it’s located just down from the town square. (Looking at the government building pictured above - Tiffany's would be a short distance down the street to your right. It is not along the town square.)
When you enter the restaurant you step down, directly into the dining room. The tables are covered in soft green linens and a silver candelabras with white lit candles are the only lighting lending to a lovely cozy setting. Over the many years I’ve been fortunate to enjoy a few fine restaurants, but this one was, and will always be, very special.
Something we have experienced in most restaurants in Europe is service is slow…very slow. Unlike the US, they take their time between courses - often a lot of time. This is because the dining experience is something to be savored, and Tiffany’s was no exception.
As part of the “evening special” a plate of several appetizers started the meal with each being a small, but substantial, serving strategically placed on the plate – I’m guessing so you could just wind your way around, enjoying each one after the other! The first was a piece of herring – the one with the yellow sauce that I like so much – which was served on a piece of dark brown bread. Another was “shrimps” (which, I have noticed here, is the plural of shrimp) in a bit of white sauce on a toast point (I liken it to a shrimp salad only the dressing was scant), a wedge of cheese (a bit strong for my taste), a small piece of salmon in a different type of sauce served with a roe, and then in the center was a small salad of field greens tossed in a light vinaigrette. It was all wonderful and only filled me with anticipation of the next course – even though I had enjoyed almost this very same meal before. The main course I selected was the beef tenderloin. Most beef I had ordered up to this point in other restaurants had been what they call a rib eye or entrecote (sometimes they called it Texas entrecote!) which I found to be thin and very tough. Not like what we get at home. The tenderloin at Tiffany’s was two thick slabs of fork-tender medium-rare filet of beef. Alongside the meat, they served riced potatoes that were coated in a very light tomato sauce and several sprigs of green and white asparagus – something I had never tried before. It was all simply delicious. For dessert we were served a good sized scoop of home-made vanilla ice cream that was covered in some type of rum sauce and adorned with a lacy cookie and surrounded by these little cloudberries. The combination was yummy!
The meal was scrumptious and one I hope to repeat again during our time here.
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