What to do in Östergötland

What to do in Östergötland

More details are coming –

Östergötland is a really beautiful region. Especially with the Lake Vätten! 

Linköping

  • Flygvapenmuseum : Museum about planes
  • Lac Roxen : beautiful lake around Linköping
  • Ullstamma skögen: it is a park with a wonderful forest! I highly recommend for hikings.
  • Gamla Linköping
  • Bergs Slussar
  • Göta Kanal

 

Vadstena: Fortress to visit

Norrköping

Motala: Vätten lake

A week end in Skåne – Båstad

A week end in Skåne – Båstad

Skåne is an area in the south of Sweden. We rented a car and drove down from Linköping, it is around 4hours driving.

Båstad is really charming city, surrounding by the sea. It is totally different landscapes, it reminds me a bit from France. I let you discover with pictures

Restaurants in Linköping

Restaurants in Linköping

One of my biggest passion is FOOD. I love food so much, I guess it’s because I come from France and it is a HUGE part of our culture, but I am really interested into it! I am actually thinking about reconverting myself as a food critic! So if you are looking for a restaurant in Linköping, here is my recommandations: 

  • Swedish food 

Storan: It is a classy restaurant, pretty expensive, you will find typical swedish dishes.

Gula huset: “Husmanskost” restaurant as they say in Swedish, it’s basically super basic swedish food such as meatballs and mashed potatoes. I recommend it just for the exotism of this experience.

Brasserie Bouquet : It is a good brasserie with typical swedish food and some fancy drinks.

Meat

Rico: It’s definitely one of the best restaurant in Linköping, if you like meat! it’s only open during the nights but the food is high quality.

Johannes kök: I will recommend this restaurant only if you go more than 4+ people, so you can try the “sharing dish”. It’s a bit expensive but you will get good quality meat.

Asian food 

Jade restaurant: buffé asian, good food, good quality.

Hey lucy: Asian fusion food. I have been only two times, the first time was amazing, the second time I was a bit disappointed, the food was fat, I did not appreciate it as much. It worth to try, but I might not go back

Yellow fellow: Lunch buffé, nice service and good food!

Sushi 

Sushi Yama: Franchise, ok sushi, I usually don’t go there!

Little Tokyo: Best in town for quality/price! It’s definitely my best restaurant in town

Iki by Shin Nori: Really good sushi, a bit more expensive, I go only for special occasions. They also have a food truck called Yatai

Italian 

Pappa Grappa: Really good service, good food!

1854: I recommend only the pizzas there!

Le borgate: Best pizzas in town so far! amazing restaurant but needs to book it before! it is always full! You also may take away the pizzas!

Burgers

Flott: Really good burgers!

Taket: Good burgers and really good cocktails!

Kebab/fast food

Falaful huset: they have the best shawarma in town!

Cok najs: doner, really goood!

Greek

Grekist och gott: really good and big portions!

Pokéball: 

hawaiian poke linköping: New place that recently opened, I tried, it is good, I am not dreaming about it every day, I tried pokéball for the first time in US, and it was really amazing!

Liban: 

Merwah: buffé, I like it because it has so much choices! I never tried for a dinner!

Indian

Varanasi: Good food!

Funny concept

Pinchos: It is a restaurant with only tapas, and you order everything via an app.

Midsommar

Midsommar

A BLOG ABOUT SWEDEN WITHOUT TALKING ABOUT MIDSOMMAR IS NOT POSSIBLE.

What is midsommar?  Midsummer, also known as St John’s Day, is the period of time centered upon the summer solstice, and more specifically the northern European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice or take place on a day. (Source: Wikipedia).

IT IS A BIG PART OF THE SWEDISH CULTURE

 

  • Why do Swedish people celebrate Midsommar? The winter is pretty tough! It is an average of 4 to 6 hours light per day. So I can garantee you that everyone is waiting for the spring and the summer!

Midsommar is celebrated every year on the 24th of June. As it is a pretty big deal in Sweden, we have day off from work, yes yes it is even a red day! You usually celebrate Midsommar with your friends and family. Every city has activities too. You will start the day by doing flower crown (like you can see in the picuture) –  don’t ask me why, I have no idea! Then you will have a delicious a Midsommar Lunch with typical Swedish food : Köttbullar – Sill – Potatoes – Shrimps – Salad – BBQ. During the afternoon, it is time to dance around the poll with typical Swedish songs. If we are close to a lake, we all go to swim (even if the water is at 14*c – yes! ). We also play some games – Kubb is one of the most famous in Sweden! But now we also play “Petanque” (French game for old people as they say in Sweden) – Then it is the time to have the dinner with some songs – snap (Aquavit) and food. The food is basically the same all day!

So I like it, it is different than what I am used to and it is really something that you have to experience but preferably with Swedish people, it’s so much fun to see the traditions.

Swedish language

Swedish language

DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE SWEDISH LANGUAGE! 

When I moved to Sweden, I thought I will NEVER learn Swedish. It seems so complicated, and my first goal was to learn English. And, to be honest, why would I learn a language that only 10million people speak… ? But life is full with surprised and after 2 years, it turns out that I actually speak Swedish.

First rule: Be motivated. 

When you get the golden key (in other words your personal number), you are able to go to SFI (Swedish for Immigrants), I really recommend it! You will meet people, be familiar with Swedish Basics and it is free. Every city offers SFI for immigrants and it gives you the opportunity to be familiar with the language

SFI may have a bad reputation (teachers are changing all the time, we are 45 by class), it depends on the school but usually, they are taking care of students and I had nice teachers!

I have to say I stopped after 4 months because it did not match with my schedule and I have the possibility to speak Swedish at home (but we almost never actually do), anyway I learn Swedish with the method “learning by doing”. The best method and how I learned Swedish fast, I got a job and they decided to speak only Swedish to me.

I have to be honest, and it was really tough! I am talkative and I was not able to understand a single (almost) word! It was super frustating and I felt “this is not gonna work”! But after 3 months, I made it! I was able to explain short stories and actually understand what they were telling me! Today, my level is not fluent but I am able to talk and understand almost everything – including TV!

So, choose the best method that suits you! And dont’t be to hard to yourself! It takes time!

Swedish words that you might want to know:

  • Hej : Hello
  • Hejdå : Bye
  • Tack : Thank you
  • Välkommen: Welcome