POSTED ON: Friday, April 25, 2014 @ 1:00 AM | 0 comments
Just returned from my Denmark + Germany trip, extremely tired but immensely contented with the wonderful trip with my dear travel buddy. Spent the Easter holiday together overseas and the weather was mostly kind to us. More about the trip will be up soon when I have sorted out the photos (most probably when I return from my Paris + Switzerland trip in two weeks...). Travelling is so much fun but I really hate packing and lugging my heavy luggage around everywhere.
Another swatch from TL Design's The Good Life Collection. Here's Girly, quite a thick pink formula that was a little streaky during application. Much unlike the other polishes from the same collection, this one was streaky and rather opaque. The texture felt a little like the holo polishes from China Glaze.
Here's two thin coats of Girly, without topcoat. There were rather large bits of glitter in them so the finish wasn't exactly smooth but nevertheless shiny and pretty. Not making it to one of my favourites in the collection though.
Girly in the sunlight~
Just realised that the "Home" button on the left side column of my blog doesn't take you back to the main page with all the latest posts if you are currently viewing a single post from the archives. Hmm...now how do I go fix that?? :/
Weather is getting better, happy Spring time everyone!
Love,
Lorraine
TL Design: Happy
POSTED ON: Saturday, April 19, 2014 @ 5:22 AM | 0 comments
Finally another nail post! This week it's TL Design's Happy from the Good Life Collection.
I like Happy pretty much, it makes me happy ^^
One coat of Happy pictured below. Really easy to apply, the brush strokes are really smooth and no streaking at all.
Happy is a bright shimmery hot pink with some little holo glitters that sparkles in the sunlight. Very pretty I would say. Very eye catching too. I'm not sure if it's the weather that is too cold and dry here in Sweden that makes the drying process a lot faster as compared to in warm and humid Singapore, or either that TL Design's polishes dry up quickly enough for me to get my nails done and out of the house in about 20 minutes? Here's two coats of Happy over a base coat, without topcoat.
Lovin' the hot pink and shimmery effect under the sunlight!
Too pretty so here's another shot. Pardon the short stubby nails. Needed to cut them short before I go travelling or they will chip off anyway... ):
Oh and I thought this was cool so please don't mind me sharing... if you'd Google "I am a minion addict", my photo with the minion nails appears as the second image (at least that's what happens when my friends and I Google it). And if you'd Google "crazy minion nails", the same photo appears among the top few in the images list too. *grins* Reminded me of the times where the other interns and I printed minions using the office coloured printer to take that photo. Miss those good times with my fellow interns.
And yes, it's the Easter weekend and I'm travelling to Denmark and Germany with my travel buddy Robin! *excites* So watch this space for more nail posts and holiday updates!
Happy Easter everyone~! (:
Love,
Lorraine
B&J Free Cone Day
POSTED ON: Saturday, April 12, 2014 @ 5:42 PM | 0 comments
My first ever Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day!
What better way to thank us loyal customers with free ice cream? Every year since 1979, Ben & Jerry's have been inviting their fans all around the world for a free scoop.
Funny how I never queued for any of the Free Cone Days in Singapore and my first one is in Stockholm.
And being greedy kiasu tamchiak Singaporeans, Blanche and I queued twice for two rounds of free ice cream! Here are our flavours from the first round: Phish Food and Cone Sweet Cone (:
Second round of ice cream: Raspberry Chocolate Chunk and Clever Cookies (:
Look at this lovely B&J staff! What a sweet cowgirl! I was so glad I managed to sneak a photo of her ^^
The queue is so many times shorter than those in Singapore. I guess it's probably the cold rainy weather in Sweden that deters people from queuing and craving for ice cream as compared to the hot humid weather in Singapore that makes ice cream a real good treat for anyone. Maybe also the lack of kiasu-ism and tamchiak-ness in these Swedes. Well I'm not complaining about that...
This Free Cone Day (well maybe it should be named free scoop day here since they don't give out their ice cream in cones but in cups...) is quite a good marketing gimmick I would say. It left me craving for more B&J ice cream and I found myself purchasing a tub of B&J ice cream the very next day. Tried to convince myself that I would be a tad less unhealthy by picking the new Raspberry Fudge Chunk from the Greek Frozen Yoghurt selection of their ice cream. They also had a limited variety of flavours on Free Cone Day so I guess if you were going to the event with an ice cream flavour in mind but don't find it there, you're probably gonna buy a scoop the next day or buy a tub home from the supermarket. Hmmm very clever B&J, looks like our worries about how much losses you'd make on FCD while we were queuing were absolutely unwarranted.
Nail post up next, stay tuned and stay happy~! (:
Love,
Lorraine
SU School of Business
POSTED ON: Monday, April 7, 2014 @ 3:38 AM | 0 comments
Here's where I've been attending my lectures and seminars at Stockholm University School of Business (now known as Stockholm Business School since they just changed the name a couple of weeks ago). It's a pretty little campus and I thought I'd share some photos and info with you here (:
Here's a map of the whole Stockholm Business School Kraftriket campus. The campus consists of a few historic buildings dating from 1912 (oh my goodness that is a really really long time ago), full of character and heritage value. I really find these little red brick houses fascinating since I seldom (or almost never) see them back in Singapore. The name of the area, Kraftriket, was named after an inn that served crayfish caught in the nearby lake.
This is Building 10, with a very queer seminar room that reminded me of attics. Check out the little pine tree in front of it! I was picking fallen pine cones that day and the students at the table gave me a weird look...
This is the view of the school from across the road, at the bus stop on the way home. I take bus 40 or bus 70 from the bus stop right outside Universitetet t-bana station and alight at Albano. It's just a few stops away from Universitetet and some students prefer to walk to school from there (if the weather is good). If you stay at Lappis like I do, most probably you'll end up taking bus 40 to school all the time then.
This is building 15, where the lecture hall Hedbergsal is. The other two lecture halls Grojer and WALL (as how they appeared in my timetable) are at the main building 3. The main building 3 has a glass door entrance and most students head there after the alight from the bus so it's pretty easy to find.
***
Random thought of the week...
Many things have happened this week and I came across a post by one of my friends on Instagram which was really apt at the time. Just like I was, she was really upset with some people, but as she put into word so appropriately, things don't get easier with time. We merely become more equipped to deal with all these people, problems, challenges or whatever else you call them. Challenges don't stop cropping up in our lives, we just have to see them as invaluable learning opportunities.
And indeed, all these incidents and situations have made me a stronger person, someone who is learning to see things from a different perspective, someone who lets things go as easily as I pick things up, someone who starts to care more about people and relationships instead of just being a self-centred girl who had been sheltered and protected all her life. I admit I am still rather messed up, but through all these, I know that I will become a better person. Slowly but surely. So cheers to all of us going through this mess and may we become better than we were yesterday (:
Have a good weekend everyone!!
Love,
Lorraine
TL Design: Energy
POSTED ON: Wednesday, April 2, 2014 @ 1:28 AM | 0 comments
We firmly believed that Spring was already upon us with the sunny weekend and everyone out having BBQs and picnics. But no, it was back to light flurries from the cloudy skies for the past two days. It's rather depressing to witness the cold coming back again. And to think that my corridor mates were planning a BBQ for lunch this coming weekend...
Alright, away with the moodiness and time for some happy cheerful polish.
Here's another swatch from TL Design's The Good Life collection - Energy. Strange how the first few polish I tried was so sheer (especially Glamour), but this one was much much thicker.
There is so much glitter in this one that it feels almost like OPI's liquid sand on my nails. Extremely bright and glittery as you can tell from the pictures. All of them are just with one coat of Energy, without topcoat. Really, my camera doesn't do the sparkles justice. It is so much more glittery and shiny and sparkly irl (almost tiring for my eyes if I stare at them for too long!).
Even with all the pink, red and silver glitters (mostly red glitters actually), the formula is still great and application was a breeze. I did my nails 20mins before I left the house for classes, all nice and dried within that time period and inclusive of some quick photos of my fresh new coat of polish.
I'm already using a prosumer camera for my pictures these days but I still can't seem to be able to capture glitter polishes or holo polishes well. Sigh pie. So here's a better picture of Energy I Googled off the Internet. Lovely nails that girl has, it's making me so jealous!
May Spring arrive proper this weekend! Have a good week ahead everyone~! (:
Love,
Lorraine
TL Design: Glamour
POSTED ON: Saturday, March 29, 2014 @ 6:13 PM | 0 comments
Third swatch from TL Design's The Good Life collection. Glamour is the most sheer out of the whole lot. It took me forever to try to capture the lovely holo bits in the polish, albeit still a rather unsuccessful attempt as compared to the other frequent nail bloggers.
Here's 3 thin coats of Glamour, without topcoat. Extremely sheer, so I guess I will use an opaque base colour before a coat of Glamour the next time. I really love the pink and purple holo bits in the sunlight. They're so shiny and lovely on their own even without topcoat. Falling in love with this whole collection~! Pity it's a Norwegian brand and they don't have it back in Singapore...
***
This week I came across this compilation of inspirational quotes online so I thought I'd share them with you all. I really like the fonts and images for each quote, they'll make great posters! Considering getting them printed out as posters and sticking them in my room when I'm back in Singapore...
I find myself relating most to the one on anger being a waste of time, and the one about being yourself because those who matter wouldn't mind. What about you? Which ones are your favourites?
***
I'm entering this photo into SMU SICS Make A Pinwheel competition. It ends on Monday so I would really appreciate it if you all could click on the link below and like this photo of mine on Instagram.
Do me a huge favour please!! (: http://instagram.com/p/mIoWuolYQo/
Alright, that's all for today. My last two modules have started so I'll be getting a little busier soon.
Take care and stay happy everyone! (:
Love,
Lorraine
Linköping
POSTED ON: Thursday, March 27, 2014 @ 4:29 PM | 0 comments
Took a 2 hour train ride to Linköping over the weekends (Stockholm C to Linköping C). It was a very last minute decision. Our train was on Saturday morning at around 8 plus in the morning, and I only decided on the trip on Friday evening and booked my tickets the night before. Guess I was not in a clear state of mind that evening and I would probably have never done so if my brain/emotions were working properly. So off I go on an early Saturday morning to Stockholm Central Station for a good breakfast while waiting for our train to Linköping.
Here's a photo of my breakfast: Ham & cheese sandwich, a latte, and a banana from Barista at Stockholm Central Station.
We stayed at a friend's place at Ryd Centrum which was a short bus ride from Linköping C. Our first stop was the downtown of Linköping, a lovely place with small streets and many little shops. Linköping in general was a lot quieter than Stockholm, more like a little town instead of a city, which was a great place for a short weekend getaway.
First semla in Sweden! I think this one is voted as one of the best from Linköping! (:
According to our host, this cathedral is a landmark of the town. I haven't visited many cathedrals or churches since I don't belong these religions but I've always admired the architecture and this grand aura about the building.
The weather was great while we were there over the weekend, and yes I love the quiet streets.
We headed to Gamla Linköping next, an old area preserved for it's unique small town Swedish life. It has wooden houses, cute little cobblestone alleyways, gardens, museums and quite a number of quaint craft stores (quite like the ones in Haji Lane in Singapore).
Behind Gamla Linköping was a huge farm (compared to the one behind Campus Lappis in Stockholm). Many barn houses like the one pictured below and amazingly large fields for animals to roam around. We didn't manage to catch any animals while we were there but our host told us that we could ride the horses and get to see all the farm animals in late Spring and in Summer!
Check out the huge fields! Imagine all the animals running around in summer~!
Oh boy, is that a hint of spring I see?? ^^
Our lovely host cooked us a sumptuous dinner that night. Thank you Vanessa Yong! (:
On Sunday, our host managed to find us a bicycle each so we could explore Linköping on our bikes! Bikes here in Scandinavia are quite different from the ones I used to cycle back in Singapore. The bikes here are a lot bigger and heavier, probably made to withstand the cold and the road full of rocky pebbles. So the bike I borrowed was so high that my feet couldn't even touch the ground even when the seat was lowered to the maximum. But the most scary thing is that the bikes do not have handbrakes! How on earth do I stop a bike without handbrakes?! Well it turns out that you would have to pedal backwards for the bicycle to stop, which is really counter-intuitive for me... So every time I need to stop (especially when we come to a traffic light junction), I would be panicking and shrieking and swerve onto a nearby grass patch since I could never stop in time. It's really strange because handbrakes are so much easier to use I don't know why they don't have it on their bikes. Anybody knows the reason?
Anyway, we cycled from Ryd Centrum to the Airplane Museum. They have a collection of mostly military aircrafts used by Sweden. The two pictured below are my favourites out of the whole exhibition.
I really liked this cockpit simulator too! Although I crashed my plane into the sea... :/
We headed back to downtown again for some last minute shopping (chocolate-grabbing) before catching the train back to Stockholm. Lesson learnt from looking for our train platforms on the boards: watch whether the trains are ARRIVING or DEPARTING. We stood in front of the boards for ages and wondering why our train was not on the list. Thank goodness a helpful couple pointed us to the correct board.
Yes that's all for now. Linköping really is a nice place for a short weekend getaway if you're here in Sweden. If you need more details on any of the places I've visited or any other information at all, do feel free to leave a comment on the comments page or drop me an email. I'll be more than glad to help you out! (Paying all the kindness I've received on exchange forward~)
Layout: The grey bunny hops away ★ Ever since: 2011
I have a fetish for unicorns and whales, I live in Narnia. Do not fret, dear friends, for I have candy for all of you. Okay, you get the point. About you, wish list, your gallery, Tagboard here.
Do not remove credit, for I have a dragon that can eat you up. Thank you!
POSTED ON: Friday, April 25, 2014 @ 1:00 AM | 0 comments
Just returned from my Denmark + Germany trip, extremely tired but immensely contented with the wonderful trip with my dear travel buddy. Spent the Easter holiday together overseas and the weather was mostly kind to us. More about the trip will be up soon when I have sorted out the photos (most probably when I return from my Paris + Switzerland trip in two weeks...). Travelling is so much fun but I really hate packing and lugging my heavy luggage around everywhere.
Another swatch from TL Design's The Good Life Collection. Here's Girly, quite a thick pink formula that was a little streaky during application. Much unlike the other polishes from the same collection, this one was streaky and rather opaque. The texture felt a little like the holo polishes from China Glaze.
Here's two thin coats of Girly, without topcoat. There were rather large bits of glitter in them so the finish wasn't exactly smooth but nevertheless shiny and pretty. Not making it to one of my favourites in the collection though.
Girly in the sunlight~
Just realised that the "Home" button on the left side column of my blog doesn't take you back to the main page with all the latest posts if you are currently viewing a single post from the archives. Hmm...now how do I go fix that?? :/
Weather is getting better, happy Spring time everyone!
Love,
Lorraine
TL Design: Happy
POSTED ON: Saturday, April 19, 2014 @ 5:22 AM | 0 comments
Finally another nail post! This week it's TL Design's Happy from the Good Life Collection.
I like Happy pretty much, it makes me happy ^^
One coat of Happy pictured below. Really easy to apply, the brush strokes are really smooth and no streaking at all.
Happy is a bright shimmery hot pink with some little holo glitters that sparkles in the sunlight. Very pretty I would say. Very eye catching too. I'm not sure if it's the weather that is too cold and dry here in Sweden that makes the drying process a lot faster as compared to in warm and humid Singapore, or either that TL Design's polishes dry up quickly enough for me to get my nails done and out of the house in about 20 minutes? Here's two coats of Happy over a base coat, without topcoat.
Lovin' the hot pink and shimmery effect under the sunlight!
Too pretty so here's another shot. Pardon the short stubby nails. Needed to cut them short before I go travelling or they will chip off anyway... ):
Oh and I thought this was cool so please don't mind me sharing... if you'd Google "I am a minion addict", my photo with the minion nails appears as the second image (at least that's what happens when my friends and I Google it). And if you'd Google "crazy minion nails", the same photo appears among the top few in the images list too. *grins* Reminded me of the times where the other interns and I printed minions using the office coloured printer to take that photo. Miss those good times with my fellow interns.
And yes, it's the Easter weekend and I'm travelling to Denmark and Germany with my travel buddy Robin! *excites* So watch this space for more nail posts and holiday updates!
Happy Easter everyone~! (:
Love,
Lorraine
B&J Free Cone Day
POSTED ON: Saturday, April 12, 2014 @ 5:42 PM | 0 comments
My first ever Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day!
What better way to thank us loyal customers with free ice cream? Every year since 1979, Ben & Jerry's have been inviting their fans all around the world for a free scoop.
Funny how I never queued for any of the Free Cone Days in Singapore and my first one is in Stockholm.
And being greedy kiasu tamchiak Singaporeans, Blanche and I queued twice for two rounds of free ice cream! Here are our flavours from the first round: Phish Food and Cone Sweet Cone (:
Second round of ice cream: Raspberry Chocolate Chunk and Clever Cookies (:
Look at this lovely B&J staff! What a sweet cowgirl! I was so glad I managed to sneak a photo of her ^^
The queue is so many times shorter than those in Singapore. I guess it's probably the cold rainy weather in Sweden that deters people from queuing and craving for ice cream as compared to the hot humid weather in Singapore that makes ice cream a real good treat for anyone. Maybe also the lack of kiasu-ism and tamchiak-ness in these Swedes. Well I'm not complaining about that...
This Free Cone Day (well maybe it should be named free scoop day here since they don't give out their ice cream in cones but in cups...) is quite a good marketing gimmick I would say. It left me craving for more B&J ice cream and I found myself purchasing a tub of B&J ice cream the very next day. Tried to convince myself that I would be a tad less unhealthy by picking the new Raspberry Fudge Chunk from the Greek Frozen Yoghurt selection of their ice cream. They also had a limited variety of flavours on Free Cone Day so I guess if you were going to the event with an ice cream flavour in mind but don't find it there, you're probably gonna buy a scoop the next day or buy a tub home from the supermarket. Hmmm very clever B&J, looks like our worries about how much losses you'd make on FCD while we were queuing were absolutely unwarranted.
Nail post up next, stay tuned and stay happy~! (:
Love,
Lorraine
SU School of Business
POSTED ON: Monday, April 7, 2014 @ 3:38 AM | 0 comments
Here's where I've been attending my lectures and seminars at Stockholm University School of Business (now known as Stockholm Business School since they just changed the name a couple of weeks ago). It's a pretty little campus and I thought I'd share some photos and info with you here (:
Here's a map of the whole Stockholm Business School Kraftriket campus. The campus consists of a few historic buildings dating from 1912 (oh my goodness that is a really really long time ago), full of character and heritage value. I really find these little red brick houses fascinating since I seldom (or almost never) see them back in Singapore. The name of the area, Kraftriket, was named after an inn that served crayfish caught in the nearby lake.
This is Building 10, with a very queer seminar room that reminded me of attics. Check out the little pine tree in front of it! I was picking fallen pine cones that day and the students at the table gave me a weird look...
This is the view of the school from across the road, at the bus stop on the way home. I take bus 40 or bus 70 from the bus stop right outside Universitetet t-bana station and alight at Albano. It's just a few stops away from Universitetet and some students prefer to walk to school from there (if the weather is good). If you stay at Lappis like I do, most probably you'll end up taking bus 40 to school all the time then.
This is building 15, where the lecture hall Hedbergsal is. The other two lecture halls Grojer and WALL (as how they appeared in my timetable) are at the main building 3. The main building 3 has a glass door entrance and most students head there after the alight from the bus so it's pretty easy to find.
***
Random thought of the week...
Many things have happened this week and I came across a post by one of my friends on Instagram which was really apt at the time. Just like I was, she was really upset with some people, but as she put into word so appropriately, things don't get easier with time. We merely become more equipped to deal with all these people, problems, challenges or whatever else you call them. Challenges don't stop cropping up in our lives, we just have to see them as invaluable learning opportunities.
And indeed, all these incidents and situations have made me a stronger person, someone who is learning to see things from a different perspective, someone who lets things go as easily as I pick things up, someone who starts to care more about people and relationships instead of just being a self-centred girl who had been sheltered and protected all her life. I admit I am still rather messed up, but through all these, I know that I will become a better person. Slowly but surely. So cheers to all of us going through this mess and may we become better than we were yesterday (:
Have a good weekend everyone!!
Love,
Lorraine
TL Design: Energy
POSTED ON: Wednesday, April 2, 2014 @ 1:28 AM | 0 comments
We firmly believed that Spring was already upon us with the sunny weekend and everyone out having BBQs and picnics. But no, it was back to light flurries from the cloudy skies for the past two days. It's rather depressing to witness the cold coming back again. And to think that my corridor mates were planning a BBQ for lunch this coming weekend...
Alright, away with the moodiness and time for some happy cheerful polish.
Here's another swatch from TL Design's The Good Life collection - Energy. Strange how the first few polish I tried was so sheer (especially Glamour), but this one was much much thicker.
There is so much glitter in this one that it feels almost like OPI's liquid sand on my nails. Extremely bright and glittery as you can tell from the pictures. All of them are just with one coat of Energy, without topcoat. Really, my camera doesn't do the sparkles justice. It is so much more glittery and shiny and sparkly irl (almost tiring for my eyes if I stare at them for too long!).
Even with all the pink, red and silver glitters (mostly red glitters actually), the formula is still great and application was a breeze. I did my nails 20mins before I left the house for classes, all nice and dried within that time period and inclusive of some quick photos of my fresh new coat of polish.
I'm already using a prosumer camera for my pictures these days but I still can't seem to be able to capture glitter polishes or holo polishes well. Sigh pie. So here's a better picture of Energy I Googled off the Internet. Lovely nails that girl has, it's making me so jealous!
May Spring arrive proper this weekend! Have a good week ahead everyone~! (:
Love,
Lorraine
TL Design: Glamour
POSTED ON: Saturday, March 29, 2014 @ 6:13 PM | 0 comments
Third swatch from TL Design's The Good Life collection. Glamour is the most sheer out of the whole lot. It took me forever to try to capture the lovely holo bits in the polish, albeit still a rather unsuccessful attempt as compared to the other frequent nail bloggers.
Here's 3 thin coats of Glamour, without topcoat. Extremely sheer, so I guess I will use an opaque base colour before a coat of Glamour the next time. I really love the pink and purple holo bits in the sunlight. They're so shiny and lovely on their own even without topcoat. Falling in love with this whole collection~! Pity it's a Norwegian brand and they don't have it back in Singapore...
***
This week I came across this compilation of inspirational quotes online so I thought I'd share them with you all. I really like the fonts and images for each quote, they'll make great posters! Considering getting them printed out as posters and sticking them in my room when I'm back in Singapore...
I find myself relating most to the one on anger being a waste of time, and the one about being yourself because those who matter wouldn't mind. What about you? Which ones are your favourites?
***
I'm entering this photo into SMU SICS Make A Pinwheel competition. It ends on Monday so I would really appreciate it if you all could click on the link below and like this photo of mine on Instagram.
Do me a huge favour please!! (: http://instagram.com/p/mIoWuolYQo/
Alright, that's all for today. My last two modules have started so I'll be getting a little busier soon.
Take care and stay happy everyone! (:
Love,
Lorraine
Linköping
POSTED ON: Thursday, March 27, 2014 @ 4:29 PM | 0 comments
Took a 2 hour train ride to Linköping over the weekends (Stockholm C to Linköping C). It was a very last minute decision. Our train was on Saturday morning at around 8 plus in the morning, and I only decided on the trip on Friday evening and booked my tickets the night before. Guess I was not in a clear state of mind that evening and I would probably have never done so if my brain/emotions were working properly. So off I go on an early Saturday morning to Stockholm Central Station for a good breakfast while waiting for our train to Linköping.
Here's a photo of my breakfast: Ham & cheese sandwich, a latte, and a banana from Barista at Stockholm Central Station.
We stayed at a friend's place at Ryd Centrum which was a short bus ride from Linköping C. Our first stop was the downtown of Linköping, a lovely place with small streets and many little shops. Linköping in general was a lot quieter than Stockholm, more like a little town instead of a city, which was a great place for a short weekend getaway.
First semla in Sweden! I think this one is voted as one of the best from Linköping! (:
According to our host, this cathedral is a landmark of the town. I haven't visited many cathedrals or churches since I don't belong these religions but I've always admired the architecture and this grand aura about the building.
The weather was great while we were there over the weekend, and yes I love the quiet streets.
We headed to Gamla Linköping next, an old area preserved for it's unique small town Swedish life. It has wooden houses, cute little cobblestone alleyways, gardens, museums and quite a number of quaint craft stores (quite like the ones in Haji Lane in Singapore).
Behind Gamla Linköping was a huge farm (compared to the one behind Campus Lappis in Stockholm). Many barn houses like the one pictured below and amazingly large fields for animals to roam around. We didn't manage to catch any animals while we were there but our host told us that we could ride the horses and get to see all the farm animals in late Spring and in Summer!
Check out the huge fields! Imagine all the animals running around in summer~!
Oh boy, is that a hint of spring I see?? ^^
Our lovely host cooked us a sumptuous dinner that night. Thank you Vanessa Yong! (:
On Sunday, our host managed to find us a bicycle each so we could explore Linköping on our bikes! Bikes here in Scandinavia are quite different from the ones I used to cycle back in Singapore. The bikes here are a lot bigger and heavier, probably made to withstand the cold and the road full of rocky pebbles. So the bike I borrowed was so high that my feet couldn't even touch the ground even when the seat was lowered to the maximum. But the most scary thing is that the bikes do not have handbrakes! How on earth do I stop a bike without handbrakes?! Well it turns out that you would have to pedal backwards for the bicycle to stop, which is really counter-intuitive for me... So every time I need to stop (especially when we come to a traffic light junction), I would be panicking and shrieking and swerve onto a nearby grass patch since I could never stop in time. It's really strange because handbrakes are so much easier to use I don't know why they don't have it on their bikes. Anybody knows the reason?
Anyway, we cycled from Ryd Centrum to the Airplane Museum. They have a collection of mostly military aircrafts used by Sweden. The two pictured below are my favourites out of the whole exhibition.
I really liked this cockpit simulator too! Although I crashed my plane into the sea... :/
We headed back to downtown again for some last minute shopping (chocolate-grabbing) before catching the train back to Stockholm. Lesson learnt from looking for our train platforms on the boards: watch whether the trains are ARRIVING or DEPARTING. We stood in front of the boards for ages and wondering why our train was not on the list. Thank goodness a helpful couple pointed us to the correct board.
Yes that's all for now. Linköping really is a nice place for a short weekend getaway if you're here in Sweden. If you need more details on any of the places I've visited or any other information at all, do feel free to leave a comment on the comments page or drop me an email. I'll be more than glad to help you out! (Paying all the kindness I've received on exchange forward~)
Funny how I never queued for any of the Free Cone Days in Singapore and my first one is in Stockholm.
