[Roadtrip Edition] / 12:25 PM

[Roadtrip] Destination: Grenna
Song of the moment: Candyman - Christina Aguilera

Howdy mate! What a peaceful Sunday this is. I had a good night sleep and planning to have a whole day worth of rest today since we had an extremely hilarious adventure/misadventure yesterday. To sum them up,

1) We walked for nearly 4hours. I think.
2) I peed in the woods. country club.

So the gang planned a trip to Grenna (spelled Granna with the 2 dots on top of the first A so it's pronounced Grenna in Swedish. yes. Swedish) for the whole Saturday with some tourist attractions yet unknown to us. We initially planned to meet up at 7.10am at Marilyn's place, but I got out of my place too late to catch the bus in time for 7.10 downtown, and similarly the Family (a convenient collective name we gave Shaun, Jane & Sharon) was late in catching their train too. So from a 7.45am itinerary down to Grenna, we decided to catch the 9.20am bus instead.

We had a light breakfast in the meantime, and then boarded the bus at 9.15. The fare for the bus ride to Grenna was no joke I swear, I think it costed 120SEK or something, which is equivalent to S$20! Vitovistua! (that's Finnish for wtf. haha) But somehow I have concession and I managed to get away from the 120SEK for the ride to Grenna (but not back). It was just an hour bus ride by the way, so...120 for an hour bus ride is definitely a killer if you ask me.

We reached Grenna at around 10plus, and made our way to the tourist centre to find out the few places we could explore. Grenna is beautiful indeed, I mean it definitely is more scenic than Jonkoping in a way. It has more natural landscape, and mind you this town is by the side of the lake too.

The streets on downtown Grenna were like any typical Swedish streets, except there were plenty of candy shops down the lanes.



After finding out the few spots we could visit, we made our first stop to the candy shop nearby. This time the shop was small and cosy, but definitely colourful and warm (and it made my insides warm to see so much colour too, haha!). Well, winter isn't a season of colours so you get why I was elated for a while in there. Anyway, we looked at how they made the peppermint candies, got amazed at the amount of effort the guys actually put into it. Massaging the dough and rolling it, me oh my so much passion in there they took my breathe away! Lol.




We decided to get a lollipop for ourselves just to try how they taste like. As always, the child side of myself got the best of me, and I was beaming proudly after I managed to unwrap my lolly.




Once we were pacified with lollies in our mouth, we started the 4km marathon walk to the next destination, which was supposed to be Glasbruk, the glass museum. Walking 4km out in the cold of a freezing, bone-biting -5degrees is a no joke. The wind wasn't doing justice either, and it was sooo cold my bladder was weak I felt like I needed to pee every 5 minutes.

We got to a junction where we were supposed to see the glass museum, but unfortunately we don't understand Swedish (yet) so we might have missed some sign boards. Upon the first misadventure we decided to just go ahead and find the lost castle of Västanå (pronouced: Vestano). It was a winding road uphill ahead, and my bladder was seriously killing me then. The castle was at least another half hour walk more, so I decided to jog a little to keep it intact in me until we found the castle-turned-country club. Every possible pond and water points were frozen. And I was still searching for a toilet, but to no avail. Somehow the place was deserted, and I assume that it was a by-reservation-only. None of the doors were open, none of the offices occupied, I did not know what else to think.

And then, it hit me. The guys suggested one thing they had always done during the months they spent in the wilderness during the NS days.

Pee in the bushes.

Well, not that I'd say the idea was gross, but I seriously needed to undergo the excruciatingly necessary process of excretion okay! My body needed to eliminate the cold and so therefore...thus! The girls helped me find a hidden corner up a mini hill and so, I relieved myself of all inhibitions. (HAHA!) It was a good...pee.

And then, a car drove past and I was all ready to go for a cover behind a rock, or do a peace sign if ever anyone in the car saw my head bobbing above the rock, but I assumed no one did as no one turned on me, but turned at the girls who wee right ahead in front of me. I sighed in relief.

We then walked back towards civilisation to grab our lunch from the diner at the petrol station. Got ourselves warm enough before we proceed on with more adventures for the day.

We found a second candy shop, this time bigger and more spacious, and felt like heaven. I was so tempted to get something for Putri back in Sg, but since it will only be another 5 months before I go back, I just got a bubblegum for myself.





Rest my soul, but that place was seriously a wonderland.

We later walked to the ferry terminal, supposedly to catch a ferry to Visingsö! Unfortunately it was about 3plus already and it was starting to get dark. The lack of daylight here sometimes is very solemn indeed, activities get cut short, but night activities are abundance. Hee.



But anyway, we walked all the way to the ferry terminal, enough to wait for the ferry to come back, to watch the ferry and the ferry watch us.






And then, bus 121 came and we bade farewell to Grenna. Land of the peppermint candy.

[Roadtrip Edition] / 12:25 PM

[Roadtrip] Destination: Grenna
Song of the moment: Candyman - Christina Aguilera

Howdy mate! What a peaceful Sunday this is. I had a good night sleep and planning to have a whole day worth of rest today since we had an extremely hilarious adventure/misadventure yesterday. To sum them up,

1) We walked for nearly 4hours. I think.
2) I peed in the woods. country club.

So the gang planned a trip to Grenna (spelled Granna with the 2 dots on top of the first A so it's pronounced Grenna in Swedish. yes. Swedish) for the whole Saturday with some tourist attractions yet unknown to us. We initially planned to meet up at 7.10am at Marilyn's place, but I got out of my place too late to catch the bus in time for 7.10 downtown, and similarly the Family (a convenient collective name we gave Shaun, Jane & Sharon) was late in catching their train too. So from a 7.45am itinerary down to Grenna, we decided to catch the 9.20am bus instead.

We had a light breakfast in the meantime, and then boarded the bus at 9.15. The fare for the bus ride to Grenna was no joke I swear, I think it costed 120SEK or something, which is equivalent to S$20! Vitovistua! (that's Finnish for wtf. haha) But somehow I have concession and I managed to get away from the 120SEK for the ride to Grenna (but not back). It was just an hour bus ride by the way, so...120 for an hour bus ride is definitely a killer if you ask me.

We reached Grenna at around 10plus, and made our way to the tourist centre to find out the few places we could explore. Grenna is beautiful indeed, I mean it definitely is more scenic than Jonkoping in a way. It has more natural landscape, and mind you this town is by the side of the lake too.

The streets on downtown Grenna were like any typical Swedish streets, except there were plenty of candy shops down the lanes.



After finding out the few spots we could visit, we made our first stop to the candy shop nearby. This time the shop was small and cosy, but definitely colourful and warm (and it made my insides warm to see so much colour too, haha!). Well, winter isn't a season of colours so you get why I was elated for a while in there. Anyway, we looked at how they made the peppermint candies, got amazed at the amount of effort the guys actually put into it. Massaging the dough and rolling it, me oh my so much passion in there they took my breathe away! Lol.




We decided to get a lollipop for ourselves just to try how they taste like. As always, the child side of myself got the best of me, and I was beaming proudly after I managed to unwrap my lolly.




Once we were pacified with lollies in our mouth, we started the 4km marathon walk to the next destination, which was supposed to be Glasbruk, the glass museum. Walking 4km out in the cold of a freezing, bone-biting -5degrees is a no joke. The wind wasn't doing justice either, and it was sooo cold my bladder was weak I felt like I needed to pee every 5 minutes.

We got to a junction where we were supposed to see the glass museum, but unfortunately we don't understand Swedish (yet) so we might have missed some sign boards. Upon the first misadventure we decided to just go ahead and find the lost castle of Västanå (pronouced: Vestano). It was a winding road uphill ahead, and my bladder was seriously killing me then. The castle was at least another half hour walk more, so I decided to jog a little to keep it intact in me until we found the castle-turned-country club. Every possible pond and water points were frozen. And I was still searching for a toilet, but to no avail. Somehow the place was deserted, and I assume that it was a by-reservation-only. None of the doors were open, none of the offices occupied, I did not know what else to think.

And then, it hit me. The guys suggested one thing they had always done during the months they spent in the wilderness during the NS days.

Pee in the bushes.

Well, not that I'd say the idea was gross, but I seriously needed to undergo the excruciatingly necessary process of excretion okay! My body needed to eliminate the cold and so therefore...thus! The girls helped me find a hidden corner up a mini hill and so, I relieved myself of all inhibitions. (HAHA!) It was a good...pee.

And then, a car drove past and I was all ready to go for a cover behind a rock, or do a peace sign if ever anyone in the car saw my head bobbing above the rock, but I assumed no one did as no one turned on me, but turned at the girls who wee right ahead in front of me. I sighed in relief.

We then walked back towards civilisation to grab our lunch from the diner at the petrol station. Got ourselves warm enough before we proceed on with more adventures for the day.

We found a second candy shop, this time bigger and more spacious, and felt like heaven. I was so tempted to get something for Putri back in Sg, but since it will only be another 5 months before I go back, I just got a bubblegum for myself.





Rest my soul, but that place was seriously a wonderland.

We later walked to the ferry terminal, supposedly to catch a ferry to Visingsö! Unfortunately it was about 3plus already and it was starting to get dark. The lack of daylight here sometimes is very solemn indeed, activities get cut short, but night activities are abundance. Hee.



But anyway, we walked all the way to the ferry terminal, enough to wait for the ferry to come back, to watch the ferry and the ferry watch us.






And then, bus 121 came and we bade farewell to Grenna. Land of the peppermint candy.