Lars picked me up at the airport in Stockholm. Wasn't much more than trees coming into land, so I was glad to see people. It was 7am in Sweden (1am US) so I was kinda tired. It was like skipping the night. No sleep. First day was rough. Here is Lars...
...when he was 12. Ha! But I wasn't in Sweden for long til they dressed me up like an alligator. I guess my reputation precedes me.
He showed me his workplace, a culture school in Strängnäs where Lars is the utmost authority on anything musical. He says "if you play or sing in Strängnäs, you go thru me". Fair enough. He drove me around Strängnäs and then took me to his place for breakfast where we watched Oprah in Swedish and ate.
Lars has two cats, which was fine by me. He named them Mao & Gorbachev. Apparently Swedes have an affinity for communist leaders. Lars assures me it's just their physical features that influenced him. I am suspicious.
I had rehearsal with the girls at noon. There were four. Smalll town. Small guard. But they were fun. Patricia, Bella, Christine & Johanna.
Lars took notes on what I was teaching but apparently didn't make it very far into the rehearsal.
Rehearsal ended a 6 and I was starved, and tired. After a quick nap at Lars' place we went and had some Lebanese food and beer. The restaurant was closed but they let us in as long as we didn't mind the wait staff screaming at the futbol game on the TV.
Trying to sleep that night was joke, and even tho I was pretty exhausted (and a little drunk) I was still on US time. So I watched Swedish TV til 5am and got about 3 hours. I have my own room that I managed to trash in one night.
Onto yesterday. It was interesting, since I was half asleep all day, so I taught some hard stuff that took them a little while to work on and I walked about taking photos of the weird trees and such, including the girls freaking out when they got frustrated and needed a break.
Last night was favorite part of the trip so far. After some incredibly spicy Thai food, Lars took me to Mariefred, a lovely little historical city that Dolph Lundgren, star of such classics as Universal Soldier and the film version of He-Man calls home. But it actually was pretty amazing. He took me to Royal Gripsholm Castle setting the perfect scene right at dusk, which is like 9pm. Yeah the sun goes down at like 10pm here and comes back up at 4am. Not much night. Back to the point. It's not everyday I get to see a castle, so I really dragged that out.
I like castles
Flat trees
Lars at the Gripsholm
Hebes Rundel
An 11th centruy rune stone that says "They fared like men, far after gold, and in the east they gave the eagle food. They died Soutward in Serklano". Awesome.
Then we wandered into the hills and came upon an old 12 century church ruin, called Kärnbo church. It was destroyed by a fire in 1682 and left to become a hangout for the Swedish youth when they wanna get drunk and maybe hold rituals themselves. Probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen or been in. What can I say I like that kind of stuff.
Me, in ruin
Lars thought this sign was funny and insisted I take a photo.
Here are a few more random photos from the trip so far. I love the architecture and the homes. Very colorful.
Wanna live here? It's for sale.
Any country that has Hawaiian pizza is okay with me
Say what?
See Mom, I told you they had windmills
One of my favorite shots so far
Laura, I know you want these dogs, and that building
Today I teach, in about an hour. Last long block of rehearsal. Then we go to one of the girls houses for dinner. Apparently her mother was a model in the states in the 70's and her father is a Swedish celebrity that had a childrens show back in the day where he dressed up as monkey and had a band of tigers and giraffes sing happy tunes. He was also in a band called The Electric Banana and more recently starred on I Survived A Japanese Game Show. Here he is.
The dude on the far left with the banana shaped guitar. Should be fun.
Then to Stockholm for some drinks and staying at Lars' other apartment in the city. Tomorrow I get to wander the streets of Stockholm alone, so hopefully you hear from me again. If not.... I love you all.
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