Traditional Swedish Crayfish Party
Greetings,
Had a wonderful time at a traditional Swedish crayfish party, would you believe one of the most picturesque places I have ever been (islands about 20 minutes outside of Stockholm) is when my camera died? Such is life. The crayfish party is Swedish tradition and it happens in August. Basically you eat a bucket full of fresh crayfish, good times. One cool thing about Stockholm is that they have Georgian Bay like beauty a short 20 minute ride away, insane. The islands outside Stockholm are great. I can see why Tiger Woods ex wife hangs out there to avoid her cheating man.
Two major ways to do it, first you can suck the juices dry from between its legs, then poke a hole through the shield and suck it dry, hahah. That or just rip its tail off and take the juice like a shot. Then you crack the tail on top, peal, eat. I eat the brains a few times, it is good. Many just eat the tails. The claws, rip the pincher off and crack it in your mouth, if not there will be an egregious squirt. Also when emptying your plate, pay attention, the juice smells very funky, trust me. Go for the top end ones, they are better. Not cheap at about 25E a kilo.
I liked them but my favorite cold crustacean is still shrimp, I could eat buckets of them and boat loads with the horse radish sauce. The sauna was great and the water was cold as all h3ll. I would like to thank the gracious host of such a fun event, as a guy who from across the ocean it was very cool to take part in a traditional annual celebration in a beautiful venue going on since the 16th century with great company. Beats some museum or guided tour, yawn.
Friday I did not go out, at 6 am though the lady hosting me came home with some friends. One of them, a ballet dancer said my beard was barbaric and had to go and she was willing to shave it for me, yadda yadda yadda, why say no to a sultry Swede willing to shave your 5 week beard at 7am… I paid some old dude to do it in Asia, this was much more pleasant and no stress about the sterility of the razor.
The social experiment proved that you can have a beard, you can look slightly derelict and still run first class even if you are not paying for it. How you carry yourself and speak is much more important. I will do a write up on this later so enough about that.
I am taking a train to Trondheim, Norway tonight, hanging out for a few hours then taking a train to Oslo, staying for a day and going to Coppenhagen to visit a friend. I am in a hostel now, just found it, have time to kill so why not? Glad I did not hostel here, they are expensive and everyone is old, no young backpackers as the price of living here is too high. That said, it is not that high but compared to other destinations, quite. Luckily the hostel has free internet, hence this update.
I would not want to live here though, it is too cold and winter is coming aka same in Canada. In a perfect world, rent an apartment for the month of June or July when it is prime time. The trip to Norway cost me 3.5e, sick. I do not have a sleeper though but it would have cost me 90E, Eurail paying off, again.
My luggage is in the Radisson Blu Viking Hotel. I walked in and said to myself go for gold or bust… Walked right up to the front desk and said – Hello, how are you today? She replied fine thanks, how are you. I replied very well, thank you. I then proceeded to say I am catching a train at 11.30 tonight, may I leave my baggage here or something to that extent. She immediately smiled and said yes, follow me. Brought me to the luggage storage and that was that. Go get yours people but never lie. Instead of lugging or leaving at rail station, they are at the Radisson. Remember, never lie, liars a a subset of thieves aka scum.
Max burger is an amazing deal, just hit it up.
I had a piece of paper with the numbers of people I know in town, I am meeting a friend in 20 minutes to chill until I leave, probably go hit up some sushi. I had Swedish meatballs and they were gross like they came from a box. I will do a write up on what I thought about Sweden later. Suffice to say they are much more reserved then N. Americans in many ways but incredibly more liberal in others.
No time to re-read this, left a lot out but whatever.
Tip of the hat,
P.S: Stockholm is a fun city, one of my best stops so far.
