Trip to Stockholm

Always wanted to write something about my trip to Stockholm. This was my first trip to Europe, so I was very excited. :-)

Visa Application

Where to start? I should start from my visa application. I went to the Swedish Embassy on June 4. There, I saw a very beautiful Swedish visa officer - so far I still believe that she is the most beautiful Swedish girl that I have even seen. I was waiting outside the Embassy gate for almost two hours. It was quite hot that day and actually there were only four people in front of me. The Swedish Embassy visa area is much smaller than that of the US Embassy. I remember when I went to the US Embassry for visa application, there were tons of people waiting both inside and outside. The Swedish Embassy definitely looks more cosy.

I took a queue number, and not long it was my turn. The visa officer was a mid age Chinese woman and spoke with me in Chinese. I handed over all my application documents. She flipped through them and told me that I should submit two copies of one questionnaire. I quickly got another copy and filled it in. But she also told me that I should complete all questions on the questionnaire. I thought that those questions are not applicable, but thought I should not argue with her. One question was when the representative of your company ever visited Sweden. I had to call my secretary regarding the exact date (she got all information needed in advance). The signal was not good inside the Embassy, so I tried a number of times and finally reached her. After I got another queue number, this time the visa was received by a Swedish young man. He was typing while talking to me. His Chinese was pretty good. He asked me if this was my first time to Sweden and I said yes. Then he said, "I will need to ask you some questions. Can you speak English?" I said yes. He asked me two questions: why are you going to Sweden? Why that Swedish firm co-hosts the seminar? After that, he said that I should wait for 10 business days and call to see if the visa is ready. That's it. :-)

After 10 business days, I got my visa! My door to Sweden is open now!

June 26, 2008

In the Air

I booked Air China flight. I always like to take Air China as I have fond memories about their attendents when I used to take their business class. ;-) But this time I was taking economic class. I arrived at the airport in time on June 26 and hang around in those duty-free shops and bought some L'Occitane shampoo, conditioner, and other stuff. I am now obssessed with L'Occitane products.

When I happily boarded the plane at 2:oopm, and the plane left Beijing for about one hour, I felt that the plane accelerated its speed as if the brake went down. After a couple of minutes, the plane returned to normal. But after another five minutes or so, it accelerated its speed again. I was wondering what happened, but did not care too much. But about 10 minutes later, the air attendant suddently announced that due to mechanical problems, we will fly back to Beijing! Unbelievable! People were calm and I didn't yell either. But I was a little bit scared. Don't fail my first trip to Europe!

We safely returned to Beijing at about 3:30pm and were sitting in an isolated boarding room. Air China notified us about one hour later that another plane will take off at 6:00pm. So we were waiting. I called my husband and he was joking: are you calling from Sweden already? I emailed the episode to my boss, and he told me that planes actually don't have brakes!

During my stay, a Swedish boy (Fredrik) was sitting beside me, so we talked. He can speak very good Chinese (I guess he has a Chinese girlfriend ;-). After graduation from high school, he joined their navy and served as a royal guard for two years. Then he came to China to study Chinese. Now he was returing to Sweden for college, where he will study "Industrial Economices". Good for him!

At 6:00pm, we boarded again, and this time it didn't return to Beijing but took us directly to Sweden. As it started raining and also because this plane was actually not scheduled to take off at such late time, our taking-off time was delayed to around 8:00pm. But finally, it took off and Stockholm is ahead!

On the plane, a Swedish girl was sitting beside me and we had some conversation. Unbelievably she was actually only a high school student! She had traveled many places and had been to China for quite a number of times. These foreign kids are so lucky! She told me where to go in Stockholm. Her English was also very good.

Arrival

Around 10:40pm local time, we finally arrived in Stockholm. There is six hour time difference between Beijing and Stockholm. But when we arrived, the sky was still quite bright - that was because Sweden is closer to north pole and in summer they have much longer day time but in winter they have much longer night time. I waited for Fredrik and collected our luggage. He also took me to the train waiting area (not far from the exit) and helped me purchase the train ticket.

While I was waiting for the train, I met a Chinese girl, who works in Sweden. She looks nice and I enjoyed talking to her. She studied Swedish at college and had worked in Sweden for four years. She has a very handsome Swedish boyfriend! ;-)

When the express train took us to the city center, it was already mid-night. There were some taxis waiting outside the train station. We were warned in advance that in Sweden taxi is extremely expensive so I didn't plan to take any taxi. Besides, my hotel was supposed to be very close to the center train station.

Hotel

Yes, it is really close! It only took me five minutes to walk to the hotel! On my way to the hotel, I saw many people sitting outside restaurants or bars drinking, talking, eating, and laughing. I was impressed by how late they still hang out. I guess that's because they enjoy the summer tremendously!

Once I arrived at the hotel, I showed my passport to the receptionist and she quickly found my reservation. This hotel does not have any star, but it is pretty clean. My room has two beds and they look nice.

I put my stuff in place and then took a shower. To be honest, their bathroom does not look more high class than that of many Chinese four star hotels. I remember in the US hotels also look old and not that spacious. Maybe their land is more expensive!

I turned on TV - it only has limited channels. I found that their CNN program is the same as that we see in Beijing. I thought that CNN has different programs for each continent. I was apparently wrong!

I managed some asleep but woke up very early. Jet-lag. I took another shower and then went to have breakfast downstairs. A long time ago, I heard of Swedish breakfast's big name - one newspaper article says that Swedish breakfast is very luxury. But to my surprise, the breakfast in the hotel is just so so - but it is much better than any four star hotel in China! I of course took the opportunity and ate a lot. ;-)

June 27, 2008

On June 26 morning, I went downstairs and wanted to convert some Renminbi into Swedish Krones. But staff at Bank of China told me that as Swedish Krone is not major currency, they don’t have them handy. I should have made some appointment in advance! I called Wang Bing, a good friend, who told me that at Copenhagen airport you could convert Renminbi into their local currency. As Yisu said that Copenhagen airport is the largest airport in northern Europe, I didn’t dare to risk going there without any local Krone. So as a compromise, I went downstairs again and converted some Renminbi into euros and US dollars. I was sure that these two currencies could be converted into any local currency!

So on June 27 morning, I went to the center station again. After comparing two currency conversion companies I changed 3,000 Renminbi into around 2,500 Swedish Krones. They also charged me 25 Swedish Krones fee. I should have done the conversion in China, as Bank of China’s exchange rate is much more favorite and they don’t charge any fee!

City Hall

The first place of interest I went to is City Hall. I found that in foreign cities, they all have a city hall where their city officials work. Those city halls are also open to public so citizens can audit what is being discussed and how a decision is being made. As city halls are often grandeur architecture, tourists like to visit them and enjoy the fabulous view from the top of those city halls (in Stockholm the City Hall is one of the tallest buildings). In the contrary, China’s city officials never allow public to visit their official buildings, not to say audit their meetings.

The City Hall is one of the best-known symbols of Stockholm. The Nobel Banquet takes place in the Blue and Golden Halls. Around 200 politicians and civil servants have their offices in this building. The tour guide, a very charming Swedish young man, told us that in Stockholm, their mayor does not have too much power, and most things are decided by the 101 city representatives. Inside the Golden Hall, you can see gorgegous paintings on walls and ceilings, and also the painting of the goddess of the nearby lake. The goddess does not look very beautiful, though – she has man’s hands and feet, and her face is not engaging. But that’s she blessed Stockholm, so I guess people still love her!

The City Hall Tower charges an additional 20 Krones fee for entry. Rising 106 meters into the air, it offers a breathtaking view of Stockholm. I didn’t use the elevator but climbed up the 365 steps through narrow passages. Those narrow passages are very similar to the Chinese towers – only one can pass through at one time. On the top, you basically can see the whole city. Stockholm’s sky was very clean and blue and the weather was just perfect. Their buidlings are very colorful – you have red, yellow, brown and white buildings and they are so coherently co-existing.

Royal Palace

Sweden is a constitutional monarchy and the current King, Carl XVI Gustaf, is the 74th King of Sweden and has been Kind of Sweden since September 1973. The King's duties are primarily ceremonial and representative. The Royal Family used to live in the Royal Palace sitting in the Old Town, but now they reside in Drottningholm Palace.

The change of royal guards starts at 12:15pm every day. Tons of tourists were standing there waiting for witness the change before I arrived. A 30-people band in white uniform marched into the yard first and played some music. Then the guards in blue uniforms with some machine guns (but I don’t think there were any bullets inside the guns) followed in. They were standing straight and some capitains talking loudly to each other as if reporting something important. The totoal process lasted about 45 minutes. Interestingly, one female guard was among the male unit that succeeded the previous guards. She was small, but quite serious.

After watching the change of Royal Guards, I went into the Royal Apartments. This was the official residence of His Majesty and the Queen. The interior design, especially the paintings on the walls and ceiling, is fabulous. That’s how Europe should look like – a lot of oil paintings, a lot of chandeliers. One interesting story I didn’t know is that actually the current King of Sweden is descendant of a Frenchman - As Napoleon was emperor of France, the Swedish parliament saw it practical to elect a king whom Napoleon could accept. On August 21, 1810, the Swedish parliament elected Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France, as heir apparent to the Swedish throne. Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte reigned as King of Sweden and of Norway from 1818 until his death in 1844. The painting where he rides on a horse is very famous in Europe. Another interesting thing is that there is an official bedroom for the king and another for the queen. In the past, the king and the queen normally don’t sleep in one bedroom – the tour guide said that they don’t care because usually royal marriage was arranged and they don’t love each other. French kings had extensive getting-up ceremonies and close subjects were privileged to watch that process. I remember I have seen that process in some Hollywood movies.

The second part of my tour in the Royal Palace was the Treasury. In dark cellar vaults at the Royal Palace the monarchy's most important symbols - the regalia - are kept in safe-keeping. The crowns are the most beautiful parts. They are sparkling, shining and colorful. They, however, do not belong to the King of Sweden but belong to the Swedish people. Interesting.

The Museum of Antiquities is another place worthy of mentioning. It is one of the oldest museums in Europe and first opened its doors in 1794. King Gustav III, who had a keen interest in art and antiquities, always wanted to possess the scupltures of the twelve muses. He purchased several of the museum’s sulcuptures when he toured Italy at the end of 1700s. Shortly after his death, the collection was exhibited to the public in honor of the deceased king. I was told that the sculptures are placed in the gallery exactly as they were originally exhibited. When I looked at them, I felt they are beautiful, like those Greek or Roman style sculptures, but unfortunately I don’t remember that much Greek myths, so I didn’t quite understand why the twelve muses are that imporant and posed that way. :-/

Anyway, the tour in the Royal Palace was very fruitful and educational. I learned a lot about Swedish history.

Old Town

The Royal Palace is located in the Old Town. The Old Town dates back to The town dates back to the 13th century, and consists of medieval alleyways, cobbled streets, and archaic architecture. Nobel Museum is also in the Old Town, but as time was short, I didn’t have a chance to visit it. It also houses a lot of gift shops. I was walking through many of them, and finally bought some souvenir. I still don’t know why some wooden horse is a Swedish symbol, but as it looks good, I bought one with a cute boy hiding on it and gave it to my husband. :-)

When I returned to the hotel, it was already around 7:00pm local time, and I was really exhausted, so I went to bed without going to the Swedish firm for dinner. Sorry maybe they have counted me in as I subscribed for that dinner! Hope somebody would eat more so that there will be no waste!

June 28, 2008

This day has an imporant mark in my life, not because I attended the seminar and really learned a lot about financing, but because I met some colleague that I admired for quite a long time. The presentations are, of course, of great interest. I was trying to digest as much as possible. I always like to do debt financing work, and I think it is quite challenging. :-)

The evening was a wonderful experience. The Firm arranged a cruise on a beautiful boat, and we could sail on the Baltic Sea and enjoy the fantastic night scene of Stockholm. The food was quite good, but one bad thing that happened was I accidentally spilled a glass of red wine on a NY partner’s T-shirt. I will buy one for him, and I hope he will not be mad at me!

After the cruise, I returned to hotel. Many didn’t. Especially the Europeans, they apparently had a lot of energy as they didn’t have any jet-lag. They went to bar, I guess.

I fell asleep quite easily and was longing to embrace my last day in Stockholm!

June 29, 2008

At breakfast, I met some European colleagues again, and I was very glad to see them. They are a lot of fun.

I went to the Vasa Museum with a London colleague, but unfortunately we lost each other in the huge mesuem.

The museum displays the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged, the 64-gun warship Vasa (named after the then ruling king) that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. The ship is really huge. I tried many times taking a picture of the entire ship, but just couldn’t. In the 17th century, Sweden was busy building up a navy and the king ordered a number of worships, among them the Vasa. It was built by an experienced Dutchman, and after it was built, it started its maiden voyage on a beautiful summer day. However, as it was too big, it quickly sank only a few minutes after it left the harbor. Every spectator was shocked in horror and disbelief. 20-30 people died in this disaster. It was salvaged in 1961 and, after some repairment, was displayed in this purposefully built museum.

In the museum, one can also see some Sweden-related exhibitions: what early Swedish’s life looks like. There also some computers on which you can digitally replay the sinking process and also see the explanations to each sinking step. Very intelligent.

After the trip to the Vasa Museum, I walked back to the hotel. It is really a beautiful street, along which there are many European style buildings. I cannot tell their exact building time, but I can see that they have been there for at least a century. But they are preserved very well. They are still vividly colorful. I took many pictures, and when I reviewed them again, I found that such splendid scenery is really difficult to capture through the small camera. One has to go there and personally experience the charm.

En route to my hotel there are two H&Ms. H&M is a Swedish brand. Before I went to Sweden, I checked the internet and knew that Sweden is one of the richest countries in the world, but interestingly, I found many people were shopping at H&M. It is like a supermarket and you can try every clothes there. I bought some T-shirt for my husband with the US dollars (I used up all my Krones...)

As I arrived at my hotel, it was around 4:10pm. I thought I could have a decent lunch cross the street of the hotel to experience the European lifestyle, but I was wrong. The dish was served very slow, and I couldn't wait as I had a flight to catch. So I ended up drinking the coffee and eating the dessert first, and wrapping up the steak. You just cannot imagine how horribly tasteless the steak would be. I swear that I will never ever wrap up a steak.

Fortunately, I arrived at the airport just about time. I boarded the plane, and the plane punctually took off. I was still hungry as I didn't have a proper lunch, but as I was sleepy, I guickly fell asleep.

And now I am in Beijing!!