Stockholm and back

Last week, I visited the kingdom of Sweden, utilizing a discount coupon I received from a friend of mine. We travelled with Silja Line, a popular Finnish cruising company that constantly competes with Viking Line, another company. Personally, I don't find any of them particularly different from each other experience-wise, but I enjoyed the layout of this particular boat (Symphony). It has a so-called promenade deck in the center of the boat, consisting of several restaurants and shops; I got the feeling of a downtown shopping street.

Because we travelled on a Tuesday-Wednesday night, there weren't particularly many people onboard. However, we did only encounter one so-called "Walking Dead" (a person so intoxicated he/she has problems walking like a living person). The absence of drunks was actually quite relaxing, considering how many times I have witnessed stupid behaviour and sometimes engaged in it myself as well.

On a sunny Wednesday morning, our ferry arrived in the Stockholm Archipelago. We quickly purchased a (quite expensive) day-pass for the underground transit, and then continued into the Old Town. With hungry stomachs, the Pakistani restaurant Lilla Karachi seemed like a viable option. The promise of free beer and soda was compelling, as well as the price. For that small amount of money (around 7 euros), we got big servings of Tandoori Chicken and Beef Curry. The service was also fast and efficient.

Rolling further on full stomachs, our next stop was the Carl Larsson commemorative exhibition in Stockholms Nationalmuseum. A quite big variety of works were displayed here; as one of the most famous Swedish 19th century painters Larsson made quite a mark with his works. I noticed how many different styles and compositions this man was able to create; portraits of famous Swedish people and a few landscapes were all very interesting in their own way. I also enjoyed the many sculptures in the main entrance hall.

After this art lesson, our journey continued to Åhlens, one of the biggest department stores in Stockholm. That wasn't that interesting for me, since one can purchase the same products in Stockmann for example.

After a quite unnecessary trip to a fast food restaurant, our journey headed back to the ferry. I will definitely continue visiting Sweden in the future since it's a nearby and friendly location with my native tongue as main language.

Weekend visit to Sveaborg

Though I have work tomorrow, I decided to use my free Friday for a trip to Sveaborg, one of the most famous islands in the Helsingfors archipelago. It was my first time there in a few years, which made the trip very interesting with so many memories coming back. Me and my girlfriend went there quite late in the afternoon, though we originally planned to get there earlier. It was a very hot, sunny day which made the usually cold boat ride there much more pleasant.

Sveaborg consists of six separate islands, but is tightly knitted together by connecting bridges. The landscape is dominated by stone walls, a reminder of the island's days as a sea fortress. There are many hidden tunnels inside of these stone walls, which makes them an interesting future endeavour.

The grave of Ehrensvärd. Augustin Ehrensvärd was the creator of the Sveaborg sea fortress. This monument was designed by king Gustav III of Sweden himself.

We got very hungry after walking around the island for a few hours, so we decided to try out a local restaurant. I chose a hamburger meal complimented by cider, and No went for the meatballs (which were quite disgusting apparently).

Overall, it was a very nice experience to (re)visit this island, and I will definitely look into further exploration in the future.

Macro photography

Making wild strawberry liqueur

Last summer, I got acquainted with the art of making liqueur out of wild strawberries and raw vodka. It's a fairly simple process, but does however require a great deal of patience and time for the final production stage.

When making your own strawberry liqueur, you will need:

• -Freshly picked wild strawberries (about 0,30 L is sufficient)
• - 0,5 L Vodka
• - Sugar (according to taste)
• - A clean glass jar for the simmering process.

After that the ingredients have been collected, the first stage of production can begin.

Gently pour the fresh wild strawberries into the clean glass jar.

Pour the vodka on top of these, until they have been completely covered and the jar is almost full.

Close the lid carefully; leave it like this for at least a month.

According to what I've heard, the jar needs to be in "sunlight and moonlight" for the following month. 

The recipe I'm following is a traditional recipe from the Åland Islands. It is, however, possible to make this in a way that fits one's particular needs.

New day, another job

Today, I started working at the local supermarket. It's been a very intense day with lots of things to remember and take care of. As of now, I double shift between the photography shop and the supermarket, which means more work; but also more money. I have actually been working without any compensation for the last month (as a part of my school's mandatory work practice), so it's quite refreshing to get a decent compensation for both as of this day. 

Now I'm off to enjoy the cooler but still sunny weather by going for a run.

Drop it like it's hot. Something that a certain someone made me for unknown reasons.

Time for some shandy

After a long day of being at work and cutting a never ending field of grass, I finally sat down with some homemade chicken pizza and some ice-cold shandy. Shandy (or radler) is a German invention consisting of beer mixed with lemonade. It's a good "all-around" drink since it's not particularly strong in alcohol content and an excellent choice for a refreshing cold one.


My favourite shandy has (so far) been the one bought from German supermarket chain Lidl, called Grafenwalder Shandy. It consists of an equal amount of Grafenwalder beer and lemonade, which leads to the alcohol content dropping to 2.5 %. This is a good drink for the people who are looking for an alternative to their weekday beer, or for the ones needing something a bit more "adult" compared to the regular extremely sugary sodas.

I have been drinking this brand for a few years, but Lidl stopped selling them for a while for some reason. That got me very upset, sice the closest alternative (Foster's Radler) was worse and more expensive.



Grafenwalder Shandy is also extremely cheap, an 0,5 litre can only costing around 0,70 €. This leads to the price per litre (without bottle return included) being about 1,10 €. I think it's a very fair deal for such a great product.

Weekend camping

This friday, me and my girlfriend decided to head out into the wilderness for camping. Since my tent hadn't been used for over a decade, it was covered with dust and dirt inside out. But that didn't stop us from using it! We also bought plenty of mosquito repellent, a disposable grill and of course food.

 It was a very interesting trip overall, especially with the animals walking around our tent during night time.