Copenhagen with the girls (or, "Köpenhamn med flickorna")

Several weeks ago, three friends and I took a day trip to Copenhagen. As I have said in a previous post, Copenhagen is a quick 20 minute train ride away.  So don't be surprised if you see even more posts about Copenhagen in the future.

The subjects of these pictures are unlikely to be in any of Rick Steves books, but they are still worth sharing. 

"Doctor Fish"
Hmmm...what can I say?   I understand that the idea behind this foot care is that clients immerse their feet in what is essentially a fish tank, and the fish eat away the dead skin on the clients feet, while leaving the healthy skin. 

With the current exchange rate of 1 Danish Kroner equalling 18 cents, 15 minutes of having the fish nibbling your toes will cost $17.73.

Lego

A Danish company

Yet another cool nook. 

One of the woman I went with spent a year in Denmark while a teen.  Thus, she was aware of "breakfast chocolate".  This wafer thin chocolate, that we saw in both dark and milk flavors, is a Danish thing.  I have not seen it in Sweden.  Apparently one puts this very thin wafer on ones toast, and because it is so thin, it melts.  Its dimension might be the only thing about it that is "thin".  

Orchids

I suppose that every society loves flowers.  Sweden is no exception.  But as where in the U.S., giving flowers as a gift is reserved for special occasions, here it is the norm.




Happily, orchids are also common.  I often see them in shop windows, and in peoples offices and homes.  The lovely orchid pictured here is one of two which I have received as hostess gifts. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hiss

That is, "elevator".  I think "hiss" was the first Swedish word I learned.  When we were looking for an apartment, finding a building with an elevator was important to us.  This was true for several reasons.  On major grocery trips, we have (what we refer to as a granny cart) full of 30-50 lbs. (or seemingly a lot more!!) of groceries.  Dragging that cart up a few flights of stairs is no fun.  For that matter, dragging any major purchases up several flights of stairs is no fun.  Also, ever the nurse, I think of the difficulty one would encounter if one should sprain their ankle etc. So it is nice to have it there as a "just in case".  Also, going up and down, and up and down, and up and down ~40 stairs with baskets of laundry can be a bit tiring.  Granted I often skip the elevator when doing laundry, but it is nice to have it there.  And lastly, some guests are glad to ride the elevator rather than do the climb.  And I am glad to have it available for them.  Anyway, as I said, we wanted an elevator.  The fact that our old building has a very cool elevator is a plus.

 

 

 

Inside the hiss.  Note that the Ground floor isw not the first floor.  The "1" floor is the American "2" floor etc.  A friend of mine from Stockholm came over and said that different regions of Sweden label it differently. 

 

 

Going up?

 

 



Home ownership: Dishwasher

 

As I may have mentioned, John and I bought an apartment last autumn.  No sooner did we move in, than the dishwasher broke.  Last week, we finally got around to having a repair person come look at it.  Predictably, we were faced with the question of whether the repair was worthwhile.  What we hadn’t considered, until the repairman mentioned it, was that the repair is probably covered by our hemförsäkring (home owners insurance)!!  We would have never even considered it!  We called, and sure enough, it is!!  So we need only pay the deductible!  Considering the replacement cost of at least 1 ½ times the cost in the U.S., or the full cost of the repair, we are pretty happy.

 

Also of note:

All of this took quite a while to figure out.  And as the helpful repairman was explaining this, and waiting while we tried to get through to the insurance company, I was seeing dollar signs.  When he was leaving I told him that in the U.S., repair-persons charge by the length time they are in the home.  He said that is not the case in Sweden.  He said the cost of the visit would be ~ 100 SEK ($16).  Had we chosen to not have it repaired, I think it would have been more.  Maybe 600 SEK.  He also said that we were to pay nothing  that day, but that we would pay when he came back with the part, and the machine was repaired. 

 

So, yes, Sweden is expensive.  No question.  But it was nice to have an “upside” to the costs. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

T.V.

...or "teve".... either way, apparently there is a T.V. tax of ~ 25 USD/month.   Just to have one in our home.   Bummer.  We almost never watch it.  So now the question is, do we keep it?