Örebro!!!

Today I spent the day hanging out with my teammate, Lisa, in her home town of Örebro. This city has always seemed so adorable, or at least from what I could tell as I quickly whizzed past on the train. Lisa and I had been talking almost all season about when I might visit Örebro and I figured since my days here in Sweden are quickly coming to a close that I should to it SOON! She needed a break from schoolwork and I needed a break from packing: match made in heaven!

When I got off the train in Örebro I as concerned that I would have trouble finding Lisa since I don't have any money left on my phone and we hadn't worked out a meeting place. As soon as I turned to head down the stairs and over to the main station I was greeted with a "Flarg Flarg!" Haha it's a joke between Lisa and I... youtube F*R*I*E*N*D*S christmas in Tulsa and you'll see it. Anywho, after we met up, we headed toward the center of town. This city is so adorable! It has the charm and architecture of a little town, but nearly everything you could find in a major city. As we walked through one of the many town squares, Lisa showed me the statue of the King who was crowned right there in Örebro. Just beyond the King, I spotted a building that looked AWESOME! "Oh, that's our castle" you know... no big deal or anything! Just a CASTLE in the middle of town! And this wasn't some little house made out of stone they were calling a castle. This was a proper CASTLE! It was so neat! So we walked around the castle and even went into one part. The castle is used for a ton of practical purposes. There are offices and even classrooms that are used by the local high school in it. Lisa described these rooms as "normal classrooms with a castley twist to them" haha! What is a castley twist? Not sure, but I loved the description. There is of course, still the touristy part.

After walking through town a bit more, we went into the local church.... yes, another church! The Church of St. Nicholas was GORGEOUS! It's a medieval cathedral that was built during the 13th and 14th centuries. It had incredibly high archways that lead you to the altar at the front of the church. In the back of the church was a spectacular organ! It had to have had more than 100 pipes! Absolutely stunning!

Next we just walked around town and went in and out of a few shops... After we had done a little bit of shopping, Lisa and I decided it was time to have a lunch break. We went to her favorite cafe only to find that it was SUPER busy. Rather than wait for a table to open up, we opted to come back a bit later. From the cafe, we walked along the canal that runs through the city. It was so pretty! Little cobble stone paths to walk on and cute little benches to sit on, but of course we didn't sit down... we had too much to see! We walked along the canal until we got to the city park. The flowers in the city park garden were so bright and vivid! The flowers blooming were bright red, orange, and yellow, and the combination of all of these colors would make any gardener jealous.

After a quick stroll through the park, we walked into Örebro's open air museum called Wadköping. This part of town is comprised of some of the oldest houses in the city. It reminded me a great deal of Yorktown or Colonial Williamsburg. Only in Wadköping's case, these structures were original. I'm not sure all of them were, but at least the ones we walked in were. While most of the buildings are now occupied by small craft or hobby shops, some are actually lived in. The building we went in displayed how daily life might have been back in those days. It was pretty cool to see. Lisa being an awesome tourguide translated what I couldn't read for me haha!

By this time we were starving so we headed back to the cafe for a bite to eat. It was such a great lunch. Normally, I'm one to eat and move on, but just sitting there enjoying the food and conversation was so nice. I have no idea how long we sat there, but we just talked. It was so relaxing. After lunch, we walked to a few other stores, took a couple more pictures, and then walked to the train station.

Saying goodbye to friends you've grown so close to in the past 5 months is SOOO difficult. Thank gosh they make sad situations funny by making an awkward noise or saying something ridiculous... hahaha! Thanks for such a great day, Lisa! I'll miss ya buddy, but can't wait to see you in the STATES! :)