Food, glorious food!

There is an amazing food hall/indoor market place in the centre of Lund… 

In Sweden you can't by alcohol in normal shops, you have to go to a Systembolaget - now I couldn't really care less about the alcohol but underneath this Systembogalet are counters bursting with fresh food, chocolates and other wonderful things! 

It is amazing!!! My mouth was watering the entire time. I window shopped for a while but food is so expensive in Sweden that unfortunately couldn't buy much. After working up an appetite in the market we headed to the food hall section for some lunch. 

We went for lunch at a really nice middle Eastern inspired restaurant so not just a typical burger grill. Matt ordered the Angus Burger and I went for a Moroccan Lamb Stew. 

It was delicious!! Full of big chunks of lamb, potatoes, chickpeas and beans. 

After a lovely lunch we ventured back out in to the snow and made a quick trip to Tiger, which could possibly be the best shop ever!! It sells pretty much everything and it is REALLY CHEAP!! You don't know how hard it is to find cheap shops in and around Lund without having to trek all the way to Ikea in Malmö. 

We were was starting to suffer from the cold so we caught a bus and headed home to Klostergarden. Once we were back inside the nice warm flat we quickly whipped up a hot chocolate (and a black coffee for me), and tucked in to our goodies from the market.

Chocolate and Raspberry muffin which was really yummy. 

Exploring in the snow.

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, my courses started this week and the work has been a bit intense so the blog took a back seat.

My SLR decided to play up today and didn't want to take photos, so there is a bit of a mix in quality where I had to use my iPhone, hopefully it isn't too noticeable. Our first stop was the Cathedral, a Gothic looking building which really dominates the centre of the city.

One of the main sights inside the Cathedral is the Astronomical Clock which was originally constructed in 1380. It was in storage from 1837 until it was restored and put back in 1923. 

On top of the clock are two knights that mark the hours, the upper board is Astronomical and shows the different phases of the Moon and where the Sun sets. The lower board is a calendar which calculates where religious holidays will fall. In the middle is Saint Lawrence, the Patron Saint of the Cathedral. The present clock goes from 1923-2123, after this date another board must be made so that the clock can be used. 

The Cathedral is really warm and peaceful inside, you can look around freely and there are lots of places to sit, light a candle and reflect. The alter has an intricate mosaic ceiling and is surrounded by delicately carved choir stalls.

We were feeling brave so we also took a peek at the Crypt downstairs. It was so interesting to look at the ancient graves which had worn smooth after many years, there were also funny carvings on the pillars (one looked suspiciously like a man eating a baby??) 

Afterwards we popped off to the botanical gardens to wander around the tropical glasshouses and imagine we were somewhere exotic. I have already done a post on the garden so I won't bore you, here are a few pictures of things which caught my attention. 

This post is already very long so I will end it here, but keep checking for another post very soon (spoiler - it involves a lot of food!!)

Snow day!

Since I got to Sweden the weather has been pretty dull - cloudy, rainy, damp and a lot like the UK. So when I walked to the centre for my exam on Monday I was super excited to see tiny little white flakes falling from the sky, SNOW!! Finally, this is more what I had pictured Scandinavia to be like (although it did rekindle my longing for Christmas again, January too early to be excited for Christmas??)

The whole place looked totally magical in the snow with all the fairy lights twinkling away. 

However, being the unprepared Brit that I am I had come out dressed entirely inappropriately for snow and couldn't spend too long wandering around for fear of losing my toes to frostbite. *Note to self, Vans are not suitable for sub zero temperatures!* 

Sorry the pictures aren't the best quality, I was caught out with only my iPhone but I just had to share how pretty it was!