In my new and fancy project leader job, I works from home, but “some traveling” is included in the job description. Not too long ago, I was summoned on a business trip down to the city of Jönköping, south of Sweden and 260 km away from where I live.
First train departed at 6.15am, and after three (!) switches to other trains and buses, I arrived in Jönköping after 4 and a half hours. It rained…
I sat for half an hour and perfected the Powerpoint presentation about myself (yup, I had a Powerpoint. The ONLY one that had prepared that…). Then I went passed my hotel and dropped off my bag, then straight for the lunch with my colleagues.
Found this in my book on the train 😍😍😍💖💖💖
After lunch, a day of introducing ourselves to each other, lectures and workshops, we went to check in to the hotel, Elite Hotel – Stora hotellet. Such a lovely hotel on the outside, and this is the inside 🤣:
My room was lovely though, and Aaron 100% would have fit in the bed 😅 Next time, he can come with me ❤
After some freshening up and unpacking, we went to Ciro, a fancy Italian restaurant, for dinner.
If it hadn’t been raining, it would have been amazingly beautiful (well, it was anyway, but even more).
The food was fantastic. First a charcuterie board with some nice delicacies, and then I took a pasta Piemontese (beef, cream, garlic, red wine, rosemary, mushroom, parmesan and parsley). YUM-MIE.
After dinner, I stayed long after everyone else had left with two of the girls, and we had dessert and talked for a long time, super fun! Then the three of us went for a walk around Jönköping (to try and find a shop to buy soda and sweets, admittedly).
After a documentary about the Palme murder (when Sweden’s prime minister was killed in 1986), I went to bed EARLY.
The next morning, I met my two new besties at 7am at the hotel buffet. MAN, it was one of the greatest ones I’ve had! Sooo much food, and a WAFFLE station. I ate way too much, and for way too long.
I was eating for so long that I barely made it for the first seminar (also had to pack up and check out before that, but still). Let’s just say I was not hungry at 10.00am for the “fika” (pastries and coffee) OR the lovely lunch at 11.30.
When the official work was over and everybody had said their goodbye, I still had 2 hours before my train left. So I decided to do as much sightseeing of the city as I could:
You can tell it’s a very old city. It was actually founded in 1284, given city priveleges from Magnus Ladulås, the king of Sweden 1275 – 1290 (and the son of Birger Jarl, the founder of Stockholm). Unfortunately, most of the city burned down in 1612, so the oldest buildings are “only” from that time, but according to Wikipedia, the oldest preserved part of the city is the “Hovrättstorget” (Court square), where my company’s office actually is situated (all the pictures above). So, that’s cool (to a history nerd like myself)! 😋
I walked the same path like during the restaurant night, when it was raining. It was as beautiful as suspected in sunlight.
Then, I stumbled upon Jönköpings Museum, and I decided to spend my last hour in there.
What a great idea! It was marvelous, and SO mixed and diverse. It had everything from history and vikings, to technology, science, eSports and gaming, the women’s movement, the jews situation during WWII and the holocaust, paintings and photographs. Phew!
You needed muuch more than an hour in there, I only scratched the surface now. But I can definitely recommend it, if you are ever in Jönköping.
After the museum, I had to make it to my train, to go home. It was a lovely trip, and I work with some amazing people. Can’t wait to do it again soon ☺️
