Stockholm 6/17/04 - 6/20/04
Written live from Venice on the 20th. But more on Venice later.
So my arrival in Stockholm was something like this: Got off the plane at Skavsta[1] airport, which is like an hour away from town by bus, during which I got my first taste of Swedish hospitality - This lady with her infant who was taking up two seats denied everyone else who wanted the last seat, but moved over for me. Cool. Of course the baby developed a fascination with my flannel and kept playing with it, but that's ok, because he was a really cute baby. Not that you really see ugly babies. In any case, an hour and a half later I'm in the city bus station, wondering where Toast is. So I wander around for an hour, dodging the friendly Nigerian scam artist who wants my money, though strangely not to launder it from rebels or anything - he just wanted a cup of coffee, he said. Still. The phone, meanwhile, gives me some random dude's machine. Spending my last 2 euro coin gets me on the 'net, but of course MSN won't work. Getting desperate (it's like 8:30), I suddenly realize the Info desk is open, whereupon I get my second taste of how helpful Swedes can be, as the nice lady deciphers Toast's phone number for me, in a very pleasant fashion, and in the essentially perfect English everyone in Stockholm has. So I call Toast.
Me: Uh, yeah. Toast. So I'm stuck in the city bus station, and where are you, anyway?
Toast: You're in Sweeden?
Me: I appear to be, yep.
Toast: Oh dear. I thought it was tomorrow. Anyway, go over to this hotel, and I'll meet you there.
Whereupon I got hospitality visit #3 - the nice, young, and very cute girl at the info desk (who replaced the nice, but old, lady) telling me in some detail where exactly said hotel is, which is more or less right outside, but not to hear her talk. In short order, Toast and his dad pick me up and take me to their place, give me a guest room of enormous goodness, and cook me dinner. Lavish hospitality note #4. I think we watched some soccer, but I more or less fell asleep, so.
The next day, I dragged Toast all over the city, including some places that were new to both of us. The city itself, situated on a few islands, is really cool to walk, both for the sights and because Stockholm is both chilly and light out pretty much 24/7/365. The suburbs, I should add at this point, feel almost exactly like some bizzare European Junction City, for those of us who've been there. Wood houses again, finally, plus actual evergreen trees. Felt like home, actually.
First stop in the city was the Vasa Museum, home of the ship of the same name, which sank in 1628 and was raised more than 300 years later. So we saw the ship and the exhibits on 17th century naval life, and it was cool.
After a stop at the most scenic McDonald's I've ever seen (overlooking the waterfront, not to mention this really strange boat cover in HP and Harley-Davidson logos), we went over to the Royal Palace, which is huge. We then proceeded to spend 3-4 hours there touring the place, seeing the state rooms and treasury, then hitting 3 assorted museums inside - the armory, the antiquities museum, and the castle museum. That having been exhausted (and exhausting us), we went over to the cathedral and saw that. Then we went home, beat Super Mario Brothers 3 up to world 7, and watched some soccer, wherein one of the Swedish guys scored a most amazing goal that Toast can probably tell you all about, as he's memorized it.
Day 2 got off to a slow start, with us not starting until 11 or so. We went down to the Army Museum, which, being cooler than you might expect for a generally non-belligerant country like Sweeden, occupied some hours with nifty displays and a bunch of real weapons to check out. Then we went to the Historical Museum, which was very cool when it came to the Vikings and gold, but less cool on the Middle Ages exhibit, which was mostly a TON of church objects. That done, we bought some stuff, went home, and Toast saw the true horrors of my picture collection. Sorry if I was a tad boring, Toast.
Too, we saw Gangs of New York, which is a much better movie than people say it is. *shrug*
And then came the travelling day from hell. After like 3 hours of sleep, I took a 7:35 bus to Vasateras airport, got on a 10:10 flight to London Stanstead where I sat next to two Swedish ladies who obviously had never flown before, and finally arrived in Stanstead some 3 hours later, where after intense rushing to make my next flight, I stood in lines for an hour, during which time I finished the second of two Sharpe books I started that day. When the Venice flight finally boarded, I took a nap, made slightly unbearable by the freezing aircraft.
Not to worry, I said. I'll be in Venice soon, and Venice will be warm. Ha. It was pouring, so my first glimpse of Italy was in the rain. Still, it's nice.
I was, however, too tired and annoyed and wet to go sightseeing, so I settled for a hotel and this entry instead. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
[1] - Toast will forgive my total lack of usage of the extra letters that Swedish uses, because, well, my American keyboard is pretty simple, and doesn't go in for all that Ctrl+Alt action that Swedish keyboards are all up into these days. Scary things, Swedish keyboards. Just when I was getting over the trauma of English keyboards, too. Oh, the horror.
Posted by Dwip at June 21, 2004 12:22 PM