Stockholm for a day

Determined not to let our bad night of sleep daunt our enthusiasm, we get ready to explore Gamla Stan. The buffet is wonderful as usual, but so crowded. We find a table in the main room and clear it ourselves. There are 3 rooms in which to dine. The only complaint is that the coffee is bad. It tastes like American coffee that has been sitting in arestaurant pot too long.

We go to the front desk to request a new room. They give their apologies and say they found out that the Russians next door were the culprits. They made a point of identifying them as Russians. I wonder if there is not some stereotyping or prejudice going on here??? But, she added, they are leaving today. In the U.S. they would ask them to leave and give them a big fine. Sounds like they let them stay anyway. They do give us another room one floor up due to the bed issue. We go back and move upstairs. Arvid jumps up and down on the new bed. It passes.

We leave the car there and take the subway to Gamla Stan. Slick. The town is as we remember it. I love the quaint shops with winding maze of cobblestone streets and alleyways. It is bitterly cold minus 12 C. It is hard to walk far without it getting to you. We purposely duck into shops to avoid the extreme cold. We find a cute shop and I buy a scarf and that helps me stay warmer but it is still unbearable for long periods of walking. We find a Tobac Shop with ATG on it and buy our tickets for the Helsinki trip. We are given an envelope like you would have on an airline trip with tickets inside. It seems so weird to have this big transaction take place in a souvenir shop amidst key chains, tee shirts, magazines and gambling tables. We find every souvenir shop in Gamla Stan. We are hunting for tee shirts for Bren and the grand kids. We also want to take them some playing cards that we have seen before with the Swedish cards for King, Queen, Jack and Ace. They are different. Some cards are westernized but we want the Swedish ones for the grand kids.

There are a lot of people in a tour group. At first all you see is a big group of people taking photos. Then you notice that every single person is covered in fur! They have fur hats, fur coats, fur boots, fur gloves; it is very distinct. We listen to the group leader and realize that they are of Russian descent. The whole scene of Gamla Stan still reminds me of the Harry Potter movie when they show Diagon Alley and the wizard shops. I expect to see wands and owls for sale at any moment. ha ha. The closest we come to is a wild boar.

We go to Cafe Järnvägen. It has so many kinds of paj that sound so good and they are homemade. We have been here before but had ice cream on a hot summer day. We have espresso and chai tea too. It is a small place but cozy and very good. We call Sabine and Niklas. They are in Stockholm today shopping too. They say they will come and meet us there. It is fun to see them walk through the door after first seeing them in Ljusne and meeting for the first time.

Look hard to see the cannon balls
They show us some fun sights in the city. There is a statue that dates way back in time and has a story attached to it. Then we see a building that has cannonballs in the side. They are placed there on the refurbished building to show the history. We see the famous alleyway where you can spread your arms and touch both buildings at either side! It is so cold we are not able to stand walking to many sites of interest so we go back to Gamla Stan where there are shops to dip into to relieve the pain!

We shop some more and I am quite sure they are bored with it all. But, they are good sports. Brrrrrr. Our hands are getting numb and our feet are way past that point. We find another cafe after a couple of hours of shopping. We sit in a very popular coffee house with amazing bakery treats. It is quite crowded and full of happy Swedes. What economy problems? The Swedes sure are out and happy and seem to have no cares about it. We never see any homeless people or closed up stores. The difference in that respect is obvious.

We all walk back to the subway. After our good byes, they go their way and we go ours. I hope we can get back to Stockholm some time, meet Sabine and Niklas and really explore the city with them.

We see a theater near our hotel and decide to see what is playing. It is fun for us to see movies in Sweden. It gives a good chance for us to see the Swedish subtitles and learn a bit! In reverse, that is how many Swedes have learned English or bettered their skills anyway. American films are in English, not dubbed, and have Swedish subtitles. Yes Man is playing with Jim Carrey. We go back to the room and warm up. Being so cold for so long really zaps you of energy! Arvid goes out to get some things from the car and brings back some hamburgers from a local stand on the street. We eat them in the warmth of the hotel.

The shopping center is just a couple of blocks from our hotel and the subway is right there too. This is a centrally located hotel. We forget how early you have to get to theaters to get seats together! There are teenagers all over the floor and sitting on the stairs when we arrive. Our seats are one above each other on the aisle. We go buy some fun candy and wait for the doors to open. The movie is great and we walk home.

Karli sends her paper to her prof. at LiU! Yeah! It is done! We go to bed without a squeaky bed, without smoke and with a completed paper. Tomorrow the ferry to Helsinki.