I'd like to consider all of my new passport stamps as 'learning' experiences. Sweden was no different....I went, I saw, I learned we can't compete. Sure our fine men and women of the Armed Forces could sail right into Stockholm's port and by lunchtime be sipping vodka, confident in a quick takeover but....
Pick 10 random Americans and 10 random Swedes to hit the runway and we might as well be Sweden's bitch, our orthodontia has got nothin' on the blond, blue eyed, beauties! In the spirit of Derek Zoolander...they are 'really, really ridiculously good looking!!!' Their city is not only clean and stunning, they had to go and fill it with people equally as pretty. As much as I wanted to hate their skinny tallness, you can't because they are beyond friendly and accomodating!
Lisa arrived on Tuesday and after a quick day of London walking and meeting Lawrence and Beni...we were on a plane. We got to Stockholm, Sweden around 12:30am and checked into our hostel. To my surprise it was not a complete dump, in fact I would stay there again, maybe it was the free pasta or Internet but either way it rocked my cheap travel world! Unfortunately we didn't get to hit the town that night but we did see the sun rise at 3am...yup even the sun loves Sweden so much that it rises extremely early! We ran out of our hostel door, crossed the street to watch the sky turn pink over the water, pretty lovely, so lovely I stayed out to snap some pics for 15 whole minutes before passing out in bed.
The next day we spent wandering old city, which is exactly like you would imagine...old cobblestone streets filled with boutiques, shops, restaurants and pubs. It's also right next to the Royal Palace and since I still dream of owning a legit tiara, we headed there next. Sweden is filled with Royal Excitement, Princess Victoria is getting hitched and much to the happiness of Swedes....she's marrying a nobody, a common guy....It's the first wedding since the King and Queen married in the 60s. Sadly, we were about 2 weeks early for this historic event but the preparations are very much underway. A random fact (according to our Swedish friends) there will be 2 weeks of celebrations leading up to the wedding and special cakes, created for the occasion will be sold in every bakery in the country. I have decided that I too want a special cake created just for me and no a box cake will not do....
By 3, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and the fact that Sweden is home of Absolut Vodka. Much like behind the times Pennsylvania, Sweden has special stores to sell wine and liquor, there are no offlicenses, no grocery store booze runs so we got directions to the store, took a deli style number and browsed glass cases for the perfect daydrinking on the water cocktail. We went with some Vanilla Absolut, purchased some cokes, sat on the water to join the Swedes on a perfect sunny day. We caught up on life and love over liquor soaking up as much sun as our poor packing would allow. Take that London weather, I got tan lines....well red lines but it's still color! Daydrinking leads to lots of things but ours only led to free oversalted pasta and a quick nap around 8.
We did manage to stir ourselves out of bed after an hour or two. We fought the inevitable hangover of killing a bottle to grab some drinks in old city. Our best efforts kept us sipping cider until 1 before calling it a night..
Pick 10 random Americans and 10 random Swedes to hit the runway and we might as well be Sweden's bitch, our orthodontia has got nothin' on the blond, blue eyed, beauties! In the spirit of Derek Zoolander...they are 'really, really ridiculously good looking!!!' Their city is not only clean and stunning, they had to go and fill it with people equally as pretty. As much as I wanted to hate their skinny tallness, you can't because they are beyond friendly and accomodating!
Lisa arrived on Tuesday and after a quick day of London walking and meeting Lawrence and Beni...we were on a plane. We got to Stockholm, Sweden around 12:30am and checked into our hostel. To my surprise it was not a complete dump, in fact I would stay there again, maybe it was the free pasta or Internet but either way it rocked my cheap travel world! Unfortunately we didn't get to hit the town that night but we did see the sun rise at 3am...yup even the sun loves Sweden so much that it rises extremely early! We ran out of our hostel door, crossed the street to watch the sky turn pink over the water, pretty lovely, so lovely I stayed out to snap some pics for 15 whole minutes before passing out in bed.
The next day we spent wandering old city, which is exactly like you would imagine...old cobblestone streets filled with boutiques, shops, restaurants and pubs. It's also right next to the Royal Palace and since I still dream of owning a legit tiara, we headed there next. Sweden is filled with Royal Excitement, Princess Victoria is getting hitched and much to the happiness of Swedes....she's marrying a nobody, a common guy....It's the first wedding since the King and Queen married in the 60s. Sadly, we were about 2 weeks early for this historic event but the preparations are very much underway. A random fact (according to our Swedish friends) there will be 2 weeks of celebrations leading up to the wedding and special cakes, created for the occasion will be sold in every bakery in the country. I have decided that I too want a special cake created just for me and no a box cake will not do....
By 3, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and the fact that Sweden is home of Absolut Vodka. Much like behind the times Pennsylvania, Sweden has special stores to sell wine and liquor, there are no offlicenses, no grocery store booze runs so we got directions to the store, took a deli style number and browsed glass cases for the perfect daydrinking on the water cocktail. We went with some Vanilla Absolut, purchased some cokes, sat on the water to join the Swedes on a perfect sunny day. We caught up on life and love over liquor soaking up as much sun as our poor packing would allow. Take that London weather, I got tan lines....well red lines but it's still color! Daydrinking leads to lots of things but ours only led to free oversalted pasta and a quick nap around 8.
We did manage to stir ourselves out of bed after an hour or two. We fought the inevitable hangover of killing a bottle to grab some drinks in old city. Our best efforts kept us sipping cider until 1 before calling it a night..
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