Jan 2005

The weekend started off with a very hungover young Dallat (thanks Missy!) very gingerly making her way to the airport via a stop off in the local shop to get some kind of Indian potato conconction to soak up the excesses of the previous evening (see - cosmopolitan but true to my roots at the same time....can't beat the humble spud!) although to be fair I think it was more likely that it was the coke, bottled, not powdered that did the trick of reviving my rather frazzled brain.

An hour and half later after a fairly uneventful journey I arrived at Heathrow and went about meeting up with Debs and checking in, all smooth so far - and so it stayed. A short hop, skip
and jump later (no Indian man kicking my seat and making me feel homicidal thank the lord) we arrived at Arlanda airport just outside Stockholm - and true to form a nice little snow flurry greeted us to Sweden, but believe it or not that was the last snow we saw for the weekend which was a little disappointing but probably a good thing as the ice on the streets was enough to handle without the snow on top.

Got to our accommodation which I had booked a few weeks ago and kept my fingers crossed - we were staying on a boat and I wasn't quite sure what to expect, a mix between a hostel and a hotel so was really hoping it wasn't going to be too dire but I had no reason to worry - it was clean, we had our own bathroom and there was just about enough room to swing a cat! And you
couldn't fault the location - just a five minute walk to Gamla Stan which is the very picturesque Old Town, cobbled streets, little boutique shops and as many coffee houses as you could shake a stick at but required a major bank loan to shop/stay/eat there and then only another 5 or 10 minutes into the main part of the city.

First night's duty was to get our bearing and of course feed the needy - i.e. me! A short stroll later we found ourselves in the city via the Royal Palace & the Parliament building (unbeknownst to us at that particular time) and found a restaurant in Kungstradgarden where we sampled some fine Swedish home cooking - mashed potatoes (sorry just can't help myself) with Swedish meatball and garnished with lingenberries - very nice even if I say so myself accompanied by some mineral water which had been infused with the odd hop or two.........our view from the restaurant was a very nice little ice-rink with the ever so romantic couples skating around holding hands….. not really just thought I'd fulfil everyone’s romantic cravings! But the ice rink part was true, just not too many on it - but nice all the same, of we trundled with the aim of coming back the next evening to do our very own Torvill and Dean routine - not sure who's who but as my moustache isn't quite as bad as Debs I think I should wear the dress! Now there's something you're not going to hear me say again in a hurry!

A brisk walk later along the river and via Edvin Ohrstrons' glass Obelisk we found ourselves back on Sodermalm which is the island we were on (very trendy don't you know) and listened to our mate Chuck wail along with the best of them, bit of blues, some jazz and few little rock numbers to even things out nicely before heading to bed for the evening - Debs was on top..........the bunk that is (just for those of you with filthy minds who might have needed the clarification).

Saturday morning saw us up and out by 10.30 ready to face the world and the potential blisters. We did the usual sightseeing with our first stop the Royal Palace and the changing of the guard - quite entertaining and every so slightly farcical or quiche as Debs might say........bless them, I don't think it was supposed to be funny but I couldn't stop the odd guffaw sneaking out - if anyone has ever seen it or for anyone who ever sees it in the future you'll know what I mean......for a modern army they're not that organised - I'll leave it at that.

We then shimmed on to various museums who all seemed to be named after one of the Gustavs and went in and saw a stuffed horse who was over 400 years old - WHY WHY WHY? Why the hell would anyone stuff a horse in the middle of the 1600's? I'm all for preserving history and all but yet again I ask WHY? And another think what is the connection with Stockholm and St George and him slaying his Dragon? Answers on a postcard - I have no idea but there were statues all over the place and references to it everywhere.

Anyway all sightsee'd out we decided on the more conventional weekend away activity.....a pub crawl through the streets of Stockholm which took in the districts of Ostermalm, Gardet, Vasastaden, Birkastan and Kungsholmen and even managed to catch up on the footie - come on United!

Slightly tipsy later the challenge was now to find a restaurant - in comparison to Friday night (almost a ghost town) everywhere was packed so thought that there was nothing else for it but to go back to where we went the night before - luckily enough we managed to get a table. 2 servings of reindeer later and some parsnip mashed potatoes (I know, I know........) we settled back to watch the entertainment - a compilation of about 8 people dressed in Lyrca with huge afro's and a fantastic taste in disco! Several hours later we made our way home to bed - Debs was on top again.

This morning for some unfathomable reason we were up and out by 9.00 and it seems that from then until now we have been trudging the streets of Stockholm like two homeless orphans - both sets of legs are extremely tired and very grateful for the sit down. I do have a confession though......we had a McDonalds for breakfast, not exactly in keeping with the culture thing
but you know, what’s a girl to do when she doesn't want a pastry for breakfast? Well that's our excuse and we're sticking to it!

Lasting impression - very clean, chilled out city - but if you're planning a trip make sure you raid your own and everyone else’s piggy bank before you get here. Well worth it though.