Some Stockholm

So other than a few comments here and there, I haven't posted so much about Stockholm. And reason is: We're really bad tourists. We ate good food and drank some beers, but we also spent a lot of time shopping.

(I did spend a happy morning in a great museum and that's coming soon, but in the meantime....)



Husband is a much better photographer than I am, so if you like any of the photographs, they are probably taken by him. Even though I am normally against logos, I like this one. It's from Stavanger to Oslo.



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This is part of Old Stockholm. I was on my way to the Modern Museum and realized that I read the map upside down. So I decided to enjoy being lost.


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Stockholm is located on fourteen different islands, so there are lots of bridges and water, as you may imagine. While I was lost I stopped for a bit to watch this fisherman. Though I never snapped exactly in time, he would raise and lower his net again and again and every single time, he only had one fish. I guess it's only waterboarding if it's a human, but still poor fish.


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This is our friend Kenneth. He works with Husband, but lives in Stockholm, so on that Friday he showed us around a bit. We had beers on a boat. Then we went to a bar which was a cavern. While we were in the bar which was really a cavern, he demonstrated how one picks up in a bar using bluetooth technology.


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We're smiling because we are glad we aren't picking up in bars anymore. So, afterwards, we all went to have Thai food with another couple who live in Hamburg. The husband is German and the wife is from Africa. Her native language is N!xau, which you might have heard in a movie called "The God's Must Be Crazy." I hadn't seen the movie, so she demonstrated. I tried to respond by demonstrating a little Norwegian. You'll only need one guess to figure out who was more successful.


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The Bush Administration is not popular here.


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Hey Claudia, you used to love Jason Mraz. You haven't mentioned him lately, but just in case you were wondering what he's been up to lately, I guess it's the music store circuit...on this day, he was doing a signing/mini-show in Stockholm.


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This is a park near the shopping center. Yes, I know it is horrible not to give the name of the park and the coordinates, etc., but we live in a small city which does not have really super shopping. And sometimes we really really need stuff. This is where the Norway Day celebration happened. See the flags behind Husband. We missed it.


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This is another great building. It's near the shopping as well. (Yep, other than the museum, we're really bad tourists...But it really was a lot of fun.)


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We were eating in a great Thai restaurant that was so kitchy that I will not tell you the name of it here, but seriously the best Thai we'd had quite possibly ever. It was highly recommended by both guidebooks and Stockholm dwellers and I will tell you the name if you are ever going.

We asked the waiter, when he was having a slow moment if he would take a shot of us together. He did and then when he looked at it, grimaced slightly, so I suspected it was not so good. I said, "How was it?" He said "Great." It wasn't, which is why there are photos of each of us here, but not of us together.

Note to waiter guy: It's a digital camera. I can check almost immediately.





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Other than the food, one of the really fun things about the restaurant was that it was in a really cool part of town called Sofo. So when we were done we walked most of the way back home. The neighborhood was lively and awake. Even the kid's playgrounds were cool.


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If you are ever in Sweden and forget to buy a souvenir, if you are the souvenir-ing type, no worries. Just pick up a reindeer skin at the airport. (In case you can't read it clearly, that is 895 SEK, which is about $150 USD.)



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And as in most European airports, there is a fast food combo for everyone. Look closely at the signs. Would you rather have a pizza/soft drink, heineken/pizza, lasagne/red wine or a pirog/soft drink.


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And that is almost the end of the story.


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The giant sign with Husband standing next to it is usually a pretty good indication that we're almost home.


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But then I always know it for sure when I pass by my second favorite fanny.