Stockholm Part Ett

I need to start this off by just saying that it's official: Stockholm has not only the best restaurants and hotels, but also the best customer service IN THE WORLD. Damn those free breakfast buffets. And beautiful smiling blonds everywhere! The food in Stockholm was a highlight to say the least. Anything after Balinese food to me is generally a highlight. But cheese and rye. And fruit. And yogurt. And more cheese. And more rye. Oh, and clean, crisp water. And oh, yes, clear skies and clean air... God I missed that.

Prior to getting to Stockholm last month, I had quite an eventful time flying to and waiting in Qatar. Qatar really is one of those places that could never be explained in words. And you'd hardly get the jist from pictures. I personally wouldn't recommend going. Not unless you really like deserts, Arabs, Africans and/or are interested in buying very, very expensive honey and dates. To each their own.

So, anyways, I arrived into to Stockholm on a beautiful, sunny, Canada Day. After singing the National anthem then hugging like it was the first time we'd seen each other in years (hey, it felt like it!) Bastian and I rode the bus into the city, dropped our stuff off at tour downtown hotel, and started walking. I'd forgotten how much I like the way he rolls.

We had the Lonely Planet guide to Stockholm and Sweden, and although we didn't use it much, some interesting facts from it are that Stockholm is built on 14 islands and is connected by 57 bridges. Moreover, within the city limits there are over 70 museums. One of which is the ABBA Museum, "A Tribute To The Living Legends". Please. Ew.

As usual, the most helpful part of the Lonely Planet guide was the maps; and as usual, we didn't use them much. All we needed to know was how to get to our hotel; from the hotel to and from the Hard Rock Café; from the hotel to and from the first bike rental station; from the first bike rental station to the first café and/or bar; and in which direction the water was, which was, everywhere. In other words, we couldn't go wrong.

In my traveling journal I wrote that my first impression of Stockholm was it reminded me a lot of Victoria but everything was a bit bigger and more vibrant. Aside from that, the Princess of Sweden (they have an insane monarchy like that in England) just got married, gasp!  to a commoner. And it was ALL OVER the papers. I'm talking you could not go anywhere with seeing their picture somewhere. It was like out version of Hollywood - but where the victims/characters don't change weekly (once we get tired of Brad and Angelina/Michael Jackson/other catastrophe's like Meg Ryan's new nose job, etc). And lastly, although we were in the tourist areas,and so many of the people around us were tourists, I do have to say it was a very ethnically diverse place. People were not nearly as blond nor tall as I expected them to be. So, where are all the tall blond Scandinavians?

Looking back, we have a few favorites of the trip: renting bikes and biking everywhere and switching bikes everywhere; biking up to the top of a hill where we proceeded to drink all afternoon and watch the city of Stockholm and time both pass by without a care in the world; walking through the alleys; meditating in the middle of the city; the free breakfast at our hotel - every morning; and the soccer at the Hard Rock café - every night.

Sebastian's first language is Swedish. It is the language his parents, grandparents, brothers, cousins, etc all speak. But they all live in Finland. And in Finland people speak Finnish. Regardless, I was in good hands in Sweden, albeit some people weren't too fond of Basti's accent and took to speaking him in English when he spoke to them in Swedish. A highlight for me. And oddly, when the people in Stockholm did speak English, they didn't speak with that classic Swedish accent. You know, like the cook in the muppets? Why? Where are all you funny sounding Sweeds?

So, many a assumption were contradicted in Stockholm. The last one being that Stockholm is apparently as the most liberal city in the world. And although we did not see too many men in speedo's skipping down the streets holding hands (it was, afterall, the host of EuroPride 2008), I did see a few naked kids playing in the cities central fountain; quite a few practically naked boys/men out and about sun tanning and the like; and, yes, I did see mass tributes to ABBA. (But no, I did not go to IKEA.)

On route back "home" to Helsinki, we took a huge ferry/cruise ship. Out on the back deck for 5 hours, we watched the sunset and the archipelago's 50,000 or so (I hear the number is debated to be between 24,000 to 100,000 islands here)  islands pass by. By 11pm I couldn't wait for the sun to set any longer. It was still completely bright outside. But we went down into out Titanic-like bedroom and managed one last good sleep before getting back to the apartment in Helsinki. That apartment and that city.... never gets dark.