As Norway was full of natural beauty, Stockholm is humanity at its most pristene. Gorgeous people, stylish architecture; with a deliberate sense of cohesion Stockholm oozes style.

We had two experiences of Stockholm. The first is a story very similar to our experience in Norway: one of price. Through a series of events entirely out of control (or not) we ended up in Stockholm on the train at 10pm at night with no accommodation and no way of booking any, as it happened to be a cultural festival week and every hostel and hotel we rang was booked. Very expensive hotel room! So we are wandering the streets looking like we are going to be homeless for the evening, knocking on every hotel door we come across. No sorry booked, no sorry. One place that we rang had a room, it was slightly out of town, but it’s cost was 2500 Swedish kroner, which is NZ$500. Balking at the price we eventually found a hotel that we negotiated from 1700 Swedish kroner to 1200, or NZ$240 dollars. It only had a single bed with a roll-out mattress underneath. It did have a roof, and four walls so we took it. Needless to say the next morning was spent frantically trying to find some-what cheaper accommodation.

The Kulturhus Which leads to the second experience of Stockholm. It is beautiful. Everything is absolutely perfect, well in terms of architecture, people and shops. The theory we came to is that Sweden has the world’s best hairdressers, ’cause even the little kids had three hundred dollar hair cuts. The armies of rebellious emo teenagers were too clean and stylish to be taken seriously. People dressed for a night out sit eating lunch, make up and jewellery and legs flashing in the sun. The worst thing of all is that no one even seems to be trying. I felt rather slovenly tramping around with my scruffy jeans, walking shoes and Jesus Christ hoody. I even lost the straw hat (kidding, I got sick of looking like an idiot, but I still have it).

Prison converted to a YHI hostel The buildings and squares and restaurants and historic old centre and islands and parks and subways and hostels are just so, so colour coordinated. It is like the council decides what this seasons city aesthetic is going to be and everyone plays along. I am sure if I went back in a years time it would be the summer of Asian style, and the whole city would be remade in the style of the Forbidden City. We stayed the second night in a YHI hostel that was an old converted prison. They had kept the interior of the halls, each room had bunks (prison bunks), the latrine was now a shower, newspaper records of prisoners were papered across the bottom of the bunk so you could read it while lying down. Well a Swedish person could read it. There was a flat screeen tv with cable in the room and the decor was matched impeccably right down to the custom full length mirror made in the style of a French guillotine! This is a hostel I am talking about, where they don’t give you bed linen because you are a budget traveller. And you pay 650 Swedish Kroner (NZ$130) for the privilege.

Gamla Stan

The central city is divided into two parts, the touristy old part and the shopping part. The touristy old part, called Gamla Stan has it’s own beautiful aesthetic, being built around the 1500s when Sweden was a super power conquering the Finnish, the Norwegians, the Danes or the Russians. On a tour of the royal palace we were told how the Russians invaded Finland and took it from the Swedes who had controlled it for a few centuries. Instead of recapturing it, the Swedes invaded Norway and they all forgot about their loss in Finland. Another useless piece of trivia, which I am still trying to get my head around, is that the government doesn’t actually make discrete laws. Rather they set the guidelines for the country and the regions are responsible for their interpretation. So each region has a different tax rate, I guess different drinking ages, or legal driving limits, dog licensing… I mean it seems ridiculous. Then again who better to know how to govern your next door neighbour than you.

Walkabout in Stockholm

The shopping part of Stockholm in comparison to Norway was overflowing with culture and people. Shops were open, people jostled in the street, buskers busked and con-artists stole old mens money gambling in the streets. It is very lively and again beautiful but in a Baroque slash Swedish minimalist design sort of way. And the beautiful people were everywhere.

Yet after all of the beauty of the city and its denizens I couldn’t help but be left with a hollow feeling. Scandanavia had left a mark, one of serenity, near perfection and calmness; but it doesn’t seem real. In a funny sort of way I miss the guy in Hackney asking me twice for some change when I got off the bus, the second time because I had come out of a shop clutching a banana so I must have some change now. That is life.

;

On a more sombre note, you may not be aware that Lauren and I broke up at the end of Stockholm. She continued her grand Scandinavian tour through Finland and Tallin (Estonia), while I flew to Belgium to start work with Boondoggle. It is sad, as these things are, and I still now feel like it may be the dumbest decision I have been a part of. But in a crazy world of possibilities and realities, some things are easy and some things aren’t.

teen anal cum asian shemale teen bisexuals black Tgirl big tits hot celebrity Adult dating tutorial PS2 Wireless Carriers Shop free porn buy viagra online online pharmacy cialis soft tabs compare levitra and levitra herbal cialis reviews cheapest viagra uk free porn hairy castro huge dick creampie Hot Black Girls Sex videos sexy big tits jump up down bounce busty melons fucking free full porn shemale free porn tits Mature movies generic xanax india purchase generic oxazepam buy cialis on line tenuate on line generic zyban online pharmacy Atehexal diazepam and woman lorazepam on line uk cheap valium find herbal klipal substitute rx pills tramadol money order ed pharmacy viagra cheap buy levitra on line

Comments

  1. Lauren

    You forgot to mention that parts of Stockholm smell like poo. Real bad-sewage-system poo. I found the same thing in Helsinki and Tallinn, it does put one of one’s lunch.

    Just thought I’d post cos it looks like no-one else is brave enough to ;)

    72:171 22:19, Sep 10 2007

  2. mummybot

    Yeah it did stink, although your nose is much more sensitive to that sort of thing than mine ;) I wonder if it is a gender thing?

    72:172 22:58, Sep 10 2007

Post a comment