June 30, 2007 day 8 SWEDEN Stockholm

Hello from Stockholm, Sweden's capital.

What a great time we had with Michael and Lena! It was hard to say goodbye to them.

We had a long train ride from Borlänge but lucked out in that we didn't need to change seats. Since we are on a Scan Rail pass, we don't have reserved seats unless we pay extra for them, so it's a bit up to luck that we sit where no one has reserved a seat. We sat in the first class car and didn't have to move the entire 2 and a half hour train ride to Stockholm.


When we arrived in Stockholm, it was a rainy, rainy day. We arrived and much needed to be sorted out--from changing more money to locating bus and subway schedules to locating where to get a good street map of Stockholm. As I was looking for a map in a convenience type of store called Pressbyrån, I happened to notice my brother Scott's magazine, Racer X, for sale on the newstand. I asked someeone to take a picture of me holding it for Scott. Here it is!


So, the first few hours in Stockolm became very frustrating as we had so much difficulty finding how to get to the island of Skeppsholm where our hostel was located. When we finally found out that the bus rather than the subway was our best bet, we then had to located the bus stop and got conflicting information over and over again. Finally, we found it after walking in the rain dragging suitcases blocks on end only to discover that there was another street right underneath the street we had originally looked for the bus stop. Grrrrr!

When we arrived on the island of Skeppsholm, we had to find the hostel.

Unfortunately, we made a similar mistake--chose to walk left rather than right and made a complete circle before we found the hostel. Then we had to drag suitcases up stairs to get to our room, so we collapsed once we got to the room. We had a set of bunkbeds and a separate bed and a sink. Toilets and showers were down the hall. The room was clean and simple, but what a difference from the accommodations we had in Paris and no internet unless you went down to the lobby to pay.

We took a break and then decided to explore the city starting with the Apple store Robby wanted to check out. After blocks and blocks of walking, we arrived there--only to find it had just closed! So, it was back to the hotel to take a little nap before we decided on our next plan. Robby was too tired to do any more walking, so Carina and I ventured out on our own.



We headed for Gamla Stan, the oldest part of the city of Stockholm, filled with cobblestone streets so narrow you could hardly believe they qualified for a steet name! We looked for a quaint little restaurant but most were way too expensive until one virtually jumped out in front of us--the name? "Carpe Diem!"



Carina said this had to be the place, and we had a great dinner of vegetarian pizza and salad.

We then wandered in and out of a variety of shops from artsy types to tourist traps.

The atmosphere was light and fun as people from all different countries spilled out of the myriad of ice cream stores and pubs into the walking street.


So many memories from previous evenings walking in Gamla Stan came back to me--times with my parents in 1967, times alone when I studied in Uppsala in 1974 and returned in 1988, times with the kids and Uncle Scott, my brother, the first time we went to Sweden (Robby was only 8 and Carina 10).




It's so interesting that Gamla Stan always remains the same, but each time we return, we return having lived more life and gained more experiences and memories, and we are never quite the same. But like the story of Brigadoon, where the Scottish village exists for only one day every 100 years, coming back here reminds me of where I've been and where I am and of my life changes. I truly hope that the kids will come some day and bring their children and recall some of the magic we experienced together here.



Once again, I was struck by the magic of the midnight sun as Carina and I walked back to the hostel AND of the great conversation the two of us had--of her desire to study abroad, to go to a large university, and ideas of what she may want to do with her life. We were pretty weary when we returned home but had enough energy to write some postcards and watch an episode on the Mac laptop of an early Gilmore Girls episode. Robby had fallen sound asleep until he woke up very hungry at 10:00 p.m. Luckily, we still had sandwiches left from Michael´s house--enough to get him through the night until the awesome breakfast awaiting us the next morning.

By the way, we had no Internet at the hostel unless we wanted to pay 10 kronor(about 1.50 for 10 minutes), so I took a break from blogging. I am still not sure when I can put pictures on, but I'll do so when I can. Meanwhile, enjoy the long-winded narrative. We're actually up north in Värmland right now, so I'm catching up.