May 29, 2010 - Stockholm

We arrived in Stockholm right on time at 9:40 Swedish time, we had put our watches back one hour overnight. The cabin we had was small but quite comfortable with our own ensuite. We had eaten way too much for both dinner and breakfast. We caught the bus into the centre of town and then walked to our hostel. After dropping our bags we went for a short walk around town to orientate ourselves. We decided we were not going to do too much today. It was quite cool and it had started to rain, so the shop windows full of bikinis looked a bit strange.

Jan 11, 2010 - Stockholm

11 January My journey started in late afternoon with a short trip with a local train to neighbouring town Skövde. There I have to change to the express train bound for Stockholm. I arrived to Stockholm in early evening. The temperature was about –6 to –8°C. Because I was wearing rather thin clothes, I was a little bit limited to stay near the railway station. In the evening I visited my absolutely favourite kebab restaurant and finally I had some beers in a pub, just a few steps away from the restaurant. Finally I took the airport bus out...

Aug 30, 2009 - Estonian rappers and disco grannies

I'm on an overnight cruise ship between Stockholm and Tallin, Estonia. I've never been on a regular cruise ship, so I don't know how this compares, but it's pretty interesting to say the least. It would be much more fun if I wasn't alone, but it's entertaining just sitting back and observing it all (especially after finishing a large glass of hard cider). There's an interesting mix of people; mostly Swedes and Estonians, families, senior citizens and a group of Japanese tourists. It's the end of summer and a Sunday night, so the ship is...

Aug 29, 2009 - Stockholm

Stockholm - the land of my peeps Well, sort of. With a large immigrant population, Stockholm is actually pretty mult-cultural. There are a lot of different types of people here from all over. It was a bit strange at first hearing a Chinese girl speaking Swedish, after all, aren't all Swedish people supposed to be blonde-haired and blue-eyed? Well, I did meet a Vietnamese transexual, and she had blonde hair and blue contact lenses, so there you go. The other night I met a Chilean guy who came here as a refugee during the Pinochet era, more...

Aug 19, 2009 - Stockholm, Sweden: Finally, she blends...

I traveled from Tallinn to Stockholm on a cruise ship across the Baltic Sea. It was described as a “ferry” so I wasn’t sure what to expect from the ocean-view cabin I had booked. At $235 for the cabin, it was a little bit of a splurge but since the trip was 17 hours long, comfort won out over frugality. The check-in and boarding process was extremely easy, it took me less than a minute to check in at the window in the terminal and receive my cabin key. I’ve only been on a cruise ship once before and it was a long time ago (senior cruise...

Jul 27, 2009 - A Day in Stockholm

First, to Dianna and Rick and Charlotte and Richard . . . . Antonio says hi!! Antonio was our waiter on the Grand Princess and . . . . waddya know . . . . he's here on the Emerald! We ran into him at breakfast this morning and the amazing thing is that, after eight months, he remembered us. How do I know?? Because after saying hello to us he asked if our friends were along on this trip! And Liz and Bud . . . . Kevin and Kathy say hi too! (Our comedian friend and his wife.) We had dinner with them this evening and finally got to play hand...

Jul 11, 2009 - Attending baby Ingrid's baptise

We happened to be in Sweden during baby Ingrid's baptise so we made a trip to Stockholm to attend the ceremony. The ceremony was held in an English Church and was located in the posh leafy part of Stockholm among all the embassies close to the lake. It has been a while since I was last in a Church. The last time was for Tobia's (Marcus' cousin's son)'s confirmation at age 15 in Skåne last summer. Baby Ingrid was really cute in her batising clothes, which was a family heirdom wore by few babies in the family. The ceremony lasted 1hr 30...

Jul 9, 2009 - Day 5 & 6 - Josefine and gross ice-tea

Nederlands: Woensdag 8 juli Vandaag konden we uitslapen omdat we pas om 3 uur bij Josefine's huis hoefden te zijn. Dus stonden we pas rond half 1 op. Weer ontbijt met hagelslag en de gewoonlijke routine. We gingen met de bus, metro en trein naar Josefine. Jaja, zoveel vervoer. Maar zij blijkt ver weg van Sergo's huis te wonen. Tot een bepaald punt reisde Adal met ons mee. We kwamen later dan gepland aan bij Josefine's huis. Dit komt gedeeltelijk doordat Sergo niet meer precies wist hoe we vanaf het treinstation naar haar huis moesten lopen....

Jul 6, 2009 - Day 3 + 4 - Shopping time!!!

Nederlands: Vandaag ging de wekker om 10 uur maar we bleven nog tot kwart voor 12 in bed luieren. Ik viel nog paar keer in slaap maar Sergo dwong me uit bed op een gegeven moment dus toen moest ik wel. We begonnen natuurlijk met ontbijt, weer met hagelslag. Sergo heeft de chocoladevlokken geprobeerd. Ze vond het net als duo penotti en ze vond het lekker. Ik had de melk-vanille vlokken genomen, die had ik nooit eerder gehad maar ik vond ze niet zo super. Ik vind sowieso hagelslag lekkerder dan chocoladevlokken. Ook heb ik weer melk genomen,...

Jul 4, 2009 - Day 1 & 2 in Stockholm

Nederlands: Dag 1 Om 4 uur 's nachts ging mijn wekker af. Ik was redelijk wakker. Dat kwam vooral door de opwinding. Om half 5 was ik al klaar en zat ik al aan het ontbijt. Nadat ik de laatste spulletjes in mijn koffer had gedaan, belde papa aan de deur en kwam nog even een kopje koffie drinken. Om half 6 bracht hij mij weg samen met Maaike. Ik ben de hele weg naar Schiphol wakker gebleven want ik was niet echt meer moe maar Maaike sliep wel de hele weg. Na ongeveer anderhalf uur rijden, kwamen we om 7 uur eindelijk aan op Schiphol. Het was...

Jun 18, 2009 - Stockholm and a change in the weather

We got our things together and went for breakfast quite early today and went directly off the ship. We walked to the end of the dock and got on the Hop-on-hop-off ferry which was waiting. It took us to the Gamla Stan where we walked along the main street - little more than an alley - as the stores were opening, admiring the wares in the windows and occasionally venturing inside. The largest purchase, however, was a few postcards. We went into the Nobel Prize Museum and spent a coupe of hours learning more about the awards and the winners. I...

Jun 17, 2009 - Volvo Races us to Stockholm

We went for breakfast and as we ate we started to enter the archipelago which surrounds Stockholm. The scenery became very lovely as we passed a variety of islands, some inhabited, some full of birds, some barren, but all green. As we approached Stockholm we made up on the Volvo Yacht Race. This is a race which chooses different cities around the world each year for an extensive race covering most of the world. We happened on Stockholm on the day it was here. The water was filled with watercraft, most spectators and curious observers, but...