Stockholm, May 2010

The coolest way to get from Riga to Stockholm? On a party ferry! And what better way to arrive in the massive archipelago that is Sweden than by meandering through tiny islands with massive houses and massive boats - the play land of Scandinavia's rich and famous. Our ferry dwarfed their boats though. Nine decks of hip-hop-happenin' fun times, complete with discoteque, kids play room (with the legendary pit of balls), swimming pool, sauna, karaoke, restaurants, and no doubt awesome suites for said rich and famous travelling home from holidays in the Mediterranean. Our cabin had four beds, a bathroom and a set of curtains revealing a wall. We could hear the excited school children on excursion in the cabins around us - kids and backpackers only go for the C-class. The trip from Riga to Stockholm took about 16 hours.
We met a French guy, Guillame, in Riga who was lovely enough to invite us to stay at his place in Stockholm. We jumped at the chance beacuse just looking at a hostel in Stockholm makes money fall out of your wallet. Everything is so expensive but four months on the road has taught us to be stingy.
The city planners of Stockholm should be given an award. The city is on 14 islands with roads, bridges and subways connecting all of them. It was such nice weather when we were there - their first taste of Spring - and at least half the population crowded the many parks and walkways and worked on their tans. Which made us wonder...don't these people have jobs! How can they afford to bask in the sun when a bread roll costs $6? Maybe they are all models with flexible photo shoots.
We slapped laps around the King's castle, walked the cobbled stone alleys of Gamla Stan, the old town, and admired the boats moored at the many little marinas around all the islands. That night, Guillame went beyond all expectations and cooked us a three-course meal of traditional Swedish food - pickled fish, smoked salmon and meatballs. Very impressed.
Our second day in Stockholm was another beauty. We went to another island (it's not hard to) Djurgarden, to Skansen, an open air museum started in 1891 when a bloke brought some houses from the north to the city dwellers of Stockholm to admire and wonder at. There's hunters cottages, manor houses, reindeer herders camps and BEARS! That's right - real live brown bears, three cubs and a mumma, dancing around their enclosure and having fun. A long way from the Beijing zoo. There were also massive elk and their babies, otters, wolverines (not as impressive as Hugh Jackman), seals, bison and wolves. In the 'town centre' there were blacksmiths, glass blowers, bakers and corners shops, all with servers in genuine old school costumes. Obviously we had to try a baked good. They were still delicious after hundreds of years (the recipe...not the actual apple donut).
And to top off our taste of Sweden, we saw Sweden thrash the Czech Republic in ice hockey...but only on the TV...then some hard core metal karaoke at a bar. That's right - metal karaoke. No Vanilla Ice in sight or sound.