Sunday, August 10: Quiet Day in Stockholm
We woke up early and since the sun was shining, decided to take a short walk around our neighborhood before our 10:30am appointment with Jan, who was driving in from his summer cottage to help us get the wireless internet access working in the apartment. After years of suffering the slow upload speeds, inconvenience, and expense of internet cafes, we brought a laptop with us this year specifically so it would be easier to write the travel journals, keep up on email, and look up information about events and attractions in whatever city we're in. At first, I wasn't too keen on dragging yet another piece of electronic equipment with us over the pond, but now I wouldn't have it any other way. It is TOTALLY worth it.
Since we only had a short time before Jan's visit, we stuck pretty close to home and took some pictures of our immediate neighborhood:
The little balcony where we like to relax with coffees.
This is the front of our building. We live on the top floor.
Looking up our street to the left ...
And to the right.
The church just up the street from us.
Jan stopped by as scheduled, and thanks to Michael's computer expertise, we were able to get the wireless internet working again - for us and for future guests.
We then decided to tackle the Stockholm Metro, or Tunnelbana, which we had heard great things about. Both of us are huge fans of the European trains and metros, and look at riding them as almost an activity in themselves. Plus, with the exception of the Circle line on London's Underground system, we've found that not that many tourists ride the Metro systems so it's often just us and the locals.
We ended our journey on the Tunnelbana at Gamla Stan, Stockholm's "Gothic Quarter":
We stayed there for only a brief time, because the streets increasingly began to look like this:
Yikes! Time to dodge the crowds ...
After hopping the Tunnelbana back to our neighborhood, we stopped in at a little pub that Michael had discovered on Saturday called The Doors. It's reminiscent of the little corner pubs you find in London, but even more cozy and more friendly. The bartender, Fikri, greeted Michael like an old friend and we ordered up a couple of beers, some pommes frites, and just enjoyed the atmosphere for awhile. While we were here, an older man with a strong Southern accent came in, and Fikri introduced us. Turns out this man, Jim Bean, is from North Carolina but has lived in Stockholm for 19 months so far - his wife is on a 24 month assignment with her company. Lucky guy! The Doors pub is his regular watering hole and he stops in nearly every day.
Tired already, we headed home to prepare dinner and rest up for a busy day of sightseeing ahead.
Next: The absolutely BEST day of our vacation so far, can it get any better? Many pictures to come ...
Oh, God, I am really enjoying your trip so much! Love your blog entries and make me want to go there soon!!!; lol... Love your apartment there! I think it's the better way to know about the real country; living like them!
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You're living in a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale! Stockholm is beautiful. You kitties are okay, visit last night. The water dish stopped pumping water. We cleaned and refilled it since it's not circulating. Only Callie wanted some attention this time. Mark got within 2 feet of Leo though. Sadie hid under the bed, no sign of Simon.
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