Dec 2006

Well after the disappointment of Norway, I wasn't expecting much from Sweden, but boy was I wrong. I fell in love immediately with the people, the city and everything in it. I booked a bed not in a hotel, but in a little boat moored on the river. The shared room was tiny but it had the best views of the city and how often can you say you slept on a boat? I was staying on the Gamla Stan side of town and could have spent hours wandering through the cobbled streets. The palace was a palace but it was the little markets and churches that captured my heart.

I visited some great musuems including the facinating Historik Musuem, but it was a church along the way that encapsulated Sweden for me. It was a few hundred years old and beautiful but unlike other cities there was no line, and in fact I think I was the only tourist in the place. Up near the main alter sat a class full of small children, all beautifully Nordic with blonde hair and blues and singing hymns in Swedish - you could not have asked for a more perfect scene.

I also experienced Stockholm's nightlife or what little their seemed with a visit to the world famous Ice Bar. Dressed in lovely silver capes that reminded me of the inside of a cooler, a group of us entered into a room that was below freezing and drank vodka cocktails from glasses made from ice. It is an experience that everyone must try at leat once (unless you leave somewhere cold where you're probable used to it!)

Stockholm is also a wonderful city to shop in even if the prices are a little high, with the department stores a highlight, just wondering around browsing the sweedish homewares felt like an enjoyable experience. But the fun couldn't last as I was heading off to Finland wondering if Sweden's next door neighbour could match it.

I have spent the last three days in the uncharming capital of Norway - Oslo. I was at first excited to be in the northern most place I had been in my life with images of fjords and mountains in mind, but clearly Oslo hadn't got my memo! It was cold but not unpleasant and the city is relatively easy to get around as long as you dont get off a bus after dark and expect people to be able to help you with a few directions!

I visit the main sites such as Byogday, the Viking Musueam and the Folksmuseum but none had the charm that captivated me in London and across Ireland. The Folksmusuem did have a quaint Christmas market that day which at least made trek out of town feel not entirely wasted. But all i seemed to encounter in Oslo we uptight Norwegians who seemed to have neither the time of day or common courtesy towards me. A trip down Karl Johans Gate lifted my moods but the prices everywhere brought them back down again. It was with a sigh of relief that I headed off to Sweden, knowing that now I could cross Norway (or at least its soulless capital) off my list.