European Adventure

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.