Venice of the north
After a few days in Sweden’s city on the water, I have had a chance to recover from the minimal amount of sleep the night which left me no where to sleep apart from a very short bunk on board a 100 year old ship. Last night I managed to book myself the last room at Oden Pensionat on one of the larger islands which make up Stockholm.
It was tempting to stay in bed all morning but I had to get up early despite a late night spent at Kungstradgarden where a festival of food has been going on all week. I’ve never been to as many concerts in all my life. Yesterday as I wandered the streets, I experienced many different types of music from 28 musicians playing on various outdoor venues across the city. By musicians, I don’t mean the ones seen in doorways playing for money, but Swedish pop, rock and dance stars which attracted the crowds by the tens of thousands. All of which was completely free apart from the cost of the enormous amount of food I tried.
I’m sitting at an Internet cafe in Centralstatioen enjoying the cool air and the fresh breeze coming in from the street. It must be the copious amounts of trees and water throughout the city which keeps the air fresh. For a capital city the air is remarkably clean and the water unpolluted to the point where restaurants fish for their own produce right in front of their establishments in the heart of this truly beautiful city.
Despite my rushing around this morning to fit in visits to 3 of Stockholm’s most popular tourist destinations I was only able to make one and now have 90 minutes. The train I intended on taking was full and I didn’t feel like standing for 4 hours as I head from the east coast to the west and the city of Goteborg (Gothenburg).
I know there is a lot of Stockholm still left untouched and even an extra day would allow me the freedom to see a little more but the city is incredibly busy with visitors from across Scandanavia, Russia, Poland, and many other countries. I learned today is race day for the most popular horserace in Europe. It is also the long weekend for many European countries and with weather like this (25 degrees and sunny) I’m not surprised people are flocking to such a great destination. This has left me with very little option of places to stay so I am hoping Gothenburg will be a little easier to find accommodation and perhaps a little cheaper. The rumours of Sweden being an expensive country have prooved to be not unfounded.
I think I am going to go outside for a bit to find some icecream and a park to relax in until my train. Stockholm has made it onto my list of some of my favourite cities in the world which also includes Vancouver, Zurich and Saskatoon (don’t ask about the last one) 
Adjo,
James
PS. I had to edit this blog because Blogger doesn’t recognise Swedish characters! Ooops.
