Stockholm, day 1

Of course I'm making the most of things! Thank goodness Anna has lots of energy and is as enthusiastic to show me around as I am to see things.

For today, we both agreed not to set an alarm and woke up around 8. Anna made me a very Swedish breakfast, but since Swedish food is nothing like anything I've ever eaten before, I think I will save a post just to tell you about the food later on.

I've been most fortunate to have amazing weather for this time of year in Sweden. This morning was beautiful, so we decided to cycle into town. Anna has two bikes: a street bike which you see above, and a mountain bike. We took the scenic route of course, and cycled past the lake and area where Alfred Nobel did his work inventing nitroglycerin. The area is fairly secluded, so he had enough space to cause multiple explosions.

As we rode into Stockholm, the city hall was directly across from us, which is the building with the golden spire in the picture above. This is where the ceremony of the Nobel Prize takes place every year.

We crossed the first bridge and into the area called Gamla Stan, which is the old traditional part of town, with very old buildings and very narrow little alleys. We parked our bikes outside the palace and as we walked toward the centre of Gamla Stan, we were lucky enough to be passing by as the changing of the guard happens outside the palace. This involves a lot of pomp and ceremony and is a little amusing to watch.

Then we went walking through the little alleys of Gamla Stan (which literally means Old Town) and is exactly how I imagine old towns in Europe to look, with cobblestone underfoot, wooden windows with shutters and a few steep stairways.

Walking through the old town we heard piano playing coming from one of the shops, so of course we went in without even looking at what sort of shop it was. We found it to be an a little antique shop, exactly like you'd expect to find in an old town. What I liked best were the maps. The one above is of the Swedish seaboard, drawn in the 1600s. It's interesting to see the inaccuracies in old maps. The world was LITERALLY seen in a different way back then.

The shop owner was such a friendly guy and showed me a map he has of Southern Africa drawn in 1887, which shows Kaffirland and back then the Republic of South Africa only included the area later known as the Transvaal.

For lunch we went to Chokladkoppen (Chocolate Cup) a little cafe on the square in Gamla Stan, which serves huge cups of hot chocolate, as the name suggests. They claim that the building of the cafe dates back to medieval times. It's quite believable, because the inside of the cafe is quite small and dim, as you would imagine medieval rooms to have been.

After lunch we headed back to the palace to get our bikes. Across the water from the palace is the National Museum of Stockholm, which contains works by the likes of Rembrandt. We didn't go in there today, but decided to cycle just a little further on from the National Museum to see an exhibition of Inca gold, which happens to be on display in Stockholm at present, on loan from various museums in Peru. I have to say it was not as impressive as I had expected, but it was still interesting. It's likely that the most impressive stuff was all looted by the Spanish and melted down, sadly.

We ended off the day with a little bit of shopping in Soddermalm, the area I mentioned yesterday, which is known to be quite trendy. I can't afford to shop anywhere too trendy though, so we tried to stick to the more reasonably priced stores. Clothing in Sweden is really expensive, like most other things.

At the moment Converse All Stars in the Chuck Taylor style are huge in Stockholm!! Anna tells me that it's cheaper to order them online and have them posted to you from America than to buy them in Sweden, and Levis cost around 1000SEK! We went into H&M, which I found out is actually a Swedish brand, as well as Gina Trickot. I found the wide range of textures very interesting. Faux fur, corduroy, pleather, silk, chiffon.

I have to say, the Swedes are very stylish. And just because so many people cycle everywhere, as you can see from the bike stand above, doesn't mean they don't look good. People cycle to work, so the men are in their suits and ladies in smart jackets and shoes, with their work bags strapped onto the back of the bikes or in the basket, motoring through the streets on their bicycles. (But I think this is not unique to Sweden, rather a European way of life.) I'll try to get a picture of a smartly dressed woman on her bike, but they whizz by so fast, I'll have to be quick.

It can get quite tricky for a first timer, navigating cars and busses, and adhering to cycling etiquette in a crowd of cyclists at rush hour in Stockholm. I was quite proud of myself for managing it.

We ended off with supper at a little pub in So-fo (trendy of course) where we ate a typical Swedish meal, before cycling home in the dark.

We covered a lot for day one. I'm very glad that I have my own personal Swedish tour guide, because I know from experience that getting lost can take up a lot of time, which is precious when you've only got one week in a city.

Tomorrow we're setting an alarm, and catching an early boat...