Second time lucky & How to put your foot in your mouth

So as mentioned, I ended up in Doha with Qatar Airways. Right at the start of the flight, I managed to effortlessly put my foot in my mouth while trying to be helpful to the lady next to me. She had been asking the air hostess about what medication they had available on board for pain. I was of course, eavesdropping. When the airhostess walked away, I turned to her and asked: So how far is your pregnancy?

She replied: I'm not pregnant, I'm just big.

I still had to sit next to her for the next 7 hours... I have to say, she was not at all phased, I was the one who wanted the ground to swallow me!

Having left Jo'burg in layers (Jhb was quite cold when I left, I was preparing for Stockholm in autumn, and my bag was somewhat overweight) the heat of Doha hitting me as I walked down the stairs from the plane, wasn't too pleasant.

Doha airport transfer section is busy, connecting people to every corner of the world.

The Qatar Airways fleet is quite sizable, and there were also quite a significant number of shiny white private jets I spotted at the airport.

The Doha skyline is interesting. A large colorful "ball-on-stick" or reservoir-type structure reads "Welcome to Doha" next to glass-front high rise buildings. Alongside lots of low-rise flat roofed minaret and dome, bright white structures dotted here and there.

I was quite disappointed with the duty free shopping, the camera I've been looking at, was more expensive at Doha than in SA. (I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself on my return trip when I have 7 hours to kill in Doha...)

For some reason, the flight from Doha to Stockholm felt longer that the Jo'burg-Doha flight. Suppose I just couldn't wait to arrive.

By the time I walked out of the airport doors, Anna had been standing waiting for me for an hour already.

One of the first things I noticed about Stockholm - it's EXPENSIVE! The parking ticket for one hour's parking was 160SEK. SEK to ZAR is about 1 : 1.2. While that may be a favourable exchange rate, the price of stuff is just crazy!

Anna decided to drive me through the town. Stockholm is made up of 14 islands, connected by 57 bridges. Often you don't even notice when you've crossed from one island to the other.

The Eastern Island (Ostermalm) is where you find the likes of Louis Vuitton and other high end stores, I doubt I'll be spending much time there.

The Southern Island (Soddermalm) is the hip and happening district, with a little area named "So-fo" which has a range of bars and cool hang outs. I might spend some time there.

The names of the others can't pronounce, or remember how to spell.

I was fortunate enough to be greeted by a warm and sunny autumn day, so Anna and I headed to the Modern Museum (Moderna Museet) to have lunch at the little restaurant up on the top floor which has the view of the picture you see above. We'll have to go back another day to actually see what art the museum has on display.

I'm so exhausted after all the drama it took to actually get me here, we're staying in with popcorn and a movie tonight. It's a Danish movie, but the main actor's a Swede. I'm soaking up the culture.