Monday, September 05, 2011

Stockholm syndrome

There is every reason to hate Sweden because of ABBA but when you get to Stockholm you just can't. The entire town is like an invitation to the most pleasant party you've ever been to populated by people who look like extras from a Phoenix video. Yes, everyone is beautiful and stylish in Stockholm and your lumpy old hiking shoes and fleece aren't going to cut it here.



Our time in the Stockholm was brief but long enough to get a feel for the place. The old city was a delicate web of cobbled streets, gothic grandeur and a bunch of tourist crap - even with a trillion tourists flocking around buying Babushka dolls, there was a certain magic about the place.


Even better was the fact you could get a decent coffee in Sweden after weeks of bad one's in Norway. Not that I drink coffee but someone I know does.



My favourite bit of the trip was going to see the warship Vasa, a Swedish warship from 1628. It sank about 30 minutes after being launched (plausibly making it a very crappy boat) but it meant some 333 years later they were able to put it back together and it is quite astonishing - it's about four stories high (not including the mast) and is covered in intricate carvings. It looked totally like a ship out of Pirates of the Caribbean which was a coincidence because we were watching the last Pirates film the day before we went to see it (I might have written 'unfortunately, we were watching the last Pirates film' because that movie stinks worse than a rotting fish carcass in your glove compartment).


Here's me doing my best pirate face - ARR! Looks like I'm having a stroke.


The city itself is based around a harbour much like Sydney only it doesn't suck. But unfortunately, we only had three days to explore this wonderful city.


Oh well, onward to Estonia everyone.

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