Susan and I have been in Stockholm more than a day now and we're using the analogy that after Riga, Stockholm is kind of like the "second child." You take fewer pictures; you're more relaxed, but also more tired; and there's just less ooohing and ahhing and cooing.
That said, Stockholm is a beautiful child city, and we spent most of yesterday exploring her by water. First we got tickets for the "hop on/hop off" boat that is kind of like the water taxi in Victoria, BC, only bigger. We took that around the inner ring that includes Gamla stan (Old Town), the Royal Palace, and Djurgarden. Then we also took a tour of the inner archipelago, and it was so much like being out in the Canadian Gulf (or US San Juan) Islands, it was amazing.
We also went through Gamla stan and walked around the main city, and our own Sodermalm neighborhood a bit. So by water and foot we explored and soaked it all in.
Stockholm is also much noisier, and, true to what we'd heard, much more expensive... even Riga seems cheap now by comparison. Our hotel rooms cost about the same per night in each city, but whereas we had a huge, nicely appointed room and private bath in Riga, here we have a very small room, lumpy bed, no AC (and noisy street below), and must share the bath (toilet and shower) with the other guests on our floor. Our hotel is charming, built in 1647 (its name is "Anno 1647") and has a great location, so don't get me wrong, it's not a bad place. It's just not much like the Monika in Riga. And we have a "budget" room so it's not like the photos on the hotel web site.
And I am still recovering from the price of our dinner last night. We had a salad, a shared dish of "halloumi" (grilled Greek cheese) and ribs, plus one mixed drink and one hard pear cider... and the tab was about $100 US. And this was not gourmet cuisine.
I am taking part or all of this day to relax and organize photos and maybe spend some time in art galleries we heard are good, and which were closed yesterday. Susan is off looking at old ships in the maritime museum. Tonight we are having Swedish meatballs for dinner--the only "smorgasbord" in town was booked!
No AC? Poor babies. It is so damn cold here, I actually turned on the heat today! And it's been raining practically every day since you've left. Maybe one nice day in there, but it's fading in my memory.
Totally fun chatting with you two today! Very cool. Sounds like you are having a blast. I love hearing about the food. Maybe you could be travel food writers?! Hey, someone has to do it, don't they? And you write beautifully Sandy.
Skaal women!
Posted by: Karen Sorensen | June 10, 2008 at 08:49 PM
hello?! Are you two still out there? No posts in two days! What gives? Us folks with ordinary, boring work days want to know what their adventuring friends are up to!
Posted by: Karen Sorensen | June 12, 2008 at 08:22 PM