27th
What a beautiful day to wake to. The sun is shining and the air is cool and crisp. After a great breakfast its time to head to the airport. The station is only a 5 minute walk form the hotel. I enjoy one more perfectly made coffee while sitting at Monastiraki square. Basking in the warm sun i did not want to leave. Such a nice historical area.

Anyway i arrive at the airport and no hassles checking in. The flight to Copenhagen is delayed by 20 minutes, so i am thinking i may miss the connecting flight to Stockholm. Once in the air the pilot makes an announcement that they will going as fast as the plane can go to make up time. We end up arriving on time. No that's a first!

Arrive in Stockholm and catch the Alanda airport express train to the city. It tops out at just over 200kph. Now i have to find the Metro line ticket office, buy a ticket and take the metro to my accommodation. All goes without a hitch. My host meets me in the builing and takes me to the 16th floor apartment. Its one of the tallest buildings in Stockholm.

28th
Well its just after 8am and its still dark outside. Sunrise is not till 8.15am and sunset 2.50pm.
A quick trip to the supermarket gets me some supplies for breakfast. Food here is rather expensive. My small bag of goodies cost $30, and i only got a few basic items.

Now its time to enjoy a long walk to the old city and see the Palace etc. The temperature is a rather cool zero degrees C, and the windy conditions make it feel even colder.
The Old city is called Gamla Stan and is on a little island. Just wandered around and snapped a few pictures of the lovely old building. Next stop is the pedestrian mall of Stockholm. You cross a bridge from Gamla Stan to Stockholm, and the wind blowing across the water is freezing.

There are lots and lots of people here. I keep ducking in and out of the shops to warm up and i usually like to find the food courts in the basement. The smells are amazing. Its a foodies paradise! Lunch for me is a big bowl of spicy corn soup and salad and coffee. All for $10. Best corn soup ever.

Stockholm is a very pretty clean city, with polite drivers. I dont remember hearing a tooting horn once.


29th
The day is spent wandering the streets of Stockholm, and exploring all the little lane ways. I haven't even come close to getting bored walking the streets. Mind you my legs are letting me know i should rest every now and then. I stop for lunch in a fancy looking steak house which is full of people, so it must be good. And it is!. I ordered a small grilled and smoked chicken breast with slow roasted vegetables. All i can say is WOW it is good. Not bad for under $10.

Now i refuse to pay $6 plus for a coffee, and all the coffee shops here seem to charge that much and more. So i am in a dilemma. No trip to Sweden could be complete without visiting an Ikea store, could it? Anyway they have a nice cheap Moka coffee pot which i must purchase to satisfy my craving.

With some careful and calculated planning i arrive at the Ikea store, which is about 20 kilometres form where i am staying. The main problem is the 1.5k walk from the station to the Ikea store in the dark of night. However it turns out it is well sign posted, and once i can see the big blue and yellow sign i know i cannot get lost.

Now seeing i am here and it is close to tea time i might as well have dinner in the restaurant. I am overwhelmed with my choose of smoked salmon with salad and steamed potatoes. So good!

Having purchased the little moka pot, the journey home is done with ease. I was a little worried about getting lost on a cold and dark night, but all is ok.

30th
The new moka pot is great and i can now enjoy great coffee with paying a fortune. Today i joined a free city walking tour which started in the pedestrian mall. There is a big group of people, so many they split us up into 2 groups. The idea of the city walk is to find out more about Stockholm, but the guide hasn't captured my attention with any relevant information. So we part company and i head out into the suburbs. A path takes me to the top of a small hill where an Observatory once stood many years ago. Stunning views of Stockholm.

Thats it for today. I head back to rest my weary legs.