OH MY GOSH

what a night, what a night. a friday night out in stockholm with four young girls who happened to weasel their name on "the list" at the hottest bars in town. read on

The red wings swedish scout aka "Euro Dad" has been taking SUCH good care of us! he took us out to eat last night at a chinese restaurant, took us out to a hockey game, and dropped us back off at home - meanwhile driving us around the areas which are good to go shopping and drinking. But Friday night is all thanks to him - i guess friday evening after work is an extremely popular time to go out, right after work, and start the weekend. We walk around all day and get some delicious swedish chocolate (which is supposed to be some of the best in the world, next to france and switzerland) and we get back to start our night out...

We head to Undici's for a beer at around 6ish, which is just down the street from us. we actually met the Undici manager a few nights before because the place was really empty, so he's given us a good deal. The swedish scout had informed us earlier though, that we have our name on "the list" at the following places: Hotelett, Stureplancompianet, Solidaitet, Laroy, Kokek, and if we want to get in to Cafe Opera and we can't, run down the street and speak to Michele who is working at a close little cafe and he will take us over and get us in. Also, if there are any problems, "call jimmy" and he gave us jimmy's number (which definately comes in handy later)

Hotelett had a wonderful atmosphere but a bit older crowd. we were also really embarassed when we're walking down the stairs after having only one beer, and Casey just bites it and knocks me over and i run into Mix who holds me up from falling down the stairs. i turn around and casey is lying flat on the stairs in a dress and all i wanted to yell was "She's only had one!!!!" or if i knew swedish, i would have yelled "you crazy american girl" and walked away with a scowl...but i did none of the above, but i was stunned as a waiter helped casey on her feet. hahaha i'm laughing even thinking about it. so after that, we jump in a cab to see Cafe Opera, because it's a sight to see in Sweden. we only have a drink there, but rach was dyyyyying to stay longer because the table of 4 swedish men next to us. but it's a tchotchie bar and we didn't want to hang out with that crowd, so we continue on our stockholm bar crawl. it's about 10, and the 18 years olds want us to meet up with them (apparently they finished their homework, didn't get too worn out from recess, and their parents let them come in to the big city alone) so we stop in to have a drink with them. but all their swedish high school girl friends were out and HATED us except for one nice little girl who gave us a hug. but i think they overtook the bar and casey went up to order a drink and the bartender served everyone around her, and then said "locals before foreiners". he even charged mix for the expensive beer when she ordered the cheapo beer. not only that, it took 40 minutes for the coat check girls to find casey's coat, and not until rach got the door guy (also 19) to go and find casey's coat in a matter of minutes. but the 18 year olds were our biggest fans and came in to the city just to see us, so we thought that was cute, and they told us not to worry about the girls, "they are just jealous because we are hanging out with the coolest girls in the bar!"

but 18 years olds can only hold our interest for so long, so we jump in a cab to go to solidaritet - and the cab driver, who has a thick indian accent, tells us he's from Calgary and starts saying "stampede!!! stampede!" then says "you like music?" and turns it on full blast for us to sing to the rest of the way to the bar. he loved us...

NOW: solidaritet...we walk up and say we're on "the list", and they are so rude to us, and tell us we aren't. we try to talk to them and they pretty much ignore us and escort us out. i think, well okay - we're on the list at a few other bars, let's just go, but group mentality says "it's the principle of the thing, we want in this bar". so we call jimmy, and he tells us to tell the bouncers to talk to (don't remember the name) but the bouncers go "we don't know him"....and rach is on the phone with jimmy, and he wants to talk to the bouncers, but they won't make eye contact and just say "no"...so jimmy is sour, and he says listen, i'll be there in 5 minutes, just wait there. about 10 minutes later, a man with a microphone in his ear (who we don't THINK is jimmy, but we aren't sure to this day who came up and got us) says "hi" and we say hey, and he just nods his head toward the door. he speaks a few words to the door man and all we hear is "Holland"...then "holland?" and he nods and says "Holland" so they open up they red tape and usher us in, even as a girl was walking in front of us, and the bouncer grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the way so we could walk in VIP past the regular line...we said thank you to the phantom saviour, walked in around the corner, and all of us started laughing and jumping and cheering!! the bar was WORTH IT. every club seems to be a mix of 5 different bars, so we hung out and met a guy we call "typical swede" because he is the most typical swedish man i've ever seen. he was awesome and hung out with us all night. so after 3, the bar closes, and we head to after hours - Hell's Kitchen aka Kokek is open until 5, and we're on the list there. We wait outside until a bouncer sees us, Casey tells him we're on the list, and he ushers us right in forgoing a 50 dollar cover fee! we catch a spot, and hang out the rest of the night. then the manager from Undici's that we met ends up at the bar, hangs out with us, and takes us to get MAX burgers (a swedish equivalent to McDonalds but AMAZING) for food after the bar, and we cash in.

So the four of us girls, a friday night in Stockholm, all the biggest hot spots in the city, and we manage our way in to each bar with no cover. AMAZING

we still talk about it.

NEXT STOP: helsinki, Finland, then off to Lappeenranta to visit our friend Alex Nikifourik.

We miss you all!