Our cruise ship pulled into a cold Stockholm harbour a little after 10:30 on Saturday 10 November. We were quite impressed to find a mobile tourist information car parked right outside, which provided us with a city map and pointed us on our way. We had arranged to do CouchSurfing in Stockholm which we were quite excited about, so we bought our travel cards at the nearest metro station and made our way to our host's house.

Ramon & Daniela were at the station to meet us which was really nice. They walked us back to their home, through a small forest, where we got settled and got to know each other a bit over some coffee. Later that evening, we all travelled back into the city where Daniela & Ramon very kindly gave us a short tour around part of the city. We saw the City Hall, where the Nobel Prize banquet is held, and then wandered through the old town, across some of the many old bridges and through the narrow, cobbled streets. We eventually found ourselves back at the popular Kutlurhuset (Culture House) where we had some coffee and a snack, and then headed back to the suburbs to catch a performance of some traditional Chilean music, which was quite a lot of fun :-) We got back pretty late and just collapsed into bed.

Sunday we awoke to the smell of delicious crepes for breakfast - a real treat and so delicious! Once we had eaten, we caught the train back into the city to explore some more. We hopped on a tram to Djurgården, a large island close to the city center that has been set aside for the public - it contains a number of parks and gardens and museums. Later, we explored the old town a bit more before heading off to visit the biggest IKEA in the world, where we also had their famous meatballs for dinner. Tired after a long day of walking around, we caught the bus back to the Daniela & Ramon's and made our way to bed.

Monday we were again up early to catch a walking tour of the city. Our Indian guide, who was quite knowledgable about the city and it's history, took us past us all the main sights and shared some interesting stories. Afterwards, we had lunch in a nearby park and then Monique went off to look at some shops while Kevin and Jason visited the nearby Royal Palace and Money Museum. We met up again and rode the metro to a few of the more interesting stations (all the metro stations in Stockholm are big art exhibitions - cool idea) and then went up to a ridge overlooking the city to watch the sunset. On the way home we stopped again at IKEA for dinner and to pick up a few things. Back at the apartment we finished packing up and then sat around chatting with Ramon until Daniela got home from work. After sadly saying our goodbyes, we headed off to the nearby bus station, excited for the next leg of our trip to Porjus, a tiny town of a little over 300 people inside the arctic circle!