Quote of the moment:

"Sometimes you miss the pain", Swingers.



Stockholm....

Travelling up through Sweden to see their fair capital you have to take a moment to consider and appreciate the rolling landscapes, the wooden houses, the clear blue sky and the quaint little hamlets of pastel pinks and yellows. Not so much for me, as I was asleep, but every time my mp3 player would shuffle onto a song by Disturbed or System of a Down I would wake up briefly and admire the view.

Our first impression of Stockholm wasn't great. In fact, the first words I uttered were "What a s***-hole". This was because we had taken the wrong turn, gone into the underground, and were now stepping over puddles and massive piles of discarded Metro newspapers. Then we went out of the side entrance and found ourselves under an overpass. So it wasn't off to a great start but how could we blame it?

The hostel was nice if a little odd. They had a no shoe policy, which in itself was lovely but in reality was rather brave.

Anyway, I've had this cold for a few days which had pretty much killed me, so I had a couple of hours in the shower then fell asleep coughing like a loser.

It took it a while, but we liked Stockholm very much. It wasn't to blame of course - between taking the wrong turn at the train station and then turning the wrong way out of the hostel, it took us a good few hours to find anything worth seeing. But then when we did, we did in abundance. And for once, it wasn't (just) the presence of beautiful women.

It's a lovely place, full of alleys, cafes, blondes, cobbled streets, and rivers everywhere because it's an archipalageo kind of deal. Every time you cross a bridge to a new part, you have to turn around to see the part you just left and how it looks across the water. Usually pretty special.

There are countless places in Stockholm where you can turn 360 degrees and only see things that are in some way fantastic. And that, for me, is a great city. People are nice, polite, and all speak English better than I do.

Can't really say much more than that. Well I could, but I'm really tired.

Stockholm has rightly taken a place on my list.

And, more importantly, it reminded me that Prague should have been on there all along.

xx



The Refined List:

Prague
London
Stockholm
Bangkok
Copenhagen



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