Alright so where were we. Gamla Stan, that's right.
So after the all too brief night in the Yotel with the fantastic showers it was off to terminal 5 to get to Stockholm. We had checked in the night before and the website told us to turn up 45 mins before boarding but then the bag drop lady gave us a hard time about it saying we were late and might not make it through security so that stressed me out a bit before we got on the plane. I have to say I'm so sick of going through security check points. Its all a farce, elaborate theatre to make people feel relaxed about travelling when in reality if someone really wanted to smuggle something through then chances are they could. My brother John gave me a good tip for getting through the check points though. If you walk through their metal detectors and you're wearing rings or a watch or something like that and you have your hands by your side then it can set off the metal detector and they usually ask you to take off your shoes and walk through again. If you walk through with your hands behind your back it wont happen. I do this every time now coz I hate that beeping when you pass through the check point. So far since leaving Australia I haven't been randomly tested for explosives though, it happened every time I got on a plane before but clearly here I am not their target demographic for some reason. So got through security and then trekked all the way out to the gate so we could get on a bus and be driven out onto the tarmac to reach our plane. Nice easy 3 hour flight to Stockholm where suddenly everyone is deeply attractive, if there were ugly people there I didn't see them, ok maybe a slight correction, I saw 2 ugo's in a lift once but that was it, everyone else, gorgeous. They had that whole rugged outdoors naturally good looking thing going on, I wasn't looking at the women so guys one of you will have to testify to their fitness but I can certainly vouch for the guys. Was very sorry to leave Sweden I can tell you.
Worked out how to exchange my cash and got a locker for the bags and then a bus ticket into town and we were on our way. After consulting my trusty lonely planet guide book I thought that in the amount of time we had our best bet was to spend the day wandering around Gamla Stan which is the old part of Stockholm, Katie and I both like all the old buildings and we'd be sure to get some good photos so that was the plan. But how to get there was another question. Sure the guide book had a map but there seemed to be about 5 different stations called Centrale and I had no idea which one we were at. In the end we wandered down to the tourist information bureau and I, quite innocently I thought, asked the man behind the counter how I could get to Gamla Stan. “You walk of course” was his astounded reply. Oh really, coz I thought maybe there would be magical roller blades, a talking sheepdog and a rat called Elvis that would take me there and I'd have to face great challenges and learn important moral lessons about friendship and bravery. Yes, I knew that we could walk it but which freakin way is it, I felt like saying, but I'm nice, patient and nice. Actually come to think of it he wasn't attractive, an exception to my everyone is cute rule. Ugly angry tourist help man. Not bitter at all me. So with the begrudging help of the tourist information guy we wandered from the station to Gamla Stan. A beautiful collection of old buildings and invitingly twisting alleyways. Being Christmas everything was decked out very cheerfully and it was very much the storybook vision that you get of Christmas in a cold climate. Bits of mistletoe around and these paper star things that Katie bought a whole bunch of. A little cold but I was rugged up in my thermals and coat and little hat that I think makes me look like a bit of nipple but is warm so I wear it anyway. We wandered up and down streets and through alleyways at one point coming on to a square that held a Christmas market. Lots of very cute crafty things to buy that cost an arm and a leg and at least three toes, but still pretty, and holding with that whole image of a little snowy village Christmas but without the snow. That would not come til we reached the arctic. I definitely want to go back to Gamla Stan, and stay in the town I think for a weekend or something. Find out if they had some weekendy market festival type thing and hole up for a couple of days. It was a very beautiful place I thought, if I could get a job there I'd have no problems living in Stockholm.
Tired though I was after all the running around of the last few weeks and on less and less sleep, my legs said ow and my brain said no more shopping. I'm not a great one for shopping really, I have to be in the mood, generally if I have to shop for something I'm in then I'm out again. I'd much rather take photos than buy souvenirs so at the end of the day in Gamla Stan I was ready for a bit of a rest but we still had to get back to the airport and pick up our bags before we changed terminals and got on the plane to head up to Kiruna and I think by that point I was a little too over tired to sleep.
In our next episode: Katie and Jane enter the frozen heart of the arctic, where they get fantastic boots and free cookies. Free cookies, that don't sound so bad, hey Ma we's goin' ta tha Arctic!
Oh your pictures for today are of the little christmassy market thing in Gamla Stan and this shop front we found with a surrealist window display called Very Important Clothes. Cute it was.
Rock Town was also fun, go see the pictures on facebook I'm a little rationed with the internet at the moment so I cant load all of them up here.
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