Stockholm wanderings

This morning (early this morning) I flew into Stockholm from Reykjavik.  I was sad to leave it behind, and even after a short time there I find myself having to adjust to the setting sun (albeit still late – at 10pm or so) and not having to boil cold water for food (because the hot water had too much sulfur in it to drink/eat).  Stockholm is beautiful and expansive and very much a city!

I got lost in the Gamla Stan (Old Town) today, stopping to chat with a traveling gallery owner who told me stories of her backpacking days and an ice cream seller previously from Texas (she married a Swede and never wants to leave).  I stopped to listen to a Swedish storyteller in a large square, who made me laugh even though I couldn’t understand the story at all.  There was a bench there with a little cushion for you bum…which was helpful for my sore legs left over from horse-riding yesterday.

I was sad too to say goodbye to Anna, a woman I met at the hostel who was a Swede herself.  She was about to begin her summer job at a Viking exhibit close to Reykjavik, dressing like a Viking and teaching people about their life.  She speaks excellent English, and we sat up late last night joking and laughing and comparing our lives and countries.  I loved how she would translate directly from Swedish when she didn’t know an English word.  “Pick-Pocket” became “Pocket Thief” and “sore” became “training-hurt.”  It was very cute.  She also tried to teach me words in Swedish, but I was pretty hopeless and all it did was provide both of us with a good laugh.

Tomorrow I think I’ll tackle the park island (Stockholm is essentially a bunch of connected islands) and the modern art museum…maybe even try to take a boat out to one of the islands in the archipeligo, if I’m really feeling ambitious. 

Takk Iceland, and Tack, Sweden!