Stockholm, Day One

We boarded an early-morning train. We were seated in the animal car. I was hoping that would mean stuff like seals and elephants. Instead there was just a dog and cat. But it was a big dog. With a crazy owner. She kept kissing her dog on the mouth. Also, the cat and dog were seated next to each other. Which is sort of interesting.

I noticed a Kia with a vanity license plate that reads Prius. Prius is that hybrid Toyota. Must mean something else in Swedish.

We walked around Stockholm a bunch, as we've been doing everywhere else. Stockholm is made up of a couple thousand islands, with a few big ones in the center that comprise center city, and then the rest reachable by ferry and mostly for summer homes and cottages and hiking and fishing and boating. The Old City is the main area of Stockholm, with a palace and some museums and lots of Korv vendors. Korv is sausage in Swedish.

I stopped at a street vendor and had Skaning, which was some sort of salt fish, breaded, with dill and onions and mustard on a piece of brown bread. I enjoyed it very much. I wanted something local to eat, and it hit the spot. Later we ate in an Irish pub and had Swedish meatballs with lingonberries. Also good.

We walked up to a scenic road perched on a cliff overlooking the sea and the main island. There were some people making out and some girl wearing a very short skirt with a guy taking pictures of her bending over. I think they may have been whatever the equivalent of headshots are if you want to be in a porn movie. Maybe not.

There's a building in the center of the city called the Red Bull Energy Station with lots of Red Bull being sold and a Red Bull bar and lots of advertising. I don't get the appeal generally, but especially not in a place as laid back as Sweden.

Our hostel was next to a boat, called the AF Chapman. We had a room just for the 4 of us, so that was good. Better than the 12-person Dublin hostel rooms. There was a guestbook in the lobby of the hostel. I flipped through the pages. One guy thanked the hostel for a nice time and said it was the best 9-person gangbang he'd ever been a part of. I hope that wasn't in our room.

Stockholm is more touristy than Malmo, which makes good sense. Some old-style Viking boats in the water that look seriously touristy. Plastic Viking hats. We passed a store called "Gray's American Store" that sold "American" products like Shop Rite brand Cranberry Sauce, Kraft Mac & Cheese ($3/box), Snapple, and Doritos. Really, most of these things have an equivalent in Sweden. You need to be really uncreative to need Snapple in Sweden, I think.