London and Sweden

LONDON: Although Im working hard on developing a "European mentality" I quickly realized this easy-going mindset doesn't actually work for everything in Europe. At passport control in Heathrow I was threatened with being kicked out of the UK since I neglected to put an address where I would be staying. I figured I was catching a flight to Sweden the next day so why did it matter? It just does, and after producing an address and several minutes of being questioned I was allowed to pass through. Apparently not everyone in London is jolly. My friend's flat is in Westminster and is rather accomodating in comparison with most big city dwellings. Although I've spent two nights and three days here, I decided against touring since Ive done so twice before and it can be pricey (especially with the pound). Most time was spent appreciating london in the form of eating, walking through the city, enjoying the parks, and of course, having a pint or two (or ten).

SWEDEN: My first travel experience with Ryanair went quite well, much to my surprise actually. The flight certainly wouldn't qualify as comfortable and the service wasn't great either, but I didn't get hit with any excess fees and made both flights without any hassle. The concept behind the discount airlines is that you pay for anything other than a seat (checked luggage, drinks, snacks, early boarding, etc) and they save costs by flying into cheaper airports. I had to take a 45 minute train from London to Stansted and in Sweden my bus from Svatska to Stockholm was an hour twenty. Although what equated to an extra five hours of travel time seems excessive, it was still worth the $100 I saved. As my bus arrived just before midnight in Stockholm I started to doubt my plan of meeting Jp at the bus station. For those of you unaware, my plan was my friend and I would meet at the bus station, the bvious flaw being that we are two tall blond men in a Scandanavian country and I had no idea how crowded this station would be. As it turns out: not that crowded and we found each other with relative ease and headed out for a drink or two. The Sky bar is about 9 stories high and overlooks the city; although the view isn't nearly as good at night (so I'm told) it was still pretty amazing. After a couple drinks we went back as he had to work the next day.

While JP worked I decided to do a walking tour of the city. Learning rather quickly the Swedish Crown doesn't go nearly as far as you think, my predominant source of food was Kebob (pretty much a gyro) as they were cheap and easy. I seriously think three of my four meals in Sweden were a kebob, does that border on addiction? Stockholm is setup almost like Venice: a collection of small islands. Its actually much bigger than Venice, which is nice as there is a lot to see. Yet it is also manageable and, if you have the time, it can all be done on foot. I check out some of the central city and shopping where they have a main drag that reminds me of the promenade in Santa Monica. I also toured the ritzy area and wandered my way onto a Steven Bloom outdoor art exhibit. For those of you unaware of Mr. Bloom, he's a photographer that photographs animals in nature. The only peice of his I'd seen before I thought was a hoax: awhile back someone sent me a picture of a huge great white shark leaping out of the water to eat a fish that was also mid-air. Knowing that sharks don't jump that frequently and calculating the odds of someone being there, ready to take a pictures for that two second event, I was sure the picture was a product of photoshop. I was wrong. It turns out he spent sixteen days on ship in shark infested waters, crouched for up to twleve hours a day ready to take a pic. Amazing sacrifice that paid off. This picture is, literally, unbelievable. (Click on the question mark next to the top of the blog and that will link you to the picture to see for yourself)

I met up with Jp after work and we went out for a nice dinner and a night on the town with his work friends, half of whom were Swedish. It was nice to interact with some locals. The Swedish people are polite and could be considered friendly, but it's not really a place where you can expect to meet locals. We made a night of it and individuals would drop as each hour passed, leaving Jp and I in a desolate bar around 3AM. On our way back we stopped off at a Kebob place as it was time to feed my addiction. In the window we noticed they sold 3.5 beer (which 18 year olds can buy, you have to be 21 for anything over that) and decided to get a couple. The guy came back with a six pack and we were too stupid to turn it down. After downing our delicious Kebobs we headed back to Jp's flat, beer in hand (no open container laws). This six pack turned out to be our demise and we stayed up all night to finish it. Jp caught his flight and I slept til 2.

Still hurting from the night/morning before I tried my best to get the most out of the city. I toured the older part of the city (almost like Old towne Alexandria) and made my way to the Vasa Museum. The Vasa is an old ship from the early 1600 that was supposed to symbolize the brilliance of Swedish shipmaking and the Swedish navy: the only problem being it sank 300 meters off port on its maiden voyage. The brackish waters preserved the ship and it was pulled up around 1960 and a museum was built around it. It was all really quite amazing. That night I headed into town to catch the Sweden/Denmark (big rivalry) football game. It was great being able to observe some of the local culture, and despite the game ending nil-nil, it was actually very exciting (a few pints help that). Even though most of the crowd was quite into the game, the actions/re-actions paled in comparison to a similar experience I had with English fans.