Stockholm: A Day in Pictures

as written by jeff:

we woke up at 530 kevin was pissed off as he suspected he would be. give him 5 minutes and he recovers and we get up and say goodbye to patricia as she heads off to work and go to the roof quietly. it was cold and beautiful the city was quiet and sleeping peacfully. fucking clouds. we go back downstairs and have some tea and read the news but we are hungry and want to buy some muesli so we go to the grocery store but its only 730 and everything is closed and people are still in their beds sleeping peacefully. 7-11 is open but it sucks and we decide to go back and kill time so i shower and shave and soon enough its 9 and the grocery store is open so we go out and buy some eggs and black beans and muesli which kevin proceeded to cook. we top the eggs and beans with sriracha (lovely) and have some more tea along with our muesli and yogurt. cheap eating is grand. we relax some more and go to the city in search of a jacket or shoes. all the teenagers look like rockstars of fashion models in their well planned outfits and hairstyles and we are still tired and the indian-whistle-playing-music-mafia are putting on an extravagant show with smoke and wireless mics. we go to a couple stores but they are all expensive and nothing fits right and its another day without these items. wait for france. we go to the system looking for wine for the night and we find one liter for 50kr which is about $8 so we are happy and leave to watch people playing dodgeball in a park. they are all drinking and it reminds me of new york and we eat free hotdogs but we leave to go to VEGO Massan (see picture earlier in slide) in hopes of getting free vegetarian food from vendors. the 40kr entrance fee sucks and the event is small with only tiny samples at a handful of booths and we are both dissapointed and feel jipped but we stay for a bit to keep out of the cold. the event stays boring so we leave and head back to patricias and eat a coke-float and we slowly pack our bags realizing we are going to miss this apartment but we say goodbye to patricia and go to Martin's house- our new couchsurfing host. We meet him and his roommate Sandra and they are both awesome so we cook some dinner and drink some wine and hang around talking before going to a party. Martin and Kevin and I walk for 20 minutes to a columbian birthday party which is full of guys dancing and a huge bowl of guacamole which is amazing so we eat and eat and eat and take pictures and talk with the people who are funny and friendly and can all dance well. kevin and i are in shock that we are in stockholm and continue drinking and our pictures get worse and it gets late and we are all tired and leave. it is brisk and we are dragging our feet and we make it back and fall into the couch and quickly pass out.

(Use the full screen option to see slide show...fullscreen!)

A Kick in the Ass for the Blog

We realize this blog has gotten off to a slow start. So today, one of our more aspirational days, we decided to focus on some key topics that should be more interesting to read... if anybody is actually still reading this thing.

Below is a list of the topics we are interested in covering (the main focus on top and other more rare topics on bottom).

FOOD (of course)
-Cheap eats, home and restaurants, with cost calculator
-Local recipes
-Kitchens we encounter
-Parks to eat in

PEOPLE
-Profiles\Comments and pictures on people we meet
-Profiles of people we stay with from Couchsurfing and Helpx
-Photos of houses\apartments we stay in

CITY PICTURES
-In addition to random photos of cities, take photos of an entire day from sunrise to sunset

(less important)

MUSIC
-Local music\bands to look out for
-Music tastes of people we meet

CHEAP TRAVEL
-RYANAIR and our experiences
-Being cheap

FASHION
-Photos of people on street
-The search for good and cheap products

POLITICS
-Political views of people in different countries. Both their country and USA
-Obama vs McCain thoughts


Now we realize this is a lot of topics and it will be tough to do all of them, but hopefully the more specific items will make it easier for us to post different things.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Goodmorning, Stockholm!

As our bus pulled into the airport, we began to realize the size and scope of Stockholm. This was not Cork or Dublin, cities that are easily accessable by foot. The wide highways, open spaces, and urban atmosphere reminded us of parts of places we were already familiar with. The way you imagine a place to be and the reality of it is often different. We are dumped off the bus. It's close to midnight. We don't want to spend any money for a taxi. Shit. Time to walk.

We manage to find a computer and google saves us once again. We route a list of directions to our hostel, long names we can barely pronounce. Head east on Klarabergsviadukten. Make a right on Drottninggatan. A left on Strömgatan.

The central station is located downtown. The streets are empty, occasional younger people stroll by with their dates. Cab drivers pass up and down the highway. Bright windows light our way, lots of clothes and shoes we can't afford, but doesn't it look stylish? For a socialist country capitalism seems to be doing just fine.

The city is strange at night, the emptiness makes it seem even larger. But we feel safe. The air is cool continue to find our way.

We pass over another street and come to a bridge where people are fishing for salmon. 10 of them at least, throwing their lures over the edge and into a cold black river below.

We pass through a large green lawn in front of an enormous building. We later find out that this is a Royal Palace. There are guards with guns surrounding it.

The buildings are massive and old, but the streets seem immaculate. This, with the combination of the cool northern air, makes Stockholm appear to be the cleanest city in the world. We keep congradulating ourselves on the fact that we are 150 krona richer by walking, and richer in experience as well. Already we feel a bit warmer after jumping into this cold culture bath.

The hostel we stayed at was a small boat right on a river. It was late, probably 2 in the morning. We still have no clear idea of what this city looks like, or where we are, or what we are doing here. When we wake up, we look out from our boat to see the city in the early morning fog. Okay...we're in Stockholm now?

Things I have observed in Stockholm so far

-Stockholm is very clean
-Stockholm is much bigger than the cities we stayed in in Ireland
-Everyone drives on the right side of the road
-Nearly everyone drives stick shift
-Everyone is hip and well dressed... even older people
-I was one of three people wearing shorts, and definitely the only person wearing cut off jean shorts in Stockholm
-There is a lot of water
-Swedish is hard to read
-There are a lot of bikes
-Everything is expensive
-People are friendly
-Everything is expensive
-The subway is smooth and clean and pretty
-The weather is comfortable (so far)
-Swedish people like to bask in the sun

Peace Out Ireland

We are in the final hours of our time in Ireland. It has been a lot of fun, with a couple of sunny days (seriously!) and lots of drinking- which is nearly impossible not to do.

Here is a summation of photos taken in Ireland on our trip (posted on facebook as well so sorry for redundancy).

Some more will probably pop up eventually (especially the crazy ones) so stay tuned!

Hope to talk to you all again soon. Let us know if you have suggestions for Sweden because we have no idea.

Jeff & Kevin