5th Nov (Fri) - Stockholm

PRELUDE
Reached Stockholm bus terminal at 6.20am on Wednesday. It was still pitch black then. I was deliberating on whether I should get on a taxi or not as (1) I wasn't sure how to get to the hostel and (2) I didn't have any Swedish Krone with me at all. Just euros and Danish Krones. After explaining to the taxi driver, he agreed to let me pay by card. Phew! The 10 min taxi ride cost me 150 SEK (approx. 17 euros) though.

Upon reaching the hostel, I rang the door bell, only to realise that the receptionist would only be in at 9am. Luckily for me, one guy happened to be leaving the hostel and he let me in. So I took a sit in front of the computer and tried to sleep by resting on my arms. My throat was feeling better but my cough was getting much worse. I felt sick and needed to have a wink or two.

Finally at 9am, the receptionist appeared and I got checked-in immediately. Slept for approx 3 hours before heading out to look for food. The medication made me hungry. And this pattern kinda repeated for the past 2 days as well. Medication. Sleep. Food. Walk. Food. Medication. Sleep.

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I was kinda suprised that Stockholm was warmer than Copenhagen. The last I'd checked, Stockholm was faring at about 8°C. Night temperature averaged about 2 to 4°C. Though the temperature was milder, I still felt the chills. Probably coz I'm still feeling sick.

Anywayz, I went walking around Old Town (Galma-Stan area) and kinda like the place and the whole atmosphere. Not to mention the simple yet super nice lifestyle items and interior deco stuff that could be found almost everywhere. How I wished I could bring them all home. But I couldn't. There were so many times within a day itself, that I would pick up an interesting object only to put it down seconds later after looking at the price. For instance, a A5-size wooden tray (chic design kind) would cost about 40 SGD. And a 2-pc cloak hook would cost around 36 SGD. *FAINT* Sigh...



Price aside, if you were to start from around Skeppsbron 8 and gradually make your way through the numerous back lanes towards Stora Nygatan (which is the more touristy Old Town street), you would be able to find quite a handful of interesting and/ or chic local design or handicraft shops. Very nice ~ :)

And since I was staying near to the river bank, I took a stroll there as well. I was kinda surprised to find yachts and cruise ships in the middle of the city.



And there was the main shopping area on the otherside of town too - i.e: Kulturhuset and Stadsteatern, where all souveneir shops, H&M and other major brands could be found. The area's nice but I kinda preferred the Old Town charm.







Meals in restaurants and cafes tend to be rather expensive (for a budget traveller) too. I originally wanted to opt for those roadside grill stalls where you buy-and-go, like a grilled burger + fries + coke that would cost me about 7 euros. But considering my battle with the evil cough, I had to gave it a miss. But I did get my hands on trying reindeer meat and crayfish in one of the local pubs though.

Unfortunately, the reindeer meat was sliced so thin like a piece of pinic ham and topped with so much onion and sauce that I could hardly make out the taste.

As for the crayfish, it had too much mayo and it tasted way too salty. Argh! Hope this wasn't the usual way the locals would cook crayfish, otherwise, they should really learn the teowchew way - just steam it with garlic. Yum yum!



OK. Time for me to log off and flag a taxi to Arlanda airport. Or rather, ask my hostel for help in the booking. Amongst the different taxi operators, apparently there's this company called "Transfer" (black and yellow taxi) that offered the lowest, fixed rate @ 450 SEK. The others were about 520 SEK.

I would have opted for the bus or train if it wasn't for the cough and the heavy luggage. That would have saved me anything from 60 to 150 SEK. Oh well...