Stockholm 2008 Day 2

Of course our second day in Stockholm started with breakfast (how else would we survive until lunch). Since it was sunny we thought it would be quite nice weather outside. The ice patches on the street told us a different story. Yes, it was still cold (as hell) and my face, upon leaving the hotel, instantly froze into a fixed facial expression… and it was not one of the better looking.

We had of course something planned for the day, otherwise we would have lost my sister in any shopping mall and I would have checked out the newest gadgets in an electronics shop. So we had tickets to the show Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde which was performed at Kinateatern (the China Theatre, roughly translated). But it was not until 3pm so we had some time to spend. First thing to do was to buy gloves and a hat for my too optimistic sister. I was also freezing I must admit. So in order to survive (I mean it) we went into a few shops along the way. NK (Nordiska Kompaniet) and Åhlens were some of the big ones. We also went to the older part of the city (Gamla stan) and into Storkyrkan (one of the churches).

And finally: lunch time! We ate the famous and delicious fish-soup at Saluhallen in the center of Stockholm. After a short visit at the hotel we went to the play. We were able (the staff actually insisted) to upgrade our balcony seats to better ones. If you wonder, the loud talking man sat in front of us, the family with too young children was on our right and the noisy teens with enough plastic wrapped candy to make all Swedish dentists top themselves were behind us. Imaging the loud talking man the size of a grizzly bear and his slightly deaf mother next to him, he touching 60 and probably still living with his mother. The row behind them was empty.

The show was really good. I have not read the book yet, but I roughly knew the story beforehand. The show is still on (and it must go on, according to Queen), and I have seen some TV ads for it, so if you are going to Stockholm anytime soon I would actually recommend it!

Dinner time! We saw a cozy Italian restaurant in the older part of Stockholm and we decided to try it out. Really good food and super fast service made our day complete. We decided to walk to the hotel from the restaurant and the cold could have killed us all… but again, we survived. Since this trip was to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of mum and dad, I and my sister decided to give our gift a little too early. A GPS, so they do not have to discuss which road to take anymore. I hope this "less-conversation-more-action" gift will make them stay together for another 20 years. Because of the extreme heat loss outside, we binged candy and fell asleep to restore energy.