la merde en direct: sweden: a taste of scandivania 1

Yep.. And so I went to Sweden. Always wanted to visit the Nordic countries and what better time than during Christmas? I originally wanted to go to Lapland, the home of Father Christmas (whoever he is), but the temperature there is -40°C now, so I decided on somewhere more tropical - Stockholm.

The Christmas holidays actually started on 22 Dec, but I decided to take 2 days off school and fly to Stockholm on the 20th. Turned out to be quite a good decision, as an increasing amount of the shops/attractions were closed earlier and earlier closer to Christmas day.

Had to catch my flight to Stockholm from Paris Orly only at 2105hrs at night, so we (Letch and me) took the opportunity to tour about Montmartre, the "hometown" of Amélie Poulain. Train to Paris got delayed by 2 hours due to some technical difficulties, so in the end I only had about 4 hours to kill. Started out by visiting Sacré-Coeur, the most well-known bascilica in Paris. The hike up was rather short and the view up was pretty thanks to the clear skies. The bascilica, like many of the other churches in Europe, was in typical roman arhitecture and I found it nothing much interesting, save for a rather huge crucified sculpture of Jesus inside. What I found interesting, was Montmartre and all of its sleazy offerings. So many sex shops on one street that I thought that I was in Amsterdam! And of course, if we are talking about old-town sleaze, Moulin Rouge comes to mind, and that is where the world class cabaret is located - Right in the heart of Montmartre! Lovely. Topped my lovely afternoon there with a meal at le café des deux moulins, the café where Amélie worked at in the movie.

le Sacré-Coeur

nice views from up there

quaint metro stations at Montmartre

XXX

voulez-vous couchez avec moi ce soir? =P

Flight to Stockholm was fortunately undelayed (unlike the TGV this morning) and I got to Stockholm on time. First impressions were very good with the excellent first class airport (Arlanda) and the high tech trains. "Wow", I thought, "So this is Scandivania!" Very impressive. My feelings were further confirmed when I got to my hostel, the City Backpackers, which is one of the most modern, secure and centrally located hostels which I have ever stayed in.

grand welcome at the airport

the arlanda express connecting train to the city

inside

entrance to City Backpackers

Day one was spent wandering about the city. But first up, we stopped by the System Bolarget. For those who do not know what it is, it is Sweden's alcoholic monopoly. To put it bluntly, no other shop other than the System Bolarget is allowed to sell beverages with more than 3.5% alcohol volume. It was first set up in 1955 to curb excessive drinking but now, it is just another alcoholic supermarket check-out. Whereas there only used to be one System Bolarget serving the whole of Sweden, now there are numerous shops dotted all across the country. Kinda like NTUC huh? =P Anyway, I got myself a bottle of Absolut Citron. Not surprisingly, as Absolut is a Swedish brand and of course I had to get myself something Swedish!

That day we had quite a spot of sun (as can be seen from the preceding photo), so we took the opportunity to walk about outdoors. Went to Gamla Stan (Old Town) and the Stockholms slott (Royal Palace) to soak in the sights. Stockholm's really pretty!!! The architecture's so Swedish-utilitarian chic! Everything looks so new, clean and proper, unlike most of Europe. =P Then there is the sea view. As Stockholm is made out of many interconnected small islands, I got superb views of the Nordic "sea". Looking at the ships docked by the ports, I could only fantasize about going on a Scandivanian cruise on one of them!!! =) Needless to say, the scenery was fantastic for photowhoring, which I did pretty most of the time. =D

Rounded off the day with a visit to the Nobel museum, then we headed to Mast, a Swedish pub for some dinner. My food was really good! Yummylicious. We had something to drink after dinner, and somehow or another I managed to break my wine glass! I mean, it just came apart in the middle!!! Just tell me what's that all about! Luckily the staff did not add that to my bill. =P

alcohol overload!

a little bit of Stockholm

the royal palace

cavorting with the royal consort.. =P

Gamla Stan deserted at night

As we got back only at about 2am the previous night, we sort of slept in on the second day. Which was not really a problem actually, as I had only planned Ikea on the second day. =D Left the hostel at about 1100 (Andi will kill me for this) thinking of going to to the bay to see the ships, but I got distracted by the shopping along Drottninggatan and so we sort of skipped scenery viewing (Andi will kill me again =P). The shopping in Stockholm is great!!! So many labels and brands. I managed to find an Ording and Reda shop (used to have one in Citylink, but it closed down), and I bought a bag there for 550SEK as a Xmas present for myself. =)

A half hour train ride and a short bus ride later, we found ourselves at Ikea. Pretty surreal to me indeed, as if you have been following this blog you would have known that I'm a Ikea fan, and being at the largest Ikea store in the whole planet is pretty overwhelming. =P The store was just soooo huge! Went in first to the restaurant to get food, and was pleased to find out that food was a lot cheaper than other Ikea stores elsewhere. Who says that everything has to be more expensive in Sweden? =P After filling up we walked about the store. The aisle goes around in circles, and I cannot remember how many times we went round and round! o_O

Last stop for the day was the Absolut Ice Bar. Other than the bartenders, everything inside it is ice: From the tables, to the chairs and of course, the glasses! The original one was built in the Ice Hotel in Lapland, but nowadays there are Ice Bars all around the world like London and Tokyo. Oh well, it was still a treat to be in one. =) The temperature inside is set at a constant -5°C, which necessiated the wearing of special eskimo-like robes. And of course with limits on refridgeration, there was a maximum capacity of 30 people in the bar at any one time. Luckily for us, we had made a reservation earlier on in the day so there was no need to wait. It was pretty cool (pun intended) inside with the glow of the ice blocks and we basically just chilled out with our drinks, speaking of which I got the house special which cost me a not-so-cool 160SEK.