Stockholm Summer (Part Two)

June 10th

Guided Tour of Old Town

All that happened.


Then we all wound up back at Solveig's (minus Trevor due to work, plus Max because he took us around the island and we had been hanging out) and we made my potato soup. Then we played a few rounds of Bullshit and fell asleep.

June 11th

Tammy's Birthday!

Tammy has had internet friends in Sweden for a couple years now, so for her birthday we decided to go meet them. She wanted to go to meet one friend, I wanted to go to see if he was a serial killer. My research into the matter is still inconclusive. We woke up early and left for the bus station. Tammy got her cell phone situation sorted and we had some coffee while we waited for a bus. I got a Mumin coloring book so we could have something to do while we waited. We got on the Swebus and were whisked away to a land of man-made waterfalls and bone-chilling wind. Her friend Martin met us at the bus station with a friend of his own, and they greeted us with Starbucks. He was tall, with a serious case of Swedish face (Tammy and I have a theory that people who look very Swedish are either gorgeous or hideous. There is no middle ground.)He was wearing ghastly harem pants and concealer over his stubble. Why would you do that? Why wouldn't you just shave? Anyway, his friend noticed the coloring book and mentioned that there was a Mumin exhibit in town, which we decided to do instead of the aquarium or the zoo since both were closed. It was fun, but I understood very little. We wandered around and looked at some other exhibits before deciding it was time for soda and ice cream. There was this adorable (and freezing when the clouds came out) little place for snacks and drinks, so we stopped there to take in the glorious day. We sat down in an area for four, until Martin's friend wandered over to a swing. He followed, leaving the two of us with two empty seats and some confusion about etiquette. His friend needed something from the store so off we went to this magnificent and confusing shopping center. I may or may not have gotten lost for a while because the Swedes wandered off speaking Swedish privately and then Tammy had to find a bathroom. We all met up again and Martin and Tammy decided to try each other's cigarettes. They both called the other's brand gross. The weather took a turn for the worse and it was time to get back to the bus station. We got back to Stockholm, met up with Solveig, and went to Max's apartment to celebrate with Swedish pizzas. One was a bananas and curry pizza, which is apparently a logical combination. I thought it was gross. We watched a Batman movie and headed back to Solveig's.

June 12th

Blueberry Trail

Sounds like an adorable hike, right? It was, except for the feathery demons who were eyeballing me while we ate. Solveig and Lisa led Tammy, Stevie, and I there and we had DELICIOUS cake to celebrate Tammy's Birthday. It was beautiful there and as a cruise ship passed us, we got some of the passengers to wave to us.

June 13th


Touring
Tammy went to visit another friend. The rest of us went to the lake.

June 14th

NO SANTA! NO!
        Tammy went to visit a third friend, and I went out to see the city with Solveig and Stevie. Stevie was a shutterbug that day, and she got some great pictures.

                                            

                                     

We made our way to Stockholm's smallest street. When we got there, there was a portly man with a white beard and a red turtleneck staring very intently at us out a window. Some time between these:

And this one.

The man came out of the house, completely naked. He was just staring at us. I told Stevie and Solveig that there was a naked man and that we should leave as fast as we could. Stevie started packing up, trying to avoid seeing, but she accidentally turned the wrong way and saw naked Santa. She froze in shock for a minute.. Solveig didn't think I meant that he was totally naked, so she looked too. She froze too. It was like seeing Medusa. Turning the opposite way down the street we ran from the Medusa man, we decided to go to the cutest little cafe to calm down and eat. We got Swedish pancakes and then ventured back out into the world.

We returned to Solveig's to share our horror story with Tammy.




Part Three up next.