Sunday August 25, Stockholm

On Sunday I went to the Stockholm City Museum mainly to see their exhibit of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I think admission was like $15 and it was TOTALLY not worth it. We had a guide and I liked her. She asked where we were from and there was a family from the Netherlands. So they reminded of "dhe windosh on dish buildink..." from Trigger Happy TV. The daughter always had a small smile on, the son was super skinny and had tall hair, and I just plain didn't like the dad for no good reason. I didn't trust his eyes and therefore face. Too intense for a man taking a tour. He asked a decent amount of questions and maybe wasn't as polite as I would have been during the answers or actual asking. I dunno, I'm rambling. The lady was funny because she would pat her heart when she would mention parts of the city burning or being demolished because she longed to see them in their 16th or 17th century state. She showed us out the window a place where they were digging up the foundation to improve the building and you were actually able to see an 18th century road and a 16th century road! It was surprising how far down they were from the current street level. I guess much construction was done atop the old roads.

Anyway, the tour was pretty good because the woman told some good stories. For instance, she told of some kids in an orphanage running 300 meters to the Queen's palace on Gamla Stan and actually getting into the palace to complain about conditions. She didn't know if the queen helped, "but I'd like to think she did. She didn't know how poor conditions were in the city, so it was a surprise to her." Then later she showed the orphanage and palace on a map of the city (built in maybe 1920, but of that time) and the dutch son said, "That distance is 300 meters?" His only question of the tour. Come on, does it really matter? She said maybe 500 m looking at the map. Freaking dutch.

The girl with the dragon tattoo exhibit was super lame. A cheesy Millennium office, some photos of the movies from production, some fake newspaper articles (ok, those were kinda cool, seen below)



and a few maps of locations mentioned in the books. Lame! Totally not worth $15 admission. Still glad I went. I guess even when things are lame I'm glad I did something besides watching Dexter on my phone in the hotel.

Got lunch at a fried herring place with mashed potatoes and pickled cucumbers and lingenberry sauce. It's quite similar to cranberry sauce when it's just from a Costco equivalent. It's not quite as tangy, though. But I likes it.

Then, I finally found a mass in English and so had to make sure I knew where the church was. Turns out it was right by Kungstagarden (The King's Garden) and so I had time to dip into the mall to cruise for super tiny cologne samples. I went into this one very nice men's shop and politely asked if they had cologne samples because I am traveling and did not bring mine. The woman replied "Perfume samples? Yes, of course." And I said, "Yes, cologne." She went over to her drawer and began folding up a tiny little box, and put two little spray bottles in it. She was telling me how they are free and I can even come back tomorrow and get the same thing. She folded another box and put two more in and gave both boxes to me. She said, "There you are, men's perfume." And I laughed at men's perfume. That's like men's eyeliner or something. She said they were their finest samples. Ooo la la! I've yet to try them, but there are pub crawls 5 nights a week here in Helsinki, so I'm sure I will soon.

Mass in English was very nice. It started over ten minutes late, though. It was odd because the pianist welcomed us and asked us to introduce ourselves to one another and then we waited for ten minutes for mass to start late. Oh well. The priest did not try to tame the difficult message of entry to heaven but reminded us that God goes after the ones that leaves. It was great to hear in English!

After that, I met up with the Brothers London from the pub crawl for dinner. The first night I met them, Adrian was saying how they live in different countries (he lives in Whales I think), do different jobs, and have their own identities. He was surprised to hear about the Patterson twins in Sacramento (of course I didn't name them) because I was wondering if he and Andre had gone to school together, worked together, and lived together like the girls. So from Friday night, I kinda got the impression that they wouldn't be as in sync as stereotypical twins. Well, Sunday definitely changed that for me! They are anything but stereotypical; they are great guys and are interested in history and technology and rant and rave about the now ended American show "The Shield". But they are uncannily in sync. Adrian said he had a horrible day and not to even ask him about it. He put his head in his hands and just was looking for a place to eat. So Andre started the story. And Adrian jumped right in to tell it, not mad at Dre at all, even though he just said he didn't want to talk about it.

They had gone kayaking that day and Dre was put in the kayak first and looked good. Adrian didn't take off his jeans despite the fact he had his swim shorts on underneath. Almost as soon as he got in the kayak, he felt water on his shoulder, and he tipped it over. He said he was so close to the shore that he was able to jump out into a tree! Dre was laughing at him saying he heard nothing, then looked back and "How'd you get up there?!" They would constantly interrupt each other with details and constantly rehash things and man, I probably would have decked someone for interrupting me so much, but it is just how they work. It was so funny and interesting! They talk super fast and are always adding to what the other just said. Even corrections that I expected would be taken with a "come on, it doesn't have to be perfect" were accepted and appreciated. I really like these guys. And they jump topics like hop scotch. We would "finish" the kayak story and move on to talking about the differences between LA and London or why Swedish girls are shy and then all the sudden, Adrian would go, "And it's like I said, I can do this, Dre did it, ee's doin foine, and then I'm in the woo-ta!" (water, I dunno if that's exactly how he says it) And I'm laughed again at his predicament but also because I thought the subject was over. And the Dre comes back in to fill in details I already heard. It was awesome. And this happened at least 4 times. Each time a slight detail was added about the event like how hot the Argentinian girl working there was, or how they were overloaded with punters (customers) and that's why they got no training and crappy boats. And so eventually they gave Adrian a kind of paddle boat and he was much better. But Dre would say "Ven I looked back, and saw Adrian on fis fing and I said, 'What you doin on vat?'". I loved it.

They are also super considerate for how much and how fast they talk. When a topic has temporarily run its course, they ask about what I did last night or how the trip has been. They ask because they are curious and to start a new topic of conversation. But since they interrupt each other so much, topics would seem to get lost. But they don't let them. They always figure out what street we're on or of that bar is good ("nah, it's crap") and then immediately say, "I'm sorry, we were talking about..." and then they pick up right where they left off.

We had dinner at a traditional Swedish restaurant run by Asians. The food was great, but we were all a little confused by the staff (#racism). I got chunk of steak with potatoes and good mustard and horse radish. Adrian got a seafood soup that was just what he needed after that day. I mean, one minute I'm telling myself, I can do this, and then the next minute, literally! the next minute, I'm in the water! And I had my crappy phone and Dre's good phone in my pockets and now Dre's phone won't turn on! Dre got the halibut and prawns and loved it. We all took happy pictures with our meals.

We talked about The Shield a lot. The guys love it, absolutely brilliant. They said it makes you deal with all the real stuff happening, no sugar coating. They said The Wire was more watered down and careful but it was shown at prime time on BBC 2. The Shield was shown on channel 5 at 11 pm on a Tuesday and didn't get enough viewers to support a showing of the final season. They had to catch it on their own. I saw the first episode years ago with Dan, loved it, and didn't watch a thing more. I definitely will start it up.

Adrian told me how Dre is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (spelling?) when it comes to alcohol. He said his eyes go in different directions and he is a different person. He had Dre tell me a tame story. Here it is:

Dre went to an alumni dinner with his at the time girlfriend at her very highly regarded English college (I unfortunately can't remember the name). The brothers have Italian and Chinese blood, but grew up in London and fittingly call themselves British. But he said his girlfriend's friends kept asking him things like, "Is English your second language?" and "So you don't have any English blood?" He was surprised they dwelled on this when he was clearly British. (They said British is your nationality where English is your ethnicity) He had a few more drinks and was very surprised to hear the president of the alumni (an old distinguished gent) to make a jab at the Irish (I think). He thought it was a very odd that this very prestigious school could be so old school in their views on ethnicity. So after a few more drinks, he loudly exclaimed, "You're all bigots!" and then said he looked around and then thought, "yes, I'm glad I said that!" It was a great story and many times through it, Adrian said, "Ooo, wait till you hear this!" or "ere it comes, ere it comes!" making it seem JUST like he was there. But there was no way he would have been invited to Dre's gf's alumni banquet. It was so funny. Just another example of their synchronicity. And Dre would just smile at the encouraging interruptions. I made them feel welcome by telling them the story of me missing the girl with short hair at the bar that Josh was already at with his parents. They liked the constant expletive I yelled while pounding on the table in front of Josh's parents before even saying hi to them.

After dinner, we spent a while looking for this ping pong bar called Tragarden (circles over the a's). One brother would go quiet for half a minute and the other would sincerely ask if he was alright. The answer was usually, "yeah, yeah, I'm fine, just a bit tired." We had to walk down under a bridge, next to a park, past a huge indoor swimming pool and diving center to get where a hotel staffer told us where it should be. When we finally saw something that had a shuttlecock decal above the door, we figured that was it. But it was closed and a scruff looking older guy with a gray beard who was changing the trash can asked us "Tragarden?" And we said, yeah, do you know where it is? And he said "It's closed." We said, ah, ok, which it clearly was. But then he said, "I'm asking you." And we were like, uh, what? We don't know! Then he just continued to look at us like the conversation wasn't over. We walked away and had a good laugh at that.

We finally seated ourselves at an outdoor bar and Dre bought the beers. We were politely informed by the security guard (all security guards in all bars and clibs have the same uniform) that it closed in ten minutes (midnight, it was Sunday after all). So we quickly had our beer and got a big, nice thumbs up from the security guard when they promptly closed ten minutes later. We were all happy at how well the security guard treated us instead of flexing his power like you'd expect elsewhere. It was a great night and I hope to see the Brothers London real soon.

Robyn concert

This topic deserves its own post, to say the least. It's a bit personal, but I'm comfortable with who I am.

I got to the Tele2 arena a few hours before the show to make sure I knew where I was going. People were already lined up and I felt like, uh oh, I'm late. The security guy assured me I'd be fine. Little did I know just how huge this place is.

When I took the subway back a few hours later, the subway was PACKED. It took me a while to realize that yes, all these people were going to the show.

They had a red carpet set up, but it wasn't too big of a deal. I was a little nervous about my ticket because I bought it from Viagogo, a reseller, but I had no trouble getting in. I got to the "staplats" (standing area, but the first "a" has a circle over it) and was just beaming. This place was freaking massive. Absolutely gigantic. I guess I didn't really comprehend how big it was until inside. Of course, it makes sense now. They play big soccer games there. The lighting on the panorama is weird, but it should give a good idea of the scale.



It turns out I was early enough and got to go in the section the very closest to the stage. The first act was Zhara. The music was really good, but the performance wasn't very... polished? She was a decent dancer and the music was good, weird, electronic stuff. She had one backup dancer who was big and not pretty and her face looked a bit masculine. They never really coordinated their dance moves. Zhara had no one on instruments, just playback. She only said thanks maybe once and was gone. I still liked the music, though.



Then, I got super excited for Robyn. Duh. I was standing behind two guys and one was pretty tall, so I was super paranoid that he'd block my view. I dared not move, though, as I had established that spot and there were definitely people behind me. Finally, the lights went down, a huge "Robyn" logo (like the one on the shirt I bought) was slowly written on the super long screen covering the stage. It finished and slowly rose. The band came out. They started playing. They all had suits and ties on but plenty had big scraggly beards. They had two drummers and I think each only had one bass drum. The logo on the bass drum was the little cartoon robin (Robyn) logo from Konichiwa Records. I was so freaking excited. I really can't remember being so excited to see an act. I was sweating, bouncing up and down, grabbing my shirt, smiling, whispering "Oh boy... Oh man!" to myself and my heart was going a mile a minute. Finally, I heard her perfect, studio quality voice. Ahh! But where was she? She sang for probably a verse before bursting out singing "Show me love!". Oh man, it was a dream come true. Classic Robyn almost bowl cut short blonde hair. She had on what looked at first like a cut up Nascar racing outfit. She had black tights and a black tights top (whatever that's called). Then, the yellow Nascar outfit was over that. It was like a half shirt that said something like "ONE" on it. Then she had little shorts in the same style and then big boots with the tops in the same style. She had big platforms on the boots too because she's short. She definitely looked short on stage, too.

But it was beyond good. It was a dream come true. Oh, I already said that. Whatever, it's totally appropriate. Her style, her dance moves, her "can't break me" lyrics, her perfect live voice, it was just too much. I had seen her online only less than a year ago (I think) and everything I just described desperately made me want to go to Sweden. Now, here I was. Through all the second guessing myself (stuff like" could I make this trip alone? I did essentially no planning. Shouldn't I be working like everyone else? I don't belong here", etc...), I was in Stockholm, watching Robyn be these super catchy, awesome songs that I fell in love with in the states. I think during "Hang with me" (maybe the third song, easily one of my favorites) it all hit me and I was so happy and fearless and glad to celebrate with all these Swedes and fellow fans that I definitely felt my eyes well up. It does sound a little funny, to be getting emotional over an electro pop artist, but boy, it was something. Just something so personal for me. I did wonder not once what the girl (probably late teens) next to me thought when she saw a thirty year old man putting his hands up in the air and singing "just don't fall wrecklessly, hopelessly in love with me!"

She was easily the best entertainer that night. During any lyrical breaks, she would bust out some sweet Robyn dance moves. On one song, she collapsed by the keyboard player, heartbroken. But of course, she managed to fight back and get up! It was fun to hear "U should know better" and it was funny because she just said "tell 'em, Snoop!" and they played Snoop Dogg's verse. They had the music video in the background but it seemed out of focus. "Indestructible" was so much fun. She had us bang our fists to the four syllables of "This is hardcore!" and of course I was singing the rest, "I let the bad ones in and the good ones go but...!" Oh man, that one was terrific. The keyboard intro to that one got me and the crowd super pumped up.

I was soooo happy and pumped and adrenaline filled when the intro to "With every heartbeat" started. Possibly my favorite Robyn song. It's so personal and emotional and it was so great to sing it with her. It was killer when it got to the end because during the repeating line of "and it hurts with every heartbeat", she had this super appropriate dance of thrusting her chest up and out to make you see and feel her heart beat. It was very pronounced and clearly well practiced because it looked perfect. It was so awesome to see her emotion on that song because it's clear she really cares about the song. She stands very close to the mic and has her hand to her ear to make sure she's hitting the right notes. It's really remarkable to see just how incredible her voice is live. She needs no auto tune assistance and hits every note just right. It's hard to believe it's live, but I've seen live video of her before and knew it was true.

I may fill in more later, but the end was great, too. A second mic was brought out and she stood between the two mics. Then "We dance to the beat" started and she did the somewhat robotic vocals on the mic to my left. It was fun to hear about "we dance the beat of silent mutations" and then watch her just move her hands silently by her side in a flipping, twisting, fluid motion. She was mostly stationary during the song, but turned to the regular mic on my right to do the regular "we dance to the best and we don't stop" parts. I think those are the non robotic parts. Just listen to the song, you'll (I will, too) know what I mean. But the unique part was that they mixed "Don't fucking tell me what to do" into the song, so she transitioned to "my manager's killing me, my back is killing me, my tour is killing me, easy up your killing me" and then of course, "don't fucking tell me what to do, do, d-do!" I think "we dance to the beat" came back in eventually, too. She bowed, the band bowed, and tragically, like a candle in the wind, it was over. She didn't sing "call your girlfriend" and I didn't get to see the sweetest dance known to humanity performed live... this time. I will unquestionably be attending another Robyn show. Hopefully with her as the headliner. It was a sublime experience, through and through.

She played a few songs I didn't recognize. One about being in love with a robot because her man never came home. I think that was the one where she collapsed by the keyboard from heartbreak. She also played possibly a cover with this total bum looking guy on bass as a special guest. Christian something. He was kinda older, top heavy (not fat, just a bigger torso than legs) and wore like a white trendy tank top (not a wife beater) and like slim red almost board shorts and a flat brimmed red hat. I'm pretty sure his hair was gray, but he didn't look too far over 40. It was a good song, but I didn't recognize it. Robyn didn't sing too much on it.

I'll try to mention a bit more about her moves, but it's like describing the Mona Lisa. She does a fair number of spins and does the thing where she keeps her head in one spot until the last minute to keep her balance I believe. She does a lot of arm over arm spins. She puts her hands up all the way, and then out in a "here I am, behold!" gesture, usually after some arm spins. Love it. Her Nascar half top would work its way up on some of the arm spins and you could see her proud chest in the black tights material. That was fine. She did some squatting dance moves with arm movements at the bottom of the squat. A few pelvic thrusts that I was too embarrassed to hoot for. She has some good footwork in those platforms, too. I like when she does like a heel toe thing in those big shoes. She also does a lot like high knee steps. I love those, too. She only did a few moves where she really slid and/or glided seemingly effortlessly across the stage. She definitely isn't as unbelievable as the dancers from the Gothenburg Dance Fight, but she has her own style and I love it. It's what I more or less expected from seeing her youtube videos, but I loved the big, chesty heartbeat dance for "With every heartbeat"

Her songs, her stage presence, her unbelievable live voice, her dance moves, her beauty, her hair, her style, and of course her deep expressions really make Robyn Indestructible.

Saturday August 24, Stockholm

I guess I'm just going to fill a few things besides the actual Robyn concert (it has its own post).

I went to bed at about 4 am or later (earlier) because of the pub crawl. But I decided to get the most for my money and got up about 930 to eat breakfast. Ate with my Japanese friend (who I learned today (Tuesday) is staying in Sweden for a total of 3 months. She smartly goes to the grocery store to cut down on food costs. I said good bye to her at breakfast. Then I saw her after I checked out because I was doing a bit of planning on their wifi connection before I left. We said goodbye and nice to meet you there, too. Then I finished and went to lunch at this really good pizza place and saw her coming back from the store. We said our third goodbye! It didn't feel too awkward though, maybe the language barrier feels awkward enough. Sorry, big aside.). Then I went back to sleep. It was nice but the sun shines in the room and the traffic is fairly loud outside, so I leave the window closed. It made for a warm sleep.

I woke up closing in on 1300 (I've pretty much switched to 24 hour time because almost every establishment uses it.) and just watched some Dexter. Then I got lunch and made sure I knew where the concert was. It was right off the subway, it was so convenient. I'm sure they made a special spot for it because it is a HUGE place with a giant draw. The size even from the outside intimidated me.

Went back, changed, and then got a gyro plate (basically a kebab plate) and realized I didn't have my earplugs. What?! No way, I totally left the hotel with them. I retraced my steps andgot hella confused looks from the guys at the kebab place because they weren't English whizzes. I found them right by the pizza place and was super happy I didn't have to walk back to the hotel for them. I out them high in my pocket, so they must have worked themselves out as I walked. It was kinda gross that one was just lying on the asphalt. Oh well.

When I got to the stadium, there were approximately 47 people selling earplugs for $1.5. Hahaha, doh. Oh well, I had mine and was on time. I think the Robyn post covers it from here.

I bought a fun Robyn shirt. At the information booth, I sheepishly asked if I could meet Robyn, "I came all the the way from Los Angeles." Nope. Duh.

The next band was Winnerback (with a circle over the a, I believe). They were pretty mellow and heavily acoustic guitar based. They were okay for what they were. I just sat behind the center mixing booth to chill out and see what the headliner Kent was like.

I made sure Robyn wasn't doing an encore with the information desk. Kent was pretty good. Good rock with a keyboard that didn't dominate. I guess I saw why they were the headliner despite Robyn's success outside of Sweden. Swedish fans are fairly mellow, but there were cougar aged women dancing their hearts out at different places on the floor. Two were near me and a neat, tall blonde girl and I were just kinda keeping an eye on them, haha.

Robyn was such a great experience and I was so happy I decided to buy the ticket.

Friday August 23, Stockholm

On Friday I had to get my act together. I had breakfast, then booked my hostel in Helsinki, and then booked my cruise to Helsinki. Ooo la la! I'm on the Viking Line. Apparently they compete with the Tallink line. Tallink is supposed to be slightly classier but you definitely pay for it. I was hella torn about what to do. First of all, flying was way cheap, like under $70. A shared cabin on the Viking Line was 67 euros ($89) and with the "Viking Buffet" (beer and wine included, hey hey) it was 100 euros ($133) total. My only concern there was that the cabin is small and there are two upper beds that I desperately didn't want because of the lack of headroom. I was scared that I'd get there and be stuck with one of the top beds and three loud other guys. Also, no window in that cabin. That's kinda creepy, but I'm sure it's well ventilated. The next option was a two person cabin to myself at 150 euros ($199) with the buffet. I really wanted to take this cruise and I haven't met as many people as I thought I would, so I said heck it, I'm going for the cheapo shared cabin! So I'm excited for that on Tuesday afternoon.

Then while I was working on that at the hotel, the fire alarm went off. I went outside to keep planning the trip and met a Japanese girl whose name I can't spell right now. I made her write it in my notebook, so I'll fill it in later. Anyway, she's nice but has a super thick accent so I don't quite know her whole story. She has Swedish friends and wants to work here but doesn't have a job yet. She does computer programming and said she didn't go to university. Then later I asked her, "So you didn't go to university?" thinking that everyone but Americans call college university. And she put her hand over her mouth and kinda bowed her head in classic Japanese style and said "Oh, oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! You say University, I thought you mean Tokyo University! I went college, not Tokyo University." It was funny because apparently "university" in Japan means one specific college. She told me how the yen is weak and now is a good time to visit Japan. That sounds fun. So I've been having breakfast with her despite our pretty sizeable language barrier. She told me how her friend is half Japanese, half Brazilian and his girlfriend's mom insisted they speak English (as she put her hands together and bowed her head) in his presence. But he was raised in Japan and only speaks Japanese! Then she told me about a half Japanese half, black comedian that was raised in Japan. He said he wanted to take his girlfriend to get some authentic sushi. So they went to a real local place and the chef presented him proudly with California Roll! Hahah, it's funny that she can tell me funny stories despite me really struggling to understand her.

Anyway, as I was waiting outside for the fire alarm to stop, the friendliest Swedish hotel/hostel worker came out for a smoke break and actually asked where I was from and stuff. She said she works at the hotel and a McDonald's even further away from the city (west I think) and likes the change in pace. She said she works 40 hours a week at McDonald's and it's fairly high stress, so it's nice to work at the hotel in a more relaxed environment and meet travelers. She told me I should go to Drottinham Palace with the big royal gardens. So I went. Apparently this is the place where royalty lives, not actually in the Royal Palace on Gamla Stan. It was beautiful. Lots of areas roped off just to keep them free of foot traffic. Here is a panorama from the front.



This is from the garden looking back at the palace.



And this is a look back in opposite direction. It is a huge garden!



It was a wonderful outdoor experience. Then I took the stuffy tour of the inside, by that I mean the tour guide and the rooms. It really was something, though. Tapestries on almost every wall. Some Swedish royalty (can't remember details) had a great relationship with Catherine the Great (?) from Russia and so there were many gifts from Russia like a super gaudy fireplace cover that was designed in a Chinese style. Many, many portraits of these kings and queens and super creepy looking little princes lined the walls. It was fun to see the modern royalty marriages, too. There was a super beautiful kinda slight blonde girl on the tour that spoke English and had blue pants on. That's it.

Next came the Jolly Pub Crawl. In honor of my LA friends, I did not shave and I wore no undershirt. I totally dropped the ball when it came to cologne, though. I left mine in Ventura and had yet to score any free samples (more on that later). I found the pick up point in Hotorget square. Two guys were just holding up a little 8.5 by 11 sign with the design from their website. Per was a good guy, easier to hold a longer conversation with. He had a slightly curved down nose and he was balder than me but his hair was much longer. Victor was a bit better looking and had a trendy 5 days beard growth going. Per was pretty mellow for a guy organizing a pub crawl. I got the sense Victor was doing it more to go out than really build a side business. They had been doing it only since June.

I was the first there, and it was nice to talk for longer than an answer to my question. Then Nick came. He reminded me of Greg Knoll, but I get reminded of him more often that I expect. I think it was his short answers and flat personality until he joked or laughed and then you knew he wasn't so stoic. He's 24 and from Vancouver Canada and was hating on east coast Canada. He kept smoking and talking about how he was drinking some weak 3% beer from the COOP (supermarket). He had a nice t shirt on and his hair was nicely spiked and he had on some jeans and Vans maybe. I guess that doesn't really matter except when I jokingly insulted his dress up and had to tell him it was just a goof. We were at the second bar and he said something like, "Yeah, I'm not trying to get all dressed up when I go out" and I said "Oh yeah, obviously!" and gestured at his attire. He immediately shot back with something like "Well, at least I'm not like you with your..." and trailed off because he was kinda drunk (possibly high too, not sure) but motioned to my Converse. Then Adrian (yet to be introduced) said "Ok ok, let's keep it beer level, guys!" I knew I messed up because I had just met him and probably wasn't in a position to poke fun at him. Of course, he did look good, he just didn't have a collared shirt on. Nothing more came of it, so all was forgiven and forgotten.

Ok, ok, back to the other guys. Adrian and Andre were identical twin 30 year old brothers from London, and the only way I could tell them apart was Adrian had short buzzed hair and Andre (Dre as Adrian calls him) had a bit of a shaggy do. No more than 1.5 inches, though. They are great guys. They are genuinely interested in what you have to say despite the fact that they talk a mile a minute. They are kind and always give you the benefit of the doubt. Adrian does scientific communication, so he was talking about how he worked with the scientists at the new super collider in France. He said it was interesting how some people, now matter how specialized, can describe their research to you clearly. Others, obviously not! He said the worst offenders were 16 year old Intel contest winners. Basically these savant kids. But he said they went so fast and he couldn't keep up with their speed. Dre works as a graphic designer I believe. Making models of things so you don't know it's a model on screen. I didn't talk as much "business" with him.

The two leaders got 4 collectively good looking German girls to temporarily join us on the pub crawl. I say collectively because I didn't get a solid read on them. One was tall, one was short, but I saw nice clothes, white skin, make up, and blonde hair (#racism #sexism). Nick talked to them a bit, and apparently one blew smoke right in his face during an introduction. I was talking to Adrian and didn't even talk to them before they decided to head out. The leaders said they knew they wouldn't stay because they had their own group. He said it's better suited to new friends from hostels, or single travelers. I was bummed we lost them (and more so in hindsight) but Dre and Adrian said, "nah mate, tis betta they go, they keep too much to themselves". Nick agreed and told us that when the one blew smoke in his face he thought, "Well you can fuck off" and we all laughed.

Oh, the meet up time was 1930, so early! And I hadn't eaten yet. So that was my first concern. But when I met all the guys, I knew I made a good choice. The first bar we went to was a pretty mellow place. Kinda like a pub but a bit better lit. I ordered fish and chips and everyone got an Abro (with a circle above the A) after our free shot. The shot was tasty, a licorice shot. I thought it would be too strong based on the strong anise smell, but it was tasty. Not very strong alcohol wise, either. We said "skal!" (with a circle over the a) for cheers. They were playing Bee Movie with Swedish subtitles in the bar. Apparently some guy looking a bit drunk tried to buy three beers and then just got tossed by the young bouncer. I've heard Sweden has no tolerance for public drunkenness. Per told me about how renting an apartment is a huge ordeal in Stockholm. He said there is a ten to fifteen year queue just to be in the rental system. Once you're in, you're in, so there is a widely known black market for rental agreements. He said it works so no one really does anything to change it. Crazy though. On to the next bar.

At the next bar, we had our choice of a licorice shot, a minty shot, or a strawberry shot. Everyone agreed strawberry was too girly. The brothers and I liked the idea of a minty shot (for me especially after just having eaten dinner) and Nick got the licorice shot again. The minty ones were blue and Nick's was black. Skal! Boom, down the hatch. Aaaand, we just tasted anise again. It was funny, we all laughed that it tasted nothing like mint, only black liquorice. We drank Falcon beer (a Swedish beer) and didn't stay too long despite the good crowd of mostly guys. I saw a hella Swedish guy with a white training windbreaker on that had the US flag and said United States, and it's always so funny to see that. He had a typical Swedish guy haircut, shaved on the sides, long on the top and combed to one side. Maybe I'll get one that says Sweden and wear in the states. Insulted Nick's clothes, made up, moved on.

The next bar was bad news. The shot was great, like a lime margarita shot. But the upstairs was full of fans of this reggaeton artist who was there and playing a bit later. He was all decked out with a jeans vest and chains and rings and a trendy flat brimmed hat. Before I knew it, Per was talking to this cute blonde girl and I was like, what the heck? Is it really that easy to talk to girls here? He got her number and gave her a hug goodbye. All four of us pub crawl patrons went downstairs to use the restroom but it was roped off and we had to ask just to use the restroom. It seemed like they wanted to keep it separate. The stupid thing was that there were SO few people down there. It was almost empty. It looked so lame. We all had a good laugh at that and Nick went out for a smoke and Andre and Adrian joined him just because they hated the bar. Adrian convinced Per (the time keeper and general organizer) to leave in 10 minutes, not 30.

The forth bar was my favorite. It had a big aquarium in the window facing the street. It had a dimmed red interior style. They had free, incredibly salty popcorn to make you drink more. It was fairly dim and they were showing a Cheech and Chong movie behind our table. Nick was talking about how awesome those movies are and then about mushrooms in Amsterdam and how he doesn't do acid and shrooms as much anymore. They played good music, some older stuff, some rap. The bar was shaped kind of like an L and we sat at the horizontal part close to the fish tank. The brothers went to go dance and after a bit I followed to the vertical part of the L. Of course, they were essentially alone on the dance floor. Some people had spilled over from waiting at the bar, but no one was dancing. Lame. It was solid music too. Went back and found Victor talking to the three girls next to us. Wow, here again it seemed so easy to talk to girls! He was really interested in the blonde slight one, Hannah. Her friends were Josephine and... I can't remember. The friends were heavy set but nice. They went with us to the last club, and I talked to the one I can't remember her name on the way there. She was smart and fun to talk to. I like talking for more than an answer to my question with locals. Nick was talking to the other and acting a little weirder, maybe he just had his game face on. Maybe trying to be a bit more witty than me, I'm not sure. I just supported him, I wasn't too interested in hitting on these girls, just mostly talking.

The last club was bad news. So empty. The roof was neat, a bar up there with pyramids that were windows looking down to the dance floor below. Victor went down there, danced, and saw us. We laughed and he motioned for us to join him. When in Rome! But man, it was lame. We were literally the only ones on the floor for the majority of the time. The dance floor was nice, though. It had a white marble motif with a big red lit circle on the dance floor. Then about 4 guys and 1 girl joined. One tall guy offered us all flavored nuts. They were tasty and that was very kind of him! They were in a water glass, so I'm wondering if he got them from the bar.

Before the dance floor, we all went to the toilet. Adrian was waiting outside of one and I said, what's going on here. He said Nick was in there and the handle kept moving and the door kept bumping in its frame, but it wouldn't open. Adrian said, "Nick, can you get out?" and Nick muffled "It's stuck." We were kinda laughing and then I got scared because that could happen to me as I was going into the adjacent toilet. (Aside: All toilets in Sweden are small rooms with a toilet and a sink that lock with a regular door. It makes for a disinterest in gender separate bathrooms. There are sometimes signs for men and women, but Adrian and I laughed as a man came out under the women's sign and a woman came out under the man's sign. At the Stockholm Fringe Festival building, I opened the bathroom door to see two girls using the sink and thought for sure I had the wrong door. Nope, they waved me in. Urinals are usually reserved for big venues. In the aquarium bar, there was a room with only urinals. The toilet room was separate. That was odd and only sunk in after I left. It's nice because you always have privacy, though.) So I went to the bathroom and came out to find Per trying to turn the lock from the outside with a key. It wasn't going to work, the space he was trying to get the key in was too small. It was clearly made for a different tool. I don't know exactly what happened, but with more encouragement from Adrian, Nick finally came out. We all had a good laugh and later just assumed he was pulling when he should have been pushing or something simple like that. He did seem fairly drunk.

Victor was dancing with Hannah a little bit, but these Swedes seem to be shy on the dance floor. The brothers danced for a bit with the heavier girls, but the girls didn't last long. When Adrian tried to dance with the forgotten name, she held up her hands, each holding a drink, signaling, "sorry, my hands are full!" Adrian took her pinky fingers and started dancing that way, hahah.

The girls eventually left. I heard one was celebrating a birthday. Victor hugged Hannah and kissed her on the top of the head. I'm pretty sure he got her number, and I was like, damn. Then it was just us guys on the dance floor, lame. We left for another bar (not scheduled on the crawl), but it was SUPER hot and packed with older people. The brothers decided to call it a night, and Nick and I happily followed. Per and Victor said sorry it was dead, but Adrian said a few times we were ending on a high note. His repetition and my impression of the last club told me he was disappointed, and could see that.

The four of us talked about the night and the brothers kept saying the guys didn't know the right places and they weren't extroverted enough and Victor's English needed a bit of work. They didn't seem to like Victor, I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe because he didn't really do anything while Per lead the gang. We went to 7 Eleven for hot dogs. We stood in line and discussed our options when the guy in front of me asked if we were talking about hot dogs. After I said "yes, what do you recommend?", he said "Burger King, across the street. Fresh burgers! You don't know how long those have been out." We all laughed, and he said he was only there for the cigarettes. It felt nice having this stranger look out for us. We still all got hot dogs, but were surprised by his candor and help. We agreed it just be a Swedish thing. The brothers said after Swedes turn 18, they do not look to their families for any help. They proposed that maybe people just look out for each other more since families aren't as close. I have no idea if that's true, but it was interesting. I should have got some pictures of this gang, but Per took a bunch. Maybe I can pull some from their Facebook page.

I got to my ending subway stop at about 320 am. The hotel info sign read 8 degrees Celsius. It was freaking freezing walking home those ten minutes! I was really surprised by the big temperature swings here in the Swedish summer.

Thursday August 22, Stockholm

On Thursday I went to Gamla Stan island. It's south of the heart of the city, but still very much a part of the city's pulse. It's the old town. It has a beautiful port where I took this panorama.



Then I went to the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace. That was really neat. They had one of the few mounted military bands. The kettle drummer rode a big Clydesdale and only controlled the horse with his feet. The other members were all brass pieces: trumpets, french horns. They did a great job. Here are a few photos. Unfortunately no ceremonial gun shots.







The changing lasted for about 30 minutes. Lots of well coordinated marching and they had a few girls in the forces that were way shorter than the guys and it was kinda funny. They would do like a trot (the soldiers, not the horses) and then when halt was called, they took a few more steps and then stopped in kind of a sliding step down. It looked and sounded great.

After that, I went to the Royal Armory Museum. It was a very packed exhibition with lots of pistols, muskets, a few swords and a lot of famous clothing. King Gustavus Adolphus' clothing and horse from his death in battle were on display. So were another king's clothes when he was killed in the trenches and the death shroud of another king are on display. A crown from the 1500s is still on display here!





These were burial items for King Karl X, I think. All gold, very expensive, Douglas. They said the country spent a small fortune making these.



They had an entire flood dedicated to Queen Christina of Sweden, the daughter of King Gustavus Adolphus. She inherited the throne when her father died in glorious battle (well, I say glorious, but this wasn't Viking times, I might be a little off base) but had a very memorable, controversial life. She never was interested in marriage, dressed like a man commonly, spoke her mind freely, and converted to Catholicism must to Protestant Sweden's horror. Today she is seen as somewhat of a role model for non-heterosexuals, but her sexuality was never understood. This picture is poorly lit, but it is a modern portrait of her doing a manly thing like hunting. She looks pretty sexy to me.



After that I found King's Park in the middle of the city and enjoyed the state of Karl XII and read for a bit in the sun. Then I wandered up the street and found the Stockholm Fringe Festival. It was really small. Mostly confined to one smallish 5 story building. It was pretty out there. A lot of the exhibits "challenged standards". Didn't really interest me much. There were big wire framed models that where probably double the size of a real woman and they were a little more rotund than typical skinny models. They were in swim suits and they represented the real women. Wow, shocker.

There were some comedy acts later in the day and I had no plans, so I got some food at mAx and then headed back. I was a few minutes late, but instead of a German and a Palestinian (or some unlikely combo) comedy act, it was a big guy in a Bathory shirt playing some melodic soundscapes. I act liked the sound and took a video, but I didn't feel like sitting through an hour of that and then waiting for the next comedy act. So I went back to hotel. This... sculpture? is outside of the fringe fest building in a model looking square.



Last, but definitely not least, I saw this guy with I am assuming designer jeans on that were made to look like he had three pairs of jeans on at the waist. Check this out, zoom in if you can. Count the waists.

The first night and day in Stockholm

My hotel/hostel is a good ways outside of the city center, but the tourist information was very helpful and I bought a 7 day pass to use the subway and tram. I require one transfer when going to/from the city center. The main subway runs every 3 minutes probably. The other tram runs probably around 5 an hour. Wait times are small and it makes getting around so easy.

Tuesday, August 20, Stockholm
So on Tuesday night I went into town and had dinner at a not very good sushi place. But hey, felt fine afterwards so no complaints! Then I just started walking down a main drag. Lots of shops and restaurants with menu items I can't read. I saw these signs that said "PING", "PONG", and "C.U.M" and I was like... What the heck...? I think the last one was some equipment company. Must have just been an unfortunate acronym.



I wandered to the end of the street and came across a small bridge over a water way. It was absolutely beautiful out there. I could see some of the city as the twilight was fading. I think I had a view of city hall, but I'm not sure. This picture is decent, but of course, you had to be there!


I stood on that bridge for probably just five minutes, amazed that I was actually in Stockholm, Sweden and shocked by the beauty. I wandered a little further and found another bridge. This one had a repeating decoration in the metal that made up the edges and there were tons of little locks secured around the little cutouts. It was like carving your name in a tree. Different locks (although I saw no combination locks) of different sizes and age. Some had dates written on them. I saw one all the way back to 2005 and one from just this year. Let's see if this picture catches it.



Then I looked up. The moon was coming up over one these old brick buildings. Oh man, it takes your breath away!



From there I made it to a building with guards in a square and I wasn't exactly sure what it was. But it was a huge square and had a nice little park attached to it with neat little fountain that had small lights under the water and big big trees around it. It butted right up to the water and it was amazing that this tidy little park was right in middle of the city.

Wednesday August 21, Stockholm
On Wednesday I took the subway into town and a guy came on with an electric accordion and played some awesome subway smooth jazz. I have a short recording of it. I saw him the next day, so I'm assuming he's a regular!

The only thing I did for the rest of Wednesday was go to the Vasa ship museum. The guide book I have fave it a 3 out 3 for interesting sights, rating it a "must see". Bullshit. It is a must travel to Sweden the soonest you can JUST to see this museum. If that's the only thing you do in Sweden, you had a trip well worth the trouble. It was simply unbelievable. I stayed for about 4 hours and still couldn't believe what I was seeing.

In 1628, King Gustavus Adolphus commissioned the maiden voyage of the Vasa Warship. It was a newly designed warship with two rows of gun decks, the most heavily armed warship of its time. Unfortunately for Sweden at the time but extremely fortunate for Sweden today, the ship sank 30 minutes into the very first voyage. There was not enough ballast and the ship was a mere one meter too thin making it very top heavy with a second row of cannons. The ship sat only 30 meters below the surface of the Stockholm harbor, but recovering it in 1628 was technologically impossible. The Stockholm waters are not salty enough to support wood eating sea worms but salty enough to preserve wood. Therefore, 333 years later, it was recovered in 95% original condition. The ship was sprayed with a compound found in skin lotion for 17 years to replace the water in the wood. Today, it sits in the museum in unbelievable detail.

I don't think any pictures I put up will come close to capturing the ship, but let's see if something is visible.





This last one is the amazingly intricate stern.



They had 10 bodies that were somewhat preserved (there was still the brain of one man!) and they were able to generate super life like recreations of their faces. Very interesting to see these people from so many years ago.

I spent so long there that most of the other tourist attractions were closed. I don't think I've had kebab in Stockholm yet, and I'm shocked! I can't remember what I had for dinner. It might have been this indoor food stall place I found. It has about 15 order at the counter places in one spot. Free wifi and free bathrooms, it's a great place off of the Hotorget T stop. Whenever I walk by there, I spot in for a free pee. It's nice.

And then I started watching Dexter because it's available in Sweden on Netflix. It's funny because you can't turn the subtitles off, only change them to Swedish, Norwegian, or Finnish. A highlight from this: I learned that in Swedish, "mig" means me. Hey mig!

Stockholm Syndrome!

I'm on the train to Stockholm from Gothenburg and super excited! I absolutely love these train trips. The trains are so smooth and quiet and the clouds cover probably about half the sky, so it feels like you are taking shelter from semi bad weather. In actuality, it's very pleasant outside. I love traveling to a new place and rarely want the trip to be over. Probably because it's so pleasant and when I arrive I have to figure out a new city. I loved Oslo even though it was extremely expensive. I spent more nights in Gothenburg, though (I think) and really, really liked it, too. The cultural festival helped big time. I'm not sure what I would have done without all that free, great outdoor entertainment. I have the Robyn concert on Saturday and Derek from Oslo told me about two pub crawls held on the weekends, so I'm going to try to go to one on Friday night. I haven't really "been out" since Oslo, so I'm excited and a little intimated. Hopefully I can play some pump up music and meet some people. I'll fill in some events from Sunday and Monday.

Sunday Aug 18, Göteborg, Sweden
On Sunday I went to a mass in Polish at 1 pm. It was packed. Packed. I had to put my bag between the kneeler and the pew and had to kneel around it. I had the readings on my phone, so it was reasonably possible to follow the mass. Afterwards, I lit a candle for my friend that requested it because she has Swedish roots.

I went to the Fish Church to see this place for myself. It was closed. What kind of church is closed on a Sunday? Weak. It was a neat building though.



I got a kebab plate for the third (at least third) time from the same place close to the circus tent (dance fight tent). The big show for the day was the RIX FM pop concert at the main stage by Poseidon again. A guy and a gal came out and did a mix of mostly pop/dance songs. Stuff like "I don't care", "Get lucky", and "Little talks". It was really funny to hear the guy sing in English, because you could really hear his accent coming through, especially on "Get lucky". They came back on once more between other acts, but weren't very interesting because they were just covers.

The big crowd-pleasers were the famous Swedish pop stars. Apparently a few were from Swedish Idol (one winner I think). You would totally think they were Americans until they spoke to the crowd. It seemed like every person said "Gothenburg" slightly differently. But it always sounded something like "yoo-TE-boorg!" (but like a soft te, not how you'd say "tee").
The first band was State of Drama. Totally emo rock band that was decent. Their first song was funny, "You loved me for money, but you made me hate you for free!"
The next guy was a darker skinned, fairly thin guy named Oscar. He just sang about love songs and the kids loved him. It was funny to see all the young Swedish kids loving their pop stars.
There was a white guy called David (possibly last name Lawrence) who dressed in a snappy beige suit (no tie) and had some solid dance moves and begged us on a chorus to "put your hands up in the sky!" It was funny how all the songs were in English and had absolutely no clever or original lyrics. He held one of his dancers hands and did and assisted flip, so that was cool.
There was what I thought was a middle eastern guy who seemed to sing in almost a Puerto Rican style. He had like 5 women in big dresses that didn't seem to look middle eastern but for some reason I felt like the sound was a mash up of middle east and Puerto Rico. The dancers had big huge gold fabric from their dresses to their arms that they could wave like arm flags. It looked neat.
There was another, more raunchy heartthrob kid who sang about taking off his and her clothes and grabbed his crotch a fair amount.
I only saw one girl and was disappointed by that. She sang a duet with a country looking guy who was actually just a pop singer. The duet was kinda soft and told how now that they were both sober, they can't be together and she should leave. It was pretty lame. Her solo song was forgettable.
It really started to rain hard but thankfully I had my umbrella. It stopped and I left when two rappers came on. They were decent, but I wanted to plan my trip to Stockholm. I did see this neat statue on my way back to the hotel. I'm sure it would be super popular in the states.



I got hella frustrated by how full ALL of the hostels were in Stockholm for my time and decided to stay in Gothenburg one more night to make sure I planned my trip to Stockholm properly. I love being able to stay when I want and go when I want, but I got so pissed off that all these hostels are full. That just goes to show you need to plan better. I am not planning on staying after The Knife concert because of my lack of planning and my lack of meeting people. And, it will be a long time on the road. It'll be nice to get back to real life. Just, not yet!

Monday Aug 19, Göteborg, Sweden
On Monday I switched hotels for the fifth time I think. Turns out this one was a way longer walk than I thought. I couldn't check in yet, so I went out. I went to an indoor deli or market where every stall almost looked the same. A nice looking little place with tons of meats and cheeses on display. So many things looked weird but good. Some shops were bakery types. I got a plate of Swedish meatballs, gravy, mashed potatoes, a salad, and lingenberries from a small shop. I'm pretty sure the meatballs were just frozen from Costco, but man, they were hella good and I wish I had a plate of that right now. The mashed potatoes were super good, too. The entire plate was only 59 SEK ($9). A guy came up and just asked for mashed potatoes in English and the guy just gave him a huge plate. The (I think) American guy said oh, I have to pay you for this. And the guy reluctantly accepted.

I was about to leave when I saw a fruit and nut shop. I had the guy make me a trail mix with nice big dehydrated strawberries. He walked over the other side of his stall and asked if I like olives. I said that I mostly just liked them on pizza, not by themselves. He said, to enjoy olives you need to first eat feta cheese, good feta cheese, then immediately eat the green olive. He gave me like three rounds of this. It was really tasty. He said you have to eat this for 6 months, maybe a year before even trying black olives. "Where you from, America? Oh no, they don't have these good green olives there. These special." Then he took a few green olives, lime juice and "good" olive oil and mixed them together. He said this is when you are drinking wine or beer. The feta is for no drink. He reminded me at least three times not to eat black olives sooner than 6 months after eating green olives. I probably had 7 free olives and a decent hunk of feta from this guy. It was awesome and totally not requested. I am not sure where he was from, but his skin was darkish and he was bald with black hair and I believe a goatee and had a nice belly.

I then went to the cathedral. It was massive and right in the middle of the city.



I went back to the Fish Church because it was on my way to my next stop. It was open but much smaller than I thought. And only one stall was open. Bummer. I wanted to see a bunch of huge cods.

Then I went to this old watchtower which was all that was left after one of the oldest strongholds in Gothenburg. This is the watchtower with a golden crown at the top (I believe they said it was wooden, though).



It provides some great views of the city.



Next was the Gothenburg Opera because I am an opera FREAK and I must see all the opera houses in the cities I visit. It wasn't nearly as impressive as the Oslo Opera. But it was on the water and had some good views of the channel and a permanently docked ship that was converted to a hotel (not that it's a completely original idea). Here's the Opera.



And here is the ship with a huge tower being built behind it. I wish I knew the story of it, but I like the look of it.



I will miss Gothenburg. It's a terrific city that's easy to navigate with reasonably priced food, awesome girls, tons of shopping, and great proximity to nature. It doesn't feel very old or classic, but I love it. Almost everywhere you go, they are constructing new roads and buildings. I saw three guys assembling a new brick walkway out of granite I think. It was funny to see because although you can tell it looks new, it gives off a centuries old vibe. They just take these maybe 4 or 5 inch cubes of granite and do some trial and error to see if it looks good and then pound them in. It does make walking kind of a pain, though. The walkways are not smooth. No one minds but tourist me, I suppose. And no one really stays to the right or respects walking lanes. I had to weave a bunch and felt like, dude, you just cut me off. I'd always be looking for walking lanes, and they were so inconsistent. Also, people cross the street where ever as long as it's clear. Few people pay close attention to the walk/don't walk signs. Until next time, Jooteboorg!

Gothenburg, Saturday Aug 16

On Saturday I went to the Universeum. It's Scandinavia's largest science... uh... park? It cost $30 to get in and it was mostly geared towards families, but I saw some neat stuff. They had a fairly big rainforest with too many frogs. They had an air lock because they needed to keep the rainforest humid and warm. It was just nasty going from a pleasant low 70s day to a super muggy 80s day. They had two huge anacondas and a pretty bird.



They had a crime lab where there were little stations to see if you could identify a person's voice or see if a passport was forged. They had a space exhibit that talked a lot about life on the ISS. I knew a lot of the stuff, but it's fun to read stuff that goes into less detail than you know. That way, in your head, you go, "Oh yeah, that's because the pressure is so low that..." and you feel smarter than 10 year old kids who are in a little rocket chair. The best thing about that exhibit was their infrared camera set up. I was amazed how accurate those images can be. Of course, the camera is tuned to pick up the smallest changes in temperature, but it was fascinating to see my glowing fingerprints on my hat after only holding it for a few seconds. I could even make out the ridges in my fingerprints, it wasn't just a long blob where my finger had been.

They had an actually great aquarium there. They had a massive saw tooth shark that kept swimming the same pattern over and over again. It would take this same path up along this rock by my seat. There were two Asian girls speaking English to a guide at the aquarium. They were asking her a bunch of questions and it's always funny to see two different races speak in their mutual second language to one another. Makes me feel super smart for being fluent in English. #racism The Swedish girl told us the saw tooth shark uses its huge... snout? to spear fish and smack then against rocks or dig them out of the sand. They also had a great little zebra shark. I haven't seen many of those.

She also showed us the Swedish coast exhibit. It was funny to see how the cods were WAY bigger than the little pike nosed dog shark (or some name like that). It was funny to hear her get more excited than I thought she would about the taste of the fish in her tank. The Asian girl asked if we can eat those fish. And the Swedish girl said, "Oh yes... Yes... They are... very good!" and laughed. She also told us that ppl from Gothenburg have an accent that makes them sound like fishermen. They are rumoured to be a little more cheery than those from Stockholm. She told us about the fish market which literally translates to Fish Church. With a name like that I had to go. (I waited until Sunday, after all, it's a church!)

They also had a robotic dinosaur exhibit. It was kinda cool to see these huge things that had feathers. It's hard to believe they walked the same ground that we did. Sorry, that's kinda cheesy, but they are amazingly different than anything we see today. Is this dinosaur cool?



Scary. They said it was the biggest carnivore and had a "sail" on its back.

After that, I went to the botanical gardens. As you all know, I am such a huge plant nut that I couldn't pass it up. It was beautiful and I took many pictures of dahlias. I wondered where the black dahlias were...



The greenhouse had "closed" an hour before I got to it, but nonetheless, the doors were still open and people were inside, so I ventured in. I walked by a high up mist sprayer and put my hand under it as I looked at the little pond at the center of this section. A big husky old guy with piercing blue gray eyes and a big thick gray mustache stared straight through me, held out his hand, and said a fair amount of stuff in Swedish. I was scared. Did I need to pay this man for being in the greenhouse after hours? It said 20 SEK to get into the greenhouse, but I was unsure where to pay and had no cash anyway. I said, "I'm sorry, I only speak English." He carried on for a few words in Swedish and ended with a word that sounded like "dreesell", and I thought, uh oh. Then I said, "I'm sorry, I don't understand." And he said, "A leetle rain, a dreesell." I finally got it. "A drizzle!" I said, realizing he was referring to me touching the mist casually. He laughed and said "dreesell!" and clapped me on the shoulder and I never saw him again. It was super funny.

I learned hotels were so expensive that night because Eva Dahlgren, a very popular Swedish singer was playing the main stage. I had to go as it sounded like the best show that night. The stage was at the end of the main street and was HUGE. I believe it was in front of city hall. It was in the midst of a statue of Poseidon who was totally nude and holding a fish and maybe a clam shell. The whole time I was watching this very well done outdoor concert, I had to look around this little statue penis. It was funny. Let's see if this picture captures it.



The show was very good. The crowd was definitely a little older, and so was the artist, maybe in her late late 40s. I was very impressed with the atmosphere and mood and tone the songs conveyed. I understood nothing the entire night save for a few English phrases and a "too-send tak" (thousand thanks). She told quite a few stories and one involved her licking her middle fingers and sticking them up. She licked one quite a few times and the crowd loved it. I was confused. A few of the songs were a little happy go lucky, but I am definitely going to listen to her studio stuff.

I left before the bows were done to avoid the crowds and went back to the dance fight tent. A German reggae/rock band had JUST started and their first song was very long. I was very confused by the gender of the vocalist. I am pretty sure it was a girl, but definitely looked like a young man. It was funny because she was black and her entire band was white. The crowd loved it.

I left to go back to the hotel, I was beat. But as luck would have it, I found a street performer who was asking for a light for her torches. She finally got one and spun them all around her body. I wondered if the torches had a small extension at the base because they seemed to really get far from her body in some swings. She was very good and very entertaining. Some splits, some back bends. Then came the fire eating. That was great. I was pretty close and could see the technique. It looked like a couple of preparation breaths or mouth configuration movements, and then in the torch went! She kinda opened and closed her mouth around it while blowing out and up (she held her head back). She did it quite a few times with some impressively big flames. Then after some applause, she said in English, "I liek fiyer!" and I liked that. Next, she turned down her music and talked for quite a while through her crappy guitar amp. She had to introduce herself because she had no MC and told us to clap when she came out. She put the mic down and shouted with her hands by her mouth something to the effect of "Here's Lena, the amazing hoola hoop girl!" and made big motions for us to clap. So we clapped and cheered and she came bounding out with a huge smile and huge bows. She played the Glitch Mob (we can make the world stop) and turned on the lights in one hoola hoop and went to town. She did some hand stands, some splits, some back bends all while spinning the hoop on her body, arms, or legs. One or coolest things she did was spin it in front of her body at a normal speed and then quickly dash it out to her side so it looked like it was a yo-yo or on a track. It would have been stupid if it was not dark outside and the hoop had not been lit. But as it was, it was wonderful. Your eyes kinda fill in the blanks and it really really looks cool. She got to two, then three hoops. She spun them like she had wings and she was great. Her attitude made the little show. She was bubbly and cute and stocky and kinda curvey. When she messed up (small mistakes like having to walk a little too far on a body catch of a thrown hoop), she would correct it and still smile hella big and put her arms up in a gymnast's success pose. Her show was short, but easily the best street show I've seen in Scandinavia. Most are people in statue costumes or lame musicians. Man, there's this one guy that plays the freaking recorder like a pan flute. It's so annoying and he only plays these little trills for like 5 seconds, stops for 5 seconds, then goes again. And the same freaking trills. Man, I'd pay him to stop. Anyway, here are some pictures of the hoola hoop act. The pictures do a good job of capturing what I saw. The lights blur together and really look great.

Yesterday (Friday the 16th) I bought a wallet from a Bosnian guy, I think. He was very nice. English was probably his third language. He laughed because regular American wallets can't fit big tall Swedish kroner bills! From there, I was his buddy. He told me just got back from holiday in Bosnia I think. He said his family had a beach house, but he lives 200 meters from the beach here in Göteborg, so he just likes to stay in the shade and drink. He said ppl were surprised he didn't have more color! He told me it's different now that he has a family. Thirty years ago, no one worried about Aids, so he would see all kinds of girls, from the UK, from United States (pointing at me) and you could fuck all them! (his words) Sometimes 3 per day! "I say, 'it's 8 pm, come back in two hours, I just fuck, I want to be with friends' and I am joking, and she come back in two hours! Crazy!" He had to lower his voice when new customers came in and said "hey-hey" and then resumed telling me about the good old days. He had nice color, and so many girls walking by the beach house. He was a lively guy and told me about the party across the city that is the Gothenburg Culture Festival. Really nice guy, but funny how readily he just told me about the sweet days before aids.

Unfortunately, because of the new wallet purchase and the great height of Swedish kronor bills, I had to give up my red duct tape wallet. It was a sad day, but I was proud that I could let go. If you love something, you gotta let it go. If it comes back to you, then you know it loves you back. Let's see if ol red will come back to me from a garbage can on the streets of Gothenburg, Sweden. Never forget.



After getting back to Hotel Allen (the hotel I stayed in on Wednesday night), I got a kebab plate at the same place I got it on Wednesday. It's totally not Swedish, but I really like it. It's a simple salad, Greek peppers (can't spell it now), french fries, and the shaved beef from the big beef kebab. It's super common in Sweden because there are so many legal immigrants. Apparently Sweden opened up their immigration policy a while back, and so you see quite a few middle eastern people. A fair amount of women in head scarves. The kebab plate was good, and as I was giving my empty dish back to the guy, he said "Excuse me, it come with one drink!" and help up his pointer finger. His tone sounded like he was chastising me, and so I said, "Oh, I just want to get water" thinking that he was not allowing me to refill my little water cup. But then he clarified, "No, meal comes with one drink" and I hadn't got my free soda. I didn't get a soda, and just peaced.

I then went to the Gothenburg City Museum. It spanned from ancient times of 12,000 years ago until about present day. Of course the best exhibit was the Viking exhibit. This stone weight has runes carved in it along with the letters for "Christ help". It was obviously during the change over to Christianity in Scandinavia.



This necklace or pendant has 4 miniature hammers of Thor on it.



Here are some "long swords". They looked pretty short to me, but I'm probably taller than they were.



This is the remains of Sweden's only recovered Viking ship.



For dinner I found a place off the main tourist drag that actually served Swedish meatballs! I got the extra large plate and the service was incredibly slow, but it was ok, it was nice to just watch the non tourist part of the city for a bit. Here is my meal (one meatball was consumed before the photo). It was served with lingenberries.



It was excellent, well worth the wait. Also, it was served with home made pickled cucumbers. I'm pretty sure I have yet to eat a meal in Scandinavia without cucumbers. They are served with everything and I always get them at the breakfast buffets. It's odd, but I'm glad, they are good! Especially those home pickled ones and the restaurant.

Part of me wanted to just go to bed after dinner because it had taken so long and it was now raining pretty steadily. But I changed my converse for my sandals again and went out! Would it be as unbelievable as last time the sandals were worn out? You should read on.

I walked an open stage close to my hotel with my umbrella. I've never used an umbrella as adult, but yeah, I didn't know what I was missing. They are super helpful. The band was just finishing up "heard it on the radio, uh oh oh oh on the radio uh oh oh oh!" that old post disco, pop hit. I can't remember who originally sang it. So of course, I had to investigate. I got there and saw mostly older ppl huddled under big umbrellas and totally loving every song. The band was huge. A new singer for almost every song, 3 violinists, (possibly 1 viola), drummer, guitarist, bass guitarist, and of course a synth man. They played a bunch of songs and I recognized "She works hard for the money" by Donna Summers but couldn't stop laughing because it was performed by a white Swedish woman with long died red hair who introduced the song in Swedish. And the crowd loved it! Middle aged Swedish women were two stepping to "She works hard for the money" at 11 pm mostly under umbrellas on a rainy night that was probably as cold as a Ventura winter's rainy night! I loved it! I had a smile on my face through all the other songs, but was out right laughing when "hard for the money" came on. Some songs after that, a different woman came out and sang "I need some hot stuff baby this evening!" again by Donna Summers and I laaaaaughed! It was awesome.

When that ended, I walked back to the tent that hosted the dance fight on Wednesday and found a folk/country band made up of 3 Swedish chicks. The one on my left played a HUGE stand up bass. And she was hella slapping the bass (see picture below). The one in the middle was seated so she could play banjo and drums at the same time. Of course, she also strapped on a harmonica for some songs. She had shortish hair, a kinda fedora on, and big legs. Nice. The one on the right played guitar and possibly sang the most (but all sang). She would rhythmically jump up on the big bass drum and kick and stuff. Very entertaining. They again spoke in all Swedish (except when mimicking a crowd member's request of "I will wait for you" by Mumford and Sons.) but sang in all English. They had some great songs and worked really well together. They did some singing in rounds to end one song that sounded recorded. It was superb and one noise sounded almost inhuman. There were a few too many long, tempo changing, showoff-ish endings, but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would considering the genre.




I was tired and cold (my feet were getting rained on at the 70s show) but very glad I decided to go out. I've already watched plenty of TV in the United States. Alright, so that sandals night wasn't as crazy. But it was still a blast. I also saw a guy peeing on a sign in the main street.