Having some fun with Magnetic Poetry.
Although it's in Swedish.
Ooh, a candy cane that has been sitting around for a month. Mine now.
Salla opening her Jelly Belly jelly beans.
And Eve getting some shot glasses.
It's very important to pre-drink in Stockholm to save money. My drinks at the club cost $15-$20 a piece.
Long line at Spy Bar.
We were originally going to Cafe Opera, but since only a few of us signed up for the guest list and it would be 200 SEK otherwise, we went to Hotellet instead. Always a line at the coat check. It's Sweden in the winter, after all.
People dancing.
The crowd near the DJ would set off sparklers every once in a while. The entire downstairs smelled like fireworks for a few minutes afterwards, heh.
Our group dancing.
And dancing.
In the dark.
Behind the DJ booth.
There were long lines everywhere else, too.
Like here.
And here.
I wandered around Gamla Stan, the old town of Stockholm, on Saturday afternoon.
Some sculptures by the T-bana station.
Rows of trees.
It's basically filled with tons of little shops.
I saw a few cars on the streets (probably lost tourists or people dropping of things for businesses), but they're pretty much for walking.
That's a great name for a street.
There are also tiny, tiny alleys connecting the major streets.
To the north from the NW tip of the island.
Riddarholmskyrkan.
To the south.
To the west.
Lots of shops.
Another tiny alley.
Ooh, this one even has a tunnel.
Lots of stores with random tourist junk.
The middle of the island is higher than the edges, so you can sometimes get a long view down a street if it isn't too crooked.
A group of people walking along and playing music. Not sure if it was religious or to make money, though.
Swords and stuff.
I like the Swiss Army knife.
Ah, the shell game. Fun to watch people lose their money.
He usually bet people 100 SEK ($15) and let them win, then would bet 500 SEK ($77) when he wanted to win. One couple was walking by, the man dropped 500 SEK, turned a shell over seemingly at random, lost, and kept moving almost without breaking stride, haha.
People would step on a shell before making their bet, I guess so the guy couldn't sneak the pea out from under it. Then again, since most operators have already palmed the pea by then, it was rather pointless. And the guy "playing" in this picture was an obvious shill, although since most people didn't wait too long before playing, I guess they didn't notice.
Tyska kyrkan.
Since it's in the middle of all the tiny streets, it's pretty much impossible to get a photo that lets you see the entire church.
Another view towards the edge of the island.
This cop barely made it between the bus and the car.
Statue of Swedish King Karl XIV Johan.
There were tons of swans along the southeast corner of the island.
This one had to swim really fast to avoid being run over by the boat, haha.
To the south.
SE.
East.
NE.
North.
And back towards the west.
Järntorget, the second-oldest square in Stockholm.
Statue of Evert Taube, a Swedish singer.
To the east of Järntorget, the streets split, and you can either go up or down.
An alley with steps.
A troll advertising for a shop.
Statue of Saint George and the Dragon at Köpmantorget, which is a replica of the wooden one in Storkyrkan.
From below.
And from the other side.
Looking east towards the National Museum.
To the NE.
Towards the west, with the Storkyrkan, Obelisk, and Royal Palace.
Statue of Gustav III.
Directions at the Royal Palace.
The Royal Palace.
Guards.
Looking towards the east.
The Obelisk and Storkyrkan.
Statues in the Royal Palace.
Statue of Olaus Petri.
Always nice to have a map.
Schedule for the changing of the guard.
More palace.
And some more.
Looking to the west from a balcony by the Royal Palace.
The Sveriges Riksdag, the Swedish parliament.
To the north.
Back by the Royal Palace.
Storkyrkan, the oldest church in Gamla Stan.
Looking south from the SW corner of the island.
Mälartorget.
Aegspannaren statue.
Some old public telephones.
Looking south.
SW.
West.
Still lots of people.
A shop with all different kinds of antiques.
Saturday some of us watched a few of the the 6 nations rugby tournament games at The Liffey in Gamla Stan.
Downstairs they had some pool tables and TVs.
And a little bar.
But most people were upstairs. We watched Italy vs Ireland and France vs Scotland. And even the end of the amazing Arsenal vs Newcastle soccer match, where Newcastle came back in the last 22 minutes to tie from being down 0-4.
Sunday night we headed to the O'Leary's in Norrmalm for the Super Bowl. We had reservations at the Gamla Stan location, but they emailed everyone Sunday morning that they wouldn't actually be showing it there. So after a bit of frantic calling, we got the last two tables here instead.
The prices in Stockholm restaurants are high; the prices in the sports bars are insane. That's $45 for a mixed fajita!
And $20 for a burger and fries.
Some of our group.
The tables were all reserved, and by midnight, the place was full.
A slight glitch in the TV signal made everyone goes a little nuts for a few seconds.
I asked for some chips to go along with the salsa. The waitress asked if I meant french fries, and I said no, like chips and salsa. She eventually came back with these, at $4 a bag. Perhaps "nacho chips" would have been better wording.
Salla and me.
The game was broadcast by Viasat instead of Fox. So instead of the commercials, we got these two Swedish announcers. The guy on the left creeped everyone out; all he did was stare straight ahead the entire time.
Lots of people.
The game got over a little after 4am, but the t-bana didn't start running until around 5am. The stations were even locked up.
So I wandered around a bit.
Walking up Observatory Hill.
Steps of death. Although it wasn't icy, so it really wasn't too bad.
A little history of the observatory.
A view to the east.
The observatory.
To the southeast.
I started wandering south down Sveavägen, a big street, figuring I'd stop at the first t-bana that was open. I remembered seeing this little hot dog stand before, though, so I knew I was almost to Central Station, so I just headed there. Some of the t-bana stations are surprisingly close together, like around here, and other places they're really far apart.
Pay toilets.
A good reason to always carry a few coins with you.
Some weird little hut thing.
And a weird sculpture by Sergels Torg.
I wonder why the have all these benches here. Maybe the have performances of some kind at Sergels Torg? Or perhaps it's some more weird art.
Don't think that dress could get much shorter.
There was nobody working right when they opened the station. Perhaps they figured if you got up that early, they didn't care if you jumped the turnstiles and rode for free.
And here comes the first t-bana of the day. Still enough time to get home and sleep for a couple of hours.