Heading to Stockholm

Yesterday, I awoke peacefully to the sunlight streaming through the window.

Wait a second!  Wasn't I supposed to be up early to catch a train?! 0_0

Yes.  Yes I was.



As you know, I brought along my cell phone for use as a clock, alarm, and stopwatch.  Actually using it to call from Europe is impossible, as Verizon phones doesn't have swappable SIM cards to work in European countries, and it would be expensive anyway.  To make a long story short, my phone also doesn't have the capability to manually change the time, which means my phone is 6 hours behind local time.  This makes calculating times for future alarms somewhat tricky, as the time I need to enter is both ahead of and behind the local time, depending on how you look at it.

Up to that point, I hadn't had trouble with it, but it seemed the night before I had set the alarm for 5:45 PM local time (or 11:45 AM), rather than the 5:45 AM/11:45 PM I had intended.  The current time was 6:25, and I had a train to catch in 25 minutes.  All this flashed through my brain in about 3 seconds before I was up and out of bed, throwing on the clothes I had (thankfully) laid out the night before, and packing up what few (thankfully) items I hadn't packed up the night before.

I was out of the room by 6:35 and down the stairs to reception, dropping off my key and booking it out to the street.  Thoughts of stopping by a bakery were quickly abandoned, and I began the walk to the train station.  I entered the train station with about 10 minutes to spare, and got in line for the bus out with about 5.  Whew!

The bus connected with the train a short time later, and I found my seat and, after securing my bag, proceeded to catch up on sleep.  When I awoke later, I stopped by the dining car to spend the extra 47 Norwegian kr before leaving the country for good.  I found a chicken sandwich for 46 kr, but two of my 47 kroner were in 50 øre coins.  The cashier said he didn't accept øre, which was a mildly baffling concept to me.  It's your nation's currency!  It would be like only accepting nickels, but never pennies.  Madness!  Finally, he let me buy it for 45 kr, and I kept my four 50 øre coins.  Win.

I alternately slept and looked at scenery through the rest of the ride, before finally arriving in Stockholm.  It was sunny, and hot - mildly uncomfortable, but nice to be somewhere with good weather.  The locals were dressed for it as well.  One fashion that seemed especially prevalent among ladies was a loose, light, white, and almost sheer shirt, to be warn over a swimsuit top or sports bra - this allowed for their bodies to be shaded from the sun without retaining body heat.

The islands Skeppsholmen and Kastellholmen

I wandered to my hostel and checked in, dropping my pack off and heading out to walk around the city.  There's a lot more vibrancy so far in Sweden than Norway.  Lots of street performances were taking place, including a complete band, a group of people who like to shove items up their noses, and a man who balances and spins large items on his head.  Not having a whole lot of time, I headed to two small islands in Stockholm - Skeppsholmen and Kastellholmen.  There I wandered around for a bit before heading back to make dinner.  On the way, I passed by the National Museum, and made a note to come back and see it before leaving.

Once back, I was reading up on things typically done in Stockholm, and came across a tradition of early-morning swimming in any of the canals, channels, and rivers that canvas the city.  I thought it would be fun to add this into my running routine, so I decided to wait until about 2 AM, go running for 20 minutes around Skeppsholmen, and finish it off with a dive into the water.  This didn't quite work out as planned.

The run went well enough, and I found a likely looking spot where I could get out (always check for ladders),  but I just couldn't seem to jump in.  I think there's something about dark water that I don't like - if I haven't already swam there myself or seen someone swimming there, my mind concocts all sorts of scenarios about what might go wrong - far shallower than expected, razer-sharp rocks, man-eating piranha, you name it.  I stood there, looking at the water, trying to work up the nerve to jump in.

At Stockholm during this time of year the sun rises at about 3:00, so I could see the glow coming over the horizon.  I knew that I wasn't going to leave without first getting in, so I figured it was better to get it over with - but I wasn't going to be able to work up the nerve to just take a flying dive.  I scrambled down the ladder, tested the water, and jumped in...

...and it was about 2 FEET DEEP!  If I had taken the running dive I had initially envisioned, things would have ended very badly.  Does this make me an eminent sage, rather than a ninny who's afraid of water?  I'd very much like to think so.

I swam about for a bit, then climbed out, dried off, and headed back to the hostel for some sleep.

Brian out.