Day 43

Woke up to blue skies and sunshine in Stockholm today.  Both Serg and I were a bit worse for wear this morning.  The alarm went off at 9am and we both had to force ourselves to wake up.  I have to admit the IKEA futon and pillows didn’t provide the most comfortable sleeping environment so I woke up feeling like I hadn’t slept properly at all.

We went out for breakfast at a nice café around the corner from Serg’s apartment. Tea and a croissant were all I needed to start feeling human again.  A quick stop back at his place to pick up the ice skates he’d borrowed and we were off to Norrviken for some skating. 

Much to our disappointment the place where you could usually hire skates was closed.  This meant we had to share the one pair of skates we’d brought – meaning one of us was able to skate and the other waited for the to finish. 

I went first and, after a shaky start, had a wonderful time.  It was beautiful and peaceful out on the ice.  There were not that many people and the scenery was breathtaking.  I managed to take this short video while I was out there…

Once we’d both had a shot on the skates we headed back into Stockholm and went for a mammoth walk.  We walked from Serg’s place, along the frozen canal (which was a unique experience in itself) down to the old town.  Then further around a few of the different islands that make up Stockholm.  Got some great photos along the way.

Once we’d finally made it back to his place we had a quick shower then headed out again.  We walked to O’Leary’s Irish Sports Bar, intending to watch the ice hockey.  We arrived only to find that English soccer was on.  Marcus met us there and, lacking any better ideas, we stayed to watch the final of the Swedish Melodifestivalen.  It was actually a good laugh.

We kicked on from there to a bar/nightclub not too far away called ‘Lemon’.  We couldn’t believe it when they started playing all the music we’d just been listening to on the Melodifestivalen.  It was even more amazing to see all the girls (and guys) singing along to all the songs!

Left around 1.30am and finally made it back to Serg’s place by 1.45am.  Time for bed, it’s been a long day with a lot of walking/standing.