Rainbow PedX, or Stockholm Part1.

My sister can be nuts, and sometimes she does something that really reminds me why I love her. The latest example came in the beginning of august this year. The gift in itself was nice, but knowing that she thought to include me as well was even better.

I was fighting a boss monster in the online game AtlanticaOnline when my cellphone suddenly rang. Still trying to survive the little girl called Faust's Failure, I answered and lodged the phone between my chin and my shoulder.
What happened next almost made me kill myself in the game by stopping hitting the little girl trying to fry me. My sister told me she'd got a trip to Stockholm for her and three friends as a birthday gift, and she's wondering if I wanted to join. Without a second's consideration, I accepted.

On august 23, my sister, her girlfriend, and I set off to Stockholm by train and the first amusing thing happened before we even reached our first train connection in Gothenburg. My sister had all of our train tickets on her cellphone and the ticket collector seemed to be as smartphone savvy as a sea slug. The whole Texted Tickets thing seemed to confuse him, but eventually our tickets were checked.

Another funny thing happened when we arrived in Gothenburg and had to wait for our connection to Stockholm. Never EVER try to come to an understanding about lunch in the middle of a food court. This is especially true if you are in a group of three hungry people who can't make a decision without at least 10 minutes of discussion. We must have looked like three lost chicken in a sea of people. I ended up having a turkey-and-ham sub and my sister and her girlfriend had salads.

Here I'd like to add a thought on train toilets. If you enter a train toilet and you see a cup of wet wipes on the counter, DO NOT SIT DOWN!! That's a sign that the whole room is out of order. Flushing not working, sink not working. TP worked. Thank the gods for sterilizing wet wipes...

Arriving in Stockholm, we went out to find the restaurant where we'd meet my uncle and two of my sister's friends. Food was yummy, and conversation was nice. I also discovered that my uncle is either a really good pickpocket or some sort of ninja. He managed to swiped the check for our food before the folder even touched the table, or so it felt like. 

After dinner, we made our way to the hotel, and amusing happenings. To be fair, finding your way through the culverts known as the Stockholm subway system is a chore in and of itself, but I found it amusing when three people are scratching their heads, wondering which way to take when at a crossroads, when the sign is right behind their collective heads.

We finally found our way to the hotel, checked in, and managed to work the elevator after a couple of tries.

Here's another professional tip to hotel designers everywhere. Sliding doors only connected to the ceiling are not optimal for bathrooms. They get stuck, they squeal, and they make your guest over-aware of any potential sounds.

Also, make sure the rooms are clean and all fixtures are working. I nearly gave my sister a heart attack when the side of the soap dispenser in the shower came loose and bounced off the glass door separating the shower from the rest of the bathroom. Sound bounces of merrily in a completely tiled bathroom, y'know.

The following morning greeted me with some nice light at 6.50 am and I got really bored waiting for people to wake up. Why I didn't just go down to breakfast and wait there is beyond me, but I guess it was because I wasn't fully awake yet. Around 8 am, sister's friend woke up and we went to have breakfast. While I like garlic in food, I do prefer it when my melon doesn't taste like garlic just because the cooks have been to lazy to clean the knives.

Sister and her girlfriend stumbled down around 40 minutes later, and we decided to go exploring after food and a shower. This would be when the incident with the soap dispenser occurred.

Exploring was fun, even though my phone decided to throw a tantrum and Stockholm decided to not show up on GPS. Apparently actually turning on the internet connection is essential to GPS tracking, but even after figuring that out, the tracking was less than co-operative.

We finally made it to Old Town, after getting lost a few times. Now at least I know how to get there from the hotel. Walk until you get to the rainbow pedestrian crossing, then head to the water. Cross the bridge and take a break with a wonderful Peking Duck at restaurant Formosa. Enjoy.