And here does the tale of Hedgehog in Stockholm continue.
On Saturday morning, Boy and I got up at around 8 am and went down to the amazing breakfast. I was having some serious shakes from the panic attack the day before and I drank three mugs of coffee without even thinking about it. After a serious attack, my mind remains nothing but white noise and fragmented images for several days and I get so exhausted by the simplest of things. This time was no different. I was, however, very excited about the upcoming visit to Old Town and having lunch with my uncle.
Sign outside the fire station next to the hotel. The lamp says "Fire Station" in Swedish.
It was nice sitting down at Texas Longhorn Steakhouse and having lunch with uncle Stefan. As a side note, I swear that man is a ninja. After some not-so-serious discussion about the virtue of actually paying the bill, he managed to swipe said bill with a speed Formula1 racers would envy. Not that it'll hurt his wallet, but still. The man is also so seemingly confident and moves with a certainty I envy. He talked about himself as "vain" and "snobbish" in the same way I would say "I'm wearing a black shirt". It was great!
After a filling lunch of steaks and fries, Stefan went back home and Boy and I headed out into Old Town's cobble stone alleys.
I LOVE Stockholm's Old Town. It is such an amazing place. Narrow alleys, steep stairs, tall stone buildings. Small shops nestled in between iron gates and old signs.
Store window at the SciFi Bookstore. If you look closely, you can see a MineCraft Kreeper and Lucius Malfoy's cane.
Some of the buildings date back to the 13th century and the cobble stone squares and wrought iron wells have seen much of Swedish history, from bloodbaths to coronations and the theorized beginning of the Swedish kingdom. If the weather had been less chilly, I could have strolled around this area all day. I absolutely adore this place. As it were, a cold wind was coming from the harbor and the sky was hidden by steel grey clouds, so we only walked around for about three hours.
Sadly, because of anxiety induced tremors in my hands, I didn't manage to get any good photos of the streets this time, so I'm borrowing some from a google search.
The Royal Palace (17th century building) marks one end of Old Town.
During our stroll, we visited two candy stores, of which one was a candy factory as well, one sci fi book store, two souvenir shops, a grocery store, and a store selling Bukowski plush toys.
Finally back at the hotel, Boy and I took it easy at the hotel, drinking tea and eating chocolate and rock candies. My sister and her girlfriend had spent the day at Skansen, but since it was still cold outside, many of the animals were in their indoor homes, so she was a bit disappointed.
Saturday evening had me seriously questioning my grasp on reality. I don't think I've ever seen so many weirdly clad people in one place since I went to see Dir en Grey at Fryshuset many years ago. Avicii apparently performed on both Friday and Saturday nights and Saturday evening was even more noisy than Friday. Also, so many young people don't seem to grasp the concept of February in Sweden. It's cold. Yes, even at night, it's cold. Your right to complain about being cold is null and void the moment you decide that a leather mini skirt and fishnets is enough coverage while being outside.
I crashed into sleep at around midnight, to the startling sound of someone having a -really- good time down the hall, and slept really bad. I woke up several times and my head ached badly.
I was a real Grinch on Sunday morning and it did not improve over the day. Sleeping poorly, fast food restaurant clerks that seem to ignore the word "fast", and having to sit facing the wrong way on the train destroyed my whole experience. Sister and Girlfriend snapping at each other did not improve my mood.
We finally got home at around 6.50 pm and I could pretend to be a deflated sack in my arm chair, killing monsters in Atlantica.
All in all, I had an amazing time, and I was relieved that it went so smoothly, anxieties and ticks and all.
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