I will get around to writing about the actually cities but I have to get some things off my chest and it would be great if someone replied in agreeance. The reason I have time to do these posts is because after going to sleep at 12 and very quietly I might add, I have been disturbed numerous times. First just as I was drifting off and other people were already asleep, two girls stormed into the room turned the main lights on and proceeded to shuffle through their luggage and talk REALLY loudly, like not just loudly for a room full of sleeping people but in general. They did this for several minutes and at one point the girl stood on my mattress so she could rustle through her shit on the top bunk. THEN at 3:30 one of the girls went to bed and I woke up so she obviously wasn’t that quiet and again at 5:00 the other girl was rustling and in and out of the room for about half an hour before she went to bed. As I had been awake for half an hour I decided to get up and that is why I have been on the computer for 2 and a half hours and it’s too dark and cold to go anywhere yet so I guess I’ve got another hour to kill.

This morning there was a guy a sleep on a couch and one past out with beer cans surround him on the dining table. I know that anywhere you travel you’re going to meet dickheads but I thought Europe would have to be far better than somewhere like Thailand and I assumed Sweden would have less than other places in Europe, I’m probably in for a big shock when I get to Paris, and I don’t mean the filth and the bed bugs.

The ‘issues’ I referred to in my previous post are the above and how these people eat there dinner here and then sit around until 12 before they go out or not go out at all but rather sit in the hostel getting drunk. I have no problems with going out and if I met some people I liked or had friends here I be going to bars too but it’s as if these people after waking up at 11 and seeing some sites for a few hours come back here at around 4 when it gets dark and then just start drinking so they can go to some dirty nightclub or lame pub. A guy got arrested for having a brawl the other night, now this guy either started the fight or he was fighting with another backpacker, there is no way a Swedish guy started this fight. There is hardly any crime here and I’ve seen only 2 homeless people this whole time.

These people and anyone who utters the words ‘who wants to get shitfaced tonight’ or similar are scum and don’t deserve to be able to travel in such a beautiful country like Sweden where everyone is super friendly and super cool and really chilled out.

The hostel is actually quite nice except everyone here is either a nerd or jockey wanker. At first I thought I preferred the nerds here until I realised how fucking rude they are.. Am I being too harsh?

This lobster mayonaise toast with roe was actually really nice. And the mayonnaise wasn’t sickly sweet.

This is crumbed herring with beetroot butter – delicious.

Some of the milk here tastes different, well this milk did.

It was flaming when the waiter brought it to the table. It’s was cinnamon apples with this really good vanilla ice cream.

Delicious pieces of a hairy little fish called herring from Nystekt Stromming. There were various sized meals you could order, I got the largest which was $12. It came with red onion, mashed potatoes, sweet pickled cucumber and a horseradish coleslaw which I didn’t really like but the rest was great. I’m not a huge fan of the crisp bread they serve with a lot of things over here.

It keeps happening to me, I get all excited about a place to eat, make the trek across the city to get there and it’s either closed or no where to be found. Yesterday after I’d been to the rather dreary Skansen (I dont know, maybe it was just the grey weather) I went to the Musikmuseet which was pretty fun and I know that as a child I would have loved it. Then I was supposed to go to this nice food hall that sold traditional foods such as fish soups, soured fermented baltic herring, reindeer hearts etc… but when I got there it was closed. Then I wondered around but couldn’t find anywhere I thought was worthy of eating at so I went to the National Museum and the Modernamuseet.

For dinner I was supposed to go to Pelikan which is on the other side of Södermalm. I caught the train because it was really cold and windy and then walked for about 15 minutes to the street. When I got there I couldn’t find it, I was really annoyed because I was totally out of the way. I decided to walk to Götgatan and when I got there I stupidly turned the wrong way. When I realised this I tried to get a bus but none were coming so I jumped in a cab out of desperation – the chill of the wind was actually making my body sore. I told him to take me to the place I’d been the night before, Kvarnen. It was a 10 minute cab ride and it cost me 240kr which is like $45, I just payed and didn’t even think about until I go out of the cab and it clicked how much it actually was. Arrgggg!!!!! Anyways, Kvarnen was fucking closed so I went to a créperie and just had dessert which was really nice. Then I got the train home and was again woken up several times in the night by slamming doors.

It’s extremely laid back here, a lot of shops are closed on Sundays and Mondays and most shops and museums don’t open until 10, 11, 12. That’s great if you’re the person working but as a tourist it’s really annoying, especially when I only have 3 days here.

I have walked so much since I’ve been in Sweden, I’ve actually lost weight. It’s been good, I’ve seen so much of Göteborg and Stockholm and I’m getting much better at reading maps – I was getting so lost at the start. But getting lost is sometimes a good thing, I found a lot of cool places that way.

This is a cool record store in Södermalm, and just down the road is the Pet Sounds Bar.

This photo was taken at 4:30 in the afternoon… It’s so strange, you get tired so early.

Peter Bjorn And John – School Of Kraut (zSHARE)

Peter Bjorn And John – All Those Expectations (zSHARE)

Peter Bjorn And John – Amsterdam (zSHARE)

Lo-Fi-Fnk – City (The Teenagers Remix) (zSHARE)

The Radio Dept. – I Wanted You To Feel The Same (zSHARE)

Cocoanut Groove – Midsummer’s Dream (Mainmix2) (zSHARE)

Åta

Weeks before I took this trip I was on the net researching the best places to eat, I wanted to eat at one or two up market modern restaurants, but also eat at cafe’s, beer halls and at markets and street stalls. I wanted to try some real Swedish food. What has shocked me most so far is the amount of people who cook their own meals at hostels, I guess it’s just a different culture, if you don’t go out to eat when you’re at home you’re not going to do it on holiday. For a lot of people it’s definitely a money thing and I totally understand if you’re traveling for a long time it’s just something you have to sacrifice because it does put a significant dent in your funds but I just couldn’t do it every night. Such a huge part of my traveling experience and I think of really experiencing any culture is trying the food, especially with Swedish food, i really don’t think you can get it anywhere in Melbourne (sorry, smorgies doesn’t count). My main issue which I will address in my next posts is with the douchebag wankers you meet and try to ignore when you’re traveling, you definitely meet more idiots than nice like minded people but they are out there.. I’ve met one cool person so far – It’s about 1:20. And he was from Melbourne but that means nothing, the Australians over here are embarrassing.

These are at every cafe in Sweden, it’s a cinnamon roll. I didn’t like it  it tasted like cloves.

This is Basement, apparently it has a Michelin star. It was described as having modern swedish cuisine. Interesting note, the head chef was Australian.

All this was nice, the potato soup, the mushrooms and salmon, I think.

Okay what’s the deal here with mayonnaise, I thought maybe I just didn’t like the stuff because I rarely eat it but I had a nicer subtler mayonnaise last night. This was beautifully fresh lobster that was dripping in overpowering mayonnaise. Was a real shame.

The seaweed oyster topping was a bit much for me but I enjoyed the haddock and that potato thing with the egg. That white stuff running down the side of the plate was amazing, it was called a milke and was horseradish flavoured.

A very refreshing lime and passionfruit sorbet, just what I needed after that seaweed and mayonnaise.

Ah dessert, the brulée was crispy but not burnt and I could see lots of little black specks through the custard indicating the had used vanilla beans. Blood orange sorbet was nice and the coconut foam had an interesting airy texture.

The people at this milk bar were really friendly and those are handmade chocolates below. The balls were delicious. I went back the next day to get some more and his wife was there, we chatted about chocolates and Obama.

Awesome blueberry muffin coated with sugar.

Fish Church

The FIsh Church is a fish market with a couple of restaurants.

Three different kinds of herring, one was pickled and I think one was raw. I hated the one with mayonnaise.

Hot smoked salmon.

This chocolate fudge cake was amazing and my breakfast. Those red things on the top are pomegranate seeds. I got an outer square which unfortunately had significantly less than the middle.

Delicious Smörgåsbord lunch which consisted of various breads, two vegetable toppings, some sort of tapenade, grated carrot and grapefruit which I didn’t have. It came with soup alwell and was around $12.

No I haven’t tried the plopp, it’s still in my bag. I think it’s just chocolate with a caramel centre.

I went to the Universeum which is a kids interactive museum, like scienceworks but better. I spent an hour there on my first afternoon, it was a lot of fun.

This was the music section of the museum. It had voice recorders, deejay decks, synth drums, a piano and a few other things I didn’t understand. I played the drums and I’m actually a lot better than I thought.

This was a weird chair exhibition at the Stadsmuseum, they boasted that there were 600 or something chairs in the exhibition. It was a pretty boring museum, a lot of things in glass boxes. I preferred the Konstmuseum which actually is an art gallery.

A diet high in herring and reindeer is important for creating great indie pop. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to see any live music over here. It’s really hard to search on the net for smaller gigs and I haven’t come across anything while I’ve been here.

Erik Hallden – If I Ever Get Married (zSHARE)

The Knife – One For One (zSHARE)

Love Is All – Spinning And Scratching (Metronomy Remix) (zSHARE)

Studio – Radio Edit (zSHARE)

Peter Bjorn And John – At The Seaside (zSHARE)

Peter Bjorn And John – Money (zSHARE)