Stockholm, ABBA, Sunken Boats and Au Revoirs

Zoomed on into Arlanda from Copenhagen and it was funny because it felt like I was coming home, hearing Swedish everywhere again, knowing where I needed to go, and again, helping out random strangers who are lost and who always seem to find me and ask for help. I must have a friendly face.

Met up with the glor-ious Kenny Stahl who is an old friend of Ida's and who generously was putting me up for the week, in his own bed no less while he took the couch.

It only took a wee while before we cracked open the bubbly, started chatting and the inevitable singstar started up. Nothing like a drunk Kiwi and a gay Swede to crank up a party.

OK not the first glass of bubbles judging by the time stamp - with the fabulous Kenny

Needless to say the next day we did not look good so snuggled up on the couch and proceeded to start a Queer as Folk (US) marathon. I think by the end of season two I was so hooked I should have been a gay male.

The weather, like my stomach was a bit up and down but after two months in Sweden we realised I had been ill due to drinking tap water so I switched to my ever faithful Evian and Ida and I headed out to wander Stockholm and do a bit of sight seeing.

At the Vasa Museum, the ship that sunk straight out of the er, gate, so to speak

We headed to the Vasa Museum, in a nutshell, a Swedish king built a ship and it was absolutely beautiful and the colours on it were amazing it was huge, etc, etc and they built it wrong and as everyone was watching the launch it sank. Only no one bothered to go and retrieve the ship which had just tipped sideways and sunk and was now sitting on the bottom of the Stockholm harbour for , um, 300 years.

I have to say love the fact that the Swedes of the era completely ignored that it ever happened. Mind you at the same time they also let Norway be independent and Norway is the only country in Europe that will pretty much survive anything happening, economy wise and otherwise so I don't think the leadership of this period in Swedish history was getting any gold stars.

http://www.visitstockholm.com/en/To-Do/Attractions/the-vasa-museum/142

They have retrieved bones from the wreck and  built them up to make their faces.

Face once reconstructed

Sorry, excuse the flash - this is the description of what the skeleton would have looked like, age and also perhaps what  he did aboard.

On that note, does everyone remember that MacGyver episode where MacGyver finds a woman's skull in a house and uses the erasers off pencils and plasticine to help recreate her face so he can figure out who was murdered. MacGyver was so awesome.

Seriously, I am glad this thing wasn't loaded - one Swede I do not want to be on the wrong side of  if she has heavy artillery.

 All good things must come to an end however and so the mikes came out, as did the airline tickets as I bid a fond farewell to Scandinavia and hello to Canada.

WARNING: getting in the way of Swedes doing singstar will be harmful for your health. Trust me.

Final things learnt in Sweden:

1. Everything is a phallus symbol, I even watched a documentary on how everything cultural is based around fertility. Even the maypole that you are supposed to dance around at Midsummer. The Swedes are still very connected to their pagan roots.

2. Strangers (Tourists)will always find me and ask me for help. I apparently blend into the colouring system over here yet have a friendly enough face that they can approach me to ask for help. Not that I have a clue on what I am doing.

3.  Cobblestones. And bags and wheels and shoes and sore feet. Ick.

4. Alcohol - the Swedes go to Denmark where it is cheaper and the Danes go to Germany where it is cheaper and the Germans keep the money. Explaining a bit why Germany can help out the Greeks in their economy - I have seen Swedes and Danes drink and that is a lot of money going into the Fatherland.

5. A question to ponder: How can the Asian travellers who are always buying up every store never seem to have any excess baggage where I buy a few small items and get done for being .5kg over the limit or what have you??? Where do they store it? Do they have some sort of Mary Poppins bag invention that they are not sharing with the rest of the world?

6. In the US of A it is legal (as in written into the actual law of the state) in 23 states to shag a horse but it is only legal in 6 states to marry your gay partner. I leave it to you to decide your thoughts on THAT one.

7. ABBA. It was Sweden, there was LOTS of ABBA. And even guys will beat you at singstar if its ABBA.

8. All the hot policeman are in Denmark

9. Swedes love taking long showers. Remember this - whether something takes a short or long time depends on what side of the toilet door you are waiting on.

10. You'll never be away from home when you have family and I now have true family in Sweden.

That's Sweden folks, but I'll be heading back there, and to the Motherland of Denmark sometime soon.