Stocolma!

Stockholm is an archepelogo with 14 islands, although some of the "islands" are just slightly bigger than boulders submerged in water. The city is spread between three or four main islands, all connected by bridges and/or causeways. The nordic air is fresh and the city is clean and well organized. The people are blonde blonde blonde, slightly taller than average and enjoy nearly 20 hours of sunlight during the summer. There also seemed to be an inordinate amount of Italain vistors, which we found only midly entertaining.

Things I liked about Stockholm:

1. City Bikes! We bought a 3-day passcard for the city bike system and toured the entire city by bicycle. There are more than 1,500 bikes available, and you can pick them up and drop them off at more than 60 locations. By far the best way to see Stockholm.

2. Transportation by boat. We took a beautiful boat/ferry ride to a fancy old estate and walked around their manicured gardens.

3. Wasa Boat Muesem. I just learned from Wikipedia that the Wasa Boat Mueseum is the most vistited scandinavian muesem. That could explain why we had to wait 30 minutes to get in...but it was well worth it. Inside stands the Wasa, the world's only 17th centruy boat, immacuately preserved. The poor dear sunk on her maiden voyage: the wind shifted, spilled her on her side, and the open gun windows filled with water and sank the boat. The wreck was salvaged in 1961 by a man who had spent 20 years dropping a piece of metal from a small rowobat into the ocean in the attempt to locate the massive boat.

4. City Hall. You can get married for free in city hall! And you only need a reservation 6 months in advance. Here's the catch: you only have 5 minutes for the ceremony.

5. Herring, Reindeer and Roe. I already loved pickeled herring, but fell in love all over again when I had this delicious little snack from a street vendor: battered and fried herring with pickeled onions and cucumbers on crispbread. We also ate cured Reindeer with whipped cream and horseradish, which tasted suspiciouly like pastrami (which, don't get me wrong, I love), and cod roe on toast with shrimp mayo.

6. Chi-Chi Cafes. Stockholm is not nearly as serious about coffee as Italy, but they care WAY more about the aesthics of their coffee shops. This was a particuarly yummy spread at a spot where we enjoyed a late lunch. 

7. World Cup. My teams had very bad luck in Stockholm (in fact, every single team I was rooting for lost while we were there), but I'm not going to blame that on the city.