Photo 1:
http://lse.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031364&l=76286&id=37002455
Photo2:
http://lse.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032033&l=5f30f&id=37002455
Twenty-four, its an odd age, I’ve personally found that as I get older there aren’t the same landmarks for each year. As a kid each year feels like something new, and I would often feel that even the difference of one grade was a huge gap. The landmarks I see are as follows:
Age 8: I turn 8 on the 8th, that’s pretty cool
Age 10: Double digits
Age 13: Teenager
Age 16: Can apply for a learners’ license
Age 18: Rated R movies, voting, bars in Quebec
Age 19: Bars in Ontario, full adult privileges in Canada
Age 20: No longer a teen, adulthood
Age 21: Full adult privileges in the US
However 22, 23, and now 24 sorta mould together into a continuum simply known as the “early 20’s”. They have been the most fun years I think I’ve ever had, and probably the ones were I grew the most in ways that I decided for myself. I’m looking forward to 25 when I can finally rent a car…
We start the day by checking out, we make a big breakfast to use up all the food we left in the fridge, big egg and cheese sandwiches using ungodly amounts of cheddar. We haul our bags down to the Sheraton and are pleased to learn that our room is available for check-in right away. Our room was on a discount, because instead of looking at the sea it looks at another building, and its got an odd smell, not a really bad one, just one that you notice and then you get used to it after 5 minutes and don’t re-notice it until you leave. It may not be the “5 Stars” that it advertises itself as, but its still got a big huge double bed and its right in the centre. We have to hustle right away though, our Stockholm cards will expire soon and there’s one last attraction we hope to see. The guided tour of the Stockholm City hall, where the dinner for the Nobel Prize is given. We arrive just before the noon tour but are told that its already full, using my smiling powers of persuasion I ask if we can buy the tickets for the 2pm tour, using our Stockholm cards now (which were due to expire in about 30 min), The guide agrees and we get our tickets. With a couple hours to kill we wander to the back garden that looks onto the sea and take photos, the sun is out and it feels warmer. We catch the bus and take a look at the dance museum, and then inadvertently take a free look at the Mediterranean Museum as well. Back at the city hall we take the tour through the building’s many decadent rooms, even though it appears old it was actually built in the early 20th century. Leaving the City Hall we visit the Museum of Medieval Stockholm, passing by the water we can actually see men standing up to their thighs in the stream, fishing.
We head back to the Absolut Ice Bar, when we were turned away the previous night I asked if I could make a booking for Sunday, but apparently they were full. We decide to show up anyways though and try our luck, the lady at the desk tells us that a family with a child went in and they might not stay their entire 45 min slot, so that if we wait we can take theirs. We wait on the couch and luckily she’s right, so we head to the back where they hand us large overcoats with a hood to put on, flashy silver with a fake fur trim. There’s an airlock door to keep the cold air of the bar inside, we step and head to the ice bar. The pricey admission at least comes with your first drink, all made with Absolut, and all pretty good looking, I get a spiced Caesar served in an ice glass, square shaped with hole drilled in the middle. The glasses are actually quite useless in terms of design, it’s a square shape which is difficult to hold, and because its made of ice you only want to handle it with your gloves. There’s ice bar tables but they are starting to melt making their tops slippery, Tatevik only gets through about half of hers before the ice glass slides and shatters on the floor! Still the atmosphere is neat, an ice bench at the back has fur pelts on it and the ice is designed with citrus slices, shapes of bottles, and some cubes have lights installed in them. Its pure novelty, more of a photo op than anything else, even though much of the ice was melting it was quite chilly though, and when our times comes up we we’re happy to go into the slightly above freezing weather outside.
Later in the evening Tatevik and I head to a music venue not far from the Katarina lift, where we listen to some local Swedish talent play their tunes. The bar is cool, in many ways it reminds me of the Troubadour Café near my flat in London, though much nicer since it isn’t in a basement. Unfortunately we head off a little early to return to our hotel where we hoped to use the hotel’s spa, but most sadly it was closed for renovations. We take a drink at the hotel bar near the fireplace, sipping amaretto and slightly sad that tomorrow the vacation ends.
http://lse.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031364&l=76286&id=37002455
Photo2:
http://lse.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032033&l=5f30f&id=37002455
Twenty-four, its an odd age, I’ve personally found that as I get older there aren’t the same landmarks for each year. As a kid each year feels like something new, and I would often feel that even the difference of one grade was a huge gap. The landmarks I see are as follows:Age 8: I turn 8 on the 8th, that’s pretty cool
Age 10: Double digits
Age 13: Teenager
Age 16: Can apply for a learners’ license
Age 18: Rated R movies, voting, bars in Quebec
Age 19: Bars in Ontario, full adult privileges in Canada
Age 20: No longer a teen, adulthood
Age 21: Full adult privileges in the US
However 22, 23, and now 24 sorta mould together into a continuum simply known as the “early 20’s”. They have been the most fun years I think I’ve ever had, and probably the ones were I grew the most in ways that I decided for myself. I’m looking forward to 25 when I can finally rent a car…
We start the day by checking out, we make a big breakfast to use up all the food we left in the fridge, big egg and cheese sandwiches using ungodly amounts of cheddar. We haul our bags down to the Sheraton and are pleased to learn that our room is available for check-in right away. Our room was on a discount, because instead of looking at the sea it looks at another building, and its got an odd smell, not a really bad one, just one that you notice and then you get used to it after 5 minutes and don’t re-notice it until you leave. It may not be the “5 Stars” that it advertises itself as, but its still got a big huge double bed and its right in the centre. We have to hustle right away though, our Stockholm cards will expire soon and there’s one last attraction we hope to see. The guided tour of the Stockholm City hall, where the dinner for the Nobel Prize is given. We arrive just before the noon tour but are told that its already full, using my smiling powers of persuasion I ask if we can buy the tickets for the 2pm tour, using our Stockholm cards now (which were due to expire in about 30 min), The guide agrees and we get our tickets. With a couple hours to kill we wander to the back garden that looks onto the sea and take photos, the sun is out and it feels warmer. We catch the bus and take a look at the dance museum, and then inadvertently take a free look at the Mediterranean Museum as well. Back at the city hall we take the tour through the building’s many decadent rooms, even though it appears old it was actually built in the early 20th century. Leaving the City Hall we visit the Museum of Medieval Stockholm, passing by the water we can actually see men standing up to their thighs in the stream, fishing.
We head back to the Absolut Ice Bar, when we were turned away the previous night I asked if I could make a booking for Sunday, but apparently they were full. We decide to show up anyways though and try our luck, the lady at the desk tells us that a family with a child went in and they might not stay their entire 45 min slot, so that if we wait we can take theirs. We wait on the couch and luckily she’s right, so we head to the back where they hand us large overcoats with a hood to put on, flashy silver with a fake fur trim. There’s an airlock door to keep the cold air of the bar inside, we step and head to the ice bar. The pricey admission at least comes with your first drink, all made with Absolut, and all pretty good looking, I get a spiced Caesar served in an ice glass, square shaped with hole drilled in the middle. The glasses are actually quite useless in terms of design, it’s a square shape which is difficult to hold, and because its made of ice you only want to handle it with your gloves. There’s ice bar tables but they are starting to melt making their tops slippery, Tatevik only gets through about half of hers before the ice glass slides and shatters on the floor! Still the atmosphere is neat, an ice bench at the back has fur pelts on it and the ice is designed with citrus slices, shapes of bottles, and some cubes have lights installed in them. Its pure novelty, more of a photo op than anything else, even though much of the ice was melting it was quite chilly though, and when our times comes up we we’re happy to go into the slightly above freezing weather outside.
Later in the evening Tatevik and I head to a music venue not far from the Katarina lift, where we listen to some local Swedish talent play their tunes. The bar is cool, in many ways it reminds me of the Troubadour Café near my flat in London, though much nicer since it isn’t in a basement. Unfortunately we head off a little early to return to our hotel where we hoped to use the hotel’s spa, but most sadly it was closed for renovations. We take a drink at the hotel bar near the fireplace, sipping amaretto and slightly sad that tomorrow the vacation ends.
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