Stockholm

23 July- had a lovely dinner back in the apartment last night- Stephen cooked up a variety of mushrooms, some potatoes, bacon and herbs. Was very pleasant . Followed this by watching Wallander- seemed appropriate given it is set in Sweden. Today was even hotter and very sunny- around 27 degrees by late afternoon. It feels very warm but neither of us are sunburnt so have concluded sun is much weaker than at home. Decided to walk the length of what is meant to be one of their main shopping strips- on Drotninngg street or whatever street is in Swedish. Was enjoyable but not widely exciting. Given globalisation these days is hard to discover anything really different clothes-wise. We did manage to get Stephen a pair of shorts. Both of us are well equipped should the weather decide to turn arctic but not so equipped for this very warm weather. We spent about 3 hours last night washing and drying clothes so our t shirts etc are topped up again- necessary given it appears the weather is going to remain warm for the rest of the trip. Mind you trying to work out the instructions for the washing machine and then dryer which were all in Swedish was interesting. There is a big central washing space in the basement so we had to take photos of the instructions, go back to the apartment and translate into English. We know the clothes got wet at least so we assume some washing was done.

After our shopping this morning we went across to a small island which has their Parliament on it - loved the outside of this building- very grand- and went to the medieval museum. Had heard it was very good and it was. The museum is under the Parliament buildings so also consists of medieval ruins that have been discovered. It provides you with a vast amount of information as to the beginnings of Stockholm, it's various trading partners, how people lived in medieval times, the bloodbath of a war with the Danes at some stage, trading with places like Lubeck and displays various artificers that have been discovered including the remains of a rather large boat. Fascinating stuff. We both know a lot more about Stockholm than we did previously.

We then wandered back to Gamla Stan and caught a train to Hornstull. Dropped bits off at apartment and walked to a park on our island- Sodermalm where you get brilliant views across to the City Hall and beyond. Lots of church spires- decided they are all very medieval looking- very steep roof, very thin steeples. Quite severe looking . The park was full of Swedes enjoying the sunshine. Have tried to decide whether the Swedes or Norwegians are friendlier. Hard to say but I think on average the Norwegians are friendlier. The Swedes seem more distant but of course could just be that the Norwegians generally speak much better English. We have booked at our local Spanish  restaurant for dinner. Eating later and later given the very late setting of the sun and the apartment does not cool down very early. The apartment is tiny but has 3 radiators so is well equipped for winter. For summer- 2 blow fans and open windows. Sleeping can get interesting as I want the windows closed as don't know how safe is to keep them open. Our apartment door has a deadlock with 4 bolts plus a normal deadlock- as do all the doors so decided just was not sure enough to risk it.