Sweden.....

We have arrived in Sweden. A country I can't say I thought I would visit for a very long time. It is so great to see Adam. For those of you who don't know Adam, he was an au pair for Chris for a while, a great kid who we really enjoyed getting to know.

Today Adam showed us his home town, or it would be more correct to say we showed Adam a few of the things which  he had never seen in Stockholm. It's a lovely town, city. Set on thirteen islands, it has wonderful old buildings. Really, what country in Europe doesn't. But in old Stockholm, we walked up lovely shop-lined cobbled alleyways, wandered in to an old map shop, tried to ignore the tourist shops and had lunch at a fab Italian restaurant called Vapiano's!!!

 FANTASTIC food. Oh, I loved it. They have this nifty system where you each get a card - just like your bank card. Then you waltz up to the counter, order what you want, choosing the pasta and extras and then they cook it in front of you. Excellent. I had the Cabonarra - just a touch of garlic, bacon and nicely cooked tagliatelle pasta. Yum. The desserts looked amazing, but everyone was too full to have them. They had free sparkling water, gorgeous tables with fresh herbs at them. The place was a buzz of people. I would love to have one of these restaurants in Bunbury. And to pay the bill, you just went up, they swiped your card, which the chef had programme with your meal, and bingo, you paid your own bill. All in all very easy and fun. And the best thing was the price. Twenty five dollars for Jayllee and me. Excellent.

Then we carried on up the alley way and viewed the castle. Love castles and love them even more when I don't have to walk to the top of them. Went through and viewed everything that was free...you have to do that you know, it gives you a good glimpse of the history without costing the earth. They have soldiers on duty, just like Buckingham Palace, only these guys aren't stuck behind a big fence. These poor lads, who are on duty 24/7 are an arm's span away. Mind you, I don't suggest you touch them, don't think that would go down well. But Jayllee, after analysing their marching, turning and standing at ease, rocked up and got a photo with one, which was fine as long as she stayed on the right side of the black line, which was drawn on the ground.

We saw another street entertainer. These guys have been great to see at every big town. In Scotland we saw a guy, who I think was the best so far. Todd Various. He was so clever, he entertained us without really doing anything much, but picking up on aspects of the crowd. He had us in stitches and we learnt a very valuable lesson: Never ever walk behind one of these guys when they are doing a  show, you are just asking for a bit of good-natured heckling.  He was so good. Trouble is, when we were in Amsterdam, we walked behind a guy who was just starting his routine... you may not know it, but there is now a crowd of kids who think Jayllee and I are strippers. LOL and the carry on, I was dragging behind us, apparently held all our costumes for a striptease act. Classic! Thanks to Todd, I knew just how to take him. Then today, we came across another guy. He was good, and had a great way of including the kids. They are so clever, knowing how to psyche up a crowd and really get them involved with the show. I'd love to show them to my drama class.

Stockholm has a great mix of very old and new. Once we'd passed the old cobbled alleys, the streets and shopping malls felt exactly the same as Perth, it was quite unusual. We had an ice cream at the end of a lovey long grassed area. There are little bridges and buildings everywhere. You could wander for days here and not see everything. And much to our surprise, the prices here are about the same as Australia's, if not a tiny bit cheaper. After London, Dublin and Amsterdam, we have been totally shocked at the price of things, and figured that the higher up you went, the worse it got. But no, we were wrong! Sweden is the country to visit! It is very, very affordable.

Gotta love Sweden.