Stockholm, Sweden Day 11

Day 11, September 11

Besides being my Mother's 91st birthday, we all remember the insane, Muslim, diseased, creeps who flew into the World Trade Center in 2001. Imagine their surprise when, instead of beautiful virgins, they were greeted by the red stoker in hell, not much different than their countries. We walked to the train station and got two tickets on the slow train for 204 NOK/$34. On the platform a group of middle school students gave me the heebie jeebies with the usual cacophony and bullies shoving shorter intellectual students wearing black horn rimmed glasses off the platform. We distanced ourselves from the students and the smokers, not an easy task. Scheduled for 9:21 it arrived at 9:27, not a German train, and left at 9:28 leaving Sven, the 7th grader trying to sneak a smoke behind the garbage bin, and Olaf the black horn rimmed student still trying to climb back on the platform, behind. At the airport we used the self check in easily and got my printed boarding pass. Before printing Lee's, the screen went black and a message came up, "Out of Order." Too bad Lee, Guess you'll have to learn Norwegian and get a job scrubbing airport latrines to make a living. We waddled to the counter manned by humans. The airline clerk asked, "Are you from the U.S.? I answered, "That's us," and she smiled, asking where. We responded, "Near, but not in Chicago."
We boarded Norwegian Air DY808 around 13:00/1 pm and had a smooth flight over forests, farms, and thousands of lakes to Stockholm Arlanda Airport. We again got screwed at the money exchange receiving only 6.5 Swedish Kronor/dollar instead of the hoped for 7.2. Our Airport Express bus set us back 110 SK times 2 or $34. At the Central Train Station after an hour ride we rode the escalator down to reception in the high priced Radisson Royal Viking Hotel. On Hotels.com we purchased two nights for about $260 and got 2 more "free" nights from other stays worth over $700 as Sunday and Monday nights cost significantly more for the exact same room. The world is nuts. The nice Radisson reception clerk looked up my name and asked how many reservations I had. I responded 3, one for the first two nights, a free one for the next night, and another free one for the 4th night. She said, "That's odd because you have 5 nights according to the computer, all paid for." The fifth night had been booked from Brussels, Belgium. Is it possible I have Belgian relatives? It took me back to my freshman year at the University of Illinois when I landed in the same dorm room occupied the previous year by a departing senior with my same name. The world is nuts. She indicated she would sort it out which she did and left a message on our room TV. I joked that I had seen our eating establishment across the street. She said, "You can't go wrong with the Jensen Beef House." I said, "No, we can't go wrong with the McBeef House." Later we compared prices with the difference being about $45 per meal. Our 2 McFeast Jr.'s, fries, and Coke ran 64 SK/$10. Nearby we walked to a huge Church, closed, with small groups of men having picnics and congregating around it - creepy. That night we did our last laundry of the trip and enjoyed our overpriced but very nice hotel.

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