My last stop...Stockholm

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By the time I reached Stockholm, I was feeling rather beat up - more from the lack of sleep the past few days (ah, the 5am wakeup) than hitting my head on the overhead compartment of the plane. Yesterday was either a comedy of errors, or just one disaster after another. I got on my flight with no problems, but then learned that the carry on I had shown to the check in agent was in fact too large for the overhead compartment - which i didn't figure out until after I had removed a bunch of books from it and irritated passengers embarking on the plane. At any rate, I finally settled in my seat by the window, only to realize when my travel companion sat down next to me that I had in fact left my cell phone on in the carry on I did place overhead.

Once that situation was rectified, I resolved to enjoy the flight, which the headache brought on my cracking my head on the overhead prevented. I arrived in Stockholm safely though, in the tiny local airport called Bromma. Really tiny - we walked right from the plane, down a roll up staircase, and across the snow into the terminal, which consisted of one bathroom and two luggage carousels. Lovely. At least they didn't lose my luggage!

I managed to find a taxi to take me to the offices of one of our two firms here. And a piece of good luck happened when I arrived - Thomas, my lawyer contact, happened to be walking up the street at the same time and saw an unfamiliar cab and yours truly struggling with her luggage. So he was able to help me upstairs to the offices and deposit my luggage into storage for the afternoon.

We went directly to lunch - and I must say, I am glad to be finished today with faking an appetite, which I have done all week. We went to a little restaurant up the street from the office, and the sheet of ice hidden under the snow made me glad that I decided to wear snow boots with my suit. Not the height of fashion, but functional. It really is lovely in European countries when you go to a restaurant where the staff listens with a close ear and notices if you are English-speaking. Because they are then so polite to speak in English at the table, and subtlely hand over a menu in English. It really is such a courtesy.

I didn't have anything notably Swedish at lunch - a mixed salad that looked to be more weeds than lettuce, and a rather delicious potato tart. It was a lovely lunch, albeit threaded with the strain that normally accompanies a meal with people that are only your acquaintances. I must say that the Swedes went out of their way to make me feel comfortable though.

I learned that glass breaking is a common occurrence at the restaurant - after a large crash occurred in the adjoining room, Thomas mentioned that there is a glass broken every time he eats there. And then our waiter proceeded to break another glass right next to our table.

Once we had gotten our coats, we headed back to the office, but not before Thomas gave me a five minute walking tour in the center of town - so that I could see something of Stockholm while I was here! The sun was trying to show itself, and the heated sidewalks had melted some of the snow, so it was quite pleasant. My meeting also went well, but I was still ready to be finished with the week. First, however, was dinner...

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