3 Days in and it is ALL good

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London - Day 1

Let's just say that QANTAS and BA provide a very similar First Class experience. The only male steward in the QANTAS first class was an absolute gem. He spoiled me rotten and made me feel very, very special. I did notice that the pjs in QANTAS were just as big as those on BA, but by this stage I was enjoying the whole tucked in scenario. I arrived at Heathrow in pretty good shape, cleared customs in a jiffy and headed for the Heathrow Express...all good. Once at Paddington, I mis-remembered that wise sage Phil's advice and searched in vain for a train to take me to Kings Cross. Never mind, I guessed I'd missed the thread somewhere so bit the bullet and caught the tube instead. Only 5 stops and it wasn't too manic even though it was morning peak hour.

I jumped in a black cab from Kings Cross and it was off to Montonaro (not the Monaro) Court to see Phil. Once there, Phil helped me get the "spinner" up the stairs and into his flat. I hadn't been to his latest apartment before and I was well impressed. The apartment is quite new and has all the mod cons (with one exception). Two spacious bedrooms, two bathrooms, good sized living / dining and cool kitchen. One more could one want?

Ever the gracious host, he immediately forgave me for being an hour later than I'd originally predicted. In conjunction with the display of grace, he also reminded me how clever he is...he'd looked up the flight number and realised the time quoted was GMT, but they're on summer time at the moment so one hour later on the clock. A cup of tea materialised and we had a quick chat, well I talked about a million miles an hour until Phil's ears signified it was time to let me to my own devices and he was off to work. There being no end to his talents, he even managed to find the replay of the Swans game so I immediately felt right at home. Too bad we lost that one and Barry Hall was up to no good again - but hey it was nice to be kept company for a spell.

I didn't want to sleep as that is the worst idea when you arrive off long haul. I maintain that if you stay up until at least 22:00 the day you arrive, you make life a lot easier for yourself. I definitely needed a shower, although I'd had one at Bangkok I just felt all "travel sticky". As I rumaged through the spinner that had been packed pretty much at the last minute I realised I'd brought the AUS to US instead of UK adaptor. This is a DISASTER...there can be no hair washing without hair drying and GHDing...NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

There was nothing else for it. I had a quick shower to get rid of the travel and took my rather lank looking locks with me on an Islington meander. This was the best thing to do as the walk invigorated me, I got to familiarise myself with Phil's neighbourhood, sussed out which bars I'd like to visit once Phil got home at 6, had some retail therapy and generally took it easy for a couple of hours.

Once Phil got home, we visited the Queen's Head and were surprised and more than a little amused that they couldn't find a bottle opener - for wine or non-screw top beers etc. Classic! Phil then steered me towards an organic pub not too far away and we had a divine bottle of red to wash down wild boar sausages and spicy bean stew. Back to Phil's after dinner and a good session in the nets and much laughter / catching up was done. Considering I was fresh off a 24 hour flight, I did well to stay awake until 2am.

London - Stockholm Day 2

Another trip to Paddington station, but this time heeded Phil's sound advice and took a cab all the way to Paddington. Back on the Heathrow Express I popped and was greeted by a couple of lads who looked like they'd been drinking all morning (it was only 08:30). As it turned out, they were a good laugh, were heading to Serbia for a music festival and spent the 20 minutes to Heathrow offering to show me "their cups". Nothing to fear, these were simply camping / travel cups, nothing of the Hector Protectors about them.

Check in at the new Terminal 5 was pretty straight forward, I checked out the terminal a bit and all the usual retailers are there. I noticed the quality of goods on offer and prestige of the retailers improved as I made my way towards the British Airways lounge. As I am Platinum, I am "invited" to enjoy the First Class Lounge. The one in Sydney is gorgeous, as is T5's lounge, but in a completely different way. Although very modern, it was styled in old world charm. Gorgeous arm chairs and lounges in rich coloured luxury fabrics in every corner. Although the terminal is non-smoking you could almost imagine some old geezer in a smoking jacket would be right at home. They even have a special champagne room...LUSH!

One worrying thing was the two black horse statues at the entry way, as if horse statues inside weren't weird enough, they'd gone one step further and put lamp shades on their heads. Perhaps it's their subtle way of figuring out whether you've had to much to drink or are on drugs...see whether people coming in completely freak out or just look bemused.

I surfed the internet trying still to sort out what I might want to do about Greece...still no further along on that one. Then before I knew it I was boarding my flight. Once I found my seat, I said hello to my neighbours a father and his 7 year old daughter (Hannah). Hannah was born in the US, but they moved to Sweden when she was 2. Her dad is American and married to a Swedish woman. They'd been visiting family in the US together and were on their way home. We had a great old laugh for the entire journey and Hannah was just the sweetest little girl. She kept giving me cuddles and wanting to hold my hand...perhaps she's bi-curous, but I jost took it as sweetness.

Once we landed, Hannah wanted to wait for me to get my bags and make sure I was ok. More kisses and cuddles as I made my final goodbyes and headed for the Express train in to town. Very efficient, no problems at all and within about 20 mins our driver (Johan) was welcoming us to Stockholm. All that was left to do was to make my way to the hotel - easiest option (thanks Phil) was to take a cab. I checked in, dumped the bags in the room and had a little giggle at the single bed...too funny. I stayed in Gamla Stan in a hotel called the Lady Hamilton, which is right next to the Royal Palace. Fantastic location and not a bad option for the money. The entire hotel is full of naval antiques and curiosities that the owners have been collecting for decades.

It was early enough, so I took a walk to the Vassamuseet. It was a fairly good distance and gave me the chance to walk along the waterfront. A little rain here and there didn't detract from the experience and I found the Vassamuseet quite interesting. I hadn't really considered how important and influencial all things naval (and nautical for that matter) are to the Scandinavians. I took my time getting back to the hotel and then decided to go get some dinner. Nothing much to note here, except a lot more wandering aimlessly about, soaking up the atmosphere and resisting buying anything I can't carry by window shopping only. I was hoping to get to a bar, but all the ones I walked past looked pretty empty and I didn't want to do the whole drinking alone thing unless there was atmosphere to be had.

I got back to the hotel and hit the hay about midnight.

Stockholm - Land of the Giants Day 3

Up at a decent hour, well rested and hoping that if I keep changing cities often enough the old jet lag won't catch up with me. I decided it would be nice to have breakfast at one of the cute cafes in the Gamla Stan. Having found the cutest of them all, I settled on a chair in the sunshine and ordered a chai latte and muffin. I nearly fell off the chair when the waiter brought it to me. The chai was served in a bowl that would be considered large for a soup, maybe more like a chowder size. The muffin was equally huge and very, very tasty.

All fueled up, I headed to the Royal Palace to check out the apartments, treasury and all the rest that was on offer. The crown jewels were stunning and the detailing on the ceremonial swords incredible. The royal apartments were really interesting as well. The guest apartments are open to the public unless dignataries are staying there and although the common areas are light and airy, the bedrooms themselves are quite small and ordinary. I also took in a guided tour, which was really interesting as the guide seemed to be a real history buff and told us all sorts of background to the castle / palace and various past monarchs. At 12:15 I made sure I caught the changing of the guards ceremony - very over the top indeed!

As I was walking about the place, more than once I passed men whose hips were about level with my bust line. No wonder the tea and muffins are massive, these people are giants! I didn't hear any Fi Fy Fo Fums, but that could be because I had my iPod in.

After feeling on the small side all morning, I took my self of to Skansen. Skansen is meant to be a minature Swedish town (or so I thought). It seems the Swedes even do miniature on a large scale. Skansen is actually a collection of real buildings from around Sweden throughout the ages all in a large parkland area. The idea is to have a living museum complete with farm animals and people in period costume to talk you through what life was like for the people living in the various structures. It was again, very interesting. I'm not entirely sure why there was a lemur enclosure...but it was all good none the less.

Well - it's off to Malmo I go now...the train shouldn't be long.

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