"Spectacular Stockholm" a Stockholm Travel Page by j_laurent

I hadn't seen my Swedish friend Helena in nearly three years! The idea of seeing her again after so long filled me with excitement, and some nervousness, of course. I met her in Santa Fe, NM when her husband was in town at a science conference, and I was a Philosophy student. We ended up bumping into eachother one night in our drunken stupor, and we immediately became friends. We spent nights having discussions, listening to Bowie, roaming the beautiful campus. When I arrived in Stockholm from Goteborg, my friend's husband greeted me at the airport-as we drove into Stockholm I saw hot air balloons high up in the air and felt like I was going to enter some fantasy world. With the green forest around me, the hot air balloons, and the beautiful clear sky and clean air, I knew my stay was going to be relaxing!!! Well, relaxing...hmm..I "thought" it was going to be relaxing and very calm. I was going to take walks in the evenings, take my friends out to dinner...go to the cinema with them, see all of the touristy sites! Yep, I was going to be a good little tourist..right?.Wrong...

I did not get a lot of sleep in this city! My friend's band had shows while I was staying in town, so I went with them to their shows almost every night! The after parties were insane!! One night, after a show, we were up until 6am..people were rolling eachother around in trash cans, continuing to drink, and someone was still playing the guitar. The days blurred into one..I felt like I had spent one long night in Stockholm! I even missed my flight twice..I swear, the city did not want me to leave! Yes, I did end up seeing some sites: old town, viking ships, the palace...but trash can parties, concerts, and good times with my friend dominate my memory of the city. :-) Can't wait to return and rock out again!