First things first: your finger/toe crossing worked, because the apartment we’re staying in has fast, wonderful internet. I’ll be spending the evening adding pictures from Amsterdam to all the posts. So enjoy that!

But Stockholm. Driving into the city, it reminded us all very strongly of Washington. The rural look, trees everywhere, and most of all, the drizzling rain and heavy grey clouds. The taxi ride through surprisingly heavy traffic was silent except for our driver’s occasional sighs and yawns. Not the most pleasant guy ever.

The lady who’s apartment we’re apparently borrowing was exactly the opposite. She spoke perfect English and cheerfully showed us around the amazing place. It was built in 1901, but everything is in great shape and the kitchen has been remodeled recently. And it’s fully stocked, to our complete amazement. Small comforts, eh? And we have a washing machine. We’re all very happy, needless to say.

The area we’re in seems to be suburbs. Freshly painted apartment buildings over practical stores, clean sidewalks more than a foot wide… Trees. Lots of trees. The farther north we go, to more modern things get.

The grocery store was a little scary though. If I hadn’t felt so awkward, I would have taken a picture of the prices, so you’ll just have to trust me. The first thing we saw when we walked in were bananas for 14,90 and coffee for 49,90. It’s scary to look at, even though we know everything’s in kronors (6.75 kronors for one dollar).

Tonight we’re reveling in the wifi and the chance to actually cook. Tomorrow we’re on ye old hop on hop off bus to see a lot more of Stockholm. I haven’t taken any pictures today, but watch out for Amsterdam pictures going up.