Monday, March 13, 2006

[Gay bars and more]

This weekend was really exciting. We did lots of things and we're now like dead tired. Yesterday, we went to City Hall in the morning. This is where the Nobel prize is given out every year. The 3 of us were so in awe with just the magnificence of the building that we took half an hour snapping photos. GH and XL didn't want to go into the Nobel Hall which was a pity, cos they'd have been mesmerized by the golden rooms inside. After that, we went to Gamla Stan for the umpteenth time (ok it was only my 2nd time but they've been there plenty). Since we went to City Hall earlier, we decided to see who have been the deserving winners at the Nobel Museum. GH and I were full of respect for Albert Einstein after we walked through the exhibition. He was a great man – a solitary scientist but a social administrator. (Ok I didn't think that up myself...it was a line from the footage they had about him...) After that, we walked n walked along the quaint old streets, not really having any aim. We entered plenty more souvenir shops but found nothing that we really wanted to buy...and anyway we've already bought enough. There was a little crystal shop that had nice jewellery but unfortunately the ring sizes were either too big or too small for me. We walked towards Storkyrkan (Stor Church) till I finally found the gay cafe I had been to the last time I was here, Chokladkappen (chocolate cup). The girls wanted to have a drink but XL wanted to go to Roberts' Coffee near our hostel instead. So we walked around some more, going into a couple of churches which had really majestic interiors, looking stupid posing in front of a Swedish phone booth (we had fellow Auzzie tourists watching us…but they decided it was a pretty good idea afterall then they took our lead), and tiring ourselves out till we decided to head home around 4. It was a pretty short day. Sthlm is kinda boring if u're not into museums and shopping (the main activities around winter since the lakes are too frozen to take boat rides and it's too cold to go to the park). We were exhausted after all the walking that we had to take a nap before dinner. After dinner, I tried to use the net...stting on the window sill freezing my butt off. But not many ppl were online (4am in sg) so GH came to my room and we hung out for awhile. She's really good company to be with. I think the reason we get along so well is that we're both very accommodating people. She had to put up with my gaga-ing over my dear eye candy. Well I guess that's the price she has to pay for me being her tour guide. Haha.

On Sunday we set out early since we couldn't sleep much anyway. I for one have been thinking so much about my eye-candy till I couldn't sleep (the reason why I went online was to check eye-candy's email reply but I figured I'd receive it only on Monday since it's a work email address...dang...the Swedes make sure they don't do anything related to work on weekends...not even email...sobs...patience girl patience...). When I did finally sleep around 4 am, I was woken up by an sms from mama saying "Happy birthday to me". She didn't even give me a chance...it was 6 am here, she should've waited a couple of hours more then I'd have messaged her on my own :P

Anyway, GH and I set off to Junibacken after breakfast. Any of u heard of Astrid Lingren's children's stories? Does Pippi Longstocking ring a bell? Funny enough none of us really know her stories but MH was saying that he actually grew up reading her stories. The place was amazing. There were loads of kids having fun there, adults too. The tram ride was so amusing. It was like a 3D story telling session...we were even hovering over the displays that it was as if we were flying over them. I must say that although museums ain't really my thing, the presentation in many of the museums here are very unique. After leaving fantasy land, we headed to Gamla Stan (yes...again...) to see the change of guards ceremony. We thought we were early but when we arrived, the soldiers were already stamping their feet. There was a lot of excitement going on and we bumped into Winston and found out that the crown princess Victoria would be there today. Lucky us! After some marching and some drumming, the princess came out to greet us. We were half expecting her to appear in a gown and a tiara or something but she came out in an overcoat over a blouse n skirt and knee high boots. She was very friendly - after the guards presented her with flowers, she came off the pedestal to say hi to us. I felt like a paparazzi in action, snapping photo after photo of her. Well, it isn't everyday we get to see princesses do we? She kept thanking the crowd for coming to see her. Nice lady. Very cheerful. We watched the rest of the ceremony after that. I think this is like the 4th time in total I've watched it but I always seemed to be fascinated anyway. Too bad we didn't get any Dancing Queen from the band this time, but the drum performance was impressive.

We headed to Chokladkappen after that. At first, I was disappointed that it was crowded (wanted to see the pretty boys inside lol) cos we had to go to the cafe next door. Then after hanging awhile inside, we were wondering whether the two shops were connected cos the waiters next door kept coming in and out of our place. GH had yummy choc cake with mochacinno and I had yummy apple pie with vanilla sauce and hot chocolate. We definitely didn't need lunch after that heavy meal. The dessert was so filling that we had no space left for the drink...which was in a HUGE cup (almost like a bowl!). We noticed that in this shop most of the customers were ladies. Only as we were leaving I read the poster on the wall which said this was Chokladkappen's "sister" bar, so I assumed here's where the lesbians hang. Interesting. GH and I wanna go back there again. I told her I'll flirt around...and she was like...hey...as long as someone doesn't come along to flirt with me. Lol.

We had a failed attempt at trying to get onto the winter cruise ferry so we walked around Norralmstorg instead. The music museum was nearby and since it was free (which is rare...and since we've had enough of paying for museums which we don't really care about), we went in to check it out. Turned out to be a pretty interesting place. We had a little adventure after that. We wanted to go to the suburbs to try a restaurant we saw in a guide book. We didn't really know where we were heading. We got down at a deserted bus stop, thankfully there were a couple of ppl around but all they could help us in was telling us that we should take a bus from the opp side of the road. When the first bus came, the bus driver said we could hop on and he'd show us where we could change to another bus. But while waiting at the second bus stop, we checked the time-table. First of all, 71 wasn't on the list, and the other bus 804 didn't operate on Sundays (boy are we lucky living in sg...where we have bus services everyday!) Bus 414 was gonna arrive at 19:21 and it was only 18:00 so we decided that we should not freeze ourselves and headed home.

We'll be starting a new module on Monday. I shall get back to imagining what my eye-candy will reply me tomorrow. And perhaps getting the rest that I need. Good night.

No comments: