Soldiers at the Castle

Soldiers at the Castle, originally uploaded by traceylikesyou.

While Alisha has been visiting me in Stockholm this last week we have visited countless tourist destinations all over the city. The most obvious of course, is Gamla Stan (old town), home to the Castle and several narrow pretty streets, restaurants and tourist traps. She loves it! We've returned to this castle time and time again at her request. Now, don't get me wrong... I do really like gamla stan. It's beautiful, but during the day it's packed with people and it doesn't have the best atmosphere. Today, Alisha made me walk into the castle grounds again to snap this photo of one of her favourite things about the city - the castle soldiers.

The word of the day is turist meaning tourist, in honour of alisha.

Alisha & Big Mike at Cafe String

Alisha & Big Mike at Cafe String, originally uploaded by traceylikesyou.

There are several reasons why I love love love Cafe String.

1. Cozy, friendly atmosphere
2. Candles on every table and window lights.
3. Coffee for groups in bright coloured thermoses
4. Couches and nice tables
5. Green walls
6. Tomini Sandwich

Together these qualities result in a perfect Cafe experience. I think I'd move in if I could, I basically already have.

Cozy Stockholm

100_7361, originally uploaded by traceylikesyou.

Alisha and I had a nice, but very very chilly, afternoon on Djurgården today. So after hours of wandering outside in the ice and snow, we retired to this very cozy lil cafe in gamla stan. Yum yum yum!

Swans Swans Swans

Swans Swans Swans, originally uploaded by traceylikesyou.

One of my favourite things about Stockholm are the Swans. There are beautiful, enormous and beautiful Swans all over this city. They are so graceful and magical and seemingly quite dangerous due to their enormous size. When they get too close to you (which happens often at night on Djurgården), it is hard to fight the urge to run. It reminds me of the notorious Swan lady who kept 11 swans in her 25 square meter apartment in Stockholm!

The swedish word of the day is svan, which of course means swan.

Snowy Uppsala

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Alisha in beautiful Uppsala.

Uppsala

Uppsala Domkyrka, originally uploaded by traceylikesyou.

I love Uppsala. Every time I visit this city I wonder why I chose to move to Stockholm instead. But every weekend visit makes me smile and the lovely boys that I visit here make me even happier. Today is my birthday! What a perfect day to wake up in this beautiful place to snow and friends.

The word of the day is födelsedag meaning birthday! because today is mine!

Drinks med mina kompisar

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Drinks with my friends at the dawn of my birthday!

Bowling

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Tonight we went bowling in Uppsala with the whole crew. It was chilly chilly chilly and I suppose eventually I'm going to have to get used to the fact that winter is VERY here and I have to accept it now. Brrrrr....

We went out to a pub after bowling with Alisha, Alex's friends & Arvid. Lots of fun.

Daniel.

100_7257, originally uploaded by traceylikesyou.

Last week I met a nice guy named Daniel at East, or actually Alisha met him first. But He and I hit it off right away and have been hanging out all the time. Daniel makes even Stockholm seem like a friendly place. Here we are on a very cold and snowy night on the icy streets of Stockholm.

Carmen, always Carmen.

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Guido & I at Carmen.

Little Persia

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Had some delicious food at little persia tonight with Daniel, Alvaro, Alisha & I.

Stockholm Tour

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A few nights ago, Alisha and I met a guy named Gellert when we were out for drinks. He is an amateur Stockholm historian and asked if we wanted a tour around the city. Today we took him up on his offer and walked through Söder and got the whole story. It was informative, but we were sleepy from the night before...

Katarina Kyrka

DSC00071, originally uploaded by traceylikesyou.

There is a pretty big yellow church in the middle of the Sophia side of Södermalm. Apparently, the church isn't as old as it looks because it was rebuilt in 1992 after it was heavily damaged during a fire in the early 90's.

The graveyard was lit tonight, I suppose the remainders of All Saints Day. Walking through the graveyard is moving and eerie. Many of the graves were for 2004 Thailand Tsunami victims, and other high-profile graves such as Anna Lindh, Sweden's Foreign Minister who was stabbed to death in a department store in 2003.

It is a peaceful yard and a nice place to be laid to rest. And a good place to walk on Canadian Remembrance Day.

Girls Night Out

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Today we went to grodan & east in Stureplan and caused trouble all over stockholm. It was a really fun night with really nice friends.

Alisha in Stockholm

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It is so so nice to have Alisha here for the week!

Alisha är här!

100_7187, originally uploaded by traceylikesyou.

Alisha has finally made it to Stockholm for a week of celebration for my birthday. It is so nice to have my dear friend from home to keep me company. It's also fun to have someone to show around as a tourist, from a now-local (sort of) perspective. We've been having a great time!

Here we are in the very-tourist, very-classic, Gamla Stan.

Perfect Moments

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It makes me happy to look up from the yellow leafy ground and see purple lit clouds, a big autumn tree, a man on a horse high above the ground, and of course a passing big red bus.

The icy streets and hearts of Stockholm.

100_7124, originally uploaded by traceylikesyou.

Stockholm is a beautiful place. Each day when I walk through the streets I find another lovely little something new about Sweden to adore. I have certain parts of the city that I return to, time after time. I sit on the same bench, and stare at the same wall with the pretty cracked paint, day after day. I have lots of time to think. Probably too much time. I'm always lost in a strange little dream world, where things work out and happiness always turns up in the end. Adjusting to life in Sweden has been a struggle. Most days I hate it here, and in my quest to remain positive and sane, I retreat backwards, towards things that remind me of home, or reasons why I moved here in the first place. It is my only defense against the more common feelings of desperation, loneliness and urges to flee far far away.

Arcade Fire in Stockholm

I went to Arcade Fire at Globen tonight. Some friends came down from Uppsala to meet me. Although the show was perfect, as all Arcade Fire performances have ever been, I couldn't shake some sad, frustrating, discouraging, scary thoughts I've been having. Unfortunately, my routine secret keeper doesn't keep always keep secrets anymore and without him, things have a tendency to pile up inside.

My absolute, favourite Arcade Fire song of all time is Neighbourhood #1, Tunnels. It was beautifully played tonight. Here are the lyrics.

"And if the snow buries my,
my neighbourhood.
And if my parents are crying
then I'll dig a tunnel
from my window to yours,
yeah a tunnel from my window to yours.
You climb out the chimney
and meet me in the middle,
the middle of the town.
And since there's no one else around,
we let our hair grow long
and forget all we used to know,
then our skin gets thicker
from living out in the snow.

You change all the lead
sleepin' in my head,
as the day grows dim
I hear you sing a golden hymn.

Then we tried to name our babies,
but we forgot all the names that,
the names we used to know.
But sometimes, we remember our bedrooms,
and our parent's bedrooms,
and the bedrooms of our friends.
Then we think of our parents,
well what the hell ever happened to them?!

You change all the lead
sleepin' in my head to gold,
as the day grows dim,
I hear you sing a golden hymn,
the song I've been trying to sing.

Purify the colours, purify my mind.
Purify the colours, purify my mind,
and spread the ashes of the colours
in this heart of mine."

Above Stockholm

100_7176, originally uploaded by traceylikesyou.

In September, some lovely (way too young for us) guys showed Hana and I this great lookout over Stockholm. There is a small park in Södermalm high above the city. So today, Jonte, Arvid, my dad and I went back and checked it out at dusk. Beautiful views, pleasant company.

The swedish word of the day is berg, meaning mountain.

Inside the Castle Church

Jonte & Tracey in Kings Church, Stockholm, originally uploaded by traceylikesyou.

After a few months here in Stockholm, I have had probably about 10 visitors from out of town. In my great tour-guide wisdom, I also take them up slottsbacken towards stortorget in Gamla Stan. I think it's a nice view and a good introduction to how cute and funny and Swedish this part of the city is.

When my Dad came to Stockholm he actually made us go into the buildings. In this case he was right. The church inside the Castle is truly magnificent. Everything is gold and white and perfect.

Good job Dad! Even desensitized Swedes enjoyed your tourism.

The Olsson Brothers

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Arvid & Jonte came to have some lunch and catch up with my dear old daddy in Stockholm for the afternoon. It was lovely. I just love those funny Olsson brothers.

min pappa är här!

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My dad came to Stockholm for a weekend visit. We walked all around the city, the common places of course östermalm, södermalm, gamla stan, sofo, stureplan, skeppsholm, djurgården, etc. We had a really nice time. We also took the ferry from Slussen to djurgården. It was a nice nice nice weekend!

Vegokorvrulle

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Swedes have developed the most perfect post-midnight after the bar snack. This delicious wrap contains salad, mashed potatoes and a hot dog. In my case, a soy hot dog. It's a really bizarre combo, but it works.

Vegokorvrulle means veggie sausage roll på svenska.

Vintertid

100_7071, originally uploaded by traceylikesyou.

Snow fell tonight for the first time in beautiful, almost winter, Stockholm.

The swedish word of the day is vintertid, meaning winter time.