Arrival, City Lodge Hostel

We landed in Arlanda yesterday around 11:30am Sweden time; which is about oh-too-early NYC time. Flying time was only 7.5 hours but I spent time watching "Epic Movie" on the plane and eating my vegetarian dinner; which oddly enough had a chicken salad on the side. The movie was just over an hour and dinner was served about an hour or so after take off so I didn't even attempt to sleep until at least two hours into the flight; which left about five hours to sleep. I think about 3 of these were decent REM sleep and the others were T&T sleep (Toss and Turn).

The flight was comfortable though. Although we were in coach the seats had good leg room and tilted back quite  a bit. They weren't lay flat seat but they were decent. The flight attendants were well dressed (suits for the men and dresses for the women and extremely nice). I really liked the flight.

Upon arrival in Sweden we breezed through immigration quite quickly, exchanged some money at the airport (exchange rate wasn't horrible and we had quite a big chunk of American cash (i.e. paper in Sweden), then hopped on the bus for the 40 minute ride into the city. Both of us were extremely tired but we checked into the Hostel and hit the town; forcing ourselves to stay awake until the late evening so that we'd be better adjusted to the time.

The first day out of the town was wonderful. The sun was shining, temperature moderate and everyone here is extremely friendly.

On our walk (all in all probably a good 6-10 mile loop) we passed down the main tourist-shopping street (think of a cleaned up Canal street), through the cultural center, watched a few local alternative (possibly punk) bands, hit up the old city (cobble stone roads and guards at attention), found the local skatepark, and went to the best part of a foreign country; the grocery store.

I love, emphasis on love, going into grocery stores in foreign countries. To my American eyes everything is exotic, and strange. Fish roe in tubes, interesting sausages, boxes of goods with words that I can't read and my two favorite sections filled with shelves of interesting items that I must try; Beer and Candy. aaahh the two vices I must have when visiting a foreign country.

The candy aisle has the normal European varieties and DAIM is everywhere. However there are many more fish-themed candies than usual and a few new ones that I haven't tried yet. I will be sure to report back on these.

Beer in Sweden is quite different. In grocery stores you can only purchase alcohol beverages with less than 2.5% alcohol by volume forcing you to go to state run liquor store to get the harder stuff (anything over 3%). The Swedes don't put much emphasis on the beer here mainly because historically it was an expensive endeavor. It is not anymore and a typical beer at a Grocery story (2.5% or less) is about 10-12Kr (about 1.5-2 bucks). Also in the lower alcohol volumes the beer typically tend to be ciders and not the traditional barley/malt combinations.

I picked out a nice Apple cider for my first beer; which I happily drank as we walked down the streets of Galma Stan (Old Town). aaahhh, Scandinavia. So nice.

Tomorrow we head for Goteburg (Gothenburg) so I have to get off the computer and go enjoy the day in Stockholm while I still have it.