Stockholm

Near the beginning of our trip Chris introduced me to a point system he had adopted for rating foreign cities and countries. For example, as Chris disembarked from his train in Warsaw he almost tripped over a battered and bleeding man lying on the platform (-50 Poland). However all was forgiven later in the day when he discovered that a pint of beer in a pub cost less than a dollar (+100 Poland). We used this system extensively throughout Scandinavia. Stockholm consists of 14 beautiful islands, linked together by a network of bridges. Although public transport is pricey, the inner city has an excellent computerised bike hire system (+50 Stockholm). For less than A$5 per day you can pick up a bike anywhere in the city and drop it off anywhere else, as many times as you like, 24 hours a day. Having a bike is important as it offered a means of escape from the packs of tall, blond Swedish women that roam the streets, in search of unsuspecting foreigners (+500 Stockholm). We spent our first night in Stockholm with Maria and Anders, a Swedish couple I'd met in Quebec. They invited us to their apartment for a delicious dinner and we spent the evening chatting about Swedish politics, Haighs chocolate and travelling to the middle east. Their friendliness and generosity was typical of all the Swedes I met. I headed out the next day to find a camera store that could remove an annoying spot of dust removed from my camera (-10 DSLRs). A shop assistant went to the trouble of downloading and printing me a map for me (+20 Stockholm). Unfortunately, the directions on the map were completely wrong and had me walking in circles for about 20 minutes (-50) but when I did eventually arrive, they fixed my camera for free (+100). I had a great experience in a supermarket, while questing for Chocolate milk. The refrigerated section was filled with many weirdly shaped and bizarrely named products so I deciding to seek help. I asked a fellow shopper, "Excuse me, what is the Swedish word for chocolate milk" and he immediately stopped what he was doing and came over to join my quest. After a couple of minutes of fruitless searching I resigned myself to another evening drinking beer, thanked him for his help and headed to buy some. About 5 minutes later I was waiting in the checkout line with a slab of Fosters on each shoulder when the same helpful shopper jogged up to meet me with a carton of chocolate milk that was hidden in a different part of the store (+200). Another night Chris and I checked out some of the pubs on Sodermalm island. Later in the evening Chris decided it was time to gamble and headed back to the Casino to try his luck at the 25/50 NL Hold Them. Poker games certainly sound more impressive when they're quoted in SEK. I was chatting to some friendly local students and decided to stay at the pub. Eventually the Swedes and I headed to another pub and once the pubs started closing they invited me back to a fairly crazy but fun house party. Scandinavians certainly know how to drink. Apparently so does Chris, and I later found out he was denied entry to the Casino for 'being too drunk' (+1000, it's great to see some casinos still have standards). So on the patented CV/Wes point scale Stockholm scores extremely well. Friendly people, great restaurants, picturesque scenery and varied nightlife make it just about my favourite city in Europe.