Sweden (25.-28.8.)

After an eventless flight I took the luxury train from the airport to Stockholm central station. Unfortunately the only ATM in the arrivals hall was out of order, maybe in order to provide more business opportunities to the exchange counters. The rates appeared ok to me, and I decided to change the rest of my Norvegian money into Swedisch currency; the lady told me, that I would have to pay an additional fee of ca. 6 €, a detail which was not made known at the outside; consequently I asked to cancel the transaction which left her a little bit surprised, but that´s what I do, if I am made aware of hidden charges.
God, why is it so difficult for me to work with this page, nothing is really intuitive, and I feel like an idiot, it was almost impossible to change the location to Sweden, why are they hiding these details so effectively?
A really beautiful place, great buildings and monuments, and my unusual sights. Stockholm has, like Copenhagen, a lot of water and small islands, all connected by bridges.
Very practical, here you can also get the boarding pass at the train station (which is actually huge and located on different floors). Haven´t done a lot today, explored a little bit the old city, and I guess the Nobel Museum is an obligatory stop for me, as I am a chemist, like he was, and, wehn I was younger, dreamt of getting this price once (great aspirations, but the nobel prize is every serious scientiest´s dream). looking forward to my visit there.
The WiFi in the hotel is great, the room is rather small and very simple, although it costs me almost 100 bucks a night, and I did not really enjoy the trumpet in front of my window, nothiang against jazz, but preferably when I can choose the place and the time.
I saw the palace, there was a lady standing guard, and two more ladies in normal army uniform joined her and posed at her side. It is possible to have a look at the inside, and I guess, they will ask a horrendous admission fee (no idea, it was already closed).
Again an update that disappeared, I am starting to hate this site, what is the purpose of writing half an hour, when everything disappears afterwards. I don´t really understand, why there is no warning given, that the text I wrote has not been saved; I never met a person in my life I considered smarter than me (I suspected my professor first, but he was only more experienced, and I guess my songer son may have a higher IQ), some of those I met I regarded to be on my level of intelligence, but this 21st century bullshit really makes me wonder, whether I am not actually completely stupidi after all.
I was deeply impressed by the Nobel prize museum, I joined a free tour, and watched many short movies covering some of the Nobel prize winners (have to confess, that I already knew many of them, nice to see erwin Schroedinger and other giants of science in moving pictures).
There was a poster with the text "What will be your legacy?"
Funny thing is, that Alfred Nobel was a really great man, and the Nobel prize has been awarded more than a century now, but he considered homself not a very special person.
What an understatement, I guess there are not many people who have not heard his name yet.
Walked around in downtown Stockholm, and Soedermalm, the area where my hotel is, and took some more pictures.
Yesterday Louis Armstrong at the trumpet, today some idiots shouting Hare Krishna, it´s hard to believe, that this false prophet still has so many loyal fans, I guess this is a really busy area.
Very strinking is the large number of beggars, it looks as if the Swedisch dream has not worked out for everybody.
Lily, my one and only reader, that´s it for today, hope you liked it^^
(assuming, that this text does not disappear again)
Do you hear that? Yes, it´s him, the trumpeteer has returned, yeah.
Day 3
That´s Sweden for you, 24/7 entertainment, 9am, two gentleman of apparently middle eastern origin (cannot really place them, they could also be from central Asia) show me their mastery of instruments (drums and accordion), not really my preferred music, but I daresay they play pretty well together.
Had a rough night, party until 11 or so, then a group of people having an animated lengthy discussion on the street next to my window, and they made sure that everybody abou 50 meters around became privy to their conversation; a real pity I could not understand, it was not Swedish, but with more than 6000 languages still spoken it would be anybody´s guess.
Let me comment on the subway/streetcar system in Stockholm whch is really good, it´s very easy to understand, and the trains are coming with a high frequency, I bought me a 72-hours-ticket, and my attempted purchase turned out to be a real challenge for the woman behind the counter, because the machine which would have spit out my ticket refused to work, and, to her bad uck, this happened, when her shift was almost over. I told her not to worry and observed how they tried to fix it, I would not have assumed, that a toothpick could do the job. Actually it could not, and I was sent to the opposite counter; the lady over there could, however, not sell me what I wanted, for reasons unknown, and I had to go to the kiosk next to the station entrance. Of course I had to pay more over there, because these people also want to make a living.
Still, it has to be said, that Stockholm is anything else but boring.
The funny thing is, that nobody assumes at first glance, that I a not from there, as an experienced traveller I seem to blend in rather nicely.
On the other hand they have a lot of immigrants in Sweden, interestingly I haven´t seen a lot of headscarf ladies here, maybe the female muslim population is much smarter than somewhere elss, or the respective husbands and fathers man have adapted to the Swedish tolerance.
A lady collecting money for the WWF (world wildlife fund) addressed me in Swedish, and I answere her, that I did not speak the language, she continued in English and asked me, whether I lived in Sweden, and when I explained her, that I am on vacation she wished me a nice day. Smart people, they don´t ask for cash, but your continuous support by e.g. a standing order from your banking account, that´s why she asked, whether i live in Sweden (and obviously have a banking account here), I know this from a visit to Berlin years ago.
Explored various other parts of the city and uploaded some new photos. A short trip to Uppsala in the late afternoon evening, meeting another expat lady I know from The Hague.
A very quiet tow, this Uppsala (some pictures upoladed), she complained, the life quality being lower than that in The Hague. We had an IPA together (Dean would have been so happy), and then a dinner followed, catching up with each other´s experiences of the last year.
It was half past ten, when I got back, which left me a little bit more than 7 hours sleep, and again I slept only three^^
I commented on the large number of beggars, abd she told me, that the Swedish government and people are very well aware of the situation, and the theory behind the presence of so many of them is that they are most likely Roma (such as in Sinti and Roma, formerly known as "gypsies") and organized in gangs, i.e. begging as a business model. However, nobody is really sure, as they won´t talk about it, if asked, I guess.
Flying to Berlin later in the morning, then further on to Leipzig, report on my adventures there will follow, stay tuned, folks.