We had to get up at an ungodly hour in order to be picked up at 4:30 am so that we could make our 7:30 am flight. When we arrived at the Keflavik airport at 5:45 it seemed like everybody in Iceland was there. All the flights seemed to be leaving at around the same time - similar to Anchorage, but early morning flights rather than red-eye flights.
We had an uneventful flight to Stockholm. I may have slept through part of it. When we landed we got our luggage and bought tickets for the Arlanda Express - a train that gets you to Stockholm quickly. Either we sneaked through passport control and customs, or there wasn't one. Maybe I slept through that part, too? At any rate, the Arlanda Express was clean, modern and efficient. When we arrived at the Central Train Station we got a taxi to our hotel. The ride was short and we were probably ripped off.
Our hotel, the Hilton Slussen, is in a great location. The friendly staff helped us check in and gave us an upgrade to the Executive Floor. We have a view of the water. "Slussen" means "locks," and we are right by the locks, which means we can see both the Baltic Sea and Lake Malaren. We can see Gamla Stan (Old Town), City Hall, and various other interesting areas. We can even see BARGES on Lake Malaren.
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| Barges on Lake Malaren; City Hall in the background |
Our room has interesting wood panels and a really interesting bathroom. The lamps by the bed have little reading lamps attached to them on flexible necks. There is a TV with 5 English channels: BBC World, CNN World, Discovery, cartoons and sports. We get an English newspaper in the morning. Everybody who works here knows to speak to us in English the minute they see us. Maybe it's because all Swedes dress in black? Or maybe we just don't have Swedish noses.
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| The hallway leading to our room |
We walked across a bridge to Gamla Stan to do the Rick Steves Self-Guided Old Town Walk.
Gamla Stan was wonderful. The word "picturesque" is an understatement. It is charming and relatively clean, full of quaint alleys and historic buildings and cafes and more.
Everywhere we saw people walking, riding bikes and jogging. We did not see any obese people. There seems to be a good public transportation system.
Scenes from Gamla Stan:
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| Note the ship emerging from the gable |
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| Such a gorgeous door |
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| The object in the middle of the square is a well |
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| Locals, dressed in black |
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