Starting off in Stockholm

The plane left Reykjavik at 7:35 -- almost exactly. I will say this for Icelandair -- their planes seem to run on time.  This plane was quite crowded -- the three seats in my row were filled, and I think that was true for pretty much the entire plane.  The flight was only 2 hours 40 minutes, so not bad. It was interesting flying over Norway, as I could see the mountains and rivers quite clearly.

Iceland Airport:
Imagine saying, "I have to go to the Snyrtingar."

I sat next to two Swedish girls with dark hair and brown eyes, and it turned out they were of Turkish descent. We had a nice conversation. They told me about some of the Swedish food that I should try -- funny enough, the one girl said the best Swedish meatballs are at Ikea! And they recommended cardamom buns. 

These Swedish girls told me that they learn English in school as a required subject, starting in grade one. To get into a good high school, Swedish school children need to have good marks in English. They also said that if they want to travel anywhere they have to know English. I did notice that even the Icelandic flight attendants had to communicate with the Swedes in English!

After landing, I stopped at the information desk to ask about the train. I didn't want the express train, which is quite expensive, but the commuter train, which was only $20. I had to walk to another building for that train. It was a bit of a long walk with my big backpack and messenger bag, but I made it.

While waiting for the train I met a young woman from Serbia who works as a flight attendant in Qatar. It was interesting to hear about her work -- she goes all over the world (except to N. America.) Her boyfriend is a student at a Canadian college in Qatar and will take his final year somewhere in Canada, but she couldn't remember where. She did say Edmonton sounded familiar. She also said that English is the key language for the Middle East. She doesn't have to know Arabic to work there, just English. She seemed like a very smart young woman -- she said she wants to work at this job for about 3-4 years, travel and save some money, and then quit to settle down and start a family.

The train to downtown Stockholm took about 40 minutes. I got out a Central Station and set off for the hotel. I had printed up instructions from Google Maps, and I followed them closely, so I didn't have any trouble. It was about 1.5 km, which wasn't too bad, but since I had the heavy backpack, I was glad it wasn't any longer.

The Hotel Kom

The hotel room was bigger and nicer than I'd expected, so that was a pleasant surprise. 

And the view from the corner window was fantastic!

After getting settled in the room, I decided to go for a walk. I wanted to go to a grocery store that is in the basement of a department store. I had read about this in my guidebook and had mapped it out on Google Maps. So I started out. 

 Walking from the hotel 

Not far from the hotel I turned onto a busy shopping street, and almost right away saw the most amazing-looking bakery. 

I went inside and after drooling over the offerings, finally decided on a small loaf of whole wheat bread (studded with nuts, apricots and raisins) and a cardamom bun. They came to 70 kroner, and I thought that was kind of expensive, but when I reached into my pocket for my phone so I could use the currency converter app, I realized I had left it back at the hotel. Oh well, I was hungry so I didn't really care all that much.

At this point, I decided I should go back to the hotel to get my phone, but first I thought I would find a grocery store, so I walked a little farther and found one in the next block. I wanted some fruit, so I went inside and bought some oranges and apples. When I came out 30 kroner poorer, and unsure of how much I had really spent, I decided to go straight back to the hotel. I reached into my pocket for my little map and realized I'd left that back at the hotel too, along with my phone. 

Panic hit me. But then I thought, "It's OK. I know what street the hotel is on, so I'll just walk back the way I came and look for that street."

But it turned out that when I exited the grocery store, I came out a different door, so I was now on a different street. I saw a 7-11, which I had seen before, but it turned out to be a different 7-11. I saw an Espresso House coffee shop, which I had also seen before, but it was a different Espresso House. Nothing was right!

I was getting a little panicky, but finally I found the grocery store again and went around the corner so that I was back on the street I had started on. I saw the bakery, and just past that, the street the hotel was on.  

I learned a very important lesson: when alone in a strange city, never leave the hotel without my map and my phone. 

** it turned out the bakery stuff was about $10.00 and the fruit $4.00.