SHOPPING

So today I spent the vast majority of the day shopping in Old City and Downtown Stockholm with Vanja and her friend Jessica (pronounced yessica) and Jessica's dad's girlfriend's adorable Cocker Poo and it was great fun!

Vanja

Jessica and the dog (name of which I can neither pronounce nor spell)

Don't they both look so stereotypically Swedish! I was quite amused... but really though, there are  a lot of blonde people here, which even they pointed out!

It was really a great time to hang out with people my age and they were both so nice! We took the subway and walked around a bit then had lunch outside because really it was a spectacular day.  They were the first people not to tell me that I look like my mom, though I imagine that would be because they don't know what my mom looks like. 

We shopped and hung out for about 4 and a half hours until Jessica had to go home, and then Vanja and I hung out for a bit longer and then I headed back to the apartment for dinner.  

Stockholm is really such a cool city and really unlike any of the US cities I have been too.  Plus one of the coolest things was buying a drink with my own ID... nothing major just what they call a citer (basically flavored sparkling water with a LITTLE bit of alcohol in it... as seen in the above pictures) It was cold and nice, since it was pretty warm here.  

This and the two above are a part of what they referred to as the Old City, which is right next to down town

This restaurant that we passed had a tree growing in it, and all of the seasonings were fresh growing on the table for you to pick and put on your food... I think it was a pizza place. 

This and the ones above it, but below old city are all located in downtown.  I don't know what all of the buildings are but they were cool and some were quite old. 

I also saw the Jesus lady... apparently a legend in the city... known for chasing people around (literally) screaming at them that they are going to hell... Vanja and Jessica were adequately uncomfortable until she went around a corner to shout at some other people. 

There was also an ice carving thing for kids in honor of the newly coming Ice Age 4 (..... yes, FOUR) and a Manny made of coke bottles. 

I guess no stranger than some things one might find in New York or DC, but in any case cleaner!

While there were some very, very cute clothes (some of which I bought.  My spoils include a shirt, a skirt, and a cool pair of shorts... and yes a pair of cool black stripy heals) But we also saw many, many bad things, sparkly things, faux snakeskin things, SEQUINED things... one of which was a long black pencil skirt adorned with tons of blueish-greenish sequins... it looked like genuine mermaid hide.  

Also there was this beauty:

I saw a surprising number of American flag things here...

It was a really fun day, and good to get away from the family for a bit and be around people my age! 

Tomorrow we are leaving to drive north to a coastal city that begins with an O to stay for the weekend, but we will be back in Stockholm on Monday.  I really do miss home, but I can't believe how fast this whole trip is going by!