Arrival in Stockholm brought with it one of the true experiences of travel – Finnair lost my bag. It made it safely from Canberra to Helsinki on three different planes with three airlines. But on the short, Sydney to Canberra style, hop to Stockholm, it got lost. I should have been worried when the check-in counter asked me to take it to the oversize baggage counter, I guess. Of course, while I had a complete change of clothes stuffed in my carry-on from Australia, all that was in there to Sweden were my scarf, beanie and gloves. Only that morning had I taken out the spare undies and socks dammit. Fortunately I have all the important stuff – lip balm, passport, money, laptop, MP3 player, camera and phone (and all the chargers).  And my new boots and puffy jacket and the clothes I was standing in. Finnair obviously do this a lot – they gave me a comfort pack with toothbrush, t-shirt and other stuff (which I promptly lost when I put it down to get a ticket for the train into town. On the way through Customs, there was no one there and I got through the gate without seeing a soul. I called the phone on the wall – apparently once you are in the EU, you don’t need anymore passport stamps until you leave – cultural doofus moment number two.

On arrival in the city centre, O realized Helsinki was just a town, like Canberra is a town. Stockholm is a city with the frenetic pace of the city. And the night before Valentine’s Day, there were loads of men holding big bunches of red roses in the station. The Valentine’s Day theme continued with chocolates on my hotel bed on arrival and heart shaped jubes in a glass on my table at dinner.

After I got my bearings, I decided to walk to the hotel which is in Gamla Stad – Sweden’s old town. It was a short walk and there was no snow on the ground here, despite the mountains of the stuff I saw flying in. The old town is amazing, cobbled streets and laneways and of course shops for tourists everywhere. The hotel – The Lord Nelson- has a Nordic theme with small yet comfortable rooms – I can only just fit in the shower and it might be a good thing I don’t have my bag because I am not sure where I would put it.

Once checked in, I ventured out to pick up some basic supplies – deodorant and a toothbrush – and stopped at a little Italian restaurant for dinner. There were bread sticks on the table – I had to try them as I’ve never seen them before – as expected they tasted like eating croutons without salad. The waitress put a small bowl of something white in front of me. I though ‘this can’t be the seafood pasta I ordered’ and took a taste – it was cabbage slaw – like coleslaw but with just cabbage. I sat and waited until someone else got theirs so I could see what you were supposed to do – apparently it’s eaten as an appetizer. The pasta wasn’t bad, basically just a fettuccine marinara. After dinner I came back to the hotel and just crashed out, hoping my bag would magically appear overnight. It didn’t  so now that the clothes I washed in the bathroom sink are dry, it’s time to get some breakfast, check with the airline and venture out into Stockholm’s streets for Valentine’s Day [‘Hopeless Romantic’ – Bouncing Souls – ‘I’m a hopeless romantic – you’re just hopeless’]