Sweden

A ferry and a train journey from Newcastle and here I am in Sweden. The ferry journey was pretty uneventful as they go. The North Sea was thankfully calm and buffet dinner and breakfast meant an all-I-could-eat gorge out, therefore avoiding the overpriced food available on board the rest of the time. Although I stayed in the 'economony' cabin it proved decent enough, and I had no problem getting ample kip in. It turned out being a 4-berth cabin to myself. No complaints here!

The train journey from Gothenburg to Stockholm wasn't quite as smooth. Having navigated myself successfully from the ferry terminal to the train station (helped by a number of previous trips to Gothenburg) I got my train ticket, a bank manager frighteningly pricey high-speed train but the only one available, and off I went. After a rather slow start after a couple of hours we stopped at a station and everyone piled off the train. Turns out an announcement (in Swedish only) had told everyone aside from myself and a guy with his headphones on that we must disembark and get on the train at the next platform. I didn't quite fathom why, but two trains later, and an umbrella less, which I left on the train in the panic to get off and I arrived in Stockholm.

I've only been here briefly before, and this trip will be no less brief, but I took in a few of the sights today including the obligatory boat trip, and I got my ferry ticket for the trip to Helsinki tomorrow. No rest for the wicked. I got a new umbrella too. Hopefully this one will last a bit longer than the last one!