Getting colder

Yesterday was the first day that I felt the cold. I didn't have any of my numerous extra layers on (saving them for the depths of Russian and Chinese winters - many ambitious westeners have discovered the harshness of the Moscow winter, and we know how cold the Chinese conditions can be, heh).

So instead I decided to follow the 'when in foreign, do as foreigners do' principle and had a massage.
But that wasn't enough for your intrepid correspondent. No indeed. He had to go for the 'hot rocks' option. No idea if this is common in Kiwiland but it is a massage using very hot but (thankfully) very smooth rocks. The initial shock of the heat is quite something, but that immediately wears off into one of the more relaxing experiences you can have. So much so, that we've ended up staying an extra day in Stockholm. There are worse places to have been stranded by relaxation.

After loving the old town and the sea front, it was suggested that we try the more Bohemian area for something different. Presumably by 'different' they meant 'crap', so right they were. Then it rained a lot. Annoying.

Any way - the palace:


A statue of St George:



A couple of terribly impressive pictures of the old city (edited to remove Freudian slip) at dusk





We also had the opportunity to get to the open air zoo/exhibition/park thing. Even in these cooler days it is rather great, with bears, owls, wolves and (my personal favourites) wolverines. Not many people there this time of year though. There was a great picture we saw, possibly warning kids not to play with the animals, showing a child pulling the non-biting end of a vast snake. We were hoping it was actually some sideshow demonstrating this, but sadly not. It's called Skansen by the way and it is heartily recommended. As is almost all of Stockholm, really.