We are not usually into tourist travel notes as such but as I am a bit out of blog practice I thought I would test the system out a bit before we head back into France. So we have arrived today in Stockholm to find the place fairly relaxed and quite active with tourists at the same time. We are staying in the old town (GAMLA STAN) on a small island which also has the royal palace just a few metres down the road. Lots of younger travelers around (or are we just older?). We managed to find a slightly up market market for a great lunch as we started getting our sea legs about Stockholm. It reached about 27 degrees today so there were plenty of sun loving locals out and about soaking up the sun. A couple even bringing chairs down from their apartments to sit in the street where they could be admired.

In places there were a few too many tourists for us and a few too many tragic souvenir shops but we managed to avoid the worst of it. We are finding that the various races here are difficult to pick at times and genders seem to tend to being blended together here, perhaps because there is/was/will be a gay event in town this summer, This is a very cosmopolitan city with a lively feel to it and we enjoyed today a lot.