Stockholm Syndrome

Okay. I have to admit it. Both Brad and I have been smitten. We've fallen head over heels in love with Sweden's beautiful capital city. We visited twice in 06-07. The first time, in late September 2006, we stayed for five days before heading on to Russia. We were so enamoured of the place that we decided we needed to go back right away. To give us a legitimate reason, Brad signed up for the Stockholm marathon, which was held on June 10, 2007. (It was his first marathon, and it was HOT and quite humid, but he finished!) We stayed for a week on that trip, renting an apartment in very central Södermalm. We spent some time with a couple of Swedish bloggers we had been in contact with and it was a really great trip.

It's funny, on both trips locals came up to us and started speaking Swedish. They were convinced that we were someone they knew. At Wedholms Fisk, I thought I was going to have to show the fellow my Canadian passport, before he would believe that I was not his long lost friend! The same thing happened again on our second trip when we were taking a boat and around the archipelago that surrounds Stockholm. A woman came up to us speaking Swedish, thinking she knew us BOTH! When we related what had happened the year before at the restaurant, she said, "Oh well, that settles it, your souls belong to Sweden!" Fine by us :-)

So now we dream wistfully of buying a property in Stockholm and maybe even retiring there. It's probably not in the cards, but stranger things, I suppose, have happened. And... Say if I had an extra million and a half lying around, I would pounce on this place below. It's listed at 6,750,000 Swedish Kroner (that's $1,148,869 Canadian or $1,131,156 US). Take a look: