Stockholm sleeps at 5 in the morning 7/25-26

We started off the day around noon which was perfect because Shawn would get home from his trip up North around 1pm. We had a nice little breakfast thanks to Kristina just before she ran out with Alex to get some good walking in. When Shawn got back we talked for a little bit and expressed our desire to go running because we were getting no exercise on our trip so far. He told us he would take us for a nice little run through the city a route that he is used to going on. It was a beautiful place to go running especially considering we were in the heart of the city. He took us up the cliffs along the cliff lines overlooking ocean, then next through more buildings down to the shoreline. We ran over a bridge and to another island in the archipelago that is Stockholm. This had mountain type trails to offer, it felt like we were not even in the city anymore. From there it came to a lake that connects to the ocean. We stopped to get a breath and Shawn told us that there is fresh water and salt water surrounding and running through Stockholm. We couldn’t tell the difference from place to place but after looking we realized the fresh water was calmer. Shawn then asked us if we wanted to go for a swim. It was warm, and we were sweating so we said sure. We stripped down to everything but our boxers (don’t forget this is the middle of the city) and dove head first off the dock into the water. It was a perfect 68 degrees which felt very nice and cool. We swam to the other side of the lake and after a little rest we swam back, got dressed and started running again feeling reinvigorated. We went over to another island, through a park, and then back to Shawn’s. It was about a 5 mile run so we were pretty exhausted. We took showers, got some food and chilled out for a little while talking about possible plans for the night.

Shawn and Kristina wanted to hang out for a little bit but couldn’t go far because Alex is only 14 months old and such a cute kid. So we made some drinks, got some chips and peanuts and went on the roof which had a pretty decent view of the city. While were hanging out up there another group of people that lived in the complex came up. Apparently having the same idea as us, and seeming like a bunch of nice people we all started chatting. After about an hour and a half they asked us what we were doing the rest of the night and if we would like to join them. They ended up being some of the coolest people we could have met. They told us they were going to the hottest club in town and we needed to come with them. It didn’t take much prodding. We quickly got ready and met them just outside the building to head over to the club which was called F 12. We quickly saw why it was the hottest club around, the line was very long and was moving very slow. This is because they are extremely picky about who they let in. The ratio of girl to guy had to be 70% women and 30% men. So being guys hearing this we thought we were in trouble. Not only that, but even though they still let in way more girls, they only let the attractive ones in, and same with guys. We had a secret weapon though that we didn’t even know we had, we weren’t from there. They like people from outside of the country way more than the locals. After a little waiting, and seeing many people ushered out of the line right next to us and not allowed in, eventually we got in. Can we just say that every woman there was extremely attractive and just leave it at that.

We felt like rock stars. Everyone wanted to meet us guys and girls. Girls would come up to us and say “You’re the two American Boys ya”? And introduce themselves to start dancing. (We found out later that our friends that had brought us were just running around telling all the girls they were there with two American guys, and that they should come meet us, needless to say we were ok with that). Even the guys were awesomely nice to us. Eventually we left the club with a particularly nice looking Swedish girl who wanted to show us another club. That club closed at 3, but apparently that’s when you’re supposed to go find another place to have fun. We said ok, but were going a little crazy because it was just shy of 3 in the morning and the sky was showing signs that the sun was about to say hello. We started off with her, she introduced us to friends of hers that said they could get us into the next place for free. We asked them how long we were supposed to stay out and they said “5, when everything closes of course”. We told them thanks for everything but that we need to go and get some sleep. We left to go get a burger at what was now 3:45 in the morning and didn’t get to bed until about 4:30.

We slept in very long the next day and when we finally got up we didn’t feel like doing anything. So we walked around the city a little, and got some dinner. After that we grabbed some ice cream for the movies we decided to watch and headed home. We watched In Bruges, and The Hangover which were highly entertaining and funny. We fell asleep to get ready for another fun day.