Snakey Sexy!

We came across a little old house and headed in and in there were some ladies getting their bake on, they were baking gingerbread cookies! We watched for a little and enjoyed the warmth and even got a freshly baked cookie. Yum!

We headed over for some lunch, I had a moose ragu and it was lovely, and warm! Actually it was so warm that when a little dot of it flicked up and onto my forehead it burnt like a bitch! But I think that had more to do with my face being freezing cold.. it was amusing anyways.

Next up was the aquarium! Which was great coz it was indoors! 

First up we got some furry tailed friends.. who are just simple adorable when they eat! chomp chomp chomp!

OMG A SLOTH! GIMME!

Then when we moved on, we had live birds overhead who were not caged, the gray one was very noisy and enjoyed to wolf whistle...

This one nearly shat on us. There was only seconds between us moving and the shit being released. I would not have been impressed if we had got shat on.. but I probably would have pissed my pants from laughing about it. 

We were enjoying the snakes, they really are pretty creatures, not that I would have the balls to touch one myself.. I am far too tense for that and you know a scaredy cat. While we were enjoying the snakes, a couple of snakes were enjoying themselves and got their grooove on.. yep, we saw snakes having rudies. It was actually quite interesting.. it was these two blackies..

How beautiful is this little dude? I wanteth!

We even walked through a rainforest.. it was small and we thought cold for a rainforest, there wasn't much to see, but Pinko did nearly donk her head as she was walking out.. that would have been ouchies!

Moving on to total cute factor with some chipmunks! I love chipmunks, they just make me go all gooey! I kinda want to have my own little chipmunk set.. not sure how many I want in the set, but I want a set.. with houses and maybe a corner store..

We hit up the underwater peeps.. Nemo and Dory came to say hello!

We were at the end, we took another last look at the little furries and I just wanted to take this little dude home too.. so damn cute!

We were back outside, walking on icy badness when we headed to a bakery so Emma could have a freshly baked saffron bun, lussekatt, which I don't like myself.. but Em and I make a good one apparently.. which we will actually be baking on Sunday! Fun times! I actually don't mind baking them.. it is kinda fun. 

So yeah, Em got her thing and I got something else and then we moved on back to the Christmas market for one last looksie and then off we went.. out the gates to end the day. We were there from when it opened right up until it was nearly closing time. It was a great day! Good-bye Skansen.

Here is the model of Skansen..

This was one of the last beautiful sights that we saw before leaving..

Back to the hotel we went to get our gear, which meant walking up and then down the snowy steps of hell.. but we did it and we did it gracefully, then headed to the train-station and waited for our train home. Pinko took some of her "I'm a stoner, look at my eyes" pills and was out to it. The trip was pretty painless, even if it was 20ish minutes late. I was very happy to be home when we finally arrived.. my bed, how I had missed you!

Reindeer!

Our last day! So we were up at a reasonable hour and headed down to breakfast to get the fuel for the day and then off we went to pack up and check out, leaving our gear at the hotel before setting off to get to Skansen by opening. 

Which we did, we were there slightly early so we took our spot by the front entrance so that we would be good to go as soon as 10am hit.. then the next thing we know some old man pushed in and made damn sure he was the first one through.. sometimes I think old people do that sort of stuff just to see if they can.. seeing as it wasn't that big of a deal if we went in first or second.. we let it be. Afterall, it's not like we were lining up to buy an iThing or something. Anyways, we were off..

Walking around with huge smiles in the white snowy winter wonderland, things only got better as each moment went by.. especially when we came across the gnome! Is this or is this not the most epic photo of Emma ever?! 

My vote is HELL YES!

Moving on.. what's this?! A Christmas market! Oh hell yes! Let me at that action!

How awesome is this dude? 

I really loved how there were so many people dressed up old stylez! Total rockethness! Speaking of total rockethness.. we came across a candy stall! Woooop! SO I got some kola, a sign said knäck but it didn't seem it to me, not that I am an expert but yeah I am not convinced that I wasn't just eating kola. I loved it all the same.. so much so that I went back and got some to go! Soooo good!

We continued on and then Pinko got her game on! Which she too loved so much that she went back for another pull.. ewww that's dirty!

By this stage, I had worked out quite the appetite! Donuts were just what the doctor ordered.. so I got some and shared them around, we got 2 each of the little yummy lemony goodies.

Back to walking around the winter wonderland.. we were on a mission.. a mission to see all the animals! That mission was about to begin!

Animals, animals everywhere! I just wished I could cuddle them all.. even the piggies! Even the things that I know would eat me! I just want them all! We took a small break early on while trekking through the thick snowy paths to snap a lovely little pic of Emma and I. Aren't we just adorbs?

Ok, it is Christmas.. and Christmas can only be complete when you have reindeers! And we have them people! We even got to see a little butting action.. I could have stayed with them for ages but it was time to move on, so many more animals to see and only the day to do it in!

The paths were starting to get a little on the unsafe side.. ice skates would have worked well in some areas.. but we all managed to stay on our feet.. thankfully. We keep on going, no matter what was in our.. errr on our path! 

 

These piggies were awesome at feeding time, if the carer threw bread they gobbled it! If he threw veg they sniffed it and moved away.. that was until there was no more bread so they had to eat their veg. And one piggy would chase the other piggy lots.. it was hilarious.. and you know what, pigs can hustle, man! I love this shot (above) of the pigs, coz the one in the front totally looks like they are getting their vogue on!

Thanks, Stockholm!

Moving on from the changing of the guard, we hit up the inside.. where upon walking in the door I lost Emma and had to call her to ask her where she went, she went right, I went left. Never a good combo! We met up, looked at some overpriced giftshop goods and then moved on to look at royally stuffz. It was nice to be inside out of the cold and wind. We went up and down and all around and saw all there was to see before hitting the streets again.. 

ahhh yes, this is where I always put my Christmas tree! 

 

And what do ya know?! We hit a Christmas market! Which was just in the knick of time really.. I was starting to have withdrawals! We slowly but surely made our way through the really terrible snowy weather to Fotografiska.. 

..to check out and warm the frak up in the cafe with a hot beverage and some baked goods. Just what the doctor ordered, considering it was like walking in a freezing hell to get there. We didn't get much of a view, as it was dark and miserable so it didn't really matter that much that we didn't get a seat by the windows.. but it would have been nice. It is what it is. Once we were all refreshed and warm we headed back down to actually check out the exhibition.. currently it is David LaChapelle (until March). It was quite interesting and some rather funny photos and some real wtf photos but really that is what makes it all so complete right?

Upon leaving.. around 4pm, it was dark! The weather was slightly better but it really wouldn't have mattered how it was coz we still would have had to be out in it. Thanks, Stockholm.. for putting on a great show. Today was definitely the day that I was glad I bought a new hat, even though it got very wet, it helped keep me warm and my hair dry and pristine! Bahahahaha.

We headed off towards the big Christmas tree, which you can slightly see in the bottom left hand pic above. It was a little bit of a walk, but not to bad and once we got there we all posed with the tree.. or well, Emma and I wanted to pose with the tree as you can see here...

but as you can see here, Pinko being the porn freak that she is wanted to pose with the striptease van. I think that girl needs to get to PA quick-smart! Don't you!? Also note.. her jacket is rather wet, it was like a damn sponge with that wet ickly snow we had!

After the tree we made our way back to the hotel, quite the early night compared to the other nights but goodness was to come tomorrow and that is what we were all holding on to! A good nights sleep for a day at Skansen! Epicness!

Guard Emma!

The morning started off slower than usual due to the fact that nothing really happens until 10am, so we got up and headed down to breakfast with the plan that we would be at the addnature store for opening at 10am so that Pinko could get some winter boots.. seeing as she thought bringing a Swedish summer jacket as her winter jacket was a good idea.. so we thought it was best she keep her tootsie rolls warm at least. However, plan foiled! The store didn't open until 11! Serious wtf! So we moved on to bigger and better things.. one being the spotting of a tell tale sign of a tinny house!

We didn't go to score! Honest. Although you wouldn't have thought that when Emma spotted this chimney and thought there was a man coming out of it.. and it wasn't til later in the day that she actually realised it was just how those chimneys were and that it wasn't a man poking his head about!

We also quickly discovered that this was a very common scene.. sharp shards of ice waiting to penetrate your noggin! They look wicked impressive in person, you just don't wanna stand or walk under them.

Wooop! We were at cock-a-doodle-dooo! So this time I got a snap with me in it.. 

It wasn't long until we were back on our way, soaking up the sights and snow.. walking through the slush of days past. We were on a mission to get to the palace to witness the changing of the guard! 

Here you can compare, summer and winter Stockholm in a shot roughly in the same area.. I know what I prefer.

Then we were back walking about.. I just had to share this photo on the left coz I look hilarious! You're welcome!

We were a little early for changing of the guard so we did a quick tour around the old town, which means, slippery steep streets and little stores, but lovely lovely buildings, the old look of definitely the best look.

It was time for changing of the guard so we went and took our spots, Emma got the best spot for getting her own guard on..

..while Pinko and I stood at the barrier and were snap happy tourists..

Coldest Cab Ever!

We slept in a little, well deserved me thinketh! Before heading down to breakfast with our little tokens.. to clarify, we don't eat the tokens for breakfast.. they get us a deliciousness breakfast! I handed over these cute little tokens and got stuck into grabbing a little of all the things I wanted..

Aren't they the cutest?!

After breaky, we headed back up to the room to hang out a little, pack and the like to get organised for checking out. Time flew and before we knew it it was time to head down, store our bags and head off for a very slow day looking at a few shops. Not so much sightseeing on the agenda today as Pinko was back to being under the weather. 

We stepped out and it wasn't long before we discovered that places open rather late, some 11 and some 12, and it was only about 10:30am.. so the most logical thing to do was to head into a bar and drink some hot wine, coz of course the bars are open early!

Emma had a coffee, Pinko had her water and we sat there for a while until Pinko could muster some strength to hit some stores, and then we were on the path to shopping.. I like looking at graffiti and the general surroundings..

and stickers! So many stickers!

And the little hats on the lights dudes are always awesome, that's something I enjoy about other countries.. looking out for the funny little figures on the light signals. I saw many ace ones on EuroTrip2012.

We hit up a cupcake store, where Emma and I partook in a red velvet cupcake and also a salted caramel cupcake.. and split a fritzy drink! It was a good little sugar hit to help me get through the stores. Pinko was in her shopping element in the cute little stores and was starting to perk up, girls and shopping aye? She thought the only way to make her pack easier to juggle was to add a bunch more stuff to the mix! again I say.. girls and shopping aye? We finished up with our lookie lu and headed back to the hotel to hang out in the lounge area until it was time to leave.. I killed some time with some cherry cake..

Finally the hours passed, and it was time to go to the airport which is when things got cold. SO. VERY. COLD. The cab arrived and it had no heating.. seriously, no heating in a cab in Berlin at winter?! Longest, coldest cab ride of my life! I couldn't wait to get outta there and into the airport. We walked around the airport, then I had another currywurst and then the boarding of the plane happened and then... THEN they make an announcement that the airport in Stockholm is closed due to snow and that we don't have clearance to land so we have to wait for clearance.. which could take 90mins. They started serving drinks to clam everyone, Pinko had taken her drugs so was completely out of it. They got a few rows into serving and got the all clear so quickly shut up shop and got with the usual start up of the journey.. you know, the instructional shizz. We were in the air and on our way, but it also meant we had to be very swift when leaving to be able to catch the last bus out of the airport. Once we landed, I took our carry on, Emma took Pinko's and off we hurried, Drugged Pinko, Stressed Emma and Hobbling Jo.. hobbled? you ask? Well yes hobbled, coz as it turned out my boots weren't so water tight any more, and by day 2 in Berlin I was blistered to shyte. Yes it was painful but when has that stopped me from being touristy? lol Coz I walked so funny and stiffly by the time I got to the bus, I felt like my calf was going to burst or something so I was happy to have the bus to kick back and relax on. We got off the bus, caught the train and then walked up a mass of snowy steps and along a snowy walkway to the hotel where we just made it on time to check in, the lady was locking the door as Emma poked her head in! Talk about close calls! Up to bed we went, for a pretty low key day I was zonked.