Stockholm, The First Visit

Last weekend, I made my first visit to Stockholm.  I got a little thrill upon exiting the plane when it occurred to me that I was not only in an entirely new country--but in an entirely new part of the world!

But then, it was just about midnight, my luggage (with my hat, gloves, and scarf inside) was lost, and there was a 20-minute wait for the train to the city.  And so I was ultimately less than thrilled.

But once I arrived at B's temporary apartment, had some wine, and sunk into the couch with some crap English programs on the teevee, the troubles of the day were forgotten.  Oh, and then I woke up the next morning to this view:

Incredible, no?  It looks like Santa's workshop!

I will go on about Stockholm in more depth later, but really I just want to show you photos of our new apartment.  (How baller are we right now?  We happen to have an apartment in Paris AND one in Stockholm!  Of course, the one in Stockholm is entirely unfurnished...  And we will likely not have two apartments after July.  But still, please let us have our baller moment.)

Our new place is in Östermalm, which you can see more images of here.

Nice, right?

Anyway, our new apartment's a real charmer.  It had me at the lobby:

And then you walk through a courtyard to get to our apartment.  (It's quite common in Stockholm for people to have candles going outside their store or restaurant [and inside, too].  Our first night at the apartment, someone had lit a candle under a glass cylinder and left it burning all night.  It was so lovely in the snow.)

Anyway, here's a view from the courtyard:

Even the stairway up to our place has a nice feeling to it:

And then we were greeted by this!  What a welcoming touch:

You enter into a charming round foyer, which has the kitchen and the bathroom off of it.  Looking straight through you see the living room and the bedroom.

Here is the kitchen, so bright and pretty with its hardwood floors:

Here is the living room.  Did I mention that both the living room and the bedroom have a closet?  It's unheard of here in Paris!

And we have pretty moulding in the bedroom:

Here's a shot of the bedroom, with its closet on display.  I know something like a closet does not seem too exciting, but I assure you it is!

I think I am most in love with the views of the other pretty pretty buildings and their courtyards.  I think Cochino will also be a fan.  Maybe she will make a window kitty friend across the way?