in transit: day one, gamla stan, stockholm pride

 We arrived in Stockholm around four pm today just right after a light downpour, the wind was chilly but the slightly grey clouds didn’t manage to blanket the beauty of the city. God, Stockholm is a beautiful city! The spire-spiked skyline and the grand buildings are much more dramatic than Oslo’s. And it’s damn cheaper here.After checking in at Rica Stockholm Hotel, partner of the Stockholm Pride, we quickly headed out to take in some sights, like the Opera House and the Danish House.We walked further until we reached Gamla Stan, which means the “Old Town” with its “charming tangle of narrow streets and alleyways lined with yellow, orange and red buildings.” (Thanks, TimeOut!) Here’s Gamla Stan’s main square, Stortorget, with handsome 18th-century buildings and the Nobel Museum on the right.We made some turns and ended up in a cosy rainbow-flagged cafe called Mandus for a dinner of Swedish meatballs. Here’s a street called Slottsbacken, at the top of which stands the imposing yellow bulk of Stockholm’s de facto cathedral, Storkyrkan. Update: This street is not Slottsbacken and the church is not Storkyrkan. It’s the Tyskan Krykan or German Church.By seven, we headed out to Pride Park to join in the festivities of Stockholm Pride, the largest LGBT Festival in Scandinavia. It’s so huge there was this big balloon to announce its gigantic proportions. Just kidding.There’s Schlager Party tonight where past and recent Eurovision Song Contest finalists performed their song entries. There were folks (as in old singers) from Sweden, as well as hot young ones from Belgium (Kate Ryan) and Romania (Mihai Traistariu). I’m sorry but I just don’t quite dig most of the musical repertoire in Eurovision, past or present. Nonetheless, I danced, not to the Swedish tunes, but to the rhythm and throng of happy gay people.Happy pride!