Holiday in Uppsala and Stockholm

Almost 7 days of travelling in Uppsala and Stockholm. I'm tired. It was rather good to see friends from home again although I have to admit that I wasn't in the best of moods when they were here until the final few days.
It was simply because they kept saying things that offended me.
The first few days were spent in Uppsala. Truth be told, I think they didn't enjoy it as much as I did when I first came. I guess museums are a total bore to most Singaporeans. But this time, neither did I. Perhaps it's because I've seen the sights at least 2 times before, and some places like Gamla Uppsala, I'd been there 4 times already.
It was comments like 'what a backward place'. Do they think SG is perfect in every way?
But I finally made my way into the castle, Uppsala Slott. The history of the castle was interesting, but overall I don't think it's really value for money. The interior has been totally refurbished. Thr ruins were filled with wax dolls, kind of like the WWII attractions in Sentosa that I hated. So kitsh.
And they kept complaining about the cost. What did they expect?
Funny thing about the cathedral though. There are statues by the doors of the Domkyrkan and one of them, at the main entrance, is of St. Erik. During Sweden's first match in the World Cup, some person actually climbed onto the statue to hang the blue and yellow colours of Sweden on it. Instead, both the boy and the statue toppled and the statue lost its head. Ironic that St. Erik was actually beheaded as well. The lady at the information counter related this story to us and showed us the headless statue behind her counter. What some people would do for soccer... Too bad the match ended in a draw. And it was a BORING match! The Swedish team missed to many chances, to the point that the sport commentators used the word 'fiasco' so many times.

We took a boat ride to Skolkolster Castle with Melanie. I enjoyed it. I think Melanie did as well. But I don't think the rest did. Perhaps the pace was too slow. There wasn't many things to see or do. To me it was a fun day trip, since the weather was burning hot in Uppsala for the last few days. Oh well...

Stockholm never disappoints. And it didn't. I believe they had a good time there. Gamla Stan, the Royal Palace, the City Hall (climbed up the 106m tall tower), the Vasa Museum, Skansen, and the Drottningholm Palace. All the major tourist attractions - we covered them. While they wanted to watch the Sweden's second match, I preferred to take a walk. I'm glad I did. Sodermalm provides very good views of Stockholm city.

We saw the changing of guards again. I WAS CHEATED! What happened to the cool horses? To think I bought a 2GB SD card for taking a video of the horses, and they gave me some short performance. Disappointing! The uniforms the guards wore were not even nice too!

*fume*

In Uppsala, on my way back to the apartment, two local girls sitting in the sun greeted me in Mandarin. Ni hao. Cute. And so. A person who looks Chinese, is of Chinese descent, must speak Chinese? In any case, I stopped and chatted with them for a while. Who knew... They studied Mandarin before.

I can safely say I've almost completed seeing the entire Stockholm city, except Ostermalm. Perhaps I'll make my way there one day before I leave on my own.