Got up early at Uppsala hostel to beat the rush and get into one of private bathrooms. Front desk was open only from 8-10am and 4-7pm. If you lose your key or have some other emergency, you are in trouble. I found that 11:00pm is the magic time for silence in the world of hostels, guesthouses, etc. No breakfast offered here, although there was a small kitchen where I could have tried to make something myself.
Plenty of trains to and from Stockholm/Uppsala-- seems to be a dedicated track. Got into Stockholm, bought a 48 hour transit pass, good for subway, bus and streetcar travel [at least that’s as best as I can recall, since my journal entries for 13 July were very sparse].
Walked all around Gamla Stan (Stockholm’s altstadt), with its very narrow cobblestone streets, then just randomly walked or rode around the city. Got on the various types of mass transit and got off when I felt like it. Had an all you can eat buffet lunch for something like $6.00.
It had been cloudy and/or sprinkly all day and it finally started raining for real at 4:00pm. Was desperately trying to find a subway stop, but got totally lost, even though I had a compass and good map! Finally asked for help from a young lady but still had to walk nearly half a mile. Took the subway to train station and then got back to Uppsala.
[Around about this time I was getting very concerned about the one credit card I had remaining. It only had a $1,000 credit line. The pickpocketers got my primary CC. I was able to transfer money from my bank account into the CC via internet, but this was not happening fast enough. This was an unneeded distraction. I even thought I might need some money to be wired to me in Ireland!]
--END 13 JULY--
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