Friday, July 6, 2007

Another New Place and Steamboat Beef

I'm moved into Anton's now. He's been working a lot, so we haven't done too much together aside from play ESPN Baseball 2K5 before bed. You know you're not a teenager anymore when your ass gets handed to you in a video game. And I still can't figure out the base running! Guess I'm just showing my age. The day I moved in, I went on a steamboat tour of Stockholm's Northern Archipelago.

I was supposed to meet Anton's father, Janne, in T-Centralen at 4pm. As a somewhat time impaired individual, I was 15 minutes late. Janne led me to meet his brother, Gustav, and we hurried to the train that went to Kungsträdgården and the ship. On that train, Gustav informed me that he didn't like to be hurried because of his heart condition, and that he didn't appreciate that I was trying to kill him. I am truly super at first impressions. We made it to the boat though, AND Gustav didn't die.

I was a little hesitant to take this 5 hour tour with two men twice my age, but it was worth it. The many islands were gorgeous, and I learned quite a bit from Janne and Gus. Gus is very involved with jazz in Stockholm, doing everything from promoting to performing, and has done a lifetime of research on Louis Armstrong. Armstrong led a more fascinating life than I had realized, dining with much of Western Europe's royalty, opening his dressing room to everyone after a concert, and answering his fan mail personally. Gus told me he corresponded with Louis several times while Armstrong was alive. Janne also bought me what was basically a $75 dollar three-course meal, the main dish being traditional steamboat beef. It was all excellent, and the whole trip was very tranquil and relaxing.

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