One and a Half

I meant to blog about this yesterday, but I was too busy being sick and watching Battlestar Galactica (the movie that preludes the newer series, yes, I'll watch the series as soon as I can).

Monday was the 4th, of course, which is our year and a half anniversary. Yeah, it is sort of lame celebrating it in half years, but we missed the first year seeing as I was out of the country, and I'm actually here for this one...

We planned to go into Stockholm to buy presents for each other (read: go to Science Fiction Bokhandeln and buy each other books) and then come back and have dinner in Södertälje (in the restaurant where Ash came out to her mother, no less) but we were handed a little menu from someone in the street advertising a restaurant and decided to go there instead.

But first! We got to wander Gamla Stan, my favouritest place in all of Stockholm, including this jolly little place:


I very nearly broke my ankle on the street swerving to go in, but it was worth it. I didn't end up buying anything, though, for fear that it would be destroyed in the transit all the way home. Maybe in America I shall go mad with the buying of comics. Old Town is pretty, though. Very pretty.


And my favourite red house again:


Which happens to be in the same square as the Nobel Museum (here shown with construction tape and all, I think they were fixing the fountain):



So, we'd spent about an hour in Science Fiction Bokhandeln, where I purchased the BSG movie (because I missed half of it when they showed it on TV) and a book for Ash, 'The Lies of Locke Lamora' by Scott Lynch. And she got 'Kushiel's Scion' for me. Yay! (And it was really good, too.) We wrote dedications in the books over big frothy bowls of hot chocolate. Mmm.


Yes, they were massive. And delicious. I have found the Max Brenner of Sweden, complete with pretty gay waiters. Ah, it was almost like being back at Auto. (Apart from the fact that I had to pay for my hot chocolate, rather than sweet-talking someone to make me one for free...)

After that, we went to the Kulturehuset and sat around reading. I'd dressed in shorts and t-shirt, so by the time we were hungry enough to find the restaurant/they kicked us out, I was freezing. Possibly not the best state to be in when you have a cold. I froze for a while until I ducked into a thankfully open tourist shop and purchased a warm jumper (with SWE in yellow letters across the chest) to snuggle into. It was a bargain, too, actually. Doesn't look bad, either.

The restaurant was easy to find, and in a dungeon. A very nice, renovated one, to be sure. It was all polished glasses and lovely wood and tiny flickering candles. I had a glass of red, Ash had a beer, and we discovered that we were sitting next to a rather loud American couple. They were actually slightly amusing, if only because the guy kept calling his female date 'dude.' Hee.

The food was really fantastic. I had lamb (covered with herbs and garlic butter, mmmm) and Ash had tender tender fish, which melted in her mouth. Lovely romantic dinner, actually. After our meal, we staggered home all full and happy.