I really like the flat we’re staying in but there is a building site across the road and every morning a big compactus truck sits outside and fills with rubbish. This means the engine just thrums for ages. It’s summer and the windows need to be open but the compactus makes so much noise I have to close the windows and suffer. I’m really missing the silence of Trosa. It’s a good thing then that today was our last day.
The reason we were in Stockholm was for Mirinda to have her new eyes fitted and today was the final check-in with the doctor who performed the operations. And he was very pleased with the progress and happily answered Mirinda’s questions regarding the future.
As well as visiting Kungsholmen for the eye clinic, Mirinda also popped into an eco hairdresser in order to get her hair done. While waiting for her to finish, I wandered around for a bit and came across this intriguing sculpture in Polishusparken.
The park has been recently renovated and looks amazing. The sculpture is roughly in the middle and stands between the old police station and city hall. You can climb the stairs if you like in order to get a different view of the park.
As I sat and admired the structure, a couple of guys did just that. One of them sat and watched as his friend climbed to the top. He thought it was very funny while his mate thought they would get into trouble.
If you ignore the repeated opening paragraph, this link explains the sculpture quite nicely, I think.
After her hair and eye appointments, we went for a bit of a wander which cemented the fact in our minds that we are not that fond of Kungsholmen. Okay, the weather was a bit ragey with the wind blowing everything, everywhere, leaving bits of tree all over the path by the water but, even so, it was all a bit down at heel.
Mind you, the view along the path wasn’t bad and there were a lot of boats, which made Mirinda happy.
Shortly after the above photo was taken, we were forced to abandon the path in fear of falling branches and caught a bus to an area where we had our final International Cuisine.
La Patagonia was our 13th nosh up. And what an excellent meal we had. The staff included the Finnish wife of the Chilean owner. She had the the most amazingly hypnotic eyes and a delicious skill at storytelling.
She told us the rather gruesome tale of how a seagull once flew down to take a scrap of food left on a plate outside the restaurant when another seagull flew down and attacked the first one, killing it. The killer seagull then started eating the first seagull in a fit of cannibalistic fury. This attracted a whole gang of seagulls in a free for all feast of bird butchery.
It was suggested that she should shush the birds away and retrieve the plate. She was a bit fearful about even opening the door of the restaurant, let alone doing anything about it.
There were no such evil incidents today, however, and dinner was served with an absence of birds. Well, apart from the chicken that people had ordered especially.
The place seems very cool and trendy and, therefore, popular. I recommend it for the food, atmosphere and service. If I ever find myself in the area again, I would certainly not hesitate in dining at La Patagonia.
And so, our final tally of International Cuisine is Spanish, Peruvian, French, Italian, Thai, Greek, Lebanese, Japanese, Austrian, British, Swedish, Portuguese and Patagonian. To be fair, Patagonia is, basically, Chile and Argentina so that could easily be two countries but, I rather like keeping the total at 13 so let us leave it at that.
It’s been a fun food festival game.
And, while not really wanting to bring a downer to the party but feeling the need to report the fact that Michael Madsen died today, aged 67. Apparently he was a gentle soul, rather unlike the characters he tended to play in movies. The ear scene in Reservoir Dogs still haunts many people, but he wasn’t at all like Mr Blonde.
