It was better before the Reindeer Wrangling Championships

I thought I had worked the hotel thing out. Instead of trying to find the best three star hotel I looked for the 5 star hotel with the best deal. I have found that there are always a 5 star hotels that have special long-weekend deals which are only a teensy bit more expensive than the price you pay for a 3 star hotel.

This strategy worked brilliantly in Berlin and it was one of the best hotels in which we have ever stayed  - and at a very reasonable price. It has worked in other places as well.

The strategy failed completely in Stockholm where the hotel in which we stayed was an extremely expensive shithole. The ‘extremely expensive’ in this instance is superfluous. Stockholm – and I suppose Sweden – is the most expensive city/country we have ever visited.

It is strange how our expectations change. When we first came to Vienna we were flabbergasted by how expensive it was – then we were astonished last year by Finland – but Stockholm makes all these expensive Europeans cities seem like bazaars in Baghdad.

It is so expensive as to be scary. Not to Cate of course – she went shopping – but then she doesn’t have to balance the housekeeping money. I never cease to be fascinated by the fact that Cate can – without any prior knowledge of the city – and without any reference to any map – find her way unerringly to the women’s fashion stores just by sniffing the breeze.

Anyway – the hotel was not – as had been advertised – 5 star. It may have been 3.5 stars before it was used for the 1979 Scandinavian Reindeer Wrangling Championships but had gone downhill considerably since then.

I have never been in a room quite like the one we had. It was sort of art deco and had many panels of colored glass and an art deco bedhead. In common with many hotel rooms of the era – the lights were designed to illuminate only themselves.

We found our way around the room mainly by the light from our iPhones – and the fact that it never got completely dark in Stockholm also helped a bit.

Some of the doors in the hallway on our floor had plastic ‘Business Class’ signs stuck on them. Most of them were at an angle so had been stuck on straight and had sagged  - or had been affixed by a drunk.

I regret that this set the tone for the whole operation.

However – Stockholm was sensational – as I shall report.