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.

Un update on Cate's progress

I thought I should bring you up to date on what Cate has not done recently. As you know – she decided not to learn the Piano so we bought one of these and this has been a great success.

She did open it one day and discovered to her horror that they have not progressed from when she was a small girl. All the keys are still white and black and have no markings on them at all.

But this is impossible – she gasped – how can anybody make coherent sounds with something like this. Don’t they do a QWERTY keyboard yet?

I said that no they didn’t and that there were no plans to do so and that much practice would be required. I said that I could mark the keyboard up with post-it notes or a crayon to get her started but she lost interest almost immediately.

To make her feel not quite so bad – as the Piano sits next to her in her study and makes her feel a teensy bit guilty – I have taken the tag off the stool so it does not look quite so new an unused.

Mrs. Moneypenny dusts it every week but it still looks sort of – you know – unused. I am thinking of hiring some small children to come in and play it (while I am not here) so that it will look aged and make Cate feel better.

But really – she is so busy that I cannot imagine how she would have the time to sit and practice the piano. I think she will have to start on something more simple – like Angry Birds. She now has a work iPhone with all these Apps!

Now she also decided not to do Yoga and this has also been very successful. The Yoga mat was purchased and has not been unwrapped – which is just as it should be.

I have helped her with this because of my ribs which are still in a delicate state but will mend if I do not do anything else stupid – which is asking a lot from me - but I will do my best.

But – bless her soul – she has been walking to work and back again for months. A promise she made to herself and has kept.

Now I have figured out a way she can learn to play the Piano while walking to work - and keep herself fit at the same time. And if she became proficient and spent 15 minutes on the corner of Ungargasse and the Rennweg she could earn enough for Yoga lessons. I have yet to speak to her about this fabulous idea. 

The nitwitedness is hardwired

Apparently I forgot to tell you that we are going to Stockholm on Wednesday for our Anniversary.  Molly was most surprised to learn this today when I told her but I am sure I told her ages ago – but when you reach my vast age things do start to slip.

This is part of our quest to explore Scandinavia and we are doing as much as we can while we are in Europe. Denmark was last year and Norway is planned for Christmas this year.

I will of course hope to blog. I will not be doing anything dangerous and will stay away from Huskies.

I spent  tonight cocking up a trip to Dublin which we are taking when Liz and Darryl come to Europe in September.

We are all going to Washington DC for a wedding and we booked these tickets some time ago. Liz and Darryl are then going to the UK before coming to Vienna so we thought we would join them there.

We have tried without success to change our tickets so that we can fly from Washington to London. It is cheaper and easier to fly home to Vienna and then to fly the next day to Dublin. Indeed it would be cheaper and easier to built a raft and sail across the Atlantic.

We used points to get to Washington and to change flights with these is like getting an Austrian to smile.

Anyway – what I do best is cocking up flight bookings. I am so much better at this than I am at hotels. So we need to fly to Dublin on Tuesday morning and come back on Sunday evening. What could be hard about that. Nothing unless you are a nitwit.

I now allow for the fact that every time I make a booking I will have to pay a fee to change the booking with 24 hours. There is nothing I can do about.  It is hard wired nitwitedness.