As there was a 200kr entry at Patricia last night, I decided against a Sunday night on the boat. That’s good drinking money in my view. A bit like NYE or Mardi Gras in Sydney. Surely it wasn’t like that for World Youth Day? And besides, I’ve already been to Patricia and thought it was great fun, but hardly worth $40 entry. I’ll return after the Europride price-hike, I’m sure.

Instead, I went for a quick drink at Torget. Also there, I noticed instantly how the mood of the place has changed with the commencement of Europride. Chatting to locals, you can see in their eyes that I’m no longer the interesting man from Australia who is spending a lot of time in Sweden and has bothered to learn some of the language. Instead, you can see they think I’m just another bloody tourist here for Europride. At least I’m not an American. The locals don’t seem to like Americans, from what I’ve gathered.

So after a couple of drinks I came home and hit the sack and woke this morning feeling fully rested.

Today also has been a day of resting up. I had one of these days in Narvik a couple of weeks ago, where I decided to do absolutely nothing, to keep my mind and body rested. The next few days are gonna be busy, indeed.

I’ve also needed to take some time out to think about what happens next. The first part of the trip was always going to be in Sweden, and the last part was always going to be in France. I kept the middle piece deliberately open so I could respond to how I feel. To do something spontaenous. So I wandered around today looking at tourist brochures, checking out flight and ferry details etc.

And then I came home for an afternoon nap. During the nap I had quite a vivid dream where I was at a tourist office and was asking the bloke behind the counter for advice. In the dream at least he told me I should catch the ferry to Tallin in Estonia. “Are you sure about the ferry?”, I asked him. He replied simply, “I’m Norwegian. We love the water. You must catch the ferry”.

Dreams, of course, are mostly a reinforcement of your own inner thoughts anyway, so I’m taking this as a sign that my heart says, forget Finland (already been there), and that I should head off to Eastern Europe instead. I’ll do some more planning and research when I have time over the next few days.

On the one-hand, I could just stay here in Stockholm where I am happy and comfortable. But there’s a voice inside me saying “take a risk”.

Like a roller in the ocean, life is motion
Move on
Like a wind that’s always blowing, life is flowing
Move on
Like the sunrise in the morning, life is dawning
Move on
How I treasure every minute
Being part of it, being in it
With the urge to move on

(Gratuitous ABBA Lyric)